Thursday, September 12, 2013

Process for the book My Journey


Sometime in May and June, I was asked by an art director for a Delhi publisher to illustrate some stories written by our esteemed and very venerated former president Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam.  Like a photographer has to get to know her subject in order to capture spirit and essence  for a good portrait, the illustrator (in this case) had to capture the energy of the author through his autobiographical recollections. 



When I read through the manuscript with an open mind, two things stood out constantly in the writing- the simplicity of this man and his strength. These are the two qualities I have tried to bring about in my illustrations through strong black and white highly stylized images contrasting against stark white backgrounds. All unnecessary detail is completely removed. No waving coconut trees of Rameswaram, no giant-eyed, saccharine-faced maternal women, no idyllic Indian temple illustrations, no curly twirly embellishments and decorations…. Here, for this book, only the key elements of the story are used in the illustrations to compliment a simple and beautiful narrative.




While I spent about a month figuring out factors like approach, style and suitable materials for drawing, the actual process of drawing these illustrations took about 20 days. That is about a day or two per illustration. This is more or less akin to speeding on a motorbike like this >> The adrenaline rush is immense. The illustrations are charcoal drawings cut out and collaged to form suitable compositions. I have made an attempt to describe the process as requested by some blog readers, further down this blog post.




All the illustrations I did for My Journey can be found at my website by clicking this link >>
An extract of the book with some illustrations can be found here >>
But here are some of my favourite illustrations from that book
.

I try to imagine him walking on those quiet roads, long before the day made its many demands on him...I was always sure that the morning walk added somthing to his personality, an element of calm that was apparent even to strangers.

I always remembered the look on my father's face the day after the storm. It was an acknowledgement of the power of nature, of knowing what it means to live by the sea and make your living from it.


...but because you kept eating, she kept serving you, and tonight she will go hungry because there is nothing left for her to eat.

I have seen both sides of the coin and have learnt life's toughest lessons when I have stared into the pit of despair that failure brings with it.

All around me, I observed that we were being encouraged to leave behind traditional ways of thinking and embrace this new climate.



Process

When the art director asked me to illustrate Dr.Kalam’s stories, she, a woman of few words said she wanted ‘something abstract’. I had absolutely no idea what she meant and spent a lot of frustrating days dithering around in circles. 






I gave her work like the ones above, where it was obvious I didn't know what I wanted to do. However, when the art director said, “ I want much less detail” the words struck a chord. By abstract, she had meant ‘stylized’ drawings. And that moment, at the end of an entire frustrating month was like finding an opening to the maze that would take me to the other side.

This picture below is the same subject matter as the one above, but after I knew what I wanted.






These are some of the key sketches I made to clarify to myself what image accompanies each chapter.



I thought I would use Canson paper which is excellent for charcoal drawings, however at 45 rupees for a half-imperial sheet they are expensive and I knew I would be using a hell of a lot of paper for this project. The next best paper for charcoal is what used to be found in the now discontinued Nightingale Drawing pads. To find a source for similar paper, I messaged my helpline, Doctor Gumani, who is an expert on everything art material. She directed me to Marudhar paper mart in the bylanes of Commercial street where I asked and showed the sample Nightingale paper. The Marudhar men went into their godown and came up with an excellent substitute - the mysterious M422 paper. These are giant imperial size sheets at some 35 rupees a sheet. I came back home lugging a roll of 40 sheets of this paper. It was utterly absolutely super for charcoal (Mungyo charcoal in this case) and I didn't have to feel self conscious about the price which I would have had I used Canson paper.


For 12 illustrations, I used some 35 of these sheets. I worked in a whirlwind of charcoal dust and torn paper. I'd carry dozens of trashbags of cut up paper to garbage. I'd get up and practically hurl myself on my desk to meet the 20 day deadline. I went into hermit mode. I deactivated from Facebook. I survived on Falafel rolls. 
Here is the building process for some of the illustrations -

This is what one wants to avoid, trite palmtrees and repetition of the text

Paring down to the essentials. Just the feet. 

The feet are too smooth and sophisticated here.

Feet with more personality.




Those hands. Remember this picture >>> ?
  

The size of the actual illustration compared to the print in the book.

When will this ever end? Here are a few more images. 
Now you probably get an idea of some of the process that was involved in 
creating these illustrations.



The final illustrations where shot on manual mode with my brand new DSLR camera which made the background stark white and brought out the excellent quality of the textured charcoal.

*
Here, I have to add that I could not have done this without the help of my many wonderful friends.
Thank you to
Gumani, for all art material help and for recommending Baby wipes to clean charcoal off
my hands. It has saved my skin.

