'Refresh'- Illustration Friday

Nothing is more refreshing than looking at trees, imagining to swing on them and then drawing just that!I love trees, and they always calm me down. They are full of energy, and every branch has a story to tell.  The trick is to close your eyes tight and quickly look at a green tree to get you all charged up!

Trees and their beauty. Ever so refreshing!

I tried my favourite technique of watercolour and pen. So much joy!

Colour for this chappal: Green. 

Space- Illustration Friday Entry

There was this one time, when my Mum threw my sister and me out of the house because of something we did. Dee was 14 and I was 8, I'm pretty sure it was some petty thing but Mum was furious! And we had no choice but to sit outside in the dark. We looked outside, far and beyond and talked about everything under that brilliant blue sky and twinkling stars. It was our 'space' and our time and something I will never ever forget!


I tried a full watercolour wash and a texture technique. An amateur attempt, but a good exploration!

Thank you Jishnu for the moral support and help!

Colour for this Chappal: Sky Blue!

'Secret'- Illustration Friday Entry

They say keeping secrets is one of the most difficult things to do! But I disagree! As my debut entry for Illustration Friday, the theme being 'Secret', I decided to illustrate my favourite secret keeper, Muddles, my six year old Labrador.

The attempt was to show Muddles putting his ear up while I try to tell him my secret(s)!
Muddles is loyal, fun, super duper cute and the best secret keeper! It took me back to all those good times spent with him and all the 'secrets' I shared and what all secrets he witnessed! I believe Dogs love like no other and keep secrets like no other! I'm sure all our dogs know all our deep dark secrets!

After I long break, Im back to illustrating and drawing, and I loved doing the Watercolour on this. It was good getting back to the basics. I was hesitant to put it up, but its a beginning and there is always something to learn! Its my attempt at a children's style illustration, colourful and fun.

What I see going wrong, is the black ink outlines. That is something I need to work on very hard! The smoothness needs to show!

But, what joy in doing this!

Special thanks to Roshini for introducing me to this and helping me oh-so-much!



Colour for this chappal: Yellow!

Nandita & Anuraag

Nandita and Anuraag are probably one of the only classic love story couples, I have ever met. And they are special! Nandita is my mum's all-new-youngest-best friend and they have done some superb projects together. Anuraag  is my dad's best friend (read SOS and gadget guru).

Nandita casually once mentioned how they wanted a nice new nameplate  (later on I came to know that in their one year of marriage, the only nameplate they ordered had spelt their names incorrectly!)  I jumped at the opportunity to be of some help!. We spoke about it a little bit and later I got to know so much more about them, through this one name plate.

What they wanted was simple. Something that represented them and the fun they like to have. I spoke to Nandita at length about what they like, what they have in common interests in. I had found my point to work on!

After a few drafts and alterations, a final design was chosen. They both are jazz lovers, so I gave them a jazz/ classic look and feel a couple of options that they could chose from. They liked one and with one odd change, the final thing was done. 

I was quite sure how the look and feel of it should be. The nameplate was made in a size that fit on an A3 and it was printed on A3 art card, a matt layer film was added and it was framed with a brown wooden frame. 

As I handed it over to them, I could see the excitement and I was told they loved it. I hope they did! The nameplate earned me a tight hug, a beautiful cup of coffee with some brilliant career talk, and almost three months supply of my favourite chocolate Toblerone (and to forget the cutest kitchen utility item ever!) 

Thank you, classic couple for this opportunity!

Thank you awesome framer in Amritsar who gave me my order in couple of hours! What a nice man! 

PS: We took pics with the nameplate, but due to privacy issues, they cant be put up!

Colour for this chappal: Blue.

Like it? Want one? Get in touch!

Rang Bhari!

 The colourful energy of Punjab and its awesomeness is truly inspring, in every way.
My next venture this holiday was to make this fun filled bag. Using something I found on the galli's of Amritsar, and combining it with my not-so-experienced designer brain, I was amazed at what came out of my experiment.

After ideating it ( using fabric and the phooli's ) and getting the stitching done, I asked the neighbourhood tailor if she could tell me where I could get some bright gota. She was extremely kind to hand me over some leftovers from her big collection of wastes! Thank you Poonamji!

