Upon graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Omar Rayyan settled on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts with his wife Sheila.  The bucolic surroundings compliment and help inspire his "old world" aesthetic toward painting.  Although looking to the past for inspiration and guidance from the great oil painters of the Northern Renaissance and the Romantic and Symbolist painters of the 19th century, he has picked watercolor as his medium of choice.  Having created illustrations for many publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, and Hyperion/Disney, Omar's primary market is geared towards children's and young adult's magazine and books, doing cover and interior illustrations.  He has also illustrated several children's picture books. Other genres he has worked in include the gaming market, most notably for Magic: The Gathering, where he has done card art and concept work.  Omar was also among the talented artists who contributed concept art and created the look for the motion picture The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  In addition to his commercial work, Omar's most favorite body of work is not created for publishers, but just for show.  Paintings of whim and fantasy made to indulge his own personal tastes and humors and to hopefully entertain and please the viewing public. Omar has won a number of awards through the years.  On his shelf he has several of ASFA’s Chesley Awards, Silver and Gold Awards from the Spectrum Annual of Fantastic Art, and most recently he won IlluxCon’s Illie Award.

You can see his work on his website: studiorayyan.com and also his Facebook page: facebook.com/orayyan