Digital Illustration

Digital illustration does not describe a single Iranian aesthetic. The examples examined here range from a Tehran illustrator blending pencil drawing with digital painting to an Iran-based concept artist using both digital and traditional sketches. A further example comes from an Iranian-British artist working in London. Together they show why medium, subject, and location should be considered separately: Iranian cultural connections do not necessarily imply residence in Iran, and computer-based production does not imply a uniform appearance. s1s2s3

The boundary between handwork and digital work is particularly important. Ghazal Fatollahi’s account of combining pencil and digital painting makes it inappropriate to describe all such images as created entirely on a computer. Likewise, Reza Afshar’s stated use of both kinds of sketching suggests continuity in drawing practice across tools rather than a simple replacement of one medium by another. s1s2

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Fatollahi describes a path from graphic-design study and a university project on children’s and young-adult book illustration into publishing. Her biography identifies geometric organisation, patterned surfaces, and perspectives compared with cinematic scenes as characteristics of her work. It also connects some motifs to Persian carpets and Iranian architecture. These are descriptions of one artist’s practice, not a definition of Iranian illustration as a whole. s1

Her stated aim is for illustrations to extend and narrate a text. That offers a useful distinction between illustration and simple ornament: an image can contribute its own information, viewpoint, or sequence to a reader’s encounter with a story. In this example, digital painting participates in a broader narrative practice grounded in drawing and page design. The source does not identify the production technique of every individual book, so the mixed technique should not be assigned indiscriminately to her entire bibliography. s1

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KAFT’s designer profile presents Reza Afshar as an illustrator and concept artist whose work spans video games, films, cover art, and animation. Concept art here refers to the visual development of imagined characters, settings, or worlds for a larger creative project. The profile links his interests to fiction, novels, and games, rather than limiting his imagery to explicitly Iranian subjects. s2

Afshar describes frequent sketching with both traditional and digital techniques, allowing a story to emerge through the act of drawing. This account foregrounds exploration: a sketch can be a way to discover an idea before it becomes a finished image. The profile supports discussion of his stated process and professional fields, but it does not provide a verified client-by-client production history or a measure of Iran’s games-art workforce. s2

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Sina Hafezi, who identifies himself as an Iranian-British digital artist, describes a different route into image-making. His account connects music and imagined moving illustrations with learning to realise images digitally, initially producing canvas prints for his home. He describes separate Iran and international collections, with calligraphy among the influences entering some work. He also explicitly describes digital art as a pursuit alongside his professional work in science and engineering. s3

This example broadens the picture beyond full-time commercial illustration while keeping the geographic distinction clear: it is a diaspora practice, not evidence of a studio operating inside Iran. Read together, the three accounts show cultural inheritance, narrative ambition, and digital technique combining in different ways. They support an understanding of illustration through individual processes and uses; they do not justify a single national style, a standard career path, or an estimate of the sector’s economic size. s1s2s3

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