A native of Peru, Luis Chumpitaz lives in Dubai, creating graphics in both English and Arabic. He works with a translator — Spanish to Arabic, Arabic to Spanish.
What’s more, he and his staff create each graphic in two ways, reading left to right in English and then, right to left in Arabic.
“Though I am working in a Muslim country,” said Chumpitaz, “we have mostly English-speaking readers. We make the graphic in English first. The challenge is to also distribute the graphic in Arabic.”
But perhaps the most impressive act of translation happens when Chumpitaz introduces a staff of journalists who are most comfortable working with words to new forms of illustration and art, sometimes in the styles of the old masters.
Chumpitaz directs a staff of seven designers at Arab Media Group (AMG), a graphics service for three newspapers in the United Arab Emirates.
In this edited interview, he shares the process for a big project last year, a series of 36 graphics for the Olympics that was a first for an Arabic paper. The beautifully illustrated graphics were created largely by artists who had never painted before.
Sara Dickenson Quinn: Can you tell me how your graphics series came together for the Olympics coverage? Put together, the 36 graphics made up a flag with the Olympic rings, right?
Luis Chumpitaz: Yes. Initially, we thought about doing the graphic as a double page spread, to show all of the sports. This was the first time that the Arabic paper had interest in the Olympic sports. There are few participants from the Mideast.
As I prepared the presentation to the editors, I tried to anticipate all of the questions they might have. I knew that the government has a lot of interest in improving tourism to our region. And, the Olympic games are transmitted by television groups in our area, for the English community.
There was some hesitation, because the editors weren’t sure who the audience would be. For example, there is no real interest in cycling in Dubai, because of the environment. Perhaps indoor cycling, but that might be it.
But I made the point that these graphics could be used in all of the Arabic schools, as big posters or such.
We like to do things in a big way. We decided to print 36 pages in a pullout section.
How large is the flag once it’s put together?
Chumpitaz: It’s around five by two meters, once it’s all connected.
How long did this project take? What was your process like?
Chumpitaz: We were involved for about four months. The Arabic style of art, historically, is very simple -– simple tools, calligraphy, etc. Minimalistic color.
One alternative, at first, was to do the graphic in 3D style. A great deal of advertisement design in Dubai is high-tech, using 3D. They have the best advertising agencies.
To make our work stand out, we decided to return to basics –- to return to a Renaissance style. We thought, if we could turn to the style of the Masters, it would have great impact. The designers loved this idea. And the editors were very happy.
This involved many different artists, right?
Chumpitaz: Yes. Many of the people who worked on the project were afraid to use watercolors, at first. … They felt that they weren’t ready to make the illustrations that way. The watercolors themselves seemed too complex.
So, instead, we used tea.
You used tea as the colorant?
Chumpitaz: Yes. I decided to prepare a sample painting for them, using my cup of tea. The next day everyone then brought a different kind of tea. In Arabic places, there are different brands, different qualities and intensive colors in tea. We had all of the Pantone (color palette) in tea.
So, you had blues and reds?
Chumpitaz: For the rings, I tried to find other colorant -– natural pigments. Things that are used for tattoos, and things that are used in pies and cakes, food colorants.
What was it about the watercolor that people didn’t want to use? Watercolor in a tube.
Chumpitaz: Just the fact that the pigments were prepared. When I arrived with my Rembrandt colors, they said, “Oh, no. Those are only for artists, not for me.” So using the natural colorant made them less nervous.
How large were the paintings made?
Chumpitaz: They were done actual size.
Since the work was split up between many people, how did one person know what the other person was doing?
Chumpitaz: I made the basic sketch for all of the pieces. There were six persons. As the individual artists worked on the pieces, there were natural differences between them. When I connected all of the pieces, I made adjustments so that it all worked together.
What was your reference for the athletes, the swimmer, for example?
Chumpitaz: We found reference from agencies, all of the pictures from the previous Olympics -– the winners, the competitions. Sometimes, I used a model for the sketches, a friend.
