It's Raining Fish!

Happiest project I've ever done -

On my desk

My favourite subject for a magazine spread.

Fishing in Troubled Waters

This time's comic for The Big Picture at Livemint. 

You can read the entire story by clicking here >>>

I enjoyed drawing the illustrations for this story. When I requested him for one, it was almost immediately written and sent to me by my long time virtual friend Slogan Murugan of Mumbai Paused fame. Not only that, it had my favourite subject - fish (or rather lack of fish, which is why I got to draw only one fish), but still, drawing the sea, boats, troubled wives...all was good to do.These illustrations have been done with pastel and graphite on absolutely lovely pre-cut C a grain Canson paper.

Here are some of the illustrations -

You can find photographs taken by Slogan Murugan about this subject here>>.

Fish Curry

Five Lessons from Travelling

What is it Like?

Being a new immigrant feels like a fish being compelled to ride a bicycle, in other words, you have to completely discard your identity and assume a new one and that is something which feels grotesque and unnatural, much like what the illustration portrays. My friends will vouch that throughout my entire stay in Canada the expression on my face was exactly like that of the fish on the bicycle. 

No country can give you everything that you want. If in one country you finally had the hard won life you created for yourself, centered on what you value most, another country might have eventually given me the quiet and dignity that I desired. However in my case, it seemed to be at the expense of all that I had striven for till now. ‘What do I value more?’ was the question that I asked myself frequently in the midst of my immigrant dilemma. The longer I stayed on searching for something which I began to suspect did not exist, the further away I kept moving from the path that led to all that I held close to my heart. The consequence was great unhappiness and an acute loss of confidence. Whichever part of the world you live in, the truth is what an illustrator who has also been through it all once told me – “The only happy place is inside our heads, when we are drawing and being kind...”

Strange Beliefs

Strathmore Express!

Some weeks ago, I received the nicest gift ever from a former Art College classmate, a Strathmore drawing pad which I have long wanted and which is difficult to get here. The feel of charcoal and pastel on this paper takes you straight to heaven. I just cannot stop drawing in it and I am racing through the pages like there is no tomorrow. Oh happy days! :)

Website! :-)

I now have a website :-)

(J'ai une nouveau site du web)

Check it out at priyasebastian.net

Drawings on Wedding Feast Paper

One Sunday Anil, one of the regulars at Pencil Jam, gushed and gushed about his latest discovery - he used wedding feast paper to draw on. For the phirangs (foreigners) reading this blog, most South Indian Hindu wedding feasts have long tables where a roll of white paper is rolled out on it, then banana leaves are placed on it to serve a fabulous lip smacking vegetarian meal as you can see in this picture here >. The paper with the remains is simply rolled up and binned after that. So easy. No washing up.

I had to grudgingly admit that it was a super idea to use this paper for drawing. No more scrounging around for rough paper or tearing up bulky cartridge paper to draw on. Just roll out and draw!

I must give thanks to the ever resourceful Akhila who procured the Wedding Feast paper for me.

Here are some of the results :-)

 

Monster plant!

Somebody got miffed that she was removed from her usual perch on the table and placed on a chair.So I drew a giant sardine for her...

Woah!

Throughout these midnight endeavours of mine, I was fuelled by Salted Chocolate chip cookies from David Lebovitz's famous recipe. It is the best ever and so easy. I love the bursts of salt sparkling on my tongue amidst the sweetness of chocolate and sugar. Naturally I have to show pictures ;-P

A satisfied smile!

:-)

A Favorite Subject

Red Rice and Fish

I love drawing fish. This one, red rice and fish, is my favourite meal.

Just for the info of some of the readers: This picture took about 8 hours to do. 6 hours non-stop last night starting at 10.30 pm and two hours this morning. That is why I work at night, no need to stop to eat lunch, wash dishes, answer the doorbell etc.
But I ate other things before drawing this picture: One package of salted peanuts, Diet Coke,  premium chocolate...all ingredients absolutely necessary to get charcoal to do my bidding.
Now I must go eat some Ritchie's biriyani to replenish my energy...and then get some sleep.