Today we’d like to introduce you to Nadine Seroor.
Hi Nadine, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Both of my parents are from Egypt and that is where I spent almost most of my life. I’ve always known I wanted to be someone who creates stories for a living but in Egypt that kind of career was never considered realistic. I was told I was being childish and immature. Furthermore, being the eldest daughter meant it was up to me to make my parents proud so I set aside my goals and made studying to be a doctor as my priority. For a time, academic validation and my parents’ praise was enough to motivate me. However as college applications approached closer and closer, my motivation dwindled. I thought ‘do I really want to live my life doing something I don’t love?’ I went to a very competitive high school where all my classmates passionately wanted to enter the medical field and that’s when I realized how different my motivations were compared to them. It was during my last year of high school that I started buying art books and practicing drawing in my room. My parents and extended family were fiercely against my decision to study art and till today I believe going against my parents was the hardest thing I’ve had to do. It felt like I was going against my upbringing, throwing away everything that my parents have done for me to chase a fantasy. I was so scared. But I persisted and eventually, they relented and said I can study art in college.
My next biggest challenge was financing my education and teaching myself the art skills I need to be accepted to an American art school. It took my 2 years in community college collecting humanities credits and a gap year during the pandemic to work on my portfolio, but I got accepted with a scholarship to Art Center College of Design! I consider my acceptance to be a turning point in my life. The things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met have changed my perception entirely. I’m so gratefully for the opportunity of becoming friends with so many artists. For the first time making a living by creating stories and art ceased being a fantasy and became something feasible. I’ve only been attending art school for a year but it’ve grown so much. I know I still have so much to learn but I’m excited for what the future has to offer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The two biggest obstacles on my road to becoming an artist would have to be my parents and my environment. I spent most of my life in Egypt while art and movies for children are considered unrealistic pursuits. The only art that was recognized was realistic graphite portraits, while are lovely but very far from my goals of being a visual development artist for animation. Being told every day that what I wanted wasn’t a realistic avenue was very disheartening. Furthermore, there are very few animation studios in Egypt and even fewer colleges that offered animation or concert art majors.
My second, and much more emotionally draining obstacle, were my parents. I’m very fortunate to have loving parents to work very hard to finance my education. However, very similarly to most immigrant parents, their only dream for me was to be a doctor. For a long time, I tried getting the highest grades to make them happy and lied about my future goals. However, there was a turning point which was when it came time to submit college applications. I told them the truth: I want to study art. The backlash wasn’t pretty. Although at the time, I felt very alone but I can understand their reluctance. They grew up never considering art seriously and only wanted a stable and comfortable life for their daughter. It took a very long time and a lot of their own research on the art industry, but they are now very supportive of my dreams of becoming a full-time artist. I am very grateful for them.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m currently a concept art student studying in Artcenter College of Design. My work specializes in character design for games and animation. I am most proud of the middle eastern influences in many of. my designs. I strive to have my Egyptian background reflect in my art, especially in the strong young women characters I design. I still have much to learn
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I think luck has played a huge part in the people I’ve befriended in art school as well as earlier in high school. I’ve mentioned that pursuing a career in art in Egypt was looked down upon and I was in a school that emphasized a career in medicine. Despite these circumstances, I still managed to find two girls who are still my best friends today. Their encouragement for my art and my story ideas kept my spirits up and motivated me to never fully let go of my art dreams. It was due to their insistence that I bought my first drawing tablet and started my webcomic on Webtoons which played a part in keeping art a part of my life even while I was pursuing medicine.
The very first people I’ve met during my first year of art school have been seen me through many difficult assignments and all-nighters. The critic I’ve gotten has pushed my work further. Not to sound too dramatic but my friends in school have enriched my life. I watch movies I never would have considered on my own, I go to places I never would’ve thought to visit and the feeling of companionship – that we are all pursuing the same goals and working hard to improve our work makes my art journey feel less lonely. I’ve been very lucky to meet such incredible people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artstation.com/nadine3331
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadine_seroor/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NadineSeroor
Image Credits
Nadine Seroor
