Kshiraj Telang

MTV | Music Express | Story Board

2011-03-21T10:38:00.002+05:30

Wedding Invitation Design For Suresh Tulshyan

2011-03-16T09:57:00.002+05:30

Three weeks back, I made a new friend who was about to get married and was too crazy about my wedding invitation design. He wanted to have something similar done for himself, as D day was approaching. Both the bride and groom are from Rajasthan (a state from India) where puppet shows in traditional dress are quite well known (and is also part of their culture). Hence, portraying the new couple as 'puppets' sounded like a nice idea and became the central theme of their wedding poster invite. This was done in a bit of hurry as much of my time got lost because of preparing for Comic Con India. But I am still happy to hear that the design was loved by the couple and everyone else who attended the wedding. I wish them a very happy married life ahead! (Also a special thanks to The Latin Sardar for introducing Suresh to me)

RIP Uncle Pai

2011-02-24T18:00:00.007+05:30

As a kid, whenever I had a monkey at sight I used to wait there just to see if he would grow his tail like my favoritism Kapish did in one of those stories that I had read the previous night. That was the impact Uncle Pai made in kids like me. His way of story telling was so simple and believable and he will be remembered forever for that.

The visionary comic revolutionist changed the way of storytelling with the Amar Chitra Katha and it popularized the mythological characters amongst the children which was a need of that time.

Uncle Pai was an inspiration for me to take up pen to draw the characters and he will remain as a forever inspiration. And of course ACK, Tinkle and his characters like Kapish, Ramu Shyamu, Shikari Shambhu, Shuppandi will remain close to my heart. Will miss you uncle, may god bless your soul, RIP

Mario finds his princess

2011-01-31T12:26:00.001+05:30

Comic Con India! Here I come!!! :)

2011-01-19T00:44:00.000+05:30

I'm going to be at Comic Con India in New Delhi on Feb 19-20! Come see me! (booth info & more details coming soon)

Budweiser Budvar | Drevny Kocur | Webisode 05

2010-11-29T15:54:00.000+05:30

Budweiser Budvar | Drevny Kocur | Webisode 04

2010-10-27T15:50:00.000+05:30

Thalaiver - reloaded, thrice!

2010-10-13T01:47:00.001+05:30

So far, you laughed at the sentences like, "When Rajinikanth does push-ups, he isn't lifting himself up. He is pushing the earth down.", "Rajinikanth once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are today called giraffes." and "When you say “no one is perfect”, Rajinikanth takes it as a personal insult." But by playing Chitti, the robot in Shankar's movie 'Robot' (Endhiran in Tamil), Rajinikanth makes you believe all this could be true. He proves himself to be the daddy of Spider Man, Super Man, Godzilla, Terminator or anyone else. Director Shankar envisions and delivers a concept that no one else in Bollywood can even dream. And who else can play the character better, other than the superstar Rajinikanth himself who proves that he's the boss, even at an age of 60? With breathtaking special effects, mind-blowing songs and Background Music by A. R. Rahman and brilliantly acted roles by Rajinikanth, Aishwarya Rai (yes, you read it right) and Danny Denzongpa (and the unforgettable contributions by everyone whose name comes in the End Credits), Robot deserves a standing ovation and turns up to be a movie we all Indians should be proud about.

For those finding no interest in all these praises presuming Robot to be typical South Indian masala movie that doesn't appeal to them because of unbelievable actions.... mark my words, Robot is something not even a filmmaker from Bollywood can deliver. I totally agree with the words said by the movie reviewer Taran Adarsh on BollywoodHungama which were, "If you miss Robot, it's your loss." Having seen the film more than seven times already (and still counting), I must say, India finally gets its first superhero. And that's Chitti the Robot, for you! (And.. those who think it was Krrish... well... Rajinikanth gave Krrish his mask by breaking Captain America's shield and painted it black).

Dot!

