MixedMediaMusings

Ah! Technology...

2011-10-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

working with clunky computers is no fun. :(

Hell hath no...

2011-09-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Nothing more ferocious than a pissed off woman, yes?
Unfortunately, I just had to face a kick-in-the-gut kind of heartache. Normally I'm one of the more peaceful people around and the women I draw are the gentle, flower wearing, beach loving kinds. But nothing like having someone scorn you to bring out the inner Kali faced-skull wearing-Imma eat soup from your severed head-breed of anger.

Im really enjoying this linocut esque style right now. Mostly because slowly scratching away all the lines and negative spaces while listening to Susheela Raman's version of 'Voodoo chile' is great, great catharsis for this sad heart.

And a film was born

2011-09-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

Finally, as promised, my classroom project is up.

Ive been typing out the official synopsis of this film so often, that I dont feel like doing it again here. So all I'll say is that this is sorta my love letter to the sea.

Also I made this comic below during the last few days that I was finishing up my film (this was in April)

Click to enlarge please

And as cliched as I think the whole my-film-is my baby line is, making one from scratch sure felt like one. Though of course, my knowledge about birthing babies is limited to... well... that it happens!

I hope you enjoy and please do leave feedback!

That beachy feeling

2011-09-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

So it hit me again. I want, no, NEED to go to the beach. Anyone who even vaguely knows me, will tell you that I find the sea and beach mesmerising. Though I dont know why Im getting sudden pangs. Maybe because Avirup has been talking about a trip to Diu a lot lately.
Maybe its because of these moody rains that wont let up.
Or my rainy mood that wont either...
Also Ive been thinking of my classroom project again (Im uploading it, I promise!), so I guess thats where the imagery comes from.

And yes, thank you Nandini for kicking my ass a little and getting me to do this!

Tried the whole photoshop brushes jazz, though I must admit I half assed my way through the backgrounds :P

Dancing queen

2011-06-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

The original one.

Meant to draw it as a foil to natraja's more aggressive force, and while the figure of natrani does exist I wont say that my drawing is an accurate representation of her.

I drew it at a time when my body was complaining that I wasn't dancing enough. I guess thats why it took me months to finish this, since she kept reminding me of what I was missing. Maybe now that the painting is done I'll move a little bit more.

Micron pen and inks on cartridge.

Baby, baby, quite contrary...

2011-04-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

A few friends and I went to watch the movie 'Rango' yesterday, and the enjoyable experience of watching a nice movie and a wonderfully air conditioned hall on a hot summer afternoon was some what marred by a three year old and his (obnoxious) parent sitting in front of us. The kid spent half of the movie asking his dad what was happening on screen and the rest staring at us and chanting 'popcorn! popcorn!'
This comic was somewhat prompted by that incident, my inability/refusal to deal with kids and Gala Darling's post on the subject.
Now to tell my mum about my future (non) family plans. Soon.
Please click to enlarge.

P.S. sorry about crappy scan quality, it was a rush job on the insti scanner.

Illustration friday : Bottled

2011-04-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Charu and I were roommates last year. I made this drawing then of the collection of various bottles we had on the floor in a very dorm-DIY-esque instalation. What my mum called junk when she came visiting, we called 'art' (ok, so we never called it anything, but 'art' is a nice name for the proof of our drinking habit! )

Illustration Friday : warning

2011-03-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

My mum was always warning me that if I din't drink my milk everyday, I'd be a bad girl.

On a side note though, parents are funny creatures. They warn us about the most inane things in the hopes that we dont become bad/dead people, like drink your milk, eat your food, dont be fat, look both ways before crossing the road, dont get tattoos etc etc. So much so that they forget to warn us about the things that really mke us bad. I dont think I've ever heard a parent say "dont do that, thats a bad life decision!"...nope, not ever.

watercolours and pencil colours on paper.

scribble.sleep.not.colour.juice

2011-02-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

I normally write a little something below each of my posts, but for this one, I can't think.

Mostly because this was one of things that I just saw in my head (while I was 'working'), and then drew out.

Twisted sleep cycles and work stress is doing strange things to me.

Digital scratch to finish. (Ideally I would have drawn the woman in inks.)

