Another one goes by.

A new year. A fresh start. New resolutions. Not sticking to them. New friends. Old friends. And the feeling of the new-ness disappearing creeping in. Yet again.

This year has been an amazing one for Lady GaGa and well... me, in a lot of strange, un-understandable reasons. Some of them, I wish to pen... err.. type down.

So here's to a year of:

Two lost pendrives.

Watching the world and work evolve.

Sorting good friends from better ones.

Not losing any. Any. ANY weight.

Drinking fruit beer straight from the packets.

A dying keyring. RIP.

Lost of books bought.

Loving living in a single hostel room.

More confusion regarding future post college.

Going down south and finally seeing a bit more of the country.

Trying to keep sanity intact. Trying hard.

LOVING ADIDAS.

Realizing fonts can fascinate.

Downloading A LOT of music.

Realising 'Happy Bunny' is my idol.

Hoarding sketchbooks and not knowing what to fill them up with.

Being a regular at picking up a copy of Rolling Stones magazine every month.

Getting to know what 'de-veining' prawns is about and realizing its an absolute bitch.

Flu and cold and cough and aching and fever. And trying out medicines and capsules of all dimensions.

Looking at people I knew and not recognizing them anymore.

Owning a pair of HOT patent sneakers.

Amassing more & more junk and finding absolutely no space for them to be kept.

Lady GaGa obsession.

Loving early morning gurudwara trips.

Knowing for sure people won't, JUST WON'T sit through a film's end credits in a theater even though they last merely five minutes.

I like my new bunny suit.

I like my new bunny suit.

I like my new bunny suit.

When I wear it I feel cute.

Realizing a whole freaking decade is over!

So well,

A SAXXY NEW YEAR TO ALL from me and the blog:)

P.S. - The illustration has me surrounded by medicines and little mucous-monsters:)

Illustraton Friday : Undone

After a long, long time, I update again. This time, for Illustrationfriday.

It was a secret plan. Rajat used to flee from the tea shop, where he used to lend a helping hand for a few rupees. Meeta, with her hair undone, away from the bucket and the broom. Sarita, who didn't like washing uensils at all, but had to would come along just as quickly. And the little stray pup wouldn't mind joining in for a little bit of fun. They used to play in the valley all evening till dark, leaving their odd jobs just how Meeta liked her hair as she chased the wind in the unending valley.

Have a lovely day:)

Scribblebook

A fancy little note book my friend gifted me once upon a time:)

I used it to fill it with stupid Maya software notes. And scribbles, and more.

Dipankar, a batchmate, longs for a kiss and admires his sexy, big lips as sultry Maya seduces him:D (bottom right)

And Ranjita, a PG batchmate of mine, sits on the computer with her lovely long locks serenading the chair she sets herself on.

And my unsuccessful attempts at getting used to a brush pen.

Life must go on. Mustn't it?

Float Continues...

Ugly grey softwares uninspire and life once more finds faith in a 6B pencil, a sketchbook and a plain set of watercolors:)

A sketch done at one such time.

Characters in Technicolor

Finally I managed to scan in the final scenarios of my character design course.

Heres some of them; most of them, actually..

The Tailor, Rajubhai, inspiration taken from real life characters of the same profession.

The Frog and the Nightingale, a poem by Vikram Seth.

Characters taken forward from the poem and visualized.

The 'Create-your-own-story', Character inspired from the helper in a nearby gurudwara.

Name - Satwinder Kaur

Age, 41

The setup.

The slip offs and professional clumsiness,

And the lousy lousy end:)

Do leave feedback!

Have a saxx day:)

Illustration Friday : Unbalanced

As would be slightly unclear, I'm still not sure who is more unbalanced, the woman or the weighing scale:)

Illustration Friday : Skinny 2

Ok. This might sound funny but when I was young (and small and much more innocent), I applied simple logic to a lot of things, including the meaning of the word 'skinny'. So off my mind went...

Skinny = Lots of skin = Fat

So here's to childhood, it's assumptions and the twisted language called English.

