PUBLISHED
March 15, 2026
Artwork in Pakistan is shifting. Not is it about dusty galleries and oil portraits; it’s the time for glowing screens, a technology that is aware of mix the outdated with the brand new. They’re constructing their very own platforms, launching startups, and discovering their method right into a wider dialog.
One of many rising names on the scene is somebody who seems to be carrying many hats directly. Awais Shaukat, 21, is a multitalented, award-nominated visible artist who began his journey as a baby by making cartoons on paper utilizing a lead pencil. At 14 years of age, he was already doing digital illustrations, when not many Pakistanis knew about it.
Born within the small city of Bhawana, he later moved to Lahore to check on the Nationwide Faculty of Arts, nonetheless an undergraduate. Outdoors of his research, Awais co-founded Awartsy, a movie studio behind “Below the Blaze” with Rafhan Shaukat. He additionally established PakistaniArt, the nation’s first impartial artwork journal, to offer a platform for native artists, which has been freshly nominated for the World Startup Awards 2026.
Additionally, Awais is the primary Pakistani who ranked within the high 50 on Crunchbase, a enterprise listing, in September 2024.
His bio makes it clear that for him that is greater than a interest. However to grasp his work, it’s important to have a look at his experiences fastidiously. There’s all the time been a pleasant battle between conventional painters and digital artists who use a stylus. I requested him which aspect he’s on. What does he love extra, portray and digital artwork?
“Conventional work all the time has a special kind of really feel; each stroke places my feelings on canvas,” says Awais. “Portray is one thing that I simply selected final yr, and I really feel a sure peace in it. Additionally, for me, the expertise of seeing conventional work with my bare eyes is extra satisfying.
However now that I’ve been doing digital artwork for six to seven years, it is among the issues I’m doing most.”
To Awais, portray on canvas feels is mainly therapeutic. However digital artwork? That’s for the hustle. That’s the place the cash is at.
Proper now, digital illustration is blowing up in Pakistan. Simply examine Instagram or Behance, and also you’ll see tons of younger individuals doing it. It is smart as a result of it’s cheaper in the long term, as you don’t need to preserve shopping for expensive paints and canvases. However for many of them, it’s not nearly drawing nonetheless footage; they need to get into animation. That’s the true dream.
Awais has been working in animation too. “I’ve plenty of updates on the movie [Under the Blaze] that I’d like to share sooner or later, however I need to make clear that the movie is now on pause. I’ve so many issues on the aspect to do, particularly a full-time faculty routine, and price range points which have stored me caught on and off, so I’ve simply given it slightly break.”
Monetary constraints current challenges for artists in our nation. In contrast to within the West, there isn’t any availability of grants or simple funding for painters and indie filmmakers but. Even with these hurdles, artists do not cease however proceed to work to search out their very own path. No surprise they are saying that artists are a special breed.
The artwork popping out of Pakistan proper now’s a fusion of types. We are able to see the affect of the West mixing with our personal deep desi roots.
At this level, Awais feels his type continues to be evolving. “As I am nonetheless within the studying levels but, there could also be some growth after a while has handed,” he says. “My digital work displays a little bit of Japanese type, I feel, as a result of I adore it however together with some native impression. However in my conventional work like portray and drawing, I’ve a superb really feel for seen strokes and materials impression. I like to painting the native aspect in my work.”
This concept of Japanese type artwork blended with native influences really got here to mild in Pakistan when the 2024 launch of the Ghibli-inspired movie, The Glassworker, hit theaters.
“Once I drew cartoons as a baby, I dreamt of turning into a comic book e book artist and animator. I all the time felt like digital artwork was a superb match for me” says Awais. “I by no means thought I might be linked with the Effective Arts, however a time got here after I realised that I might study higher by means of the standard method of working, as you will need to know the fundamentals. So I joined the NCA for a bachelor’s in nice arts, and that turned out to be one of the best choice that I might take.”
