Omar Abdallat

By LatAm ARTE

He has reached more than 20 million views on YouTube, 40,000 subscribers and has drawn 2,000 caricatures. The talented Jordanian cartoonist Omar Al Abdallat has always had a passion for drawing. He graduated in graphic design and has worked in different fields of animation, design and cartoons. Omar says he was inspired by Egyptian artist Bahjat Othman, who drew simple but deeply thoughtful caricatures. "I thought, 'why aren't there enough cartoonists in the Arab world?' So I decided to enter the world of caricatures and cartoons," says Omar. He worried about being compared to other big artists in the region and in Jordan, who already had a large fan base. But after winning his first prize out of 1,500 entrants, his motivation and confidence increased. Omar says he realized how powerful cartoons can be and how quickly they can spread a message to the world. In 2006, Omar and a few other partners launched a cartoon entertainment series for telecommunications companies. He strongly believes that comedy, cartoons and caricatures should be used in the development and education of our society. He says: “Every country has incredible talents that attract and create content to raise awareness and make people laugh. The goal of what I do is to make people happy, smile and, at the end of the day, benefit from the message, better understand the problems around us.” Omar’s example of the importance of this is the magazine “Majed”. He says: “This magazine changed the way young people in the UAE see their country, they felt more proud and learned to respect their home and society. “We are seeing young teenagers abandoning these talents because it is a difficult market without solid support, but these teenagers need to fight against it, give their passion a chance and follow their dreams.”

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