Graffiti Power Vol. I & Vol. II

For the past few years illustration has offered me another way to write – visually!

I have to confess both ways have their allure and offer one’s mind a challenging merriment once a piece is finished. The process is never 100 percent fun.

Words interconnect to form a sentence, a paragraph and a story the same way a drawn line becomes part of another line, before they formulate a manifestation of an image floating in one’s head.

The following are two posters, Graffiti Power Vol. I & Vol. II. They are a reflection of my affection for graffiti art. I am not a graffiti artist but I have been doing some wall illustrations using spray paint with my friend and mentor Wize One Wesam Shadid.

The themes in both posters are rather simple and the message clear: Graffiti, which is now being hailed as an art form – it always was but not in the eyes of those who own the wall – gives power to those who use it.

It grants those who are holding a spray can wings and allows them to push through thorns.

I hope you like them :-})

The above is Vol. I. and  here is Vol. II.

Good day all …

Thank you for following my blog :-})

 

My Sardine Society6 Store

 

So I finally got around to launching my Society6 store a few days ago. Hurray!

Recently I launched my 12th t-shirt with Mlabbas, the Tah Smiley tee, that you can see on the lower right of the above snapshot from Society6, so I realized it was time to go online; and hopefully beyond Amman, Jordan.

No, I am not swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck ;-})

With each new line I draw I learn more about myself as an illustrator. The illustrations that I’ve uploaded are the pieces that I think are good in terms of themes and execution.

Society6 allows anyone to purchase my posters/prints/tshirts with the push of a botton – okay, now I am bordering on shameless self-promotion, which is in a way the objective of this blog.

I will soon get back to fighting crime; I promise ;-})

Until then … to visit my Society6 store just click on this blue … I mean red … magical link: http://www.society6.com/SardineArt

Good day all …

Sardine a.k.a Mike V. Derderian a.k.a A Brick in The Head 

2014

 

Post Battle Graffbot

 

Post Battle Graffbot by Sardine

Hey all!

Hope you are well: Sane, safe and sound in this crazy world.

A while ago I reworked an old sketch into a poster that was deemed a little too foreign for Amman’s local art scene. Here it is.

It is inspired by my foray into graffiti thanks to my friend and mentor Wize One Wesam Shadid, as a couple of months ago I was sent to the UK part of a seven day art exchange program with Wesam.

You can read chapter one of our adventure on this blog that I’ve created for the British Council, Amman, who have sent us there.

http://sprayrocketape.wordpress.com/

Since I have returned I’ve been drawing more, and doing some street art with Wesam around Amman.

Now back to the above poster! Bottom line: You don’t always get the job but that does not mean I am going to stop trying!  I really enjoyed producing this poster :-})

I love how it only sets the mood without any direct statements.

One’s thoughts are focused into what happened to her and what she is planning to do next.

Lately I’ve been illustrating a lot.

My career as a journalist is on a self-imposed hiatus along with some other factors, however, the writer within continues to write, whether on my Thoughts from Within a Sardine Can Facebook page or here on my blog.

The above poster will soon be available for purchase on my Society 6 store:

http://society6.com/mikevderderian

As for my other illustrations you can find those on my www.facebook.com/SardineArt page

Good day all and thank you for taking the time to read my words and see my work :-})

Mike V. Derderian,

4, 9, 2014

Opeth’s The Devil’s Orchard Poster by Sardine

If I have never stopped playing guitar in 2003 I would have most probably ended up adopting the style of music that inspired this evening’s poster.

Opeth’s The Devil’s Orchard has a classical timeless feel to it, especially when it comes to the guitar play. This is a song that you will continue to listen to for years to come.

The guitar echoes of despair, a human emotion that a lot of us experience every now and then; some more than others.

It reminded me of Chris Rea’s Nothing to Fear!

 

This is one reason why we often find solace in the despair of others – it makes us realize and without a doubt that we are all the same in the end.

This poster is a reflection of the official video. It comes part of my Cinerama, minimal series that I started producing a couple of years ago. Here is the link to the entire collection on Behance, Vol. I http://bit.ly/1ojcafX

By the way if you find my work interesting you can examine my artwork and updates on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SardineArt

 

From within the darkest corners of despair man found his gods and demons.

Hope you find yours!

I am finding mine with every line I write; and every line I draw.

If you know anyone who wants something different pass on my e-mail to them: mikevderderian@yahoo.com ;-})

This journalist, writer and illustrator is done fulfilling the dreams of ass wipes. Alas, this year I wasted two months on one major ass wipe. Never again! It is time for me to Catch The Rainbow as the song goes; my own rainbow.

A good day to all those who are following my lines, written and drawn. Thank you for your “Likes” and “Comments!” It means a lot to me.

Sardine, a.k.a. Mike V. Derderian, 2014

P.S: I am usually hush hush when it comes to business dealings and work experiences, especially bad ones, but this ass wipe deserved an honorable mention ;-})

Rock Arabica Vol. I by Sardine Studio

“It never rains but it pours!”

So they say …

But I know … better!

Life in the past few months threw some rather interesting challenges in my face.

