My name is Louma El-Khoury. I am an independent illustrator who offers custom illustrations and art for licensing.
Drawing is my favorite thing to do, and I have been lucky enough to make it my career.
My specialty is fashion illustration and feminine art, however, I have created designs for various types of clients, from the baby and kid industry to automotive technologies. Besides drawing, I like to design products such as fashion accessories and journals, and my favorite are stationery products with fabric accents.
> My cities
I was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and I try to visit every summer to see my family and friends. Lebanon is a charming, small, chaotic country that has beautiful chains of mountains, and a long coast by the Mediterranean Sea. People are fun and friendly, and the Lebanese cuisine is to die for.
View from Beirut showing the Mediterranean Sea and the mountain snowcaps
View in Mount Lebanon showing a typical Lebanese village with red brick rooftops
I moved to Montreal in 1999 to study fashion design and I lived there for more than 10 happy years. One of the reasons why I chose Montreal is that English and French are equally spoken, and I preferred to study in French. The culture diversity is the most interesting thing about Montreal; it’s been so enriching for me to have friends from so many different places, cultures and backgrounds. It was especially fascinating to study fashion with them, and see how each student’s background and culture influenced their creations.
I also have a lot of Lebanese friends in Montreal, and beautiful memories. I love the ‘Québécois’ (Canadians from Quebec), their honesty and simplicity, and their accent in both English and French. I love the yearly events and festivals (Jazz Festival, Formula 1, Just for Laughs etc.), the artsy Montreal atmosphere and I am definitely a fan of the Quebec music.
Montreal downtown, in a freezing night of January (Minus 40ish C)
Now I live in Vancouver (BC) since January. I do miss Montreal a lot, but I am loving Vancouver and getting used to my new environment. I love the fact that the city is located by the ocean and surrounded with beautiful mountains; it reminds me of Lebanon.
> Working
I worked as a fashion designer for about 4 years, at In-Work Montreal, a private label fashion company. I also launched the company’s marketing department, became a pro in sweaters and knits, traveled all over Europe and spent way too many night hours on the phone with the offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan, solving design problems…
At Forecast Brands Inc., I designed at least 12 lines of bath and beauty products, cosmetics and accessories, as well as occasional stationery lines. Almost everything had to be mocked up at some point, and now I think I can mock up pretty much anything from beauty gift baskets to a complete stationery collection, including the shrink wrapping and all. I was also involved in marketing, and learned everything about product development, from the sketch on the paper to the actual product on the shelf. I like working for small sized companies because I get to be involved in many aspects of how they function, not only what I was hired to do.
After that, I was hired by a Montreal based company to design Paris Hilton’s first line of scrapbooking albums, launched last year in Anaheim (CA). This project was very challenging, very ‘glam’ and a lot of fun! It’s so rewarding to see a design that is completely and entirely invented by you, become real exactly as you drew it. I also created fashion DIY craft kits for girls.
One of the 12 albums designed for PH — the most classic album (this is entirely drawn on Illustrator btw :)
Paris Hilton holding that album at the Craft Expo in Anaheim, CA
I launched Pokidots! in February 2009. I offered graphic design and printing services to local (Montreal) companies, while preparing my portfolio for art licensing. Read more about my art licensing journey, and my first Surtex experience.
I love what I do and I am very proud of the evolution of my career (and Pokidots!) in the past 2 years. Every day is a great learning experience for me, in so many fields: design, illustration, research, business, marketing, software, sales, even blogging and networking. I am loving every minute of it.
> Besides work
I love summer outdoor activities: Biking, hiking, camping, swimming, canoeing, horseback riding, sitting at the park :)… Driving (+ unplanned road trips) and cooking are also on my list of favorite things to do.
Coffee makes life better, and the things that are important to me are family, and just being happy.☮








I am Louma El-Khoury and 










