Mojtaba Heidarpanah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mojtaba Heidarpanah
|
|
|---|---|
| مجتبی حیدرپناه | |
 |
|
| Born | April 6, 1990 |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Education | Yazd University |
| Style |
|
Mojtaba Heidarpanah (Persian: مجتبی حیدرپناه) is an Iranian artist born on April 6, 1990, in Abadeh. He is well-known for his amazing cartoons, illustrations, and animations. He also works as a painter and character designer.
Mojtaba is famous for his cartoon series called "Riot Police." A piece from this collection, "The Thinker," won third place in the 37th Aydin Dogan Cartoon Competition. His digital artwork "Bending Streetlight" also became a very popular meme online starting in 2019.
Early Life and Art
Mojtaba was born in Abadeh, a city in Iran. He is the sixth child of Gholam Hossein Heidarpanah, who was a master woodcarver. Growing up, Mojtaba discovered cartoons by reading the Golagha weekly newspaper. He started drawing on his own and quickly showed talent.
He won his first cartoon award in 2007 at the Fars Provincial Cartoon Festival. Later, he studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Yazd University.
Mojtaba's Career
Mojtaba began his art career as a cartoonist in 2008. He shared his drawings online to get feedback from other artists and improve his skills. In 2010, he won a major award at the International Cartoon Festival in Iran.
Over the years, he has won many awards at cartoon festivals around the world. These awards came from countries like Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Slovakia, Serbia, and Turkey.
Mojtaba believes that cartoons are a powerful way to communicate. He enjoys "the power of conveying the meaning to the audience... to make them think within a single frame." He sees cartoons as a way to talk to people globally, even without knowing their languages. He has worked as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator for important newspapers and magazines in Iran.
The "Bending Streetlight" Meme
In 2019, Mojtaba shared his digital artwork "Bending Streetlight" on Instagram. This cartoon shows a streetlight bending its light away from someone looking at a smartphone. Instead, the light shines on another person who is reading a book.
This image quickly became very popular online. Its unique and funny idea resonated with many people. It spread rapidly across different meme websites. The "Bending Streetlight" became a symbol of unexpected or surreal humor in internet culture.
Awards and Recognition
Mojtaba Heidarpanah has received many awards for his artistic work:
- Special diploma at the International Cartoon Festival of Jiaxing, China (2010)
- First Prize at the First International Cartoon Festival of North Khorasan, Iran (2010)
- Third Prize at the 11th International Cartoon Competition in SOKOBANJA, Serbia (2012)
- Special Prize at the 45th International Cartoon Competition in Umoristi a Marostica, Italy (2013)
- Special Diploma at the 6th International Cartoon Contest UrziceiI, Romania (2013)
- Special Prize at the 30th International Cartoon Competition in Aydin Dogan, Turkey (2013)
- Second Prize at the 20th International Visual Arts Festival for Young Artists, Iran (2013)
- First Prize at the 2nd International Contest of Social Illustrations, Argentina (2013)
- Second Prize at the 31st International Cartoon Competition in Aydin Dogan (2014)
- Special Prize at the 8th International Cartoon Contest, Mexico (2016)
- Special Prize of the 8th "La Ciudad de las" International cartoon festival (2016)
- Special Prize Of "ACCES" Association of the HumoDeva (2015)
- Special Prize International Competition Brain Sneezing Slovakia (2016)
- Special Prize of XXIV International Festival of Satire and Humor (2016)
- Finalist of The International Cartoon Kid Contest, Italy (2016)
- Third Prize International Cartoon Festival Olense Kartoenale, Belgium (2016)
- Special Prize of the 43rd International Festival of Caricature and Cartoon Piracicaba (2016)
- Golden prize of the 41st International Cartoon Festival LIE Championship, Italy (2017)
- Honorable Mention Award of Equal Rights and Gender Equality International Cartoon Contest (2019-2020)
- Second Prize at the 28th International Satire and Humor Festival City of Trento in Italy (2020)
- Second prize at the 5th International Cartoon Contest Animalcartoon in Serbia (2020)
