Every
person who draws knows that there are two kinds of audiences – the cultured and
the philistines. One never ever knows who will fall into which category until remarks
are made about art.
Long ago,
at the recommendation of a well wisher, I took my spanking new portfolio of
illustrations enthusiastically to the big boss of a newspaper. The man's family had owned the newspaper for decades, he reeked
wealth within his wood panelled room. The boss flipped through my portfolio politely
and a trifle disdainfully declared, ‘who wants this sort of thing ya?’ Then he
called an editor and said dismissively, ‘give her an article to illustrate’. I
illustrated the article, I got paid many months later and that was all there was to
it.
Fast
forward to over a decade later, I went to meet the editor of an environmental
magazine at the Indian Institute of Science campus. I was directed to a modern
building full of light and air; the scientist who was editor of the magazine spoke
very knowledgeably about illustration; he said he wanted the magazine to be a ‘platform
for illustrators’ and he stated that the editors of the magazine ‘would like to build a
relationship with the illustrators’.
The
newspaper from years ago has over time reduced itself to a sensationalistic rag.
As for the environmental magazine, when one looks at the content, the design,
the quality of the printing and the visuals, the vision of the editors is apparent.
The process for one of my illustrations can be seen over here >>>