I am not going to talk about these challenges as this is not a rant blog. However, I am going to talk about my latest project Rock Arabical, part of my work as an illustrator.

My background in radio, love of music and my work as a Disc Jockey, I’ve been working at Radio Jordan 96.3 FM since 2003, were the main reasons that I started this design series.

I am not a type designer but I am a t-shirt designer. I now have over 20 t-shirt designs and merchandise with Mlabbas, a t-shirt company based in Amman, Jordan.

Rock Arabica is a typography and logo design series through which I turned renowned rock band logos into Arabic ones.

The best part about producing these rock band logos was the challenge I faced in maintaining the spirit of the original design by using the geometry and angles of the original logos. 

My project on Behance:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/Rock-Arabica-Vol-I-by-Sardine/14251713

The designs that you are about to see were all created using Adobe Illustrator CS5 (the construct of the type) and finished with Adobe Photoshop CS5 (the distress layer).

Remember: Never go full distress on a design as it is an overkill!

Hope you love them enough to buy the t-shirt ;-})

Mike V. Derderian,
Writer, Illustrator & Designer,
Sardine

The Blind

God is not at the tip of your tongue, he is also not in the bullet fired from your gun.

The reflection of his spirit does not float over the blade of your bloodied sword, he is also not in in the black enameled baton with which you beat the horde.

Your God is my God yet you turn him against me and everyone else with the words coming out of your sordid treacherous mouth.

Slice open your granite eyelids and see the spiritus sanctus before you bring down the house like the blind faltering Samson you are; betrayed by a scheming Delilah from afar.

Kafir you dare call me, and my brothers and sisters and everyone else Kofar. Shame on thee and on your promised eternity!

“Fie … fie!” cherubs at the foot of the throne wept and wept …

Note:

It has been a while since I wrote a poem; or what is deemed a poem. The first few lines came to my head 20 minutes ago and the rest just flowed.

I will probably expand this into a blog post that expresses my dismay over what is happening in the Middle East. I am deeply saddened that there are people out there, who actually dare outlaw harmony and love among the followers of God/Allah; the very same followers, from all religions, with whom I share bread, salt and oil on a daily basis.

Now back to the drawing board …

Illustration by Sardine a.k.a Mike V. Derderian

 
About illustration:

Been working on a action styled Mae West poster when I started drawing other stuff. The above illustration is one.

I am trying to limit myself to black and white lines since that will be the feel of some comics I am supposed to start working on once I get my engine running, especially my The Dark Side of the Spoon  that run for 20 issues in U Men magazine.

The poster tagline is taken from Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc.

Still haven’t drawn my Christmas greeting yet. On a personal level life is good. On an artistic level it is rather dark; I am trying to work on different themes with different styles and overall improve my work as an illustrator.

Thank you all for your wonderful Christmas wishes :-}) 

Karama, Where To?

Last night, December 15, 2012, was the final day of the Karama Film Festival. I did not attend any of the film screenings. I stopped attending cultural activities around Amman a year and a half ago. I guess not wanting to see anyone is one reason; the other reason is work related: I’d rather work on a t-shirt design, an illustration for a comic book character or write a piece of literature.

Some people are just a waste of time and sincere emotions!

So this is what I have been doing lately: I would go to an exhibition hall prior to opening and enjoy going through the exhibited works piece by piece as I did with the exhibition Karama, Where To? that was held part of the festival’s week long activities.

If I was still writing for The Star Weekly I wouldn’t have dared write about this impressive exhibition as I am part of it. However, since this is a blog post I am afraid to say that I forgot my journalistic objectivity in the pocket of my other coat.

What I find most fascinating is how many bloggers haven’t written or mentioned the holding of this exhibition. I guess writing about the amazing works of young Arab artists, graphic designers and comic artists is not as self-gratifying as writing a piece about boycotting Israel and having it spread through the very same self absorbed social grapevine.

This exhibition, that held the works of artists like  Amer Amin / Amer Shomali / Ammar Abo Bakr / Amr Fahed / Abd Alraheem Arjan / Asma Ghanem / Diala Brisly / Fares Cachoux / Hilda Hiary / Jawad Hamdan / Khaled Jarrar / Majd Abdelhamid / Maya Terro / Marwan Shahin / Mohammed Abu Elnaga / Mohammed Abu Afefa / Mohammed Joha / Mohammad Omran / Monther Jawabreh / Mostafa Jarrad / Nidaa Badwan / Rima Al Mozayen / Shadi Al Zaqzouq / Tarzan & Arab / Wisam Al Jaziri/ Yara Al Najim and myself, was about voicing our visual thoughts about Arab Spring and where we think the Middle East is heading.

For me personally I see this period more of an Arab winter and summer is still far ahead. The call for this exhibition was a way of standing up to bullshit through our work, be it written, drawn or performed!

This is what many of the participating artists did; they called bullshit by its name and I am quite proud to have my works, the four pieces that I contributed, Nippon Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, Gaza Dolls and Propaganda, hanging next to the works of such amazing artists.