My new resume - old newspaper style

2010-09-14T23:45:00.003+05:30

Krishna Beura - A talented playback singer

2010-08-23T03:03:00.000+05:30

I met a singer named Krishna Beura through a friend suggestion. By then, I didn't know him though his name. I wrote him an e-mail asking who he was, and I had such a down to earth response from him telling that he admired my art a lot and is pursuing singing to earn bread. The reply made me curious and just after a few moments of Googling him, I discovered that he is the voice for a number of songs I adore. I felt honored on connecting with him on Facebook and we even had a few chat sessions where we discussed his experiences of doing voice overs for animation films from Disney, Dreamworks etc. With a known identity for singing sufi songs (afterall he is a worshiper of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), Krishna has given us beautiful numbers like 'Maula mere le le meri jaan' from Chak De India, 'Soniyo from the heart' from Raaz 2, 'Rabba' from Musafir, etc. I would just love to see him work with God of music and my favorite A. R. Rahman someday!

Here's a small tribute caricature I've made for Krishna. I was watching Chak De India today on television, and the beloved song during the movie persuaded me to make this one for him. Keep giving us such great songs, Krishna! May Sai blessing be always with you!

Art Caboodle is coming!

2010-08-22T00:57:00.000+05:30

Today I am going to share a memorable moment of my career that is too close to my heart. It took place in 2002, when I started my professional career. I was 17 then and was employed at an art studio in New Delhi, after my higher secondary education was over from a small town of India. My wages were too low (around $ 20 per month), but the interest and willingness to become an artist someday, kept me glued to the job I was in. Animation is something I came to know for the first time during those days and through some one's mouth I heard about a book named 'The Illusion of Life'. It was priced at $ 50, which was too much for me as I hardly managed to save any buck from my living. But I badly wanted to get it, and hence started to save every single penny I could to reach my target of the price of that book. It took me a few months, but then came a day when I was just a few bucks short from having all the money that was needed. I found a few old newspapers on the rented room's terrace which I decided to sell to fill the need. I had to sacrifice lunch and dinner for that day as well as I didn't have a single buck left more than the cost of that book. But I was so happy to see that I can go to the market and get it for myself. I rushed to the bookstore in South Extension, New Delhi and it took me no time to buy one for myself. 'The Illusion of Life' therefore became the first book of my collection and from there it all started. I am thankful to the almighty for being kind to me, that today, I have managed to do more than I imagined for my career (along with a realization each day that there is so much more to be done), but in this course, I have always succeeded to buy stuffs that fascinate me, right from books to toys to movie DVDs and more (and thankfully in a much easier fashion).

But I know that there are many talented and deserving young artists in India for whom it is not so easy to reach to the collection I have today. Maybe it is their inability to buy these, or due to lack of consent from their parents, or due to no knowledge about where to get these from (and sometimes even the laziness and less sense of responsibility towards favoring the industry by buying original books and movies and discouraging piracy).

All this has lead to a new initiative of me where I announce the launch of my new blog 'Art Caboodle' (http://artcaboodle.com) where I will share my experiences and write reviews about the art caboodle I have owned or used). This is not really aimed to be a 'show-off' portal, rather aimed to help and motivate those kids who come from circumstances like mine).

I won't be uploading an ebook version by scanning my precious book collection, nor will get you a DVD Rip of the treasure of films I collected till today. I do not encourage piracy, but yes, I will surely try to take you to a tour of each item I own, wishing that it increases your knowledge about them and succeed in encouraging you to start your own original collection.

Budweiser Budvar | Drevny Kocur | Webisode 03

2010-08-04T15:48:00.000+05:30

Adding a charming touch to Guitar

2010-07-15T04:54:00.000+05:30

In his maiden attempt, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt modified an Archtop Guitar and added a veena touch by attaching a gourd at the back of its neck and employing a set of melody, drone and sympathetic strings strung to the turners. The invention proved out to be a music instrument that got its personalized name from its father and was called 'Mohan Veena'. The music genius Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt played it by placing it on lap like a slide guitar and produced melodious music that mesmerized the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, United States and couldn't stop them from awarding him the prestigious Grammy Award in 1994.

