Artist Spotlight and an Interview with Ibrahem Swaid, AKA "Noobovich":
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Ibrahem Swaid, or more famously Noobovich, is a Dubai-based freelance illustrator and concept artist. He has gained a massive following for his native illustration taking his work from concept to final product with eclectic styles. Noobovich’s approach to digital art focuses on building a narrative around a character’s environment, and we love to see his take on outfits, weapons, and general design. He describes his style as character-driven concept art—a technique that sees his illustration and characters come out very relatable.
His conceptualization talent is master level, and the way he employs references and textures is something everyone should take the time to appreciate. This innate ability has allowed him to operate as a game designer and digital illustrator on many other commissioned projects. Noobovich’s love for illustration is undisputed, as evidenced by his vast collection of illustration books and magazines.
When he isn’t creating concept art, and illustration Noobovich is a passionate music lover. He loves many music styles, but his favorites come from Skrillex, Nero, Luciano, Alex Metric, Eric Prydz, Hardwell, and Loadstar. His favorite writer is Aaron Dembski, and away from the serious stuff, he likes gaming and mostly strategy games since he has worked on a few of them himself. Noobovich prefers to play on PC, but Xbox ticks some other boxes for him.
We love Noobovich’s work and personality, and if you want to find out more about why we do, view his portfolio here and follow him on his social media to keep up to date on his current and future projects.
Artist Interview:
What City, State & Country do you currently live in?: UAE Dubai
What is your primary art application?: Photoshop
What are some of the other mediums, or applications you use?: Zbrush, 3DsMax, Daz,
What are some of your favorite reference materials?: I collect a lot of art books, ranging from artists showcase to game concept art
Do you have any artistic weaknesses that you're actively working on to improve?: I am always learning and trying to get better and faster. so the process never stops, I learn a new thing for every illustration I do. But 3D is something I want to get better at
What made you want to become an artist?: I think its in the family, all of us know how to draw and paint to some level. My father is an architect and a painter. I started drawing from a very early age and kept at it. I stopped drawing for a year where I tried to move to 3D but then went back to painting. now its a mix of both.
What are some of your favorite things to draw and paint?: It changes depending on the mood and on what is hot at the moment. I was doing lots of Warhammer 40K art couple of years ago, then moved to cyberpunk, now I am trying to get more fantasy art into my portfolio.
What artistic accomplishments do you see yourself achieving in the next five to 10 years?: I would like to finish writing and drawing my comic, an ongoing project that I have been for years.
Who are some of your favorite concept artists, or illustrators that you draw inspiration from?: Evan Lee has to be the first name I drop.
Maciej Kuciara is an artist that I keep mentioning a lot as I learned a lot from him. helped me push to the next level.
Did you have any professional training? If so, what schools, or classes did you attend? If not, what process did you use to achieve your level of artistic talent?: I am a Fine Arts graduate. it was mostly modern art and writing essays
All the skills I got for digital painting I learned from online classes
What is an interesting bit of personal info about yourself you could share with our readers?: If you can afford to take an online class to cover the area you think you need to get better at, then do that. I found out that havening a mentor and being in a class dose save a lot of time and is the best shortcut to getting to the top.
What is one bit of advice you would give to an aspiring artist like yourself? Something you've learned from experience along your journey?: Remember to keep it fun, as social media can create the illusion of pressure , so it is always better to take some space from social media and create art that makes you happy and is fun and challenging.
Artist Portfolio:
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