Illustration Friday: Climbing

....Life is all about climbing till you reach thirty and get hanged by the noose of marriage and other possible predicaments...then is downward slide...At late twenties this all I could conclude, people might differ with me but that's ok :)

Illustration Friday: Pale

If somebody made me pale in my life every time I managed to encounter him in the worst of situations is, my father !!!! Never could convince him with any of my lies or rather truth which he thought is also a bunch of lies!!! After all he is my father...who would know me better than him !!!

Untitled Posts

Just felt like scribbling and these are the outcome !!

Few days with an orange sketchbook

.....rubberband sketchbook, few days of nothingness, just observe and draw !!!

Train Journeys

....Stolen phone, humming AC, luggage, blue curtains, empty stations of Madhya Pradesh, sleepy and snoring passengers..etc etc that's what my train journeys were this winter back home.

Mystic souls : The Fakirs

....they thrive on opium and weed , that's what they refer to as Lord Shiva's prashad . They chant, they sing and they foresees us, lesser mortals. Each one of them have distinct characteristics. They are the " Fakirs " of Bengal . The time spent amongst them was not only exciting but also got to know about hard facts of life. Once again truly a reel material. A visit to Shantiniketan after ten years is worth cherishing these facets of the place.

The Songs of Wandering Souls : Bauls

....they sing the most romantic,authentic, soulful songs about life. They live on high spirits when they sing ( in literal sense )....they shout out the truth. They are the wandering souls called the "bauls". I was fortunate to be amidst them for 5 days and study their gestures and characters. I wish I had a camera , amazing reel material I must say.

Tagore's Abode of Peace : "Shantiniketan"

Nature has always attracted me more than any object of study....perhaps to rejuvenate the love , the trip to Shantiniketan was necessary and I enjoyed every bit of it's grandeur....the smell of the dry grass, the whistling sound of the grasshopper, the palm trees, the faint sound of the tribal drums everything just lured me to go on and on...but i had to stop somewhere...the big city beckoned me once again !!

Way down the red soil of Birbhum

Stepped out of the hustle-bustle of the city, sat under the clear blue sky and sketched "mother" nature on paper. A good way to end the year....

Nandi

Illustratiosn Friday: Clandestine

Perhaps we really don't know what goes in secrecy at the unearthly hours of the underworld :)

Illustration Friday :Rambunctious

Nothing can be as Rambunctious as a raging bull !!!

Illustration Friday : Similar

Mama Chicken is confused!!! all her chicks look similar :) I wish animals can call their young ones by names.A little late entry for this weeks topic.

Illustration Friday : Balloon ( Homage to The Indian heroes)

Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Its a Shame!!!! not only to the city which gave me my first payment cheque to survive my livelihood but also to my motherland where I first saw the light of life 27 years back. When Dylan wrote the song he seemed to be a foreseer...each one of the word was screaming in my ears with each hour passing by in helplessness in the Mumbai Carnage.Do we really need this anymore??....nobody knows the answer!!!!How much will a city or rather a country will show resilience.And why do we need to be resilient on what cost.The incompetent octogenarian politicians really doesn't deserve any support from the civilian.Why do we Vote ??? to elect whom???Why are our heroes the commandos not armed with abled ammunition to fight the terrorist??? All these questions pour in the mind space as I keep hearing this song.I'm tired!! sad but still hopeful.

As a Homage to the heroes who sacrificed their lives to save us, lesser mortals and hundreds of people who lost their lives in the massacre, this post is for them. I SALUTE our ARMY/NSG and RAF. I end this with the rest of the song which are equally meaningful at this situation.

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Illustration Friday :Opinion

Every human being has their own opinion so as drunkards !!! :)

Ode to the Engineers of the world

This cartoon was made quite sometime back as a card for an engineer friend of mine...really cant understand that profession..too technical for me...or rather I'm technophobic..perhaps that's why ended up studying something like Design or Art....(no offense to the engineer folks ).

Illustration Friday : Pretend

The Croc' pretends to sleep in the early morning sunlight as the Crane does ballet on it ...Another entry to Illustration Friday.Enjoyed lighting the entire sketch. Good fun!!

Silhouttes

Few horses discovered from one of my old sketch book...

Sleep

A sketch done while traveling...then played round with it digitally.

Illustration Friday: Wise

My 2nd entry for Illustration Friday...this week's topic Wise....I think it cant be "Wiser" than this Alpine Ibex...they sit for hours like the wise hermits who spend their lifetime away from the materialistic world !! Perhaps its just my thought. Enjoyed doing this scratchy sketch in Coral Painter.

Illustration Friday : Vacant

It's a quick illustration done for the Site Illustration Friday...the Topic for this week is Vacant...so here it goes...

Yet again...just for kicks

nothing much to say about this... u can replay it here .

I draw therefore I'm

Was fiddling around with my stylus...and this what it ended up to be...


"Spec"-ulations....started drawing this while traveling in a 14hrs late train....thanks to Indian Railway which made me do this :)

Just for kicks

Did it just for kicks......was real gud fun ...play it back here !!

http://artpad.art.com/?k9iml51ib1ek

Randomness is fine

Playing with some virtual colours.... too much fun !!!

Still burns bright

Randomness with one of my favourite animal....tried to simplify the form

Around the World in 80 days retold by Scholastic, India

An illustration for all time classic Jules Verne's Around the world in 80 days for Scholastic.

The Frog Prince : Retold by Scholastic

These two were done for the evergreen "Frog Prince" story in the similar style as the Stork and the Fox. They belong to the same book so the similarity of style.

The Landlord : Russian Folk tale

Two illustration options for a Russian folk tale. I preferred the one on the left because of it cold look....and the earthy feel...but a kid's book perhaps demands something else..may be more vibrant like the first one....

The rest two....

The Fox and the Stork

These are illustrations for a chapter of a children's book for Scholastic India pvt.ltd
Pencil colour effect isn't that bad in Coral Painter x.Liked the scratchy effect!!!

Nameless face

Just random scribbling with my new Intuos 3 wacom tablet. Nothing specific...

"To learn and never be filled, is wisdom; to teach and never be weary, is love"

"Those have torches will pass them onto others" that's what Plato said ages ago. Recently I'm keeping myself busy in teaching young hearts and minds back in my Alma mater. I consider myself lucky to be called by the institute which not only grew on me but also helped me grow as an artist who practise design.
The following course was design drawing for animation where we practice various possibilities of drawing using various mediums. Its difficult to teach drawing because I think drawing naturally comes to some people but some needs rigorous practice to reach a point of proficiency. I tried various exercises to make the students comfortable with mediums and also to get rid of the " white paper syndrome" , which I have seen over the years where people are very scared to start drawing on white / blank sheet. The Class consisted of twelve enthusiastic students. " They were open to learn new things" . These r few of their best works.

Name of Students/ Animators :
Jasjyot Singh Hans
Kabini Amin
Smitha s
Lavanya Naidu
Dinesh
Kaveri G
Avirup basu
Ankita
Arka Gupta
Dipankar Sengupta
Shravan
Pallavi Verma