Meet Concept Designer, Illustrator, and NFT Artist – Sammy Khalid

Born to a Sudanese father and a Filipino mother, Sammy Khalid is a concept designer, illustrator, and NFT artist who grew up in Dublin, Ireland. His mixed heritage may sound extremely complicated, however, simply put, his temperament is Sudanese, his traditional values are Filipino and his heart is Irish. Sammy’s interests reach far beyond concept designing and animation. He loves fitness and martial arts and is also extremely passionate about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and rock climbing. In addition to this, Sammy also likes philosophy, psychology, mythology, history, film, digital media, and storytelling. His desire to learn new things and to constantly challenge himself helps him to do better and excel in his field. Sammy primarily works in the entertainment industry, specifically film/TV and animation, and designs characters, sets, vehicles, and props. In addition to this, as an illustrator, he creates artwork for brands, games, and publications. Moreover, as an NFT artist, he creates personal artwork that he sells through digital ‘galleries’/platforms to collectors.

Sammy Khalid completed his BA degree in Animation from the University of Dundee, where his team’s student film titled ‘Shoot’ won multiple international awards including ‘Best Animation’ from the Silk Road film festival, and ‘Best Undergraduate Animation Film’ from the Royal Television Society of London and Ireland. In addition to this, Sammy has also been nominated for excellence in production design by the Art Directors Guild for his work in the hit TV show, Black Mirror. Sammy has even worked on some high-end projects like Disney’s Artemis Fowl, Netflix’s Eurovision, and Outside The Wire, and worked with some top companies such as Warner Bros, HBO, Riot Games, and Marvel. His artwork has been featured in international publications such as Paizo’s Pathfinder Series and Starfinder. 

Sammy states that his job has given him some amazing flexibility to work from anywhere in the world. He can focus on his work and career while spending some time traveling. He says that in 2019/2020 he spent the entire year traveling around the world with his fiancé. They lived in different cities (Bangkok, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, and Nha Trang to name a few) every couple of weeks. Learning about people and their cultures and living as the locals do is something that he thoroughly enjoys. Sammy absolutely loves the freedom of movement that his career allows him to have. He is not bound by the conventional 9 – 5 job but can work even while he is traveling. Last year Sammy challenged himself to create 365 paintings daily outside of his client work. Although this was extremely difficult, it was also very rewarding as it helped him grow his audience on Instagram from 600 to over 20000 in the span of a year. The massive Instagram following was also something that helped him score some great projects and gain success. After hitting the 10k mark, he did not need to look for clients, the clients just came to him. Sammy states that not a day goes by where he is not grateful for the chance to do what he loves.