Flavoured Foto

2010-12-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

Fresh flowers and herbs hand picked from the deciduous forests of a summer holiday frozen into a delicious happy memory.

Lip smacking, finger tingling, flavourful.

Best served with a side of chocolate.

An addictive song churned into the flavour of the moment.

You will be coming back for seconds, and thirds, just like a good love song.

IF: sneaky

2010-11-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Coco thinks she's being damn sneaky when shes about to attack her bone. Like a jungle cat (dog?).
I don't have the heart to tell her its only made of felt and pollyfill. Don't want to take away her doggie dreams.

watercolours and dry pastels on cartridge paper.

t-shirt and genes

2010-11-09T01:44:00.000-08:00

Family has this way of ribbing you into giving them free stuff. And you can never really say no to them.

In this case it was more like family and extended family (well, they are actually friends, but when people are this close to you, 'friends' just doesn't explain it) who wanted me to make a t-shirt for them.

First a little background story:

Back in the 70's a group of groovy young lads decided to make the banyan tree near the Mangalore lighthouse their chill out spot where they escaped the prying eyes of their college padris and small town Managlore to smoke some cigarettes, drink a few beers and make merry.

They thus came to be known as as the Lighthouse boys or the LH gang.

These LH boys till date remain the best of friends and will still act like a bunch of crazy 18 year olds whenever they meet up.

One of them, is my father and the rest my father's closest friends (or my closest friend's fathers if you look at it that way).

Anyways, last summer a couple of these friends of mine and I decided to paint a wall in Mahim, Mumbai (as part of the wall project) as a dedication to their legacy of merrymaking.

(Oh! and in case you're wondering what that bacardi-esque bat is doing there, just ask your self, 'what could be their favourite drink?')

And they had been asking me to make a t-shirt graphic for them for a really long time. And since I was still quite high on the excitement of painting a wall, I converted that image into a T-shirt.

The ever responsible Jason was entrusted with the task of getting the t-shirts printed in time for all of us to wear for our next get-together. He and I spent a few days fighting over the phone over number of colours, image size, printing techniques etc etc ( Producers, no matter who they are, will always give you a hard time!!)

finally after reducing the colours to a miserable eight.

Here's me wonderfully modelling the printed t-shirt for you :P

And here are the original LH boys wearing them.

Yes, these are adults, with families and jobs !! But they happen to be the craziest/funniest/funnest bunch of people I know. And I know all of us kids can only wish to have this kind of enthusiasm for life when we are 50+
But with t-shirts and genes like these, i know we will.
:D

Of lesser evils

2010-10-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

Of course, I already was an addict...

further and beyond...

2010-10-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

A friend recently asked me to make some illustrations for cards that would capture the spirit of his new venture. And venture be true, he started ' Further & Beyond' (link here ) and I can only describe it as a travel/road tripping/adventure seeking/ nomadic attempt at life.

these were some of the illus. I came up with. The first one was just something I tried out, and I was a little excited about this one since it was a collage after a very very long time, but unfortunately they weren't too keen.

these were the ones they finally used. the bikes were hand drawn with a crow quill (my new favourite drawing tool) and back grounds were done digitally.

Happy Birthday Sister

2010-08-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

To my leetill sister...
who refuses to act her age :P
Happy 20th!
many many hearts and sparkly whees'

please click to enlarge and do leave comments.

digital, my first screwing around with different layer options on PS

rainy day blahs

2010-08-04T04:17:00.000-07:00

she liked to sit at coffee shops until they begged her to leave.
its funny, she dint scream, throw tantrums
and neither was she a painful customer
maybe they were discomforted by the storm cloud around her head.

*painted version coming soon, please do look out for it.
ball point pen and inks on cartridge paper

Illustration friday: Double

2010-07-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

ah well.... happened during a recent trip to Pondicherry with friends. kinda self explanatory.

exept maybe why i was wearing a snow cap in the middle of summer in the indian tropics. But thats another story.

Illustration Friday: Brave

2010-03-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

Even if they denied you everything,

tied you up, gagged you.

Told you

that

nothing was possible.

I'd say

the stars are calling.

Reach out.

Be BRAVE.

