Moving On

This illustration is the last illustration I did in 2017. It is for a Jim Corbett book cover.

The last time I drew a tiger was sometime in 2009 for Deccan Herald when I used to do illustrations for their kiddie section. The pay was so low, the stories were so trite that the work became a chore. I decided to move on to other things. The picture below was the final illustration I did for them for a very nice poem. It was a good way to end, the 2009 tiger, sweet faced and hopeful.

Since then I have certainly moved on and in 7 years I have tried my hand at all kinds of wonderful projects which I never even dreamt I would do. However once again the red lights are flashing around my head and there are sirens in my ears every time I take up an editorial or a cover. It is time to move on again, this time to solving far more complex puzzles on my table and at my own pace.

Another Cover

There is one art director who absolutely knows what to do with the styles of different illustrators. She brings out the best in each of us. This cover was particularly challenging since we were figuring things out as I went along with her suggestions. I wasn't quite sure what she wanted or had in mind and after many attempts at getting it right I wasn't even sure if what I had done had sufficed. I spent sleepless nights.Then when the cover design with my illustration arrived in my inbox, I was pleased by how striking it was. It is therefore with great pleasure that I am showing it off over here.

Cover

So here are some stunning cover designs done by my 
art director using my illustration of the rooster.I love how it has turned out.

Here is the link on Behance if you want to see some more.

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Bicycle Dreaming

Here is a section of the cover illustration I did for Mridula Koshy's upcoming book Bicycle Dreaming. The author requested the publishers to invite me to do the cover illustration. That is a nice thing to happen :)
From her first book launch that I attended in 2010, I know that Mridula leaves her audience enthralled, so if you are in Delhi, do save the date to attend the launch of her latest book. I am copying the invite sent by the author ~

My book, Bicycle Dreaming is going to press as we speak, and I want to invite you to the launch on Friday, January 29 at IIC. I can promise you good conversation, tea and samosa. There will be an after party, of course, with details to follow.

A little bit about Bicycle Dreaming, a story set in working class Chirag Dilli:

Noor turns thirteen on the first page of the book; we leave her at fourteen on the last page. In between, she falls in right and wrong love, comes apart, together, and apart again from her family. We, the readers of the story, take measure of how much we know about happiness and wholeness in relationship: where does it come from, how do we account for it, and when the bottom falls out from under us, how do we survive our unheroic stories?

17/04/2016
This is my version of the cover design for Bicycle Dreaming -

Deepalaya Community Library and Reading Project