character designs for book

I was working as a freelance artist for book illustrations. The client required me to create 8 fictional characters for his book. I explored several shapes for the character designs before approving the final 8 below.

I see people, I sketch. It helps when they sit since they are less likely to move around. Here are some live gesture drawings of people around me.

I boarded a little something on the recent Surgical attacks phenomenon that took the nation by storm. Our PM earned some real brownie points by coming up with the phenomenal idea, undertaken successfully by our super jawaans. So based on the information available through the internet, articles and news, I have tried to imagine how the attack may have actually taken place. Let me also add that this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

                                                                                                        Just Can't get enough of you, Goa 💛

Brittona lake

Maad

People and Places

Sketching crowds of people is something I really enjoy, whether at restaurants, airports, cafes and of course the Mumbai local trains. So many people with different characters, expressions and moods. I'm sure people get pretty scandalised with me staring right at them. But more often than not, I get away with it. Every now and then, I tend to associate faces of people that I sketch with someone I already know or some character from a movie. Like this lady seated at the airport. Doesn't she remind you of Amy Farrahfowler from the Big Bang theory?

Bus ride

coffee shop

Mumbai local

            Another thumbnail study of one of the cooler scenes from Kung fu panda 2. Po's dream sequence where he gets beaten up by the radish, who does kung fu too. Oops, have I said too much :O Still this sequence is worth a watch for those who haven't already.                                    
                                                                       

So for the past 1 year, I've been working on a show called Eena Meena Deeka. The show is a slapstick comedy series which essentially tells the story of a constant chase between a cunning hungry fox and three chicks Eena, Meena and Deeka. The perennially hungry fox is forever on the prowl for these chicks who are always at the ready to foil his plan and out-fox him.  Every failure goads the angry but determined fox to devise even more cunning plans to outwit them in every passing episode, which usually ends up being a wild-chick chase. Here are two sequences that I boarded on from the series.

                                        

How great are the new Mickey mouse shorts....Watch one....Sketch Sketch...Repeat!!

As Ganesh chaturthi festivities are on the go, here are some studies from one of my favourite Mickey mouse shorts, Mumbai madness.  A new and unique depiction of Lord Ganesha with the Mumbai city as a backdrop. I so did not see the twist coming at the end. Do watch it if you haven't seen it already.

Blast from the past...Rajasthan diaries. As I was getting ready to discard my old sketchbook and go for a new one, I stumbled upon these early sketches. I still remember getting out early morning, sketching for a bit and then coming back immensely hungry to a satisfactory breakfast. Made me feel like I'd earned that meal.  A little bit of  touch up make up, and they were good to go :D

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

A palace gate, Jaipur

Composition sketches

Trying to capture the busy streets of Amchi Mumbai with it's never ending traffic, complete with BST buses, auto rickshaws and two wheelers. So I went down and made some quick thumbnails and then cleaned them out a bit. Finding a comfortable spot to sit and sketch is a task for live sketching. Thanks to the mosquitoes, my quick sketches became that much more quicker :p

I just came back from a short but long overdue vacation from Goa, which also happens to be my hometown. I've been wanting to just go out and sketch and paint since forever, but grownup stuff always kept coming in the way. I also realized that waiting for someone to give you company only delays work further. So I set out on my own, (which is a huge achievement by the way) and came across  these beautiful scapes.I have stayed in Goa for 16 long years, but there is so much I don't know. Well like they say, better late than never :)