BelleBeirut talks to talented Lebanese illustrator Samia Al Homsi Dagher about her stunning art, her inspirations, and her career.
“I paint the spirit and soul of what I see”… this is how renowned English illustrator Brian Fround describes his work, and it is safe to say that Samia Al Homsi Dagher thinks the same.
She was just five years old when she completed her first drawing, a beautiful picture of her grand-father. “It turned out to be a pretty good drawing, for a five year old girl. This was the beginning of my journey”, says Samia, 26, in an exclusive interview with BelleBeirut.
And it was all uphill from there. The pencils, brushes, ballpoint pens, pastel, and ink became Samia’s companions; she drew from her heart and got her inspiration from “the actual facts and events in life”.
The young illustrator eventually achieved a certain fame in her home city, Tripoli (North of Lebanon). But it was through social media that she truly started getting the recognition and praise she deserves.
“Focusing on celebrities is the way to reach out to the world and deliver the artistic message since most people recognize the faces (I draw),” notes the young illustrator who has already made some amazing portraits of Lebanese celebrities such as Georges Khabbaz, Nemr Bou Nassar and others.
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Samia’s drawing are so impressive that one cannot tell the actual difference between a photograph and the portraits she draws. It is clear that the young woman illustrates with passion, and with her heart. “But I have no specific celebrity I prefer among others,” she says.
In her drawings, Samia focuses mostly on women: “Not that I don’t draw men but I think female elements can deliver the message of beauty so much easier and so much clearer to the viewer,” explains the young illustrator.
Besides portraits, Samia loves to draw with colors everything that runs through her imagination, and she does it by “listening to the crowd around me, people talking politics, comedy, it makes me feel comfortable”. “My style is sharp and extremist”, says the young woman whose idols include Savador Dali and Jim Warren.
But her role models are no other than her father and her uncle “they represent the meaning of success to me”. Samia’s ultimate goal in life is to become a world renowned artist, and it definitely looks like she is on the right track!
[…] Samia Al Homsi Dagher, the illustrator who draws reality […]