Mayar Ghaly
Character Artist & Animator
El Wasta Card Game
I created characters for El Wasta card game."El Wasta" is arabic for nepotism. The action cards are five characters based in Saudi Arabia. Each character allows the player to demand coins, give away coins, miss turns or other. Characters are labelled "El-Cash" the rich guy, "El-Daboos" the spy, "El-Faza'a" the lawyer, "El-wasel" the well-connected and "El-hamoor" the stocks broker. I designed the characters and cards for the game as a commission.
Character line up, in their final card designs. I deliberately designed each card & character to have a colour scheme that stands out from the characters
ElCash - The Wealthy
ElDaboos - The Spy
ElFaza'a - The Lawyer
ElWasel - The Well-connected
ElHamoor - The Stocks Broker
Designed El Cash character, the wealthy man, who gets to influence other characters (players) with cash
Character concept sketches for El Cash
Colour Scheme Exploration
I created some exploration sketches for El Daboos - the spy character, then the client responded that they had a particular reference in mind they wanted me to use. I used this reference to make a few colour variations before we settled on the final version. El daboos can be paid to get another player in jail.
Like El Daboos - I started with some exploration sketches for El Faza'a - the lawyer character. The client then pointed out the direction they most preferred & I used it to create a few more variations for the ghutra (head wrap style). That's when I learned that the ghutra wrapig style & fabric could indicate a man's nationality within different gulf countries in the middle east. I also chose complementary colors for the character's design. El Faza'a character can defend another character's case & get a player who was stuck in the game's jail out
Sketched some quick concepts for El Wasel - the well connected character, then rendered the final version of the selected design. El Wasel can swap characters (cards) or provide cash to control the game
El Hamoor was designed as the stocks expert character. He knows how to influence the market & can control other character's (players) access to cash