HayaShahzad
visual artistillustratoranimator
A third-year National College of Arts student painting, illustrating and animating from Islamabad. Building images that ask you to pause.
A glimpse — recent paintings, illustrations and sketches by Haya Shahzad
i.artist statement
Hello, I’m Haya — a visual artist who’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.
Training in fine art at NCA, but the practice 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
Studio A wanted the inside of the space to feel like the work that happens there — soft, hand-made, alive. The brief was loose on purpose: a three-month summer residency, walls left to the artist's hand, with the only fixed point being the room's existing palette of warm pinks and parchment.
summer 2024
mural - 02
Pixel art — Khokakhola, Artkaaj & Paint Dialogues
Pixel art · social motion · character illustration
An ongoing run of pixel commissions for three studios — Khokakhola, the Artkaaj workshop, and the Paint Dialogues programme. The work moves between looping animations for social and static character pieces for campaigns, but the constraint is the same across all of it: characters that read at sixty-four pixels across and hold attention through compression, reposts, and thumbnail size.
2024–2025
pixel · motion - 03
Mercury Brito Co. — marker content
Content collaboration · illustration · video
An ongoing content collaboration with Mercury Brito Co. — pieces of art made on camera with their marker range, in a format the brand's channels could reshare. The work doubles as product demonstration and finished illustration: the markers are the subject, the drawing is the proof.
ongoing
illustration - 04
Muzz — ad storyboards
Storyboarding · drafting · narrative illustration
Muzz needed storyboards for an ad campaign — frame-by-frame visual drafts of each beat, shot direction, and on-camera action, ready for a production team to translate into film. The brief was less about look and more about clarity: a board the shoot could read without holding the script.
2025
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. — marker content collaboration
Content collaboration with the brand: pieces of art drawn on camera with their marker range, in a format their channels reshare.
2025
Muzz — ad storyboards
Drafted and drew frame-by-frame storyboards for the brand's ad campaign — composition, camera notes and on-screen action set beside each panel.
Education
currently (3rd year)
Bachelor of Fine Arts
National College of Arts (NCA), Rawalpindi campus. Starting sixth semester.
·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