Art can be considered as a huge tree with many branches, such as visual art, graphic art, plastic art, decorative art, among others.

Cartoon is one of the several types of art. The word cartoon originates from the Italian word cartone, meaning a large sheet of paper or card.

It is a kind of art that has been used since the creation of cinema, and it is an animation that reflects some action or subject of popular interest.

Qatar Living speaks to the luxury artist, and graphic designer, Ahood Al-Dafa, who is also the founder SWB, to learn more about the way she has turned her childhood interest in cartoons into a business.

Ahood holds a bachelor’s in graphic design and post-graduate diploma from Singapore in character design and cartoon animation.

Ahood started handcrafting after her graduation. She says she picked cartoon art because it takes her back to the memories of her childhood.

She began to apply this kind of art on different canvases, and this was the start of her business SWB.

“After my graduation, I started to focus on my business. It took me years to make my craft much stronger,” she said.

A self-taught artist, Ahood developed herself by taking online courses and by studying art and animation for years.

“My art is a mixture of both, self-teaching and university education. After finishing university, I took online art courses, and this developed my talent. I did not go to workshops in Doha, but I taught myself,” she said.

It was quite a challenge, Ahood recalls. “ I had to train myself and I spend a lot of hours learning something that I did not know how to do,” she said.

At the beginning of her business, she was not certain if her idea will attract people to believe in it. However, her business started to grow more and more in a short period.

Additionally, she mentioned that her customer’s trust and belief in her is the reason why she kept going in her business.

“The fact that people trust me by giving me an expensive bag so I can work on it, this is the main reason why I became stronger in my business. People’s trust is the main driving force me,” she said.

What makes Ahood’s art unique is that she uses the Arabic language in her customization on luxury items.

Through handwriting in Arabic on the goods, Ahood aims to drive the value of the language.

“I always encourage people to use Arabic. The Arabic alphabets have their own uniqueness and it gives beauty to everything,” she said.

For Ahood, customers’ feedback has been highly motivating. “The happiness of my customers when they receive their stuff back and how they appreciate my work makes me so thankful,” she said.

Ahood’s talent caught the attention of the well-known brand Louis Vuitton that contacted her.

“I did two collaborations with Louis Vuitton,” she mentioned adding, “This pushed me further and gave me more confidence to keep going in my business.”

Locally, she collaborated with Sugar and Spice and at present, she is collaborating with LOFT where her art pieces are on display.

“Anything with customization on it at Loft is by me. I’ve also sold my paintings to them,” she mentioned.

Ahood has faced many challenges in her business journey because her art is so different and unique.

However, this did not stop her from learning and growing stronger. “I learned that I have to be strong and confident always, no matter what people say about my art and my work. I remember I changed my Instagram to show people what they want to see. Most of the people like traditional things. It was hard for me to make people accept my new idea of art,” she highlighted.

Despite the issues, Ahood decided to continue with her passion and received appreciation for her unique talent.

There will always be people who will appreciate what you’re doing even if it is a small group of people, she said.

“My art is out of love. I did not want money at the beginning I was doing it for the sake of having fun. I want people to see my talent. I want the other person to feel that I did it with passion,” she described.

Ahood takes limited orders because she doesn’t want to feel pressured in her creativity.

“I just want to do it with love. So, I always say I do one piece perfectly and not many that are not perfect. I love to put all my effort into each piece,” she said.

Ahood finds inspiration in her country’s development. “We are in a phase that we can see that Qatar is growing a lot and this inspires me a lot, even the people the youth they changed a lot, everyone here is trying to be creative and to build something new,” she mentioned.

“You can see people’s energy around you and it is amazing. Everyone is trying to build him/herself as an individual,” she added.

Being in Qatar has allowed her to grow her business more. “I am so thankful that I am living in a place that allows me to get my supplies easily and there is great convenience to access to things,” she said.

During the current times, in light of COVID-19, Ahood said she was able to focus more on her business. She faced this tough period with optimism.

“I have a full-time job, so I was mostly busy with it earlier. I work as a graphic designer and had a lot of work to do for several museums in Qatar. However, as I stayed home, I started to try new things, and I learned how to develop myself. It was such a positive experience,” she described.

Ahood has something special in-store. She was going to collaborate with the football team, PSG. But, the pandemic delayed this.

However, her ambition did not stop because of COVID-19, and she is working on many plans for the future.

“My main goal is to work more closely with LV and I also want to have my own customization place where people can come and hang out to see me working on their pieces,” she said.

Ahood advises all artists to be creative and to keep pursuing their talents.

“Never stop practicing, and never compare yourself to anyone else because everyone is special in a way or another,” she said.

“There is nice competition and there is bad competition when you compare yourself to others it has a negative impact on you and your progression,” she added.

She highlighted that art needs love and needs you to be passionate about it to get the best results.

To know more about the luxury artist Ahood Al-Dafa and her business, check out her Instagram.

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