Korean Faces Brought Alive by an Egyptian Brush

Korean actor No Min-Woo (My Girl Friend is a a gumiho)

Artist Basma Ibrahim: Korean Faces by an Egyptian Brush

We can talk a lot about the significant impact of contemporary Korean drama on the Arab audience. You could easily realize how much this drama is watched by a large number of us, including admirers of young men and ladies who are fond of and characters living in the Far East but represent real stories, mixed with a special charm magic.

We may lack accurate census to determine the exact number of the public following those Korean TV series, but echoes of that admiration started to appear on the pages of virtual spaces dedicated to this art. In The AsiaN, we have articles written by our managing editor and Egyptian blogger Ms. Radwa Ashraf on those shows, which are represented on TV screens with an Arabic translation, in addition to the English subtitles that accompanied the beginnings of telecasting those series. Also we represented in The AsiaN the articles written by the Tunisian poetess Mrs. Inas Abbasi on her travel to South Korea that showed the love of that country and its culture, and this is a real ‘hallyu’ in the Arab region.

Korean actress Moon Geun-Young

But today I represent another type of hallyu. It is the work of the talented Egyptian artist Ms. Basma Ibrahim who gives on her social networking (Facebook) some selected models of her paintings which highlight her basic love of anime art (Cartoon of the far East, specially in Japan, which is similar to the cartoon of Korea: Manhua). Basma is showing us a lot of actors and actresses who appear in the Korean drama.

Korean actress Park Shin-hye, and Korean actor Bae Yong Joon (the hero s of Winter Sonata drama); considered by Basma her best drama series, are two examples of a list that shows the Korean drama stars.

Korean actor Bae Yong Joon (the hero s of Winter Sonata drama)

Basma Ibrahim has been graduated three years ago from the College of Fine Arts, Helwan University, in Cairo. She uses her skills in digital painting, and design to create a world does not stop at the faces doorstep. She also creates book covers and fictional characters. Using programs such as Photoshop, Corel painter, she spends almost 6 hours on the digital tablet to finish a portrait (or eight hours, if she has to complete coloring manually). Sometimes she puts the steps of drawing from start to finish as an art lesson, as well, responding to those who really ask her to teach them how to draw like hers.

Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi

I do not only admire the good unique art of Basma Ibraham, but I also love the patience answering some who follow her page, some of them do not know the basics of the caricature, which is mainly based on exaggeration:

Basma (On her facebook answering fans who did not like her portrait of the Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi):
For those who do not know the rules of caricature portrait art, it is a kind of painting that needs to exaggerate in shapes and figures, to show clear expressions you know such a character. This exaggeration is included in every caricature I drew not just in the portrait of (Egyptian president Mohammed) Morsi. This is for those who felt angry by drawing him like that. I express my emotional actions in drawing, I do not break or burn so I need the others to accept the opponent opinion.

Someone (from Jordan) criticized that drawing:
I did not mean to criticize your art, it is very beautiful, and represents the talent and the versatility of the artist. But the picture painted for Dr. Morsi; may God save him for you and us in my opinion is probably an insult for him. The way you draw him does not suit his position. And for your knowing I am from Jordan, and I have no interest to pay a defense of your president.

It is an example of the ignorance of those who follow an art page. They do not know art, or its rule, and they do not accept an opinion expressed peacefully by brush. There were other examples who consider art a forbidden action. But on the other hand, there are fans that praise her works, and wish her to win the Oscar someday for one of her fictional characters.

Basma is a modern example of the artist today, open to the other worlds, clearly presents herself, mastering her work, and we need many of Basmas in the world of dark that surround us, a world that pushes us in the dark of its cave, and its hell.