Do leave feedback:)

Illustration Friday : Skinny

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, quite some. Have been rather busy, or uninspired.

But the hostel dog(ess) Babita has finally delivered her new litter of puppies! The other day, she came running and all happy, and 'skinny' as hell. She has hidden the pups somewhere, probably doesn't want many people to know. She still is perpetually hungry, but less whiny:)

Everyone awaits seeing the pups as people have already started guessing their number and color!

So here's to another winter, another litter of puppies and another wave of joy to come:)

Illustration Friday : Flying

The hostel dog Babita is pregnant. Again; after quite a while though. She is generally in a good mood these days and slashes her tail at the sight of people, gets more food than usual and eats it all up, lazes around more often and looks like she's dreaming of flying away with her yet-to-come little ones. Her bump has grown and if you touch her belly, little things kick back. I generally pat her on the head while passing by. Can't wait for the new litter of pups to come. sigh.

Illustration Friday : Welcome

As I pass by the bakery on my way to the stationary store near my college, the chocolate tarts welcome me into their beautiful, ever so devilishly deelicious world.


And as often as I let it not tempt me, sometimes it just becomes an obligation to welcome the pretty little thing into my mouth.

To evil chocolate tarts and calories:)

Illustration Friday - Strong

After aaaages I finally get myself to work for Illustration Friday. This week's word - Strong.

She didn't look the kinds; but she actually was strong enough for the bullies around her to start begging for mercy.

Yo Girl Power!

Do leave feedback.

Have a great day!

Designing Characters 3

The last assignment was to come up with a little story of you own and shell out the character in it.
My story is about a 'sewadarni' (worker) in a gurudwara. Every morning she sweeps the whole gurudwara, though she isn't the best at her job. Or perhaps it is out of choice. She sweeps clumsily so people slip and fall. After all the chaos and giggling at it, she ends up landing on the area she had just swept and slips herself as the others have the last laugh. The character is still in its initial stages and a lot a lot a lot of work is left. Here are some early sketches and the basic model sheet.










Have a lovely day!

Designing Charaters - 'The Frog and the Nightingale' by Vikram Seth

For the second week of the course we were supposed to come up with a short story/poem that is character centric and had scope to be animated. After two days of juggling betweek Oscar Wilde's 'The Remarkable Rocket' and Vikram Seth's 'The Frog and the Nightingale' because I didn't want to work with a human character, I settled for the latter.

So I developed the characters in the poem over a week. I am still finalizing the geography of the characters and making the 'Bingle Bog' come alive. Anyway, here's the poem.

Once upon a time a frog
Croaked away in Bingle Bog
Every night from dusk to dawn
He croaked awn and awn and awn
Other creatures loathed his voice,
But, alas, they had no choice,
And the crass cacophony
Blared out from the sumac tree
At whose foot the frog each night
Minstrelled on till morning light

Neither stones nor prayers nor sticks.
Insults or complaints or bricks
Stilled the frogs determination
To display his heart's elation.
But one night a nightingale
In the moonlight cold and pale
Perched upon the sumac tree
Casting forth her melody
Dumbstruck sat the gaping frog
And the whole admiring bog
Stared towards the sumac, rapt,
And, when she had ended, clapped.

Ducks had swum and herons waded
To her as she serenaded
And a solitary loon
Wept, beneath the summer moon.
Toads and teals and tiddlers, captured
By her voice, cheered on, enraptured:
“Bravo!” “Too divine!” “Encore!”
So the nightingale once more,
Quite unused to such applause,
Sang till dawn without a pause.

Next night when the Nightingale
Shook her head and twitched her tail,
Closed an eye and fluffed a wing
And had cleared her throat to sing
She was startled by a croak.
“Sorry – was that you who spoke?”
She enquired when the frog
Hopped towards her from the bog.
“Yes,” the frog replied. “You see,
I'm the frog who owns this tree
In this bog I've long been known
For my splendid baritone
And, of course, I wield my pen
For Bog Trumpet now and then”

“Did you… did you like my song?”
“Not too bad – but far too long.
The technique was fine of course,
But it lacked a certain force”.
“Oh!” the nightingale confessed.
Greatly flattered and impressed
That a critic of such note
Had discussed her art and throat:
“I don't think the song's divine.
But – oh, well – at least it's mine”.

