Beautiful Space Vacation prints celebrate fan-favorite films

I fell in love for the first time Samar Haddad fun yet sophisticated caricatures on Instagram, where she posts pop culture posters of her favorite TV and movies under the name “Space vacation.” Her exemplary cartooning skills allow her to expertly create a distinctive face with just a few lines, creating an instantly recognizable trademark. Her drawings are funny and strange; their color palettes are enviable.

You’ll see his illustrations scattered everywhere On the edge – most of the time, following our procedures and, sometimes, The Vergecast. I talked to her about drawing people without noses, where she finds inspiration, and how she makes time for art as a mom.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How did you start making pop culture prints?

I had been working in design at branding agencies for a few years and was stuck in a routine where I was always dictated by what the client wanted and never had a say in how projects ended. So, a friend of mine worked for a television production company and was looking for a collective of designers to create posters in whatever medium they wanted. I chose to illustrate several iconic cinema characters and combine them into a composition. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a project and I loved the freedom I had.

So, seeing as movies and series are what got me excited about illustrating, I continued with The Game of Thrones, the first illustrated poster I made for myself, and as I continued to create more posters based on the films and series I love, I launched the Space Vacation brand through my first exhibition in 2016 to showcase these prints. It’s been an exciting journey ever since.

What is it about movies that made you excited to become an illustrator? Any specific movies or shows?

I have always been more attracted to fiction and fantasy than reality. Being around films and series was like entering my own world. So paying homage to some of my favorite films or series happened naturally and I started designing posters with my own interpretation of them. I started with the films that most influenced me as a teenager, like Foreigner, The Breakfast Club, Star Wars… I feel very lucky to have grown up in such an exciting time for cinema.

How do you start a new project? Tell us about the process of creating a composition.

The process is the same for each project. I try to capture an idea or inspiration from everything I’ve watched recently; It could be a line from a movie or a scene that really stuck with me. I write and then come back (usually at night when everything calms down and I can focus without interruption). I develop this idea further by creating various vector elements, such as the main characters, the setting, and sometimes I integrate them with the typography. I go through many color schemes and compositional variations until I am satisfied with my progress. And I always work digitally. I feel like it allows me flexibility whenever I feel like starting over or changing elements to recreate them differently.

So you’re creating individual elements and then juxtaposing them into a composition?

Yes, I treat it like a collage. I loved making art collages as a hobby when I was in college, and I thought, why not apply the same treatment to illustrations? The process requires many attempts and alternatives, but in the end I find it very rewarding.

The faces you draw are so distinctive – you use just a few lines to immediately communicate a recognizable person. How did you find this style?

When I started drawing faces, I opted for a very geometric style. I experimented with making the characters recognizable through other distinctive aspects, such as a unique piece of clothing. But I found that this approach made the characters seem stiff and often similar. So I started to relax my style a little, making the lines more curved. I made the positioning and sizing of the facial elements more proportional to the actual character I was drawing. It was this mix that made the faces more recognizable, I think.

I have to ask: why don’t you draw noses on your characters? I love that detail and the fact that people are still so recognizable even without them. Was this a conscious choice?

Yes it was. I was inspired by anime characters and felt this allowed for greater focus on the eyes and mouth, which convey a wider range of emotions and expressions. The nose, a critical and refined feature, remains undefined to preserve the essence of the subject, capturing a deeper character that goes beyond mere physicality.

Do you approach editorial art and commissioned projects differently than the pop culture prints you make?

I treat self-initiated prints the same way I would commissioned projects. If I treated them differently, I would become too comfortable and they would become secondary. I wouldn’t want the result to not be as good as I would like because, at the end of the day, they are as vital and personal as my other work.

Do you still have time to draw “just for fun”?

It’s definitely gotten a lot more challenging since having a daughter, and spending time with her takes up most of my time. In my pre-child life, work always took over. Now it has changed drastically because I want to be present at all times, especially in the first years. But I try to make time for myself and creative play to keep fueling the spark and replenishing my inspiration.