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Molek FMOrkibal: Colourful Creatures
Drawing for a living may seem impossible for a person with family commitments. But proving that not all artists are bums crashing over their girlfriends’, Orkibal continued his love for art even after tying the knot. A father and a husband, he brings his laptop everywhere he goes, to work on his art. Sometimes, he has to wait till his kids are asleep to begin drawing. Aww…
Orkibal’s distinctive art style was defined as early as kindergarten. While everyone in his class was drawing the usual fish, he came up with a 3-eyed swimming creature and a creepy yellow octopus. Though Orkibal’s drawings didn’t make sense, his teacher picked up on his talent through the weird sea creatures he drew and enrolled him in competitions.
Orkibal digs 90s music and most of his work is influenced by music acts such as Moby, The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and Deftones. From his illustrations on this page, you might be aware that he loves to draw small and cute characters with angry, fierce expressions. The mood he brings to his drawings is very colourful and vibrant, but his characters never smile. Apart from that, the “X” marks on his characters’ eyes are becoming his trademark. So the next time you see a drawing of a bear or a tapir with “X”-es on its eyes, you’ll know whose artwork you’re looking at.
His most recent work was the Victorianox advertorial in HANGER SS11 and it was his very first drawing of human figure. According to him, “The design is actually pretty simple. The man in suit represents masculinity but deep inside, he is a person who’s into weird creatures and monsters. Just like me. The watch has the element of masculinity, so I started working from there by including a human character and I added a little LSD effect to it.” He also admitted that he was a bit unsure of his work at first because it’s hard to make people understand art. In the end, it turned out great.
Orkibal is no longer a stranger in the local art community. One of his most exciting projects was for F&N, with his good pal Shukor who is also an artist. For this, the duo got to travel to various locations in Malaysia every single week of 2008 to create art pieces and installations. Orkibal will be showcasing his latest works at the Singapore Toy Convention on 20 – 21 August 2011 at Suntec Singapore. Break a leg, Ork!
More of Orkibal’s work at www.flickr.com/photos/orkibal.