Artists Trading Cards

2010-03-07T11:24:00.001-08:00

A bunch of people have started the trend (or are trying to start the trend) of artist trading cards (ACTs) in college. I think its a great initiative. you scribble out something, anything, no pressures on a business card sized paper. Scan it. Send it to the guys incharge of putting it here- http://atc-nid.blogspot.com and Ta-Da! then of course you can trade it with fellow ATC makers.

Only wish it wasnt restricted to NIDians.

shiny-happy

2010-03-06T03:36:00.000-08:00

Have been way waay waaaaaay too busy the past couple of months. Managed to find something nice enough to upload after the whole RGB-SAC-claymation craziness.

Something I made during my happy summer trip to Padubidri, a small coastal town a little north of Mangalore.

Cheers to drunken drawing!

Ink, stickers and pen on paper

bug-bugs-bugger-dont bug yaa

2009-12-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

I've been on an insect trip lately. I dont know why, especially because I used to think people who drew insects as 'cool-dark-trippy' things were kind of dumb. Mine are just lovelorn ones :D

I think I just miss my biology practicals.

iheartcoffee

2009-11-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

I've been called bini by my friends for a couple of years. And as with most nicknames its been shortened/stretched/cropped/warped/morphed. Its gone from bini to beeni to beani to beany to beans (and etc etc).

Therefore as a dedication to all my friends and my eternal love/addiction to coffee Ive made this collage of trash from various coffee places...

unfortunately couldn't get a very good scan of it...but please do click on the image to enlarge.

enjoy!

pens, colour pencils, tissue and paper doily from cafes.

Illustration Friday : Music

2009-11-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

I really REALLY wish i could sing, or play an instrument or even at least have a ear for music. unfortunately I'm quite tone deaf and am only a passive appreciator.

I guess I unconsiously drew the women as versions of me, versions that know how to make music!

this is just an initial drawing for what i hope will end up as a painting.

pen and ink on paper

Illustration Friday : Germs

2009-10-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

OK...so this isn't exactly an illustration on the IF topic germs, but i did draw this when i was in the hospital affected by typhoid germs.
i was tired of all the IV fluids being constantly poured into my system through a tiny needle that had managed to render my left hand useless during that time, and all i wanted was to get out of the hospital and go to the beach. ahhh the joys of lying mindlessly on the sand and getting baked........

Illustration Friday : pattern

2009-10-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

we had our intra-college fest, 'monsoon fiesta', recently. people send in their entries for the t-shirt design contest, and this was mine. it got selected and its already been printed and worn around campus by a bunch of people.
as for an IF entry...well...it is a t-shit pattern!!!
the type was all hand drawn and then coloured on photoshop.

Idontwanttowork

2009-09-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

well, i dint. we had been sitting class the whole day working and i was tired/restless/bored. i responded by scribbling, then doodling on the scribble, then pasting on the doodle and finally painting on the pasted bits.

newspaper, poster colour, colour pencil on copier paper

illustration Friday: Caution

2009-08-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

If the weather was that wonderful, I'd throw caution to the wind too....

sometimes...just sometimes

2009-07-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

insane deadlines

loony authority

jangled nerves

frustration

sigh

ink and white pen on green copier paper

Illustration Friday: Tango

2009-07-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

i was so glad IF finally had a dance related topic this week. Unfortunately it was tango. i say unfortunately only because its one of the few dance forms i don't like. the women are too dehydrated for my liking and always seem stuck up. whats called 'passion' in tango looks to me like an attitude problem :P
but on the flip side, i do like the kicking and stomping and flailing about of limbs... :D

illustration friday : shaky

2009-07-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

their relationship was off to a shaky start.

ball pen on newsprint.

wishing for the rain...

2009-06-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

i found this scan of something i had made around two years ago. painted it while listening to the song 'rain falls' by lounge piranha.
its been unbeleivably hot here in ahmedabad. im waiting for it to start pouring here so i can sit in my balcony and watch the sabarmati flow by. and oh yeah, so i can burn some candles too.

