Amin Abbas Dubai

Saudi Arabian manga artist Samah H. Kamil is known as the first Arab artist to receive a master’s degree in the art of manga from the arts & designs faculty at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia.

Kamil said she was proud to see all her hard work and research awarded. She added that she was the first Saudi awarded for receiving “a Master research about Manga Art by WHOM in the Bulgarian Embassy in Riyadh in 2019.”

However, Kamil explained that she still faced some challenges when it came to her graduate studies.

“The subject of my Master research was ‘Manga Art to formulate Saudi Arabian cultural proverbs information in contemporary drawing and painting.’ When I first tried to draw Manga characters in Arabic style, I showed the idea to the supervisors, and they thought it had to be Japanese only. But then they accepted the idea and supported me.”

Kamil said she had been inspired by Japanese anime and its culture since she was a child. She added that she watched her first anime series dubbed in Arabic.

She explained that in the early 2000’s, Pokémon had first appeared on Arab TV channel MBC1.

“I really loved it,” Kamil said. “I loved the Japanese drawing style with the big eyes and small noses. You can say Pokémon was my first inspiration to draw anime and manga.”

Kamil began her career in manga in 2008, when she drew her first manga story for Saudi publishing house Kadi and Ramadi.

“It was a story for kids named ‘The Cat Says.’ Since then I start drawing Manga stories for writers and schools,” Kamil said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJSzVfeL4tY

She explained that she had worked on two books during her master’s program, one called ‘Tale of Proverb Manga,’ which was about a variety of popular Arab and Saudi proverbs, drawn in manga-style comics.

“The second one called ‘The Art of Manga,’ which includes information about Manga from history, techniques, artist and more,” Kamil said.

She said the book is a social phenomenon that covers all topics of Japanese stories, like social issues, historical stories, and science fiction.

“The book talks about the history of Japanese art and how Manga started, the difference between Anime and Manga, the types of stories and simple tips on the techniques of drawing Manga,” she added.

Kamil said she is currently focusing on teaching online courses for beginners and kids on how to draw manga characters.