The Nizwa Fort graphic is one of the most successful and most awarded pieces that we produced for Times of Oman and Al Shabiba. After our success with the Bullfighting graphic (2010), this was the next big thing for the infographics team led by Antonio Farach and creative directed by Adonis Durado with illustrator Winie Ariany and me as the Senior illustrator.
A UNESCO heritage site and one of the grandest structures to behold in Oman. It was a natural decision to choose this fortress as our subject for the obvious reason that it holds a treasure trove of information. To understand the fort, we had to visit it ourselves and interview a number of people. We explored every corner of this building and took photos and videos for documentation.
During the process of working on the graphics, my key role was to bring to life the soldiers and enemies. I had to digitally paint every single one of them because a 3D render looks too flat, unlike the castle (rendered by Antonio Farach). Once the spread was finished in English, the next challenge was to translate everything in Arabic and carefully flip the page in the opposite direction.
Published: November 15, 2011
Awards:
Gold medal, 11th Asian media Awards (WAN IFRA)
Silver medal, Malofiej Infographic Awards
Awards of Excellence, SND 33
________________________________
The English version, published by the Times of Oman (below).
The Arabic version, published by Al Shabiba (below).
Below is the initial version of the fort with the pole, but later on, was omitted.
Below, another detail shows the soldiers and enemies in action.
Below, another soldier shows a weapon.
Below is another detail of an enemy falling on one of the traps in the fort.
