Jamel Akib was born in Leigh-on-sea, Essex in 1965 to mixed English and Malaysian parentage. He moved to Sabah, North Borneo at the age of five and returned to England in 1978 and gained a BA honours Degree in Illustration in 1989. He now lives in Salisbury with his wife and two boys. He began working for the Observer newspaper while still a student at art college, and has since become an award-winning artist involved in many exhibitions and commissions. Jamel has illustrated the covers for three booker prize finalists.
Jamel’s paintings and drawings have a vigour about them and convey movement, whether it is a portrait of a dancer, a musician or a wild animal or bird. The initial exploratory strokes are often left on the paper or board, and the portrait grows from these marks – the result is invariably painterly and full of energy. He has an instinctive and natural flair for knowing when things look ‘right’, and right they do – beautiful and expressive mark-making moulded into a masterful portrait that really breathes life.
His client list includes the following:
National Geographic
Square Mile magazine
Therapy Today magazine
S.M Newmark Advertising
Lee & Low Books
International Bar Association
SAVI Training Partners
Patriot Technologies
Ocean Media Group
Insurance Times
Practical Law Company
Oxford University Press
Mortgage Banking Magazine
The Independent
The Observer
The Sunday Telegraph
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Sterling Publishing
Economist
Frankfurter Allgemeine
DHL