By lending enchanting performances in his music concerts all around the globe, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt didn't just recieve usual fan following, but also got fusion artists like Harry Manx and Matt Malley utilize the Mohan Veena for their music. He's one of the greatest Indian musician on whom our country could back on for popularizing Indian Classical Music between the world audience. Here's a small tribute artwork for the legendary man.

Budweiser Budvar | Drevny Kocur | Webisode 02

2010-07-13T15:46:00.001+05:30

The Visual Maverick, Sir Peter Jackson

2010-07-10T13:13:00.004+05:30

Creating a fantasy world in a live action movie so believable is a Herculean task. The worst part is transforming a single story into three films without losing its soul and continuity. The seventeen Oscars vouch how perfect was Peter Jackson’s take on JRR Tolkien’s epic.

While watching the LOTR series (I watched the trilogy in a single go including the making of it), I was fascinated by his method of working. He is truly a perfectionist, never leaves a stone unturned. His attention to detail and shooting a single scene for multiple times from different angles to get more options for the cutting table was something I never have experienced before.

The idea of making this small tribute came from a footage I saw in the making part of LOTR. Jackson was famous for wearing shorts and going barefoot under most circumstances, especially during film shoots with a macabre sense of humor, and a general playfulness.

Octopus Paul Cartoon

2010-07-09T14:29:00.001+05:30

Wolverine

2010-07-08T04:13:00.009+05:30

I am a big fan of Wolverine. With his infused adamantium, healing capabilities and most importantly an 'attitude' driven personality, he steals the show from even higher class mutants with superior powers. For some reason I never liked his 'yellow spandex' costume version and have always preferred him as a rough lad in jeans and vest with a large cigar in his mouth. It is impossible for me to imagine an actor other than Hugh Jackman who can well live this character. My most memorable dialogue of his is from X-Men : The Last Stand, when he says "class dismissed" during a training program for newly recruited mutants. Too much character isn't it?

Sherm Cohen

2010-07-07T01:34:00.007+05:30

Today I am going to tell you about an artist who has become my inspiration not only due to his art, but because of lot more reasons. I got to know about Sherm Cohen a few months ago, after I found his twitter link somewhere and started following him. He is among the very few artists I have known who actually 'talk'! You can easily find hundreds of artists with one directional Feed streams posting their work and experiences. But Sherm has really defined what a 'conversation' mean. He sits somewhere in Los Angeles in the middle of numerous drawing jobs none less than SpongeBob SquarePants, Phineas & Ferb and more. Still he continues to stay in touch with a long list of fan-following not only by reading what they say, but also through response whenever possible. I have seen Sherm help many followers by answering to their curious questions coming from all parts of the planet. Dozens of videos could be found on YouTube with him sharing tips and tricks about character design and storyboarding that everyone will find useful. I am glad to know an artist like him who has been serving the animation industry in this unique way. (Lastly not to forget that this wizard of pencil has even written a book titled Cartooning : Character Design from Walter Foster Publishing, Inc.)

Follow Sherm on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ShermCohen

Cintiqized

2010-06-26T23:18:00.004+05:30

Last week, my biggest dream came true! Ever since I have learned about technology and how its tools facilitated digital illustration work, I have known Wacom. Over the past eight years I graduated from drawing using mouse to 'poor, non-wacom' stylus pen tablets to Wacom Graphire (which remained my beloved partner for long) and lastly Wacom Intuos. But it is 'Cintiq' I was always fascinated about, from the time I read its capabilities and features.

I used to read about its interactive pen display, precise pen and pressure sensitivity and Wacom's patented screen stand that could allow you to recline and rotate your digital canvas! Knowing these things not only made me drool over it but also insisted me to save every single buck I could, to let me make such an expensive (but worthwhile) deal someday (it costs $3500 in India).

My greatest dream has come true today when I own a Wacom Cintiq 21UX. It just beautifies my workspace and makes me pledge sleepless nights of work on it.

For more photos, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/kshiraj.telang/WorkplaceReloaded

Detailed product review to follow.

