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Monday December 10, 2012

Omar Rayyan – An Arab American Illustrator

Posted by Guest at 11:19 am

By Vieshnavi Rattehalli

Fall 2012 Intern

Born in Jordan to an American mother and a Jordanian father, Omar Rayyan moved to the US to attend the Rhode Island School of Design for his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. Upon graduating, his work was chosen to be part of a show on Martha’s Vineyard, and while attending the show, he realized he liked the atmosphere and the “bucolic surroundings [that still] compliment and help inspire his ’old world‘ aesthetic toward painting,” and he chose to settle there with his wife, Sheila. Rayyan draws his inspiration from turn of the century illustrators and artists such as Dulac, Rackham, and Waterhouse, as well as from Japanese Anime, which he grew up reading in Arabic in Jordan.

Rayyan’s artwork includes fantasy-inspired paintings of dragons, mythological creatures set against a backdrop of seemingly ordinary buildings and people, works of abstraction such as the teapot hat on a man drinking a cup of tea in “Mists of Oolong,” and all manner of woodland creatures as one might expect to find in an animated Disney film or a children’s book of fairy tales. Rayyan’s medium of choice is watercolor paint, but he has done work in countless other styles, including graphic design for business logos and t-shirts, editorial illustrations, and cover art for magazines and books.  He has illustrated for many publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, and Hyperion/Disney.

Rayyan’s primary market is children’s and young adult magazines and books for both cover and interior illustrations, though he has also worked on children’s picture books, works in the gaming market, completing card art and concept work for “Magic: The Gathering.” Among the books Rayyan has illustrated are: Ramadan, Count Silverrose: A Story from Italy, Rimonah of the Flashing Sword: A North African Tale, and Ring of Truth: an Original Irish Tale. In addition, Rayyan contributed concept art for the movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Rayyan has won two Chesley Awards at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. This award was created in 1985 by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists to recognize individual artistic works and achievements. In 2010, Rayyan won Best Cover Illustration, Hardcover for Magic Mirrors and in 2011, he won Best Color, Unpublished for his watercolor, “The Favorite.” He has also won the World Fantasy Convention award for “most humorous” and the New England Press Association award for editorial illustration.

"The Favorite"

Currently, a selection of Rayyan’s original paintings is being shown at Big Bunny Fine Art in New Orleans. His upcoming shows include the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live convention in Kansas City, Missouri from May 17-19, 2013, and potentially Boskone 50 in Boston, MA from February 15-17, 2013, where he will be showing and selling his work.  In the past, his work has been displayed at several conventions: Illuxcon 5 in Pennsylvania, Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, Gallery Nucleus in California, GenCon in Indiana and Boskone in Massachusetts. Rayyan’s work has been featured in several museums as well, including the Allentown Art Museum and Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania, and Skirball Museum in California. In 2011, Rayyan’s “Full Gallop” painting was one of 70 pieces chosen from 1,400 entries for an exhibit at the Museum of American Illustration in New York. More information about Rayyan, including a gallery of his works can be found on his website and his prints and originals are available for purchase on his Etsy shop.

"Full Gallop" 

Tagged as Arab Americans, Cultural Arts