P L A N E T VII
A visual narrative of adventurer Omar Samra's expedition to Antarctica which started at the end of 2016 and ended in 2017. As he ventured to explore unclimbed peaks and uncharted routes, these posters were designed and illustrated daily based on updates received from Samra over a satellite phone. The challenge was to quickly come up with a visual idea that represents his adventure day to day, and have it finalised within a window of a few hours. Presented here are the various compositional sketches initially made before taking the idea to the computer for a final digital painting.
/01
A brief look at Omar's favourite pieces of gear as he packs to start his travel route
/02
After reaching the southernmost city of South America, The "Ilyushin" carried him to Antarctica
/03
It wasn't until Omar had arrived at Antarctica that he decided his destination: which mountain range to explore
/04
Soon after arriving at the camp, warm-up started with a 1410m high climb
/05
Preparation, preparation, preparation..
/06
This marked the day Omar made his very first "First Ascent";
climbing and setting foot on the peak of a mountain that has never been climbed before
After the project was over, an exhibition was held to showcase Omar's story, entitled "The Art of Exploration". In order to show the process I've gone through to draw each poster, I had repainted No.6 and recorded it as a sped-up video that was projected at the exhibition.
/07
Soon, a second peak followed
/08
By Christmas day already, four peaks have been reached against the harsh winds
/09
At this point, Omar was in need of a break, winding down after the many climbs achieved in just a few days. While the sun wouldn't
set during the time he was there, I thought I'd grant myself a bit of an artistic license and imagine a more fanciful view
/10
Back on track, new plans were still being made for what to explore next
/11
This peak was the last "First Ascent" of the trip. Omar had mentioned the difficulty
of that particularly steep climb and how much of a saviour were his crampons
/12
One of the privileges he was granted was naming the newly climbed mountains and new routes.
This was one of them, and tribute to home
/13
Homeward bound..
/14
The closing piece: paying tribute to his beloved family, he lent their names to the mountains
Thank you for watching
Over and out
Planet VII