Budweiser Budvar | Drevny Kocur | Webisode 01

2010-06-18T23:15:00.000+05:30

Hey all! For those who were wondering why didn't I show up on my blog for the past six months? Well, I was a bit occupied with creating animations for a social marketing campaign for Budweiser Budvar. The campaign is over now with five webisodes created by me gone live and loved by the audience. It also won the Grand Webstar Creative award in Webstar Festival 2010 held in Poland (which I am proud about). Million thanks to Pride and Glory Interactive for giving me the opportunity to animate this. I'll keep posting the rest of the episodes with time.

P.S.: The language is Polish, and I don't understand a word either, but somehow managed to animate based on script. Hope you'd like them. :)

RamSinghKumaresh - The Masterclass of Animation Art

2010-04-25T10:44:00.001+05:30

There maybe many animation enthusiasts or professionals who 'think' that they know enough about animation and are filled with the necessary passion within. But the first module of masterclass by Ram Singh Kumaresh (a six hour privilege of hearing from the three genius) was sufficient enough to witness the fundamentals that are so important but are still overlooked. A session that saw the magician of pencil - Vaibhav Kumaresh, ninja of anatomy - Vivek Ram and wisest of all - Ranjit Singh deliver a spell-bounding performance of hands on art that will remain in my memories forever. The first module of the three planned sessions covered the basics of animation (good to see Vaibhav choosing the beloved Lightbox over Flash for demonstration), anatomy study (I can bet Vivek Ram has surely bisected a human body before) and the art of storytelling (yes Ranjit Singh, whose Top Ramen TVCs were aired when we used diapers).

The best part was that the masterclass was planned to be interactive, which gave the opportunity to every student to clear their doubts by putting up questions anytime within the sessions. We are also back to home with heaps of assignments that we need to complete and bring along in the next session.

I am not so sure if I will remain in Mumbai for coming weeks and will be able to attend the remaining modules, but I highly recommend it to the localities that this is an opportunity never to be missed.

Here's a small tribute artwork for RamSinghKumaresh, heartily wishing them success with this enterprise. For details about the RSK masterclass, please visit: http://www.ramsinghkumaresh.com/

The Second Generation Ramayana & Sanjay Patel

2010-04-14T10:31:00.001+05:30

It’s not an easy thing to keep you distinctive from others in this artistic part of the world. Some people succeeds, some people not. Pixar animator Sanjay Patel has attempted a visual recreation of something that a lot of people had tried before, The Ramayana. And it turned out to be one of the most stylish depictions ever. The starkly graphics which gives a feel of ancient wall paintings is surely a mesmerizing treat for the eyes, a mix of ancient myth and mid century design.

It took him 1 year to complete the first round of research for this graphic novel. Within one year, the book Ramayana: Divine Loophole born.

A drop-out of Cleveland Institute of Arts & California Institute of Arts, he is been associated with Pixar Studios from the days of Bug’s Life. Degrees never matter if you have the real talent and specially a guy who started his drawing at the age of 4! (I am inspired!)

Here a tribute to this great artist who actually redefined the way of mythological storytelling.

Tweeps, beware...he came!

2010-04-09T19:08:00.006+05:30

Another addition to the series of twitter avatars. When my long time friend Aneesh asked me to come up with a same stuff, I got a full freedom to experiment with his avatar. He is an online media designer and I am well aware about his fascination towards vampires and the darker stuff, so I thought it would be pretty interesting and something different. Of course I cannot make a cute avatar for a guy who is tall, dark and sporting a ponytail with a kind of bouncer look (its true mate never-mind :P)

Here presenting the first (time in history?) bloody twitter avatar....!

Follow Aneesh at: http://twitter.com/aneeshviswanath

Twirping - The Cameron Way!

2010-04-06T18:20:00.016+05:30

Its better to become a part of the culture if you want to know more about them. The flying people in the micro-blogging arena have flew a long way. So instead of flying along, I chose to fly ahead by creating an avatar and be a part of them even before they plan something similar. To 'follow' me please visit http://twitter.com/kshiraj

Burton's Alice in Wonderland – The darkest wonderland ever!

