SAM NASSOUR

The Syrian artist tells Gary Evans why it’s important to learn the art rules, then break those rules and find your own voice

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Sam Nassour always wanted to work in animation, but Syria didn’t have any good animation schools, so he studied architecture. Sam learned the rules of perspective and the principles of universal design – he liked how architecture combined the laws of science and the basics of art.

As a student, Sam worked in a graphic design studio, and the studio owner taught him Photoshop. Sam learned the dos and don’ts of creating advertising graphics on a computer before he actually owned a computer. His studies took him to Rome, where architecture played by different rules, had different principles, a city in which architecture really felt inseparable from art.

Sam continued working on his own character designs and story ideas, but was no closer finding work in animation. He got his big chance in the United Arab Emirates: opportunity finally came knocking… and it found the artist in his beach shorts.

Sam is speaking to us from Finland. Earlier this year, he joined Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish company behind Angry Birds. He was in London before this, and Dubai before that. It’s been an eventful career, in which Sam seems to have diligently learned the rules of his various artistic pursuits, just so he can break them.