Illustration Friday : Unfold

2009-06-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

mimi loved reading murder mysteries.

she loved the way the stories would unfold and draw her in.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting

2009-04-11T03:17:00.001-07:00

I had made this poster for the NID- Filmclub screening of the film "the Seven Year Itch" a while back.
Its funny how this image of marilyn monroe standing on the sbway grate with her skirt flying is one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, yet it appears in the film for only a fleeting moment!!
and therefore TA-DA!!!...this weeks illustration friday entry!!!
enjoy!

poster paints and charcoal on brown paper

illustration Friday: Poise

2009-03-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

At finishing school, they taught me to stay poised,no matter what fears lurk around corners, no matter what grabled words form the sky around me, no matter how sad my eyes may seem.

cheap acrylics, magazine cutouts on test print paper

i am...

2009-03-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

because i love summer afternoons
because i love naps and day dreaming
because i love the red floors and blue walls of my ajji's house
because i love flowers in my hair

oil pastels and charcoal pencil on brown paper

Illustration Friday: Legendary

2009-03-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

a certain god was legendary for being so dark, that people would rather paint him blue.
for being a delightful flautist
for loving all things beautiful.

sometimes i wish i could be like that, while still being a woman.

acrylic, pencil colour, pen and smudges of photoshop.

Illustration Friday : Breezy

2009-03-02T08:36:00.000-08:00

breezy sunsets at the beach.
i never wanted to leave.
Ma, Amma and sister would yell their lungs off trying to get me to come home.
i could never stop looking at the sun setting.

medium- acrylics on cartidge paper

liberate

2009-03-01T03:23:00.000-08:00

waterproof ink, ceramic colours on random printout i found lying around.

glowbug

2009-03-01T03:19:00.000-08:00

the words are from a song i heard on worldspace (at least i think these are the words)...

if anyone knows the singer or song name..please let me know

waterproof ink,watercolour, wax crayon, oilpastels on paper

coco

2009-03-01T03:14:00.000-08:00

acrylics and colour pencil on paper

vitruvian goddess

2009-03-01T02:55:00.000-08:00

a LOT of things went into this...i couldnt even begin.

wanted to print this out on fabric(t-shirt or a bag) when jasjyot and kaveri were having screen printing, unfortunately their faculty was acting finicky and the goddess stayed in my sketchbook.

the from was inspired by temple sculptures and tantric mandalas.

waterproof ink on paper, lotus coloured on photoshop

untitled

2009-03-01T02:47:00.000-08:00

i did this a year back..so i dont remember what was going through .my mind when i did this

pen on paper, watercolours

love of my life

2009-03-01T02:44:00.000-08:00

oh plates of carbohydrate+ red meat+sweet chocolatey goodness...i serenade thee

pen on paper

I hate airport waiting lounges

2009-03-01T02:26:00.000-08:00

it was 3 am.

i was starving.

my flight was an hour away.

i had exactly Rs 50 in my pocket.

everything in the snack counter was frikking expensive!!!!!

i wanted to cry.

pen on paper

confession

2009-03-01T02:15:00.000-08:00

*please excuse the constant change in the way i draw myself..... mostly because i drew them when was hungry

cheers!

pen on paper

an introduction

2009-03-01T02:09:00.000-08:00

well- it DOES!!
pen on paper, colour pencils

cravings strike again

2009-03-01T01:52:00.000-08:00

we had a post lunch class an i had eaten waaay too much. was feeling sick about it. but off course the little voice in me wanted a bite of dark chocolate...drool drool...

there could be only one reason why this happned - the mess had served kadi and lauki dal sabji

please excuse me while i barf.

pen on paper

they really do

2009-02-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

it was during class....our faculty was going on about layouts and story boarding
and out of nowhere...i wanted mutton biryani
for all those who haven't had an insane desire to eat mutton biryani at some strange time- you've never lived!!
pen on paper, scarf texture on photoshop

this is where it began

2009-02-28T00:38:00.000-08:00

some time past midnight, i was working.

i was hungry

and something deep inside me wanted fries....really BAD

pen on paper

fish head

2009-02-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

dont ask....

because i dont really know

waterproof ink on paper

EP inspires

2009-02-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

something i scribbled while on a bus journey during our 'environmental perception' (EP) course last year. i look back at this picture, and realise how kitchy/pop it is.

just reminds me of how much more i want/need to travel around the country.

pen on paper, typo with acrylic and crayon

feet

2009-02-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

shoes-i like

my feet- ugly

its funny how most of us seem to think that feet are ugly beings.

pen on paper, scanned and coloured on photoshop