“That's not much to boast about”.
Said the heartless frog. “Without
Proper training such as I-
And few others can supply.
You'll remain a mere beginner.
But with me you'll be a winner”
“Dearest frog”, the nightingale
Breathed: “This is a fairy tale –
And you are Mozart in disguise
Come to earth before my eyes”.

“Well I charge a modest fee.”
“Oh!” “But it won't hurt, you'll see”
Now the nightingale inspired,
Flushed with confidence, and fired
With both art and adoration,
Sang – and was a huge sensation.
Animals for miles around
Flocked towards the magic sound,
And the frog with great precision
Counted heads and charged admission.

Though next morning it was raining,
He began her vocal training.
“But I can't sing in this weather”
“Come my dear – we'll sing together.
Just put on your scarf and sash,
Koo-oh-ah! ko-ash! ko-ash!”
So the frog and nightingale
Journeyed up and down the scale
For six hours, till she was shivering
and her voice was hoarse and quivering.

Though subdued and sleep deprived,
In the night her throat revived,
And the sumac tree was bowed,
With a breathless, titled crowd:
Owl of Sandwich, Duck of Kent,
Mallard and Milady Trent,
Martin Cardinal Mephisto,
And the Coot of Monte Cristo,
Ladies with tiaras glittering
In the interval sat twittering –
And the frog observed them glitter
With a joy both sweet and bitter.

Every day the frog who'd sold her
Songs for silver tried to scold her:
“You must practice even longer
Till your voice, like mine grows stronger.
In the second song last night
You got nervous in mid-flight.
And, my dear, lay on more trills:
Audiences enjoy such frills.
You must make your public happier:
Give them something sharper snappier.
We must aim for better billings.
You still owe me sixty shillings.”

Day by day the nightingale
Grew more sorrowful and pale.
Night on night her tired song
Zipped and trilled and bounced along,
Till the birds and beasts grew tired
At a voice so uninspired
And the ticket office gross
Crashed, and she grew more morose -
For her ears were now addicted
To applause quite unrestricted,
And to sing into the night
All alone gave no delight.

Now the frog puffed up with rage.
“Brainless bird – you're on the stage –
Use your wits and follow fashion.
Puff your lungs out with your passion.”
Trembling, terrified to fail,
Blind with tears, the nightingale
Heard him out in silence, tried,
Puffed up, burst a vein, and died.

Said the frog: “I tried to teach her,
But she was a stupid creature –
Far too nervous, far too tense.
Far too prone to influence.
Well, poor bird – she should have known
That your song must be your own.
That's why I sing with panache:
“Koo-oh-ah! ko-ash! ko-ash!”
And the foghorn of the frog
Blared unrivalled through the bog.

And here's the characters...

I finalized the one in purple.

Do leave feedback:)

P.S. - I am sliiightly partial towards the frog.

Designing Characters - Tailor

Wow. I'm updating after ages. Have been very very busy with my course on Character Design that lasted three weeks. Got a lot of work done and that makes me feel less useless:)
The first week we were supposed to go to different tailors; sketch, study how they work and almost everything about from how they are and what you think they are capable of. Based on those sketches and a number of body structures that we worked on, we finalized one of the structures that would suit the profession. So here are the model sheets and some situation sketches of the same. More to come. Soon:)

My tailor's initial structure. Didn't quite fit the profession, I guess. Hence got chucked.


Tailor naked model sheet. Well, almost naked.


Basic Character Model sheet.


Some expressions...


Other action explorations...







And some situation drawings of him at his workplace.
Hope you like it. Do leave feedback.
Have a byootiful day:)

This little friend has not been updated because of a nasty fever, cough, cold and a terribly busy course. Hence no new post for a long long time. Apologies from my side:(

Update will happen. Soon.