2010-03-16T23:28:00.002+05:30

A man who always wears a darker glass will have a tendency to see the world in front of him in a slightly darker shade. But the realization of the absorbed frames have never been a conundrum for the man who set a trend of mixing goth, gore and dark humor, sometimes in an interestingly creepy manner. And we call him Tim Burton.

His unmatched ability of giving adorability and cuteness to the living and non living darker elements is what sets him apart from the other directors. From Jack Skellington to Edward Scissorhands to the bloody big head-Red Queen, he has created his own aura of characters and leaving his fans craving for more.

Making alterations to a masterpiece needs some real gut and Tim again have shown his abundant vision and took the story to another level with some really sweet characters that only he can visualize. Who can forget the Red Queen and her playing card resembling army? Tim is also lucky to have such a wife in Helena who easily portrays any complex character and becomes ready to appear in the same skeleton that Tim had derived.

When it comes to the execution of the ideas, Tim Burton become crazier than you can ever think of. No one will forget the scene where The White Queen prepares the medicine with urine and some ugly looking fingers, for Alice.

Once again he has created a modern cinematic myth with his favorite cast and crew. He replaced the actual mood of the wonderland with his no sunshine environment and some signature props like the windmill and the famous limbs. He might probably be the only man in the earth whom god have given so much “dark” powers and yet doing good things.

Here's an artwork from me as a tribute to the work of a genius.

My Workplace

2010-03-11T23:24:00.001+05:30

Avatarred - Can't elude from reality

2009-12-31T17:09:00.001+05:30

Summary first… Avatar experience makes so called animation artists like me feel that it is shame on us to feel proud of terming ourselves ‘storytellers’. While I was traveling through that magnificent cinematic voyage I realized that I am nothing more than an ordinary chap who can only afford to buy a movie ticket and stand in queue for popcorn during intermission. And there isn’t much difference between me and the person standing in front or next to me waiting for their turn.

Five years ago when James Cameron was busy with this project visualizing an entirely new planet, I here was sleeping pleased with the childish animation results of diya’s flame coming out of hands closet which becomes sun through zoom transitions. It will be foolishness to even review this extraordinary movie... rather we should be thankful of being born as humans and at this time.

Today I am unsure about the truthfulness of ambitious promises I once made to my wife. As an honest confession, I don’t even know how do these Gods create such fascinating cinematic experiences in one lifetime?

I can only hope that this depression soon transforms to motivation and re-ignites the passion I had in my childhood days. Until then, it will not be so nice to give lessons to beginner artists when I am myself not working hard. Thanks James Cameron for reminding me my purpose. I am sure your Avatar example will leave me sleepless until I pay back my tribute. And that’s my new year’s resolution :)

Wedding sketch

2009-12-25T20:21:00.002+05:30

Good Bye Original… Hello Piracy

2009-12-10T16:37:00.003+05:30

Ask any of my acquaintance and they will tell you how much I hate piracy and believe in purchasing original electronic products, computer softwares, movie DVDs, music CDs and UMD games for my PSP. It took me more than five years to come up with a library of more than 250 DVD movie titles and almost 100 expensive animation books. As a bearer of torch on my drive against piracy, I have even spent decent money on international calls to Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) to report piracy I have noticed in my neighborhood and to discuss and suggest how we could fight it.

As another example, I never hacked my Playstation Portable (PSP) console and chose to purchase expensive and original UMDs without caring that the purchase of a dozen such UMDs even exceeded the retail price of PSP. I did so because I felt a responsibility within… and wanted to do such small gesture of being responsible to the industry that made me. Even then, I have lately had so terrible experiences that my devotee soul refuses to continue its stand against piracy. Here’s one such example explained:

Since a month I was experiencing slight problem with performance from the joystick of my PSP. Except of it working, everything else was in control (that included no hacking done on PSP, never opened by any engineer and all purchase invoice retained). Finally when I failed to live with the nutty joystick, I decided to take it to an authorized Sony Service Station hoping for a replacement of the joystick at any cost they ask for (since my PSP went out of one year warranty). I was ready to pay any price, just because I didn’t want my PSP to be opened by a non-authorized engineer. Let’s come to the conclusion without even discussing the effort that got involved in approaching one service center and the other, I was literally shocked when they told that Sony doesn’t have policy of repairing Playstation Portable and call this a ‘use and throw object’!!! The best favor they could do is get me a discount of some 2-3k rupees if I choose to purchase a new console from them by surrendering this one (which is no big deal as I can easily find any person willing to buy this PSP at such cheap rate to get video watching facility).

