Saturday, July 31, 2010

Sketchcrawl 2nd edition

This was my second sketchcrawl. The place and the company had changed from the previous one. This time, I was in Bangalore with the company of my friend Varun Dhanda. I love drawing old buildings. On the very famous Brigade road stands an old Opera house with its vintage memoirs. It had to be sketched and today was the day for it. There was a van that parked right in front while I was busy sketching. It delayed and frustrated me quite a bit. But, I was glad to have it in my sketch book. Who knows...in a few years, you may find a glass walled mall standing there. Reminds me of a line from this movie "Everything is illuminated" -
Lista: In case someone should come searching one day.
Alex: So they would have something to find.
Lista: No, it does not exist for you. You exist for it. You have come because it exists.

























Varun Dhanda













Somesh Kumar

We moved to St. Marks Road, where exists the old 'haunted house' in words of Varun. Two old ladies used to stay here who offered paino lessons. Sadly, they got murdered brutally and the case still remains unsolved. The place is falling apart with tree roots penetrating the yellow walls. An old hillman car body lies waiting in the porch. Their was new construction work going outside the house. Drawing this place felt really good. It was almost like conserving these stories before the dust settles down on them.





































Varun Dhanda













Somesh Kumar

After finishing the sketches, we had a nice lunch at "Ice n Spice" and decided to watch "Udaan". The movie was emotionally satisfying and complimented the day's end well.





Hoping to make this Bangalore sketching more of a weekly event.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Spinning wheel















I have been working on a very fat graphic novel and my mac with its humble 160 gb hard disk and 2 gb ram is now getting tired with the heavy illustrations and the indesign files. And, each time the rainbow wheel spins, I am on my toes. But, its sailing well.

Death is not justice.


















The new avatar initiative by poster for tomorrow for the theme of this year 'Death is not justice.' Download the logo, print it, shoot a photo of yourself holding it and put it up as your Facebook or twitter picture. Click here to download the logo.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Bandipur

It was midweek and the four of us, me, Roshan, Arpi and Ro packed our bags for Bandipur. Early morning 6:30, we got in the Innova and made a 5 hour journey to an escape from the view of tall and towering buildings. Bandipur reminded me of my mama's place near Nepal. It has the countryside view with a flowing elevations of small hills and a promise of silence kept at the end of the narrow road.


























































After unpacking, we all had a nice warm cup of tea and after Arpi's idea of playing Name, place, animal, thing met a dead end, we all started sketching. It was a strange moment, seeing everyone engrossed in drawing. I chose to draw the house, but the clouds started drizzling and I moved on to drawing people around.














The Night came with a few songs, conversations, filled up glasses, silence and my camera, we wrapped the summary of the night in this photograph.








































We had planned to get up early for a climb to the hill in front of the house. But, the rain was soaking the ground in its own pauses. I drew the front area of the house before everyone finally decided to just go for the climb.












































The climb got over pretty early to my expectations, It was a beautiful view from up there and the coconut trees planted near by looked like clones in Roshan's words. On the horizon there was a screen of raining clouds approaching. We hurried our way down for some breakfast. Cheese sandwiches and sausages literally drugged me and I was sitting in the enveloping arm chair for quite sometime. Though the football we had got with us and the challenges of the game got me out of the chair. ( We had to shoot the football into an old bucket, easy it may sound, but quite a challenge. ) Soon, it was the time for my first ever safari ride.



















































































































With the friendly gesture of Nanu Uncle of 'Tusker trails', we hopped in the jeep that took us into the green wraps of the Bandipur Jungle. It being a rainy day ending with a glitter of faint sunshine, only a few animals were visible in the bushes and trees around. Each one of us kept our eyes open for the slightest view of a striped orange skin or a noise of elephants plotting a chase on us. But, It wasn't the day of such delights. Never the less, a good ride through the jungle.














The 'Tusker trails' guys had a gathering of cats. There are supposed to be hundreds of them around.


















































The second night and the legend, Shivanna ( the care taker ) lit a fire for us. We sat around it, playing with the wonders of night photography and anticipating that a few elephants might show up in the late hours. Tired of the many activities during the day, we all went to our beds.
























































The morning was full of sunshine and I drew my last sketch there. Kicked the old football, packed our bags and left for the city-scape from the city-escape.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Look what I got.






















There are few things, that grab you when you see them for the first time. In short, Love at first sight. Bought this out of sheer love for the artists and the beautifully designed poster. Art Nouveau and its typography with elegant colour sense...this one had to be mine. Just don't ask me, how much I paid for this. Poster Artist : Bob Masse, see his work here - http://www.bmasse.com/

Saturday, July 10, 2010

White tea



















































































































Picked up this packet for its beautiful type work and elegant screen printing. The mild tones of colour here is such a relief to the eye caught up in the bright yellows and reds of a super market.
Cheers for the artworks of Clipper tea. Check there site - http://www.clipper-teas.com/

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Home and home again.











































Went home (Patna) for a week and Baba was also there. He likes to have his brunch and get a good nap. Drew him while he was at the end of his day's sleep. He changed direction quite often while sleeping and once said a few words in his sleep. In the night, when he is not able to sleep early as he finishes quite a bit of his sleeping quota in the day, he complains of mosquitoes biting him.















































I had to catch Rajdhani for my way back to Delhi. I was a bit early at the station. So, sketched the platform, a dog sitting nearby and a guy selling guavas. Railway platforms are quite a hunting ground for people who like to draw.








































My flight for Bangalore was at 9 in the morning and again I was early at the airport. There was this old lady alone, she was on a wheel chair. The airport guy accompanying her to the counter and check- in was in a bit of hurry. She wanted her handbag to be kept separately from the check in luggage. The guy is his hurry didn't wait to hear more of what she wanted. Silently, she murmured "Main toh kewal request kar sakti hu."( All I can do is, request others.)















After I was done with security check, I noticed this lady sitting alone with burka. When drawing her, she was a bit uneasy with me sketching her.











































This guy wanted me to sketch him. Finally, I did. Though, he was a bit upset of me not drawing his right hand. My justification with the logic of perspective didn't reach him. Have to email him this sketch.