How does he handle his time?
“Studying every part is one thing I like to do,” says Awais. “I’ve no particular routine, however I’m actually stretched skinny throughout many, many issues and that features full-time faculty routine, doing portray stuff there. “I prefer to make illustrations to put up on social media. All this doesn’t go away an excessive amount of time for my essential movie venture, so I simply paused that space for a bit.
Awais can also be engaged on growing an artwork journal on-line. “The journal which might be referred to as PakistaniArt might be a digital launch, and its web site is underneath building with the CEO of Bluelinks Company, and different group members. We plan to make it a digital area to showcase native hidden gems in addition to worldwide artists.”
Digital illustration is quickly gaining floor in Pakistan. A decade in the past, “graphic design” was largely confined to occasion posters, wedding ceremony invites, and primary brand work. At present, it has developed right into a dynamic, expansive business with rising inventive and business attain.
Fields like character design and app interfaces are rising extremely quick.
Web sites equivalent to Fiverr and Upwork have modified every part, making Pakistan a reliable office. Due to this “gig financial system,” our youth can earn cash in {dollars} with out ever leaving their bedrooms.
Whereas freelancing is widespread, creating authentic artwork is a more recent however trending observe. Manufacturers are hiring artists to create distinctive packaging as a substitute of utilizing boring and repeatedly used inventory photographs.
Nevertheless, that is the place issues get a bit sophisticated. If you examine Pakistan to the world’s greatest names, we’re in a really totally different place.
The Massive Gamers (the US, Japan, France) have had their industries for a very long time. For example, in Tokyo, Awais’s “Japanese type” would match proper into an enormous world of manga editors and anime studios. In Los Angeles, he might even get a authorities grant to make his movie.
India is forward of us in animation. For years, they’ve been working for Disney and Sony and have large studios that make use of 1000’s of individuals.
You may name Pakistani artists the “rising underdogs.” On a person stage, the expertise is simple. Artists primarily based listed below are contributing to world giants like Marvel and DC, in addition to main online game studios — typically working remotely from their very own properties.
What we’ve not but constructed, nevertheless, is a sustained studio tradition. There isn’t any native equal of Pixar — no large-scale institutional ecosystem that nurtures, funds, and amplifies this expertise underneath one roof.
In essence, Pakistan possesses world-class artists. What it lacks, for now, is infrastructure, and long-term techniques that may totally assist and showcase them at scale.
To dabble in digital artwork, all you really want is a laptop computer and a drawing pill and even an iPad to get going. The entire world is your market. You may stay in Lahore and promote your work to somebody in New York. Due to the web, it doesn’t matter the place you might be bodily. Like Awais who works on cartoons, nice artwork, and movies, you are able to do many issues. When you study digital artwork, it’s simple to modify between totally different jobs. You may design a personality for a online game in the future and a film poster the subsequent.
What we lack is the center layer of the business. At one finish, there isn’t any scarcity of proficient college students simply getting into the sphere. On the different, there are a handful of extremely expert professionals working on the high of their recreation. However between these two extremes lies a spot — a dearth of secure jobs, funding our bodies, companies, and representatives who can join artists to constant alternatives.
There’s additionally no standardisation. Charges range wildly. One artist might cost $50 for a brand, whereas one other prices $500 for comparable work. With out benchmarks or business pointers, each artists and shoppers are left navigating an uneven market.
One other problem is inventive possession. We have now develop into exceptionally good at executing different individuals’s concepts — contributing to worldwide franchises and outsourced initiatives — however we’ve invested far much less in growing our personal characters, comics, and animated worlds.
That’s the reason the work of artists like Awais Shaukat issues. He isn’t just producing artwork; he’s trying to construct mental property rooted in our personal tales and creativeness — one thing that actually belongs to us.
Hafsah Mazhar is a author and teaches at Lahore Grammar Faculty
All details and knowledge are the only duty of the author