I was very disappointed and cursed myself for not hacking the PSP for entire warranty year which could have at least gifted me the chance of playing a wide range of games. At the end I had to take my PSP to the market I hated the most (and even reported twice to Film Piracy Help line)... Palika Bazaar, New Delhi! In that underground complex with shops having billions of movie discs and vendors claiming to have every movie you may name, I somehow managed to find the shop I needed. There sat an ordinary chap with a few screwdrivers. He later proved himself to be far more qualified and skilled then the so-called engineers with tie at service centers. He had packs of joystick accessory and took hardly two minutes to replace my dead joystick with the new one. And once again, my PSP worked with full functions adding some life to my UMDs which I was regarding worthless. There after it just needed an exchange of smile between my wife and me as we both were thinking the same thing: ‘to hack the PSP as well!’ I now have my memory stick loaded with loads of games I can play which is also my first step towards piracy. I am not sure that this new change in me will last forever as I still feel hatred for piracy and can never forget my duties towards my own animation industry. Even then I would wish that there should be some change in this world which could offer better support to a very few people like me who are avid believers of original products and hate piracy. Until then… ‘You will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow.'

A. R. Rahman & Saira Banu

2009-12-03T17:20:00.003+05:30

This caricature is my quick submission to A. R. Rahman's caricatures exhibition planned by Kerala Cartoon Academy. Since I thought there must be dozens of caricatures of A. R. Rahman with either Oscar Award or as singing Jai Ho... I personally thought Oscar is not that heartily objective to A. R. Rahman. Therefore I wanted to capture a more personal moment of him that could possibly delight him and his family. Hope that he likes it.

Rock Gods

2009-12-02T10:14:00.001+05:30

Animals

2009-11-25T20:15:00.001+05:30

Wooden Toy Train

2009-10-21T17:56:00.002+05:30

Invitation to my wedding

2009-10-03T15:07:00.004+05:30

Boomer Kids

2009-08-14T15:01:00.003+05:30

Character Designs for Make My Trip

2009-08-11T17:04:00.000+05:30

Character Mascots for Easy Day

2009-07-15T17:48:00.001+05:30

Otter

2009-06-26T17:43:00.000+05:30

Holy Cowz

2009-06-25T17:14:00.000+05:30

V3 RED TVC

2009-06-16T19:58:00.002+05:30

Drake

2009-06-16T17:20:00.001+05:30

Chicken Chips with Sauce

2009-06-09T17:40:00.001+05:30

Sakubai

2009-04-15T17:09:00.003+05:30

Jack Skellington ear rings for Swati

2009-03-02T12:35:00.010+05:30

I went to Lajpat Nagar market with Swati around a couple of weeks ago. There we found these ear rings of Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. I was so happy to find the character of my favorite film maker, and Swati resulted equally sweet to accept them as her ear rings. I am not sure how they appear as an accessory on a girl, but that hardly matter when for me they are from Tim Burton, and for her, she doing it as a lovely gesture for me. Thanks dearie! You look beautiful with them.

And now our ring ceremony

2009-01-18T10:44:00.011+05:30

So finally its she and I, about to have our ring ceremony coming first day of February. Truly a big day for me, as it officially confirms our union. I am so happy and thankful to God for giving me the rightful partner. In my papa's own words recieved as SMS, "Lucky ones are very few among thousands, who love someone and get to marry the same person". Really true! Thanks to both the families for understanding us and making our wishes fulfilled.

Adolfo Pirelli

2009-01-02T23:12:00.012+05:30

Who could ever forget the spectacular performance by Sacha Boron Cohen in his introductory scene from the movie Sweeney Todd? He called himself 'da king of da barbers, da barber of kings'. Here's an illustration done by me as a tribute to such a superb character really.