Mr.A for inviting me to his warehouse to help myself to excellent Mungyo charcoal at a hugely discounted price

Nancy for her helpful information about camera lenses :)

Slogan Murugan who kicked my ass to make me stop researching on the net and go buy that DSLR. 

Sweet Cop Shiva who told me where to buy that DSLR. Both men recommended the same particular camera :)

Computer man for installing a much needed software on the last day of the deadline in spite of his unbelievably busy schedule. (If I thought I had too much work, you should see him).

Electrician who kept his word and came to repair the blown fuse also on the last day of the deadline.

My wonderful kind and patient art director who had more faith in me than I did in myself and who steered me gently and firmly back to charcoal.

Thank you.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are amazing, Priya! I am not an artist but just reading through your creative process was a beautiful experience. I could feel your confusion, your search and your excitement. The pictures are stark and powerful.

Priya Sebastian said...

Thank you Priya! :)
I am so glad this blog post has fulfilled what it set out to do.

Gwen Buchanan said...

I am in AWE!!!!! You are amazing.. loved the recounting of your process..
and the glorious paper.. You must have felt so much freer when you could let loose with it.
and the way you describe going into hermit mode to meet a deadline.. Oh so exactly!! I felt it all. Congratulations Priya, on this fabulous project.

Sagar Kolte said...

Beautiful work Priya, well done :)

Nancy // and while we are here said...

I keep scrolling up and down this post because of your amazing illustrations... Priya, your work is fantastic! Your illustrations are so strong, deep and touching. I congratulate you on this wonderful work! Thank you for sharing all this!

PS: I'm happy that I could help a bit with the camera lenses! You are very welcome!

Slogan Murugan said...

:)

Priya Sebastian said...

Gwen, thank you so much! The best part of illustrating this book was utterly and totally enjoying the process,letting loose as you put it. And yes,it was possible because of the perfect paper :)

Sagar, thank you.

Nancy, it always makes me happy when an excellent artist such as yourself appreciates my work. It is a pleasure to share the process with you and others like you.

Slogan, (:

Savita Krishnamoorthy said...

So enlightening reading about the whole creative process of illustrating. ....and bloody hard work too. Kudos for the magnificient work! You know what a fan I am of your work so enough said.

Julie said...

pRiyA,
These are absolutely stunning, you are so talented! And congratulations on that project!

Priya Sebastian said...

Thank you Savita and Julie :)

anup keerrthi said...

firstly congrats on the project.

As much i liked the illustration of the walking foot when i saw the first image in the post

i might have never got all the thoughts that went into it before what made it to print. glad i bumped into the illustrator's cut of it.

All the illustrations are soothing and captivating.

looking forward to the release of the
book! and someday own

anup keerrthi said...

someday own ur original i meant :)

Anupama Ajinkya Apte said...

I absolutely love the way you 'cutout' your illustrations. They look awesome !!
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful spiritual process...Congratulation !!

Priya Sebastian said...

anup, thank you :)

anupama, it had never occurred to me that these illustrations were the result of a spiritual process until you mentioned it. thank you :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this amazing journey Priya. Superb! I can't wait to get my hands on this book and leaf through every illustration. An amazing life brought to life through some amazing illustrations!

Cristina Berardi said...

Dear Priya, thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Your message reminded me I had a post waiting to be published . If you want to have a look, here is the link

http://berardicristina.blogspot.it/2013/09/bologna-children-bookfair-2013.html

Have you ever seen the Oltremai video on You Tube?
I think it is worth seeing it

p.s. I wish I could come to one of your artistic session! ...For now I have to be content with reading you :=)

sathish said...

Congratulations Priya. The art is amazing. I love them. I loved read the process behind the illustrations.

I will pick up the book for just your illustrations.

pRiyA said...

Sathish, thank you. It was a pleasure doing the illustrations.

Christina, it was fun :)

rk said...

Beautiful, simple yet powerful illustrations! I can draw but I am always in total awe of people that can come up with images in their head and draw the, especially faces/characters. I can do that only with flowers/doodles LOL. I can see what a frantic yet exciting time it must have been for you, also what an honor to have been chosen to do this. Congrats and TFS!

Priya Sebastian said...

thank you for your comment rk.
yes it was exciting to do these illustrations and I am glad the publishers thought of me to do the job :)

ArtPropelled said...

Wow!Your charcoal drawings are all amazing but I'm particularly moved by the bare feet walking.Absolutely stunning!

Priya Sebastian said...

:) Thank you Robyn.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing your process with us, Priya. You have really created a collection of master works! Congratulations!

Priya Sebastian said...

Thank you Karine. I am touched by your comment. ((hug))