Ulti Chhatri: February 2013

Hola!
A late update, I admit. But I've got tonnes to share.
The post-convocation feeling is sinking in, and the fact that we're not students and we must act all proper and professional. Graduation was 5 days of haze, fun & family pride and my parents got me the best present ever, a glorious macbook pro :) Meanwhile, here's an even more glorious picture of me right after my elegant convocation red carpet stage walk that my mum, who is a rather enthusiastic novice photographer, captured right in time.

Manta Ray is finally out with their first ever digital anthology Mixtape. It's four short stories in four extremely different styles. I teamed up with Tina Thomas for a 10 pager, 'Beloved'. When I first read the story, I was baffled, because the pace of the story was slow, something I had never handled before. The characters were so real, like any of us. And there was a Scooty & railway stations (lots of that) to be drawn! But as we went along, I felt I got more and more acquainted with the characters themselves. And they got more and more acquainted with my brush pen! Here is some of the early character design sketchery. Since I had never done an entire comic in brush, it took me time to have the characters look uniform throughout. So mostly I'd draw out a bunch of faces that I thought felt more like the character, and we'd select one. Then I'd draw it over and over to get used to it.

Some page thumbnails, lined up to see how the story flowed.

Below is how the first page of the comic took shape: From the thumbnail, to the final pencil, ink and color corrected.

And below is how the cover image progressed. I wanted the image to represent a subtle moment in the relationship of the two characters; something that showed the characters in an innocent moment of being with each other. I proposed this visual, and it seemed to fit; thus going on to become the final cover!

All in all, it was so much fun to work on this. As is with most things I collaborate with Manta Ray on :) More on other three kickass stories here.
Mixtape is available for only INR 55/ $ 0.99 HERE! Get yourself a copy, and do spread the word!

Next up, another 'The Small Picture' comic with Pratheek Thomas on 'Hole In The Wall', a small cafe that we all love in Bangalore. For this, I wanted the line work to be super smooth, and maybe even a bit toony, and though it took me a lot of time for this, I was happy with the way it came out (That guy with the afro is having so much fun, right?) and we made it just in time for a killer deadline. This was a part of The Small Picture first seen in print in the Mint daily on 9th January, 2013.

The Chumbak people have been having more fun than ever. And when they say they're coming out with a calendar, be sure it's an entire year of a riot of color-filled joy. I worked on two months for ze calendar, April & October. For April, we went on a 'School's out!' theme. Of summer, Gola/chuski walas, and those adorable runts that never seem to run out of energy! PUPPIES! :)

For October, we went all-out Bengal :) That time of the year when festivities are beginning, and every other day is a celebration of something or the other. Since I was fortunate enough to be in Kolkata for Durga Pujo (which is absolutely CRAZY awesome), I decided to make a bold Durga for the month.

The Chumbak 2013 calendar is highly recommended, and is guaranteed to put that smile back on your face, month after month all throughout the year! And did I mention it looks gorgeous in print? Get yourself one, HERE.

I couldn't stop myself after finishing Obscenities, so here comes another (NSFW) sketchbook filled with more emo music lyrics & more naked-ness. You're likely to recognize lyrics by Alt-J, Lana Del Rey, Black Keys, The XX, Vampire Weekend, Rihanna, Florence+The Machine, Two Door Cinema Club, Robyn and more. I could draw to music forever. Tools: Pentel brushpens, highlighters by the dozen, Tombow ABTs on old, tattered checkered notebook.

This delirious, fun-sleazy illustration for a new year's greeting for Kitty Su, a discotheque at the Lalit hotel in Delhi. They wanted to give their fictional character Kitty-Su life again on the greeting card, and it was awesome fun to work on this. (Thanks Surabhi! :D)

An Illustration for Four Media's newly launched digital mag 'Parfum Plus' Chanel No. 5 feature. I worked on a limited palette with this (which isn't something I'm very used to) and worked on a simple, almost vector-y illustration. It's a pity I wasn't sent a bottle of Chanel No. 5 as a sample though :P

I have been drooling over eBoy for ages now (I miiiight soon be able to afford a bunch of their posters & jigsaws), so I finally started working on some pixel art. And though this comes nothing remotely close to the awesomeness that sparked this off and may not even be correct in the traditional (what a paradox) way of doing pixel art, this was a rough & humble start.

And since I've been here at Sabyasachi, I thought it'd be fun to work on some of their body-cons in 8-bit! So here goes :D

This was a series of illustrations done after getting briefed on a new collection concept 'Rainwashed' by boss dearest, Sabyasachi himself. The idea was to work on some concept visuals to set the mood, spark off ideas that the design team could take forward for developing color swatches, garment silhouettes, etc. And it was SO much fun to do :) Drippy inky goodness!

They even got their 5 seconds of fame in THIS video interview (if you skip to 8:08, though I do recommend you watch the whole interview) :)

Annnd, the Sabyasachi guest blog for Vogue.in! He has been guest blogging for an entire month, and I had the wonderful, wonderful opportunity to work with him on the layout, illustrations and carousel GIFs for all of the entries. GIF ❤! It's also great to see the response! It was such a pleasant change to see people accept the idea of fashion illustration up on the Vogue header, instead of airbrushed models! One such love-byte at the Asian Fashion Journal.
The first entry, here & the promotional gif in all its rose-blinking glory HERE :D

These were the illustrations for the first entry, based on garments I loved from his various collections over the past ten years.

And A sleepy Sabya!

We worked on the second entry, Sabyasachi's Feminist Manifesto, at the fag end of the day, staring at the computer screen when this took shape. Although I'm sure he had everything in his head planned just the way it was to be. It was great to sit over a mutton quiche and talk about tiramisu (sadly there wasn't any there!) This entry got crazy amounts of attention, and I heard Aishwarya Rai called boss herself to tell her she loved it! This was the GIF for this blog post and it was so so so much fun to do :D

Translated for the Vogue header carousel. Who would have thought Vogue.in headers ever would have a big woman in a Sabya 2011 bib dress eating cake!? Glee :D