Thanks Tim Burton! You're awesome!

Guessing the right window

2008-12-16T21:05:00.004+05:30

The Dark Knight movie viewing days are back, thanks to the DVD reaching stores. I have left the count of the times I have watched the movie. But it seems I am gradually learning the film by-heart. One such example is my ability to identify the window of the building from the opening scene, which gets shot by the Joker's crew from inside. I am now able to keep my mouse pointer, perfectly placed at the correct window. Did this successfully for atleast a hundred times. Here's the screen captured preview:

Long time no 'sea'

2008-12-08T00:05:00.008+05:30

Being long time eh? This global meltdown thing is asking for some dedication at office to remain at the safe side! Meanwhile, here's something found from the personal artwork heap (a small cheating.. the drawing was quite old... merely colored lately) :P

A few drawings

2008-11-05T12:03:00.006+05:30

One for the little sis who lives down the lane

2008-10-28T10:32:00.006+05:30

My sister keeps complaining everytime that I never make an art for her. Here's something for you dearie:

Happy Diwali

2008-10-27T02:09:00.006+05:30

One Morning

2008-09-23T22:25:00.002+05:30

A concept illustration done while visualizing storyboards for one of my office project:

Sage Narada

2008-09-23T21:43:00.004+05:30

A few character designs of 'Sage Narada', Ajay and I did a week back:

For Shrey

2008-09-19T20:05:00.008+05:30

The following graphic is a concept drawing for an upcoming short film by my very talented and close pal, Shrey Tatke. Can't provide further details, but I can guarantee, it will posses a very beautiful storytelling, and I shall share it soon after he makes it available for distribution.

Thank you JH

2008-09-09T02:15:00.012+05:30

This very quick drawing was made when I was attending my father in ICU at Jabalpur Hospital where he was hospitalized due to a severe attack of Pneumonia. I am thankful to Dr. Behrani and everyone else from the hospital unit, for their efforts helped my dad survive such a critical condition. I dedicate this drawing as a tribute to those kind people from the hospital. I am also grateful to everyone from friends and family who had their wishes and support for us.

Kindly ignore the drawing quality... my objective of making this and the environment around me was different then.

Shopping, gaming and my angel along

2008-08-21T00:22:00.009+05:30

My idea of date is slightly different. I choose to shop, that too of stuffs which interests me. ARR music keeps playing whenever possible. And thus the maximum amount of the time gets spent in purchasing DVDs for myself, searching books and exploring gadgets. My dearie isn't as crazy as me about them. Even then she is always smiling and involving in everything I do. At the end of the tiring day, when we sit together, I have all my time employed at unpacking DVD covers and flipping books. But while I do that, there is someone sweetly waiting with a spoon to take care of my appetite.

How about a shave?

2008-08-20T20:16:00.012+05:30

In the Foreword of the book 'Burton on Burton', Johnny Depp mentions about how he got the opportunity to play Edward in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. The first sight of Tim is described by him as pale, frail-looking, sad-eyed man with hair that expressed much more than last night's pillow struggle. The first thing he thought was, 'Get some sleep.' Well, that's Tim Burton. Tim as a director has always fascinated me with his artistically directed genius works like Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and many more. His recent movie, Sweeney Tood : The Demon barber of Fleet Street drove me crazy. Here's a small piece of tribute to the legendary work done on Sweeney Todd:

Got 'Dark Ace'

2008-08-18T02:06:00.013+05:30

Last week I managed to find the newly launched toys from the Storm Hawks series. Out of variety of character selections available, I chose to get Dark Ace. He's my favourite character from the series. Even after being an arch villain to Storm Hawks, I am addicted to him because of his ruthless warrior nature, loyalty to Master Cyclonis and no compromise attitude. Although not enabled with much articulations, I liked the toy's closeness to the Dark Ace we see on television. The proportions are brought just identical. Play time!

