the fun of the first time

Work was perfectly fine with my usual tools, paper, pen, computer, mouse. But neither just work nor routine methods are ever enough to keep the brain full or the mind at ease. I was dwelling on the idea of getting a graphic pad for sometime and bought it the first chance I got. The excitement of using this wonderful, high-tech and much loved by digital artists around the world, tool was so great, I couldn't wait to start scribbling. After a couple of days of playing with my new Wacom Intuos 5 Multi-touch and drawing leaves and flowers and lines not very different in form from a 3 year old who is learning to hold a crayon, I decided to do something more like a grown up. Without having the patience of going through the many instructions I quickly googled for an interesting reference picture and started with my first sketch. Drawing and discarding and drawing and discarding, I managed to gain control on my digital tools. Here is my first stint with the Intuos 5 Multi-touch.

Although this is a fairly basic portrait in a regular style, the process was so fun, I might end up ignoring other media for a long while now. Next on my mind is to explore various pen tips and brushes and develop a good rendering style. Discovering the possibilities of this new tool should be very enjoyable, but nothing can beat the fun of the first time. 

purana lamp-post

As I was driving home one evening, I saw an old dysfunctional street lamp tucked behind new shiny ones. One in many is always somehow left on the road when installing new ones, I don't know why. They just stand there doing nothing. I must've seen one of those a thousand times, but this time, it caught my attention, can't say why.

dialogue box animals

Getting bored isn't really too bad, well, when the result of scribbling in boredom is cute animal drawings. That is the fun of scribbling, lines-circles-rectangles-triangles-speech bubbles-rotating speech bubbles-distorted speech bubbles-animals! Just when you see something taking shape within those random strokes, there is this moment of joy and excitement and boredom suddenly disappears. Then you have a task at hand, mine, in this case, was drawing these baby animals out of speech bubbles. I call them Dialogue Box Animals. What are their dialogues, I haven't figured out yet. I am thinking of developing this into an interactive toy of some kind for my cute little nephew and nieces. Hopefully I'll figure out what exactly soon enough. Until then,  keep scribbling...

the frenchman who lost his heart

No I do not know any Frenchmen, in fact I have never known anyone but Indians. I think this thought is inspired from the movies I have been watching -- three movies in three days, coincidentally all three protagonists were deep, passionate, creative, sensitive and French! and the food shows I watch, where no one ever stops talking about French food and how they put love into everything, even in their cooking. Well, it is not a happy love story this one, but does it matter? Isn't one person loving better than no one being in love at all.

pretty little things - 3

A yacht is hardly a little thing, but pretty? oh yeah, mighty pretty. Okay so this one is not exactly sailing in placid water or under a clear sky, but a yacht is beautiful in any case. This is the third illustration in the series I started drawing sometime back. The first two can be found here and here. 

remote east

During a trip to the east, I saw these deserted railway platforms from the window of my train. It was unusual to see no one running with their luggage to jump on the train, no hustle-bustle of a busy station, no food stalls, no vendors selling beverages, toys, books, cards, or anything else, a characteristic feature of train journeys in India. These platforms were just slabs of concrete standing unsheltered next to the railway tracks. They belonged to the many small towns and villages of one of the most densely populated states in the country, but had no occupants to prove that. Through the old yellowish glasses of my window, these appeared to me like places from another age.

memories for life

One day I return home from work to find a surprise parcel from a friend - 40 miniature photo postcards he specially designed for each one in our group, the best moments picked up from our time together in college. Couldn't resist sharing them. Hrishikesh Shinde I cannot tell you how amazing the feeling was to see this wonderful gift :D How brilliant of you to use old memories to create a beautiful new one, to cherish for life...

I have to figure out a way, as amazing as these postcards, to display these in my home. It would be a shame if these had to lie in some dark corner of my cupboard or drawers, to be looked at only once in a long while.

See how tiny these wonderful postcards are.