Artist Profile: Heba Rena Yassin


Meet our next Featured ArtistHeba Rena Yassin, a 23-year old illustrator from Sutton, Surrey, UK.

Heba was born on a cold winters day in Sutton, Surrey on the 2nd of December. She grew up in sunny Limassol, Cyprus. She was a very small baby, but her zeal for life was strong and little did she know that she would grow to be the artist that she is today!

To see more of Heba’s work, visit her page on Facebook, DeviantArt and her personal blog!

Heba had a passion for art, comics, books, anime and manga since she was very young. She graduated with First Class in BA Fine Art at the University of Hertfordshire, UK and also completed a Masters degree in Digital Art and Design at the University of Nicosia. Currently she is living in the UK and pursuing a freelance career and applying for a PhD.

She purchased her first graphics tablet when I was 14 and has been creating her own stories and illustrations ever since. The majority of her work now is digitally created, and she believes that her background in Fine Art enables her to apply different techniques to her digital work.

Heba strongly believes that you can do anything with hard work and determination. She says “all you need is love for what you do”. She created a life motto for herself made up of three ”P’s”: Practice, Persistence and Patience, to remind her to never give up and to always do her best!

Artist Profile: Charalambos Margaritis


Today’s Featured Artist is talented Cypriot animator, painter and printmaker Charalambos Margaritis.

Charalambos graduated from the National Superior Fine Arts School of Paris (ENSBA) in 2012. His work is centered around printmaking, animated films, drawing and painting. In 2010 he studied the traditional icon painting techniques with the monk Paisios Agrapides in the Cell of Saint Archangels in Karyes of Mount Athos, where he resided for three months.

To see more of Charalambos’ work, visit his blog and his profile on Vimeo.

He taught drawing and animated film techniques to children from 8 to 15 years old on three occasions: firstly, during 2011 and 2012, as a part of the creative writing workshops of “La Cité des Mots”, organized by the writer Catherine Zoungrana in Paris. Then, on December 2013, in the Centre Pompidou, during the event “Stopmotion”. Finally, for the post-diploma program “AIMS” (Artiste Intervenant en Milieu Scolaire) of the Fine Arts Schools of Paris, that takes place in Saint Ouen (suburb of Paris). He also taught drawing in HEC (Haute Ecole de Commerce) for the year 2014 – 2015. In 2013 he worked as a member of the admissions jury for the entrance examinations of the Fine Arts School of Paris.

He participated in several exhibitions in France, as the event “Graver Maintenant” in Reuil Malmaison in 2009, the second edition of the International Drawing Fair (FID) in Paris in 2010, the exhibition “Nulla Dies Sine Linea” in the library of the École Normale Supérieure of Paris in 2011, the Salon of Poissy in Paris in 2013 and in all the Sarcelles’ Engraving Biennales since 2009. In Cyprus he participated, in December of 2013, in the exhibition “Othellos – Rebirth” that took place in the Othellos cinema theater, part of the European Capital of Culture of Paphos. In October 2014 he worked with the classical music ensemble “Trio Dell’Arte”, creating three animated shorts for three of their concerts in Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos. In April 2015 he participated in the Street Art Square Festival.

His film “Workhouse” (2012), participated in the London Greek Film Festival, the International Motion Festival in Nicosia, the Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Festival, the Sarmat International Independent Film Festival, the Depth of Field International Film Festival and the Blow-Up Chicago International Art House Film Fest. It was preselected for the Los Angeles Cinefest. For “Workhouse” he received the Best Animator Award in the Anim8fest International Animation Film Festival. His film “Large Scale Absurdities, Vol. 1” received the Award of Recognition at the IndieFest Film Awards.

Additionally, Charalambos has created (alone and in collaboration with others) video clips for several musicians in Greece and in France, such as the group Active Member, Yiorgos Zambetas, the group Pulcinella, Ian Balzan and others.

He is a member of the artistic collective “Miracle”, that is based in Paris but collaborates with a lot of artists (plasticians, poets, writers, philosophers and others) in many countries, such as Benin, Hungary and England. With “Miracle he participated in January 2015 in the F.OFF festival of comics in Angoulème.

In September 2015 he founded Kimonos Art Center in Paphos, together with Yiannis Sakellis, Nicolas Iordanou and Sylvia Nicolaides.

Artist Profile: ToonBoxStudio


Popular YouTube artist, animator, and teacher Paris Christou (ToonBoxStudio), is returning to Cyprus Comic Con for a second consecutive year!

Paris was born and raised in London, UK and is currently residing in sunny Cyprus since 2004. From a very young age, he discovered his desire to draw cartoons which lead to building a passion for animation influenced by western art and the golden age of animation. During his high school holidays, Paris would attend animation studios doing volunteer work in exchange for studying the artists and animators work in action.

After graduating in 2D Animation at Central Saint Martins College of Arts, Paris was offered work from many animation studios in London for commercial work and animated shorts. Through out the years, his skills grew by attending many workshops and seminars in the UK and in the USA having the opportunity to learn from Disney animators and mentors like the Legendary Don Bluth.

In 2011, Paris Christou founded ToonBoxStudio.com, and also started his YouTube career which led to the creation of his pinup character “Cherry” who has generated over 120,000 fans in 188 countries that helped brand his name around the globe.

Through his YouTube journey, countless opportunities opened from all major studios, magazines, events and networks, establishing connections with the top animators and comic book artists in the industry and creating lifetime friendships with major leading YouTubers worldwide.

To see more of Paris’ artwork, visit his page on Facebook and Deviantart. You can also follow him on Instagram for all his latest updates!

Paris is currently working on a series of his own art books, live action animated shorts for his YouTube channel and an online 2D Animation School. Lastly, Paris’ future plans include starting a Greek animation comedy YouTube channel, as well as Cyprus’s very 1st Cartooning School!

Save

Artist Profile: Copper Mouflon


Copper Mouflon is a second year returning artist duo from Cyprus, with a huge passion for comics and storytelling!

The collaboration between writer Christopher Demetriou and illustrator Stella Violari promises the creation of highly-artistic and highly-entertaining graphic novels that will have you thumbing for the next page (or scrolling for the next frame) with bated breath and harrowing excitement!

To see more of Copper Mouflon’s work, visit their Facebook page or sign up on their website for a free sample from their latest comic!

Writer Christopher proclaims a passion for stories of all types and genres and is always on the lookout for a good twist. When not writing stories, he enjoys contemplating the ceiling (he says it helps with creativity, or something), winning every single board game ever thanks to his ridiculously unbelievable luck with the dice, and munching on whatever’s left in the fridge.

Stella studied illustration in the UK and subsequently completed her Masters Degree in the lovely and sunny Cyprus. She has been in love with drawing ever since she could hold a pencil (proof: her mother cries every time someone mentions “white walls” at home) and she is über passionate about games (though unfortunately she cannot beat Chris at board games), comics, anime, cartoons, and movies. In short: if it comes on a screen, she will take it!

Make sure to visit Stella’s personal Facebook page and follow her on Instagram to stay up to date with newest illustrations and projects!

Copper Mouflon will be releasing the first chapter of their graphic novel ‘The Kingdom of the Red Rose’ #1 The Reaper’s Choice at this year’s Cyprus Comic Con and we cannot wait to get our hands on it!