Louwe:)

Scripting My Way Through

This is an illustration done for a class assignment during Visual Scripting where we had to choose a passage from the book and make a collage/ poster/ illustration on it. This is the passage from Khalid Housseini's 'The Kite Runner' in which the main character, Amir's first book gets published and a while later he gets a call from Pakistan in the latter part of the book. Interestingly, this marks the beginning of the character finally stepping up to anything. The text in the illustration are the last words of Rahim Khan on the phone call.

Here it is...

“You look pale,” Soraya repeated, placing the stack of papers on the table.
“I have to go to Pakistan.”
She stood up now. “Pakistan?”
“Rahim Khan is very sick.” A fist clenched inside me with those words.
“Kaka’s old business partner?” She’d never met Rahim Khan, but I had told her about him. I nodded.
“Oh’” she said. “I’m so sorry, Amir.”
“We used to be close.” I said, “When I was a kid, he was the first grown up I ever thought of as a friend.” I pictured him and Baba drinking tea in Baba’s study, then smoking near the window, a sweetbrier scented breeze blowing from the garden and bending the twin columns of smoke.
“I remember you telling me that,” Soraya said. She paused, “How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know. He wants to see me.”
“Is it…”
“Yes, it’s safe. I’ll be all right Soraya.” It was the question she’d wanted to ask all along- fifteen years of marriage had turned us into mind readers. “I’m going to go for a walk.”
“Should I go with you?”
“Nay, I’d rather be alone.”

Have a good day!

Do leave feedback:)

The. Heat. Is. Killing. Me.

Winter. come. stick to me.

Illustration Friday : Shaky - A Tribute to Puppy Love

All of us go through this, right?

When a girl passes by, with her beautiful hair sashaying behind her, you legs can't help but get shaky. lol.

ball point pen,watercolor and paper stump on cartridge.

Do leave feedback!

Have a lovely day:)

The Fluoroscent Love Clone Affair Stamp.

I always had a thing for bright and neon and fluorescence. But recently it's just taking over. These be evidences. And then the clone stamp in Photoshop. I think its an affair. Or a fling. Well, I'm not quite sure.


My faculty.
Original Name : Dhiman Sengupta


The nympho and the takers.


Well, Lady GaGa influences. Hence the 'Disco Stick'.

All sketches done during class.
Fluorescent on newsprint.
Do leave feedback:)

Illustration Friday : Drifting

'Time passes, as I keep drifting.'

A sketch in watercolor on cartridge paper.

Do leave feedback:)

Illustration Friday - Unfold

I always found origami very fascinating. I tried hard but could never figure it out. One of the ways I thought I could get it right was by 'unfold'ing the whole structure, but by the time I would, it seemed impossible to get it back to what it was!

Though I was successful in getting the origami swan back to the sheet of paper...err... well, almost.

Sigh.

That Old Sketchbook.

Funny how as we grow up, we change. Our eating habits change (in my case, they just grow), our lifestyles change and so does our choice of music. Well, so much for thinking I was over the Black Eyed Peas. Their much much anticipated album, the E.N.D. is finally out and I'm already weak in the knees. I don't know how they do it, but I'm addicted. So I look back at these sketches I did a seemingly long long while back. These were album covers I wanted to 'draw' for their albums, Monkey Business and their latest yet-to-come-out-at-that-time album, the E.N.D. and I pictured how I wanted them to look. Now that I look at them, I can find a gazillion flaws in them, some very very unacceptable, but I love them for the love I made them with. Brimming with nostalgia as summer vacations get over, I pack my world to take back to college for yet another expectantly eventful year waiting ahead.

Illustration Friday : Craving

OK. Finally an Illustration Friday topic where I instantaneously think of what I'm going to use. Yes, I am craving for a huge, luscious, creamy, beautiful, godly slice of wonderful wonderful cheesecake!
Any will do, lemon, blueberry, mango, cherry, mocha, kiwi or more!
So, any givers?

The one above is the version that I drew recently, the bottom one being an old drawing:)