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WarmBlue, the MENA-based collective all about nostalgia, coming-of-age, and growing up in our own ways. In celebration of the release of their 3rd (digital) issue, we sat with a bunch of our friends at WarmBlue to tell us all about the ins and outs of their craft, what adolescence means to them, and more!
Photo courtesy of Rawan.
Who is WarmBlue?
WarmBlue is a zine and art collective based in Riyadh, curated by a group of teens aiming to highlight MENA coming-of-age stories. WarmBlue started out as a zine to collab with just a few friends who want to work together on their artwork, but grew into a community of aspiring artists and writers who want to cultivate their passions and have their work seen. WarmBlue can be described in three words: fun, genuine, and nostalgic.
We’re so glad to feature your issue on the site! Going through its pages, we see that much of your aesthetics center around nostalgia, childhood, and coming-of-age. Who are the people behind WarmBlue and how do these themes reflect on them personally?
MAWADAH: We’re young artists, MENA teens, and friends experiencing the whirlwind of adolescence together; trying to make sense of it all and making art as we get through. Teenagehood is vibrant, endearing, but also very rough around the edges and you can see that in a lot of our content and, well, in us too.
LAYAL: For the lack of a better word, we’re all just a bunch of wallflowers who don’t necessarily want to fit into a certain category or standard, but would rather create a new narrative on the ups and downs of growing up. We express our ordinary selves through extraordinary art hoping that someone out there would find solace and comfort in our creation.
Photo courtesy of Rawan.
SARA AIJAZ: We’re really just people living individual lives, collaborating and sharing what we’re most passionate about: the arts. Every community bears a different experience for their youth to come to fruition (adulthood) within, and for us, our unique perspectives combined call for art we’re proud to create.
Photo courtesy of Dayyan.
Tell us all about your process! We know you usually opt for print issues, so how do you design, compile, and print your issues? How is it different this time now that you’ve chosen to publish digitally?
TALA: For the design process, we usually just discuss the theme with the WarmBlue team, and throughout the next few months, we’d all compile our artworks/creations. Not much has changed now that we decided to go digital. Most of the change has been in the design process: we now had to keep in mind that the zine will be shown on a screen, meaning that we had to keep the colors, text, and pictures as clear as possible.
MAWADAH: Our design process usually starts with picking a concept that's resonating with all of us at that moment, then we brainstorm specific spreads, and lastly work individually on artworks and writing pieces. After we've gathered enough content, both our own and from submissions, comes what I think is the most important part of the process: making very different things work together.
SARA AIJAZ: I personally am a bit curious to see whether this issue will reach an audience broader in magnitude when compared to the printed ones. As for the content itself, I think the art will transcend any difference in the method of publishing. I’m not expecting the experience of reading to feel any different, really.
We notice how you’ve utilized every talent to create this issue. What inspires you to create and what are your current obsessions?
LAYAL: It's expressing what I can’t put into words into art for me. To me, art is the only constant. The second I feel like I have writer’s block, I’ll put my pencil down and pick up my paintbrush and my feelings will flow out through my art. Also, to be able to put a smile on someone’s face when they see my work is what keeps me inspired to create. My current obsessions have been human body sketches, interior design mood boards, and iced matcha.
FARIDA: What inspires me to create is actually the aftermath of creating; seeing my thoughts and feelings in a physical project. Seeing it right there in front of me instead of my mind makes me believe that I’m actually capable of doing anything I feel like doing. My current obsessions are philosophy, techno, and novels that evoke deep conversations.
Photo courtesy of Rawan.
DAYYAN: I don't really have one set thing that inspires me all the time, but one of the biggest reasons behind anything I make is curiosity. Whether it's curiosity on how certain things are made or just wanting to see how an idea would play out. It’s also so interesting to me to see how differently an idea would be presented through different outlets. My current obsessions have been learning about different illustration styles, editorials, and oversized grandpa sweaters with weird designs.
Photo courtesy of Dayyan.
This issue’s theme is Limbo. How much have you grown since the inauguration of your first issue, and tell us how envisioned this one to be?
FARIDA: One thing about WarmBlue is that it’s in chronological order. When it first came out, the creators wanted to write about growing up while including themes of nostalgia, since they were experiencing that during their time in high school. The second issue came out with its own definition of the teenage experience, and now this issue includes our current climate of dealing with a pandemic-ridden world and coming-of-age. WarmBlue grows as the world changes. It’s inspired by real time, and it makes me more excited, because the future is so unpredictable, and I wonder what would come next for WarmBlue…
TALA: Looking back, the first issue feels so long ago. I have grown in the past few years in every way possible, and I’m so lucky to be a part of WarmBlue and watch it grow alongside me. This current issue was probably my favorite to work on, because I felt its themes have resonated with me the most. With the theme being Limbo, I envisioned this issue to be more raw; more realistic. I wanted it to capture the feeling of always being in an inglorious in-between. We wanted this one to have a higher contrast in colors as compared to the previous issues.
