It isn’t hard to notice how absolutely on fire the Egyptian Gen-Z scene is, from teenage entrepreneurs to exceptional sports players to the hottest upcoming graphic designer who happens to be the star of today’s article.
Seif ElDin Ali is a 17-year-old graphical artist who has been passionate about design and animation for a very long time. In fact, by the time he was 12, he had already gotten a diploma in photoshop, and was already quite familiar with Adobe programs. Then, just like anyone who has a burning passion for anything, Seif lost momentum; and he stopped drawing altogether for about 3 years.
However, Seif’s story didn’t end there, because before long he was introduced to vaporwave art, and began to practice his editing talent once again, by editing his & his friends’ pictures. Before he knew it, he began to develop his own art style and, since then, was set on the road to becoming the remarkable artist he is, and is becoming.
As Seif made more and more art, his works began to become recognised by various local artists, such as Marwan Moussa, and even produced his first commissioned work for the popular Egyptian post-rock artist, Omar Abdulzaher. This opportunity proved to be a turning point in Seif’s career, in more than just the financial aspect, since coming across omar’s music helped Seif unlock even more undiscovered potential that was hidden in his core. Seif didn’t stop there, though; he also got shouted out by international artists, including Bill $aber and SXNHII.
Despite seeming to have taken a lot of work opportunities, Seif had to pass up on a whole lot more. Middle-eastern men are no strangers to the pressure put on them by their families (fathers in particular) to be viewed as emotionless robots, which means they always have to accept only “manly” jobs - and Seif is no different. His dad simply does not understand, and therefore does not respect or support, what Seif is doing, which has undoubtedly posed as a huge difficulty for this young aspirer; even if you hate your parents, having someone who was once your idol take away their support for you, and everything you stand for, can be a lot more than a simple setback.
However, Seif managed to get over his father’s primitive views of his desired profession, and created a sort-of barrier to his hurtful words, by remembering the hoards of people who were always ready to provide him with their undying support, whether they were his own friends or artists he admired; and holding onto the hope that he would, someday soon, exceed everyone’s expectations and make it big. In fact, Seif’s passion for graphic design burns so bright that, when asked about the difficulties he faces with his father, he responded by saying that he “will do it because he wants to and that’s pretty much the bottom line.”
Like all of us, Seif takes little breaks along the road to success, when he gets so discouraged that he stops making art for months at a time, but that never causes him to detour from his goals: after all that has happened, he’s still going to study applied arts, and to keep making the kind of art he’d like to see on music cover art, posters and even T-shirts, because he knows that all the hardships he is going through will eventually pay off, and make him big.
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