W.I. Cricket World Cup Win!

After 33 years, the West Indies cricket team has won a World Cup at the T20 Cricket Finals against Sri Lanka! :D Wasn't our last world cup win in 1979? Anyway 2012 is really an amazing year !! :D

I edited a drawing I did in 2010 for this purpose. The following is the original drawing I did, which was for my good friend Amit. It was part of my One-A-Day Sketch Series. Possibly he also one of the few people who didn't get one of my flower drawings as their sketch. 

I wanted to continue with the flower stuff but it didn't seem fitting for Amit. He's such a guy with all of his interests in sports. Not only interested in them, but he is pretty decent at them. Especially at cricket. The flower idea seemed a bit too feminine and additionally it was a bit difficult drawing leaf hands holding a cricket bat.

As I told him, pretend the hot cheerleaders in 20-20 cricket were holding up the letters for his name at the stadium cheering him on.

Blue gloves because I believe it was his favourite colour and a West Indian helmet and test cricket attire because when he was finished with medicine and wanted a career change, it was for the WI he was going to be playing for.

I realise that of late I have been focusing more on some architectural pieces. Should I be trying my hand again at portraits of people?

Happy Independence Day T&T!

Independence Logo, Digital Art. © 2012 Shazanna Khan.

The day is finally here! Trinidad and Tobago is finally 50! Happy Independence Day everyone! 

Here's a little sketch of something that I was considering to expand on to submit for the 50th Anniversary Logo competition some time ago.

Graphic representation of the Steel Pan (National Instrument), Scarlet Ibis (One of the National Birds), Chaconia (National Flower) and sweet T&T. 

According to Kaiso/Calypsonian Brother Valentino in his 1986 song ("De Roaring 70's") "Trini have a funny way of forgetting/ Their history to them like it doh mean nothing."

I think that we have come a long way from then, but in order to move forward as a nation it is important that we remember our past so that we do not make the same mistakes again.

Be safe everyone and have a great day today with all the celebrations :)

About Trini-Google Doodle

Inspiration came for this as I played Google's very addictive Hurdle 2012 Doodle. Google has a rich history of including funny, quirky and very entertaining Doodles about famous artists, scientists, celebrations and important events in the world.


For some of us, it can be quite an education. Did you know that Bolivia's Independence Day was on August 6th?

More importantly, did you know that Jamaica also celebrated its own Independence on that same day?

Maybe Google was giving a shout-out to Jamaica with the Rastafarian colours?

A very historic occasion as well, because like Trinidad and Tobago, 2012 is the year that both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago celebrate 50 years of Independence. It made me wonder, would sweet T&T ever have its own Google Doodle? Especially on a momentous day as our 50th anniversary? As stated before, in a previous blog post, I have been feeling rather patriotic these days, so I started sketching while watching the Olympics.

Shame Fact: I had to google Google to remember the order of the colours of the logo.

The finished product:

Click Me!

Trinidad and Tobago over the years won medals at the Olympics in the fields of Weightlifting (3), Athletics (11) and Swimming (1).

Our first 3 medals that we ever won at the Olympic games were for Weightlifting by Rodney Wilkes (Silver-1948, Bronze-1952) and Lennox Kilgour (Bronze-1952), and our solo Swimming medal came from George Bovell III.

All our 15 medals are displayed in the logo and the sports we won them in.

In case you have not figured it out by now, there was no competition and this is not an official Google Logo. Just something for fun to inspire some Trini-Pride. Hope you got caught for a second and had a good laugh. :D

I have to give credit to my brother for creating the webpage and giving me that needed second opinion. It was a Khan collaboration, and I certainly could not have made this dream into a reality without him. The Google search bar actually works and if you click anywhere else, well give it a try and you'll see.

To my artist friends out there, if Google gave you an opportunity to design a Trinidadian Logo, what would you draw? Send me a link to your sketch so I can feature you in my blog.

Leave me a comment. I would love to hear what you think about my Logo :D and feel free to like/ share my blog to inspire some Trini-pride. #I4TANDT

Thank you for reading!

New Google Doodle!

As you know Google has been churning out fun and entertaining "Doodles" on its homepage for some time, and as the London 2012 Olympics continues on, they have certainly kept up tradition of having a new doodle everyday of the Olympics.


Just this week, Google hosted a competition, looking for new "Olympic-themed" doodles from around the world and I am excited to announce that MY Trinbagonian-inspired doodle got selected!!! :D

We're making history in 2012!

Here's a look at my (and now Google's new homepage) doodle:

Click Me to go to the Homepage!

Special mention to my brother for all his help in creating this! :D Stay tuned for more about my Trini Google Doodle!

Like and share if you're as excited about this as me!







EDIT: There really was no competition :(  But I did make this Trini-inspired Google doodle. Hope you guys had some laughs :)

You can still share if you want to surprise a friend, and remember to tweet #I4TANDT to support our future olympic national athletes.

Trini Pride!

I have been feeling a bit patriotic these days.

The Olympics is in the air. Trinidad and Tobago has not won a medal YET but I think that our athletes are doing a fantastic job.They really are putting their best feet forward (especially those sprinters ;D ).  EDIT: WE HAVE A MEDAL NOW!!! :D

 Nicki Minaj's "Pound The Alarm" video which was shot in my beautiful country was released a few days ago. In case you missed it, check out that steel pan in the intro. I just loved the clips of Trinidad in the beginning.

Also this year, Trinidad and Tobago is going to be celebrating 50 years of Independence.


It's always a nice time to be a Trini, so I decided to post up one of my Trini-inspired pieces.

Sometime in February, around Carnival, I was looking around for a Thank You card for one of my lecturers. Now I was having some difficulty finding the right card. To understand why, you need to understand the sort of person he is.

He is a foreigner, he taught me for 2 years and he was an exceptional teacher. He then became my Tutor for my Research Project, which was when I got to interact with him more. He was a man who truly cared for his students well-being which is something you rarely see at a tertiary level. I respected that, but what I respected the most was his work ethic and dedication to his job, how he lived away from home and family and still gave his job as a lecturer and as a medical professional his very best, his professionalism, and the calm and gentle manner in which he dealt with people regardless of the situation.

How could I give my mentor a $5.00 Thank You card after he inspired me to give my best in all my endeavours? That would have been blasphemy! Not that he would not have appreciated the thought anyway but I just could not do that.

We always joked that one day I would paint something for his house, so I decided that one day would be today and I set about making it. I wanted something to reflect Trinidad so he would always have a reminder. Hence the Steel Pan and Trini colours. Additionally as I said before, I did it around Carnival time, so I wanted something bold and very graphic

Photo of my Trini-inspired Thank You Card

I printed what I wanted to say on one side of a stiff sheet of paper. That would eventually become the inside of the Card when I folded it. I drew my sketch out after. Then I painted it on with acrylics, did some pen and ink details and added the silver and black ribbons (remnants of Christmas bows). To finish it off, I added the little crystals which I actually cut off from one of those sparkly carnival-like sticker tattoos. Great way to recycle and use up old tid-bits (especially a diamante sticker saying "Sexy". Who wears those things anyway?).

It was well-received. Perfect for a foreigner. If medical school doesn't work out, I think I'm going to try to give Hallmark some competition. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Also what's the most patriotic thing that you've ever made/done ?

Thank you for reading!