The country piques his curiosity. The life, the culture all are alien to him. He looks at his surroundings - be it the desert or a shopping mall - with wonder. Hamdoon calls his grandfather, Bahelal, Yedhi (Arabic for grandfather) and his grandmother, Ummhelal, Yedha (Arabic for grandmother). What's more, Hamdoon is famous and has his own television show.
The animated character is already popular despite the fact that his show has yet to air. Titled Marhabassa in Arabic, the series will be aired in December (the channel is yet to be decided). It will also be dubbed into English as Hello Hamdoon.
"Marhabassa is Hamdoon's slogan, and it means most welcome in Arabic," says Hamdoon's creator Abdullah Mohammad Al Sharhan. "It is aimed to make him friendly and amiable so that the viewer takes an instant liking to him."
The adventures of Hamdoon and a few neighbours and his sister, who plays the moral police for him, form the crux of the story.
Says Al Sharhan, "He's looking at his surroundings from a young person's perspective. He's the first to wake up in the morning. He's always thinking of things to do and is constantly learning about his heritage." Each day there are new surprises and adventures in store for him.
Al Sharhan has incorporated the Japanese manga technique and the veteran Disney style (his personal favourite) in creating Hamdoon. The veteran Disney style is characterised by characters who have huge, expressive eyes.
Hamdoon has made appearances as a mascot for shows in the Dubai Shopping Festival, Qanat Al Qasba, Formula 1 races on Yas Island, the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) and several malls across the country. He's also been the inspiration for drawing sessions and kids' fun parties.
Art of the matter
An Emirati based in Ras Al Khaimah, Al Sharhan is a graduate of management and information systems from UAE University. He took to art at an early age and his first illustrations were reproductions of his favourite cartoons and TV shows.
Since few local institutions had courses in animation, he had to settle for fine arts. It was on a trip to the UK in 1998 that the magnitude of the cartoon industry dawned on him and he realised that there were many methods and techniques to animation. He studied books on this subject.
"I am the last of eight children in my family. All of us had an artistic [bent of mind] and I was inspired by the creations of my elder siblings. Once, my sister Manal won a toy as first prize at an art contest in school. That day, I realised that art can bring you material benefits too. This triggered my instinct to draw.
"Most people with inborn talent get busy over time and the art becomes sidelined. But I always knew that my career would be something that arose from this talent," says Al Sharhan.
"Creating cartoons requires an artistic skill, an eye for detail and a humorous streak." Luckily for Al Sharhan, those are three fronts on which he excels. "On seeing my work, my friends and relatives would constantly goad me to approach publications to get it printed. In 2002, finally I felt I was professional enough to introduce my cartoons to the world. I started with small cartoon strips. Then Al Khaleej contacted me to do a kids' page for them on a weekly basis. It was called Baraha (playground) and was based on the life of four kids in a neighbourhood." However, Baraha was discontinued, and Al Sharhan took up a job in an advertising firm. But he realised that the kids' page had fans as his co-workers would keep enquiring about Baraha. He then created a website called www.socoool.com to display his work.
Birth of Hamdoon
Al Sharhan always toyed with the idea of a national boy in national dress. The idea finally became a reality on April 15, 2005. (Yes, he remembers the date). Al Sharhan made the cartoon vibrant and colourful. He had big eyes, a cute nose and eyebrows which seemed to have a life of their own. Al Sharhan named it Hamdoon.
Hamdoon was lying in Al Sharhan's portfolio for a while as he didn't know what to do with the character. Then he noticed that his little sketch was appearing as stickers on cars! How it jumped from his personal website to bumper stickers on cars is still a mystery to him but it made him realise that the little boy had tremendous appeal.
He offered his cartoons to various publications but was not very lucky. Then one day in 2007, he got a call from the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH). It saw the prospect of Hamdoon being their official mascot to represent Islamic and Arabic culture and offered to produce a TV show based on him.
"When ADACH decides to sponsor an idea, certain standards have to be met. We made a brand for our cartoons called Socoool and we decided to make Hamdoon bigger and more dynamic," says Al Sharhan.
The same year, Al Sharhan set up a firm, Ajyaal Entertainment, and decided to promote Hamdoon inthe market.
Al Sharhan feels that the Emiratis took a liking to Hamdoon because they always needed a mascot to represent their culture and identity.
Since people had begun seeing him as an icon, it was time to channel that image into doing positive things and setting a good example.
Al Sharhan hopes Hamdoon will be a brand ambassador for the UAE and instil the good morals and virtues in children while retaining the fun element.
Awards galore
His drawing and animation skills have won him many awards including his favourite: the Penali awards he received at the Kanagawa Biennial International children's drawing competitions, Japan, in 1991 and 1996. "Most of the awards have been from the Middle East but the Penali was the first I received from abroad, so it gave me the satisfaction of being internationally acclaimed. I got a lot of appreciation from the local market because of that," he says.
Al Sharhan has a 4-year-old daughter, Khadija, and a 2-year-old son, Hamdan. He feels his son resembles his creation. "Some facial expressions and antics of the two are very similar and some of my sketches are inspired by Hamdan. Real-life characters always inspire my cartoons, though not deliberately. My friends claim they can find a lot of similarities between Hamdoon's grandfather and my dad," says Al Sharhan.
"My wife, Hind, supports me with her time and comments. She was very understanding when I quit my job to pursue animation full time. I am thankful to her for looking after the kids so well and sticking by me during my ups and downs."
Before getting into animation full time, Sharhan used to create designs for many corporate identities like Fares.net and Naeem Mall (Fares.net is based in Saudi Arabia and is one of the leading Arabic web networks; Naeem Mall is in Ras Al Khaimah.) He writes poems, stories and does illustrations for them. He also dabbles in music.
Concept of Socoool
Al Sharhan also has plans to revive Baraha and another project called Bubbles. (Bubbles is a concept Sharhan designed based on the Smiley in 2002. The idea was to create virtual images of bubbles with different emotions.)
"The concept of the Socoool brand is to improve the standards of cartoons and convey messages to kids in a more interesting and inspiring way.
"If I watched a cartoon now, I'd be known as the geek who still watches cartoons. That's the perception I want to change.
"I want my characters to spread messages of good behaviour and good morals in a cool way. I don't want it to be bound by age; it should be something the whole family can watch together."
His favourite cartoons are Captain Tsubasa (Japanese, based on football) and Smurfs. He is grateful to Freej (the 3D animation series) for creating an avenue for other cartoonists to display their skill.
"Before Freej, nobody [from the Arab world] could even dream of venturing into this business. But with its success, a lot of people have gained the courage to pursue this dream. But that said, Freej has also raised the bar for us and expectations are very high from Hamdoon," says Al Sharhan.
Future plans
Al Sharhan wants Socoool to become an international brand that can represent the Arab identity in the world market.
"Our children are very influenced by Western cartoons. Hopefully Hamdoon will reverse that concept and propagate the peaceful message of our values, traditions and culture," he says.
"I am really grateful to ADACH for making my ideas a reality and trying to make a difference to the next generation.
"I would like to thank everyone who is part of my team - Taha Al Mansoori, co-founder and business development manager of Ajyaal Entertainment; Marwan Al Marzooqi, another co-founder; Abdulaziz Al Muhairi, writer; Hend Abdulla, editor; Khulood Al Sharhan, artist; Maitha Al Khayath, senior editor and children's author and Hanan Al Shuweihi, our office assistant - for all of their hard work and their continued faith in me."
