Ibraheem Youssef. Welcome to obsession

Minimalistic graphics of movie posters from Toronto based designer Ibraheem Youssef is the best way to convey impressions of cult movies – Pulp fiction, Kill Bill, Death Proof, The Big Lebowski, Scarface, Inception and others. 

Ibraheem reflects on his experience, and also what is missing at the movies illustrations, what will happen at the future by the answers on our questions.

Ibraheem's projects you can see on his website. 

Please tell about yourself in 7 words)

One thing to another, curiosity to obsession.

Please tell about your first art work - it may not be deal with cinema posters.

Well, the first piece I remember doing in my life, isn't really a piece. The earliest memory is related to when I started drawing my own comic books at a really young age. Eventually that evolved into a family based comic book business, I'd draw my own comic books and sell them to my family members. I remember doing them from age 4 – 18 and now (thanks to mom) I have most of those issues that I made!

As for the first ever professional commission I ever did, was drawing a poster for a kart racing facility in Sharm el Sheikh, it was more of a graphical Design project, but to me everything is treated as a piece of art, obsession finds it's way into everything.

What stories did you tell at your comic books?

I had a series of different comic books, some were action based with characters like "Groste" the james bond of space "Colusus" the metal super hero, others were an action comedy hybrid like "Super Doo" the funny super hero with glasses. There was also some suspense based comic books "Detective Sam".

What film was the first illustrated by you and why? Did this film was the first point of your desire to illustrate it, or, other way, you wanted to illustrate the film and then select it?

The first was Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. I'm a big fan of Tarantino, but the fact that I selected his debut film to illustrate wasn't just out of admiration only. I chose his film specifically because I wanted a way to get my artwork out to the world in an easy and fast way. I made the conscious desicion to choose a film that I liked, but that also had a huge stake in pop culture.

What inspired me to think that way, was a couple years ago, a british artist named "Mr Bingo" http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/ illustrated this piece on Star wars, using only the different hair styles of each of the hero's. His work was picked up by the Guardian and really went viral. I read an interview with him later on that he was glad he chose to do something with a heavy pop culture reference.

How are you choosing the film for illustration now?

Thankfully I've gained a lot of recognition, even though I still choose films that I like but also based on there pop culture status, I now think I have the luxury of doing even a bit more obscure ones, I'm working on a couple independent Canadian film posters now.

How can you describe your style? Who/what did influence to its development?

My style is aimed towards those who enjoy thinking. We are so privileged to have such great abilities to think and decipher messages and symbols as human beings, yet I find most communication in this day and age is dumbed down to become very literal and require zero thinking. I like to think of my work as the anti-dote to dumb messages in society. The more the levels of thinking and deciphering the better, but more levels doesn't mean more complex messages, simplicity is essential. There is a huge difference between simple messages and literal ones.

As far as influences, I'd have to say that Olly Moss & Matt Needle with their simple yet thought provoking unique styles. As well as Mahmoud Hamdy, Ahmed Hafez Youness with there subtle and witty egyptian pop culture references.

For what purpose do you do the film posters?

Both as a form of enjoyment and a form of income.

What do you think about cinema today? What is the future of the cinema in your opinion?

Nowadays the film industry for the most part is still really exciting to me, I'm a really positive and optimistic guy, as long as there is one out of 10 movies that is good and thought provoking every year that makes me happy. The cup is always half full to me. As far as the future of cinema, I think it will become heavily interactive, involving the user participation. I don't know how quite yet, but I'm excited for the future and those who will live in it!

What is missing out by designers of cinema posters today, in your opinion?

Lack of originality. It's so common to see the same cinema poster with the two faces of the main actors side by side, how depressing.

How do you see the film poster of the future?

Interactive will start to dominate our physical landscape. As that happens, everything displayed on them will become more interactive. The design of the film poster will not end at the designer. The designer will keep in mind that other people will be able to interact with his/her design, a very exciting prospect.

Lets tell about your creative process. Can you describe it with regard to Inception, for example?

The interesting thing about the creative process with that film, is during the first time watching it while in the theatre, I got the idea half way through the movie. It was amazing, I was so excited to go home and start executing it. That is an exception though. Normally my process involves watching the movie in a very unique manner of play.pause.rewind.play.etc. In some instances I can spend weeks thinking of the film poster concept before even working on the computer. Idea is above everything.

I also deal with taking symbols and cues from films and I repeatedly sketch them over and over again until I can form something thought provoking and insightful.

Please tell about your best works - its ideas, style - all you can say about.

My 2 favorite pieces are consperience, a concert poster I did for a progressive acid jazz fusion band based out of Cairo. It really shows the feeling and warmth of being on the banks of the Nile (where the concert was held). I played around with textures and warm, cold colours to give that feeling of the perfect moment.

The second, is the poster Death Proof, for Quentin Tarantino. I really spent a lot of time on this poster, the final result is the yin yang shape of two cars chasing each other, which also happens to be in the shape of a steering wheel. I think this is my best form of film illustration yet.

What are your plans for the future?

Film posters aside, I'm obsessed with colour. I believe it is the future of communication, day after day, I try to find out more about it in terms of how it can be relevant to improving communication between human beings from different races and creeds.