This was the message that I discussed with Rashid Abdelhamid, Alhoush founder, and Jasmine Melvin-Koushki, a curator at Alhoush, who co-organized this exhibition with Miss Sawsan Darwazeh (The Karama Film Festival).

Anyway I hope you enjoy the snippets that I took of the exhibited works that you can find in full by clicking on Alhoush’s Karama, Where To? Facebook folder.

Please note: Each piece is followed by the name of its artist.

By Mohammad Omran

By Marwan Shahin

By Amer K Amin

By Amer Shomali

By Jawad Hamdan

By Maya Terro

By Shadi Al Zaqzouq

By Mohammad Abu Afefa

By Yara Al Nejem

By Diala Brisly

By Majed Abdelhamid

By Mohammed Abu Elnaga

By Amro Fahed

By Ammer Abo Bakr

By Monther Jawabreh

By Wissam Al Jazairy

By Rima Al Mozayen

By Nida Badwan

By Tarazan and Arab

By Moahmmad Haja

By Yara Al Najem

By Asma Ghanem

On a final note thank you Al Housh and The Karama Film Festival for using my illustration for the exhibition poster ;-})

All photographs were taken by Mike V. Derderian save for the in which he is shown and that one was taken by Nesrin Mousa Derderian :-})

My Watchmen Minimal Posters Series Vol. I

Watchmen …

“How do you summarize a graphic novel of this magnitude? Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gobbons Watchmen is about deconstructing the caped and masked superhero genre turning them into humans with obvious and hidden fault-lines.

It also has a comic within a comic storyline. A very dense read that is worth the re-read once you are done and survived its slow pace. Introduced a new era of anti-heroes and heroes and probably influenced the current Batman graphic novels that tackled the caped crusader’s inner angst and psychological issues.

Zack Snyder’s movie was quite faithful to the graphic novel-You can say it was a panel by panel rendition. A lot of missing parts from the movie will astonish you once you start reading the book.”

I wrote the above paragraphs part of a lecture about the history of comics two years ago.  So much has happened since then. I started illustrating and drawing more.

The following images in this blog post are part of a series of minimal posters that I’ve started doing over a period of six months. They were produced using Adobe Illustrator CS5 & Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Each print (size A2 – 23.4 x 16.5 in) is from a limited edition of 100 and are available for sale at Mlabbas’ Upstairs space.

Prices:

Framed: 65 JDs
Unframed: 40 JDs

I hope you liked them :-}) The below images showcase how I created them using Adobe Illustrator vectors.

When the time is right and after I finish a few projects I will return to their amazing universe with The Minutemen series as suggested by my friend Sami Nazer :-})

For of my work as Sardine check out my portfolio: http://www.behance.net/mikevderderian

Smile-y The Arabian Way

Just wanted to take a happy a thought an extra mile especially after reading the quote that triggered this on a friend’s wall :-})

Here is the link the link to the actual oquote that inspired this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=421351511228741&set=a.199799043383990.50768.197812326915995&type=1&theater

“The Arabic Alphabet is so Friendly, it even has a smiley face.”

Feel free to share ;-})

Thank you Miss Wendy Merdian :-})

No Benches Allowed: Only in Amman, Jordan

Whenever I have a meeting with a friend or an acquaintance at Rainbow Street I park my car at the lot adjacent to the new Rainbow Street Theatre. Question: When did the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) sell this brilliant parking space to a private contractor?

I don’t mind paying 1 JD but why should I do so when it was originally free!

Anyway that is another issue for another blog post. The reason why I park there even though my rendezvous would be at a place like Turtle Green, Cafe Des Artists or Books@cafe is because I like to walk through Rainbow Street.

I simply enjoy stretching my aging muscles!

For the past few weeks, even after the Occupy Rainbow Street took place, and which I did not attend because I was busy chasing after rent and food money, I noticed that there are no more benches in Rainbow street.

A bench is a long seat, made out of metal and wood, for several persons and can be found in parks or public spaces.

What are  parks or public spaces? Things that we don’t have in Jordanian neighborhoods, and if we do they are usually surrounded by so much red tape that you’ll need a pair of garden hedge scissors to go through them before you reach a fresh patch of green!

Today’s blog post is all about questions!

Where are the young men who held unto their guitars like passionate lovers while jealous ladies watched them as they sang the night away at Rainbow Street? Where did the married couples who hang around Rainbow Street with their children and baby carts go? Where did the boys and girls who shyly sat next to each other on benches at Rainbow Street vanish?

So where did everyone go? They are gone with the wooden benches that were removed by you know who: GAM.

I thought of the above poster a while ago but it wasn’t until I read Raghda Butros’s piece on BeAmman “Bring Back the Benches” that I decided that I should make it for the blog post that I you are now reading.

The phrase in the poster translates to “Only in Jordan.”

Why were the benches that gave the visitors of Rainbow Street an excuse to enjoy Rainbow Street disappear, and why is our GAM so blatant and obstinate in upholding haphazard decisions that affect our lives one way or the other without even asking for our permission?

But the most important question that comes to mind is: Why is Jordan against having public places like any other country around the world?