Book Review: Surf's Up : The Art and Making of a true story

2008-08-17T22:48:00.015+05:30

The time when I was ordering Surf's Up : The Art and Making of a true story, I was trying to add one more book in the order merely to complete it. I was skeptical about the impression it would make as compared to the highly anticipated Pixar Art Books I ordered at the same time. But I was proved wrong after it was in my hand and I was done with flipping just first few pages. This book is full of concept art, sketches, 3d WIP imagery and movie stills.

Insight Editions, the publisher has included some great collectibles along with the artworks within the book. They come as postcards, stickers, a poster, supplementary thin booklets and a DVD which exclusively speaks about the process and journey experienced while creating waves for the animation. So not just art students and mature audience, but even little kids will go crazy as they notice those colorful goodies.

There is ample amount of character designs of Penguin, along with environmental concepts of the island and color keys of various sequences from the film. We also get to see extracts from the screenplay here and there, which makes the book travel along with the film. They have covered art of almost every visual element from the competition beach. The color spreads on each page is as fresh as a holiday on a similar island, as they illustrate the layouts of the beach. There is also a sneak at the character creation phase where we get to see phases from concept sketches to 3d models. I have become a big fan of Sylvain Deboissy, the Character Designer of the film after I was hugely impressed by his art found in the book. While Cody our surfer penguin covers the text from the book, there are also comments from Director, Producer and Animation Supervisors sharing their experiences.

At the ending pages there are a bunch of photographs of the crew's time at beach and VO recording sessions. On an whole, a must have book for everyone be it into or outside animation.

Introduce a little anarchy

2008-08-17T14:13:00.006+05:30

Okay fine! I am crazy, as I have seen The Dark Knight a dozen times in the previous month. And I shall see it many more times no matter how crazy you call me. Because no one can go as crazier as the Joker, the performance excellence from Batman's latest edition, The Dark Knight. Nolan's TDK features the Batman we all wanted to see. In a Spidey ruled cinema when it comes to super hero movies, I never thought someone else will ever manage to reach anywhere close. But The Dark Knight surpasses all milestones of super hero tales on the big screen. The two and a half hours movie is filled with excellent screenplay, majestic performances, action and struggle between order and anarchy. The dialogues are so brilliant, I am all prepared to memorize and rehearse them everyday, the day the screenplay comes in my hand. For those who have not seen it yet, book your tickets today!

When the caricature reached A. R. Rahman

2008-08-17T10:25:00.012+05:30

Those who know me closely must be aware of the fact that I am a die hard fan of A. R. Rahman. His music is always in my ears, with the help of iPod plugged in loaded with ARR's music. Aneesh and I can travel to any part of India to attend a live concert of him. I can never forget the day when ARR was here in New Delhi to perform in a live concert. I went so crazy after getting the tickets that I started creating caricatures of him, believing that I will hand over it to him if I get to meet him during the concert. But the performance was quite inaccessible for us to make anyone personally reach ARR. Even after disappointment at caricature front, it was truly a big day for me, getting to see ARR for the first time. Post to that, I was looking for every possible way by which I can make the caricature reach ARR. And one day the opportunity came knocking at my door. It was Alan Hadley from Chennai who was about to begin a magazine named SCORE which focuses on Music, Art and Lifestyle. In its inaugural edition, Alan was keen to use the caricature done by me as that issue was exclusively on A. R. Rahman. Without any delay I requested him to go ahead. In a few days, this is what I get to see:

This is the cover page of the magazine:

That's the caricature done by me, published in a page within the magazine:

Here's ARR reading SCORE:

Undoubtedly the greatest achievement for me! Thanks to Alan, it all happened because of him.

Shelves from my room

2008-08-16T19:02:00.004+05:30

A sneak peek at my collection of books, comics and DVDs:

Animation Demo reel

2008-08-16T18:21:00.009+05:30

Pirate

2008-08-16T18:02:00.014+05:30

This is an artwork done on a requirement from my friend and colleague Ajay. He is looking forward to 3d model a scene on pirates following the visual language we both admire. Hope it is coming out like the way he want.

For my beloved

2008-08-16T17:43:00.020+05:30

This first post on my blog, is dedicated to my beloved fairy. Its because of her, that I am always motivated to do better work and become a better man. Thanks to you dearie!