How My Illustration Style Has Evolved.

I remember when I was in the first year of university I wanted to make my mum’s friend a greeting card to say thank you for making me my favourite food, and I made this little greeting card with a cute girl character on it. She loved it so much that she kept it on her fridge all the time, and every time I saw her she would go on about how cute and amazing it was. That moment stuck with me. Since then, I started to draw these characters — a girl and a boy — who gradually became a signature part of my illustration style.

Even though I studied interior design, which had nothing to do with illustration, I kept making greeting cards on the side. I enjoyed it so much that I began selling them at art fairs in Dubai. I still remember one of those art fairs vividly — the organiser, a kind Dutch woman, came up to me with tears welling up in her eyes. She told me how much my cards meant to her, how deeply she resonated with them. That moment of connection — of someone seeing something in my art that touched them — was such a powerful encouragement for me to keep going.

One summer, I didn’t travel back home — I stayed in the dorms by myself while my roommate left. I spent that whole summer mostly in my room, drawing and making hand-drawn greeting cards, each one an original that I would later sell at the market. I even tried printing on mugs, built a little website — I was experimenting and seeing how far I could take this.

Fast forward to 2020, during the pandemic, my art shifted again. I started creating very detailed black-and-white illustrations. They were almost meditative — every line was drawn with such precision and perfectionism that hours would pass without me noticing. For a few years, I really thought: This is it. This is my style. My signature.

But then I started experimenting again. I played with looser, minimal lines — just simple characters, two dots for eyes, a little curve for a mouth. To my surprise, when I posted them on Instagram, people responded with so much love. They told me how expressive those simple faces were, how much emotion they carried despite being so minimal. And in that moment, I let go of the idea that my detailed work had to define me. I ditched the heavy detail and embraced the loose, expressive line work.

Since then, I’ve been developing a loose, expressive style — constantly pushing and refining it. What I’ve come to realize is that my art, much like myself, is always evolving. And that’s not a weakness — it’s a strength. Every phase, from playful greeting cards to intricate black-and-white illustrations, has been a stepping stone leading to where I am today.

Now I know that style isn’t fixed — it’s something you keep sharpening and reshaping, again and again. And I know this isn’t the end of the journey; my style will keep shifting. But what I want now is to take this loose, minimal look and make it truly mine. I want it to feel so distinct that the moment someone sees one of my illustrations, they know it’s mine.

But how do you know when you’ve really found your style — when you’ve reached that place where you’re genuinely happy with it? For me, it’s when the work flows naturally, when I feel at home in it, yet it still pushes me to explore, to experiment, and to keep making my style stronger and bolder.

Thank you for reading — I hope it inspires you to keep exploring and shaping a style that feels true to you.

Saba x