Pixel Perfect - Art of Waheed Nasir

By Nabeel Aejaz - ( nabeel@raw.com.pk )

Waheed Nasir is a Karachi based artist who is acclaimed for his Fine Arts &
Digital Paintings both locally and internationally. He has five solo exhibitions and
four years teaching experience in Dubai to his credit. We at RAW had the
opportunity to interview the creative asset of Pakistan.

Links:
Official Website
Post Amazers

Firstly being from Dubai myself I would like to know about your experience of
teaching in Dubai?
First of all thank you Nabeel for considering me for the interview, I feel honored to
be published in RAW. Coming back to your question, teaching was my job in Dubai
as I was on a teacher's visa. I taught fine arts which included drawing, sketching, oil
painting and music - guitar.
I used to conduct painting workshops at Higher Colleges of Technology; Dubai
Women's College & the Communication Technology Dept. Dubai, U.A.E. I also
gave art classes (full courses) at a few art institutes along with private classes at
times.
I also held a few exhibitions of paintings while teaching.
Who are 'Post Amazers' and what do you do in it?
Post Amazers is a Karachi based production/animation house. We have more than
seventy five animators and other artistic and technical experts ranging from fine
artists to software developers to editors. Post Amazers has the largest human
resource ever hired by any Pakistan based animation or post-production house. The
company has acquired the best technology available internationally.
The services we offer include 3D Animation, Compositing, On-off Line Editing,
Art Direction, Broad Cast Designs and Audio.
At Post Amazers I am more involved in the Art Department as a texture artist &
matte painter. I make color keys as references for texturing and lighting and at
times do 2D paintings.
What tools do you use and master?
As a digital artist I use Photoshop, Painter and Artrage for my digital paintings,
texturing and matte paintings. For traditional art, I love to work with charcoal and
with oils on canvas. At work I use Maya and mostly Photoshop.

Stream

Who is your favorite Pakistani artist? Whom do you admire and aspire to be
like.
My teacher, Mr. Bashir Mirza, known to many as BM. Then there is Mr. Saeed
Akhtar and Colin David. There are few others as well but these names just came to
my mind at the moment.
Your ambition in life?
To have art all around me! Work as a matte painter for a big movie studio. Have my
own art gallery and my own music group for just instrumental music playing on
guitars. The most important thing for me is to do creative stuff and touch the hearts
of people with my paintings and music.
How do you start working on a new art piece?
For my personal work, I just start and during the process I get ideas that I follow,
building up a composition. I get inspiration from nature, sky, rain, trees etc. Beauty
in any form, various interesting shapes of anything like pottery or cloth.
I do get some good inspiration from impressionistic paintings with thick expressive
brushwork and flamenco guitar playing. I just stare at a blank white sheet, canvas
or a Photoshop file, and get in the mood, it's always all there waiting to come out in
front of our eyes.
How long, on an average, does it take you to complete an artwork?
It all depends on the complexity of an artwork and on the desired look. Painting
with minute, realistic details can even take a week to finish, while something with a
painterly look, suggestive brushstrokes is a matter of few hours.
How is traditional painting different from digital painting?
Both of these painting forms have similar rules and elements, like composition,
division of space, colours/ tones focus, depth etc. Things are a bit easier to handle
while doing a digital painting, with all the help from various effects available where
as in traditional work one has to handle everything manually. Each of these forms
has its own value and charm, which cannot be compared with each other. Both are
in demand, provided, they are done well.
Do you think it is necessary to first learn traditional painting in order to get
into or understand digital painting?
I won't say learning traditional painting is "necessary", but it definitely helps if one
wants to become a digital painter. But then, it is necessary to understand certain
very important elements of art, like some traditional art rules. Things like
composition, knowledge of colors and value, etc are a foundation of painting in any
form. Most of my digital paintings are treated just the way I do real paintings on
canvas.
Besides painting and graphics you also play some good music, tell us
something about it.

Music is like an old time friend of mine. I am into pure guitar instrumental playing
from Spanish classical to Latin rock. Though I don't get much time for playing
music these days, I do have a plan in my mind to hold a concert one day. Let's see!
I would like to share my recent guitar recordings with you, which I did at Post
Amazers music studio. These are well known compositions that I have played in
my own style, improvising all the way, from start till the end. Each instrumental has
three tracks, melody (lead), rhythm and bass, all played by myself.
Please click on the links below to download:
Blue Star
(I have played this on my friend Bilal's guitar Hollow - Metal StringsGuitar)
Dark Eyes Twist
(I have played this on my Yamaha Spanish - Nylon Strings Guitar).
Farewell To You
(This one is again played on my Yamaha guitar)
Hope you enjoy these.
It is commonly known that drawing and painting is Haraam in Islam. How
would you justify your work?
As you can see I don't go into portraying figurative nudes, which is undoubtedly
not allowed but I see no harm in working on other subjects.
Where do you see Pakistan heading in terms of Media & Animation?
Having very few animation houses, no actual full fledged training of computer
graphics and with a few other issues, I must say Pakistan is producing good stuff.
It's just a matter of right kind of training, being on the right track with high aims
and perfection, going after creative & genuine ideas. A professional approach can
make things better.
What are your views on Piracy in our country?
It's all around us and very ugly. The sad part is nothing concrete is being done to
stop it.
Is there much scope for media arts and animation in Pakistan - career wise?
Oh yes there is, the only thing required is quality work, if that's there, every
profession has a scope. There is no scope for weak work no matter which
profession.
Finally, What advice would you like to give to a beginner in this field?
Be sincere and disciplined with whatever you do. For those who are beginners or
are thinking of entering into cg world, I would suggest them to learn the laws/ rules
of art, composition, colors, perspective etc.
At least get the basic knowledge of art, because it's exactly just like another art

form, done in computers. When we see any impressive cg work of any kind, be it
2D or 3D, there is a very strong, good art behind it. Lastly, read books on art, see
paintings and think of why? How? Observe things closely as much as you can.

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