HayaShahzad
visual artist·illustrator·animator
A National College of Arts student painting, illustrating and animating from Islamabad. Building images that ask you to pause.
i.artist statement
Hello, I’m Haya — a visual artistwho’s always ready to explore the raw, unscripted line. I like to move from digital to traditional surfaces with a spontaneity approach. I love creating vibrant, impactful work that resonates with immediacy and personal expression.
ii.practice
Four ways oflooking.
Trained in fine art at NCA, but the studio refuses to sit in one room. Brushes share the desk with the stylus and the pixel grid.
01
Fine art
Drawing, painting, mixed media — observed slowly, made by hand.
02
Illustration
Character art, editorial work, concept visuals for stories that don’t yet exist.
03
Design
Graphic design, branding, layouts — making marks legible and beloved.
04
Animation
2D animation and pixel motion graphics — frame by frame, with feeling.
iii.moving picture
The reel,frame by frame.
Pixel animations — loops, characters, and one commissioned spot. Made frame-by-frame in Aseprite and arranged in After Effects.
24fps · loop · muted
iv.selected works
Paintings,studies & illustrations.
A working selection — oils, digital paintings, and the sketchbook pages that come before everything else.
v.the studio book
Pages fromthe working book.
Five spreads pulled from the printed portfolio — cover to commissions. Click any plate to enlarge.
scroll · or arrows
vi.collaborations
Things madewith other people.
- 01
Studio A — interior mural
Concept · mural painting · color planning
Painted the interior walls of Studio A in a three-month summer residency. Large-scale visual designs tuned to the room’s theme and aesthetic — composed on paper, scaled to the wall, finished on a ladder.
summer 2024 · 3 months
mural - 02
Khokakhola & Artkaaj — pixel animations
Pixel art · social motion · animation loops
Animated pixel artworks for social media, then collaborated with Khokakhola and their workshop on a wider visual identity. Frame-by-frame loops, dialled-in palettes, characters that read at 64 pixels wide.
commissioned · 2024—25
pixel · motion - 03
Paint Dialogues — registration art
Character art · pixel illustration
Pixel art set for the Paint Dialogues programme — two characters at a desk, a tiny painting on display, a register-now invitation that didn’t need to shout to be heard.
commissioned · 2024
illustration
vii.credentials
A shortrecord.
Experience
2024 — present
Content Creation — independent
Digital illustration, pixel animations and editorial work shared across platforms. Versatile, spontaneous, and image-first.
summer 2024
Summer Intern · Studio A
Three-month residency assisting with studio projects, visual development and production workflows.
ongoing
Mercury Brito Co. — commissioned
Working illustrator on commissioned visual work — characters, layouts and animation deliverables for the brand.
Education
currently
Bachelor of Fine Arts
National College of Arts (NCA), Islamabad campus.
·skills · tools
Traditional & digital.
01Traditional
Paint, paper, pencil — the hand-made layer of the practice.
- oil painting
- acrylic
- watercolor
- charcoal
- drawing
- mixed media
- mural
- ink
02Digital · programs
Where animation, illustration and editorial work get made.
- Adobe Animateanimation
- Photoshoppaint · edit
- After Effectsmotion
- Illustratorvector
- Clip Studio Paintillustration
- Medibangillustration
- ProcreateiPad paint
- Asepritepixel art
viii.say hello
Have somethingthat needs making?
Commissions are open for fine art, illustration, design and pixel animation. Books and slow letters welcome too.
- instagram@hayartsanopen ↗
- studioIslamabad, Pakistan