So colourful and so much fun, it brightens my day and is now my favourite carry along!
Special thanks to the Masterji who sat through the stitching of this, Bhram Bhaiya for the support and Mummyji for taking pictures!

The idea for the PhotoShoot was to team up something formal with this fun bag, so it adds a zing , although it matches with literally anything!

Colour for this chappal: Yellow!

Like it? Want one? Write to me!

Recycled Sketchbooks

Well, there is just too much waste paper around. Stuff that cannot be used because its outdated (official stuff) and some paper that has just been lying around for years. Untouched and unused. It makes me sad when I see all of it just lying about.


So, to hone my binding skills and do a lot with this very paper, these papers were all binded, in their exact form and way. Not wasting even one bit. Courtesy a small-scale run press, I managed to bind my own recycled sketchbooks.

The covers are too, completely made of recycled materials, paper, cloth and one old Indian flag that was stitched onto it! I even experimented with the Gondh illustration style on one cover, with my dog being its hero! I love these all-new-yet-old sketchbooks that have such a strong association of names, places and patriotism!


Such pure joy!

Colour for this chappal: Bond Paper White

Neha ka Wacom

Neha is my bestie.
And I wanted to gift her something that "I" make,.
And something that was useful and what she needed.

Eversince Neha bought her Wacom tablet and we dicussed it,we often complained how difficult it was handle it while travelling/ carrying it around in general. Idea struck and a handmade quilted Wacom cover was decided upon! Neha being Neha, I wanted something filmy and fun! I quilted the cover according to a size, simultaneously deciding what would go on it. I made a couple of HUGE errors and after several failed attempts at printed something for a quilted cover, fabric paint was brought to the rescue. A gift I totally enjoyed making and Neha, I assume likes using! ;)


Completely recycled (except the velcro bit) and with 100% love!

Here's what came at the end of it all. Thank you Roshini for all the help!!



Pssstt: Neha uses her Wacom more than she needs the cover! See more of her work here .

Colour for this chappal: Yellow and blue

Of Blockprinted Cards

While I'm totally enjoying my super long super awesome holiday, I have been upto some interesting things too! Earlier this month, I tried my hand at blockprinting, at a small unit here, where Im currently holidaying. After trying out all possible things on cloth, my love for paper rose and I started printing on paper. It was SUPER FUN indeed. A whole day of colour, paper and my favourite prints! Oh-what-fun!

After printing on handmade paper one side, I decided to make cards with old wedding cards. Indian wedding cards have such wonderful paper and it hurts to see it go waste! After cutting my papers and cards to a standard size, I came up with almost 25 cards! There was no design, concept or pattern. It was just an exploration and experimentation with my love for the medium and the art!

I'm very grateful to those who let me do this! Thank you 5/5!

Colour for this chappal: Multicoloured 

Damini & Akshay

Weddings are always fun things! And there was a wedding in the family recently and due to 'my busy college schedule' I was unable to make it.

The person who was getting married was my sister's husband's sister (it sounds distant, but is very close) and she is one of the coolest persons I know! Her husband is equally fun and genius-ey. (If thats a word) :D

For them, I had decided earlier itself that I would make a nameplate, I wanted to give the printing bit a shot as well as see how I could challenge myself to this task. I decided to go in for a Bollywood Theme for this, because they are fun and colourful people!

I wanted to explore the idea of lettering myself and giving it a feel of a movie name. Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to do the practical application of this exercise, but did a digital rendering of the same.

The final design was printed on an A3 thick, glossy card sheet (300 GSM), cut into its size, laminated with a matt finished and framed with a black wooden border. This effect made it look exactly how I wanted it too, not bold and yet bot too subtle.

A pretty cool end project and a wonderful learning experience!


Photographs of the actual nameplate

Ma, holding the nameplate! 

My best wishes to the newest funnest couple! Have a suppperrrrbb time!


Colour for this chappal: Yellow , red and blue!

The Army Wives' Diary

Since I'm home these summer holidays, I decided to stay at home and relax. Until my Mum told me that there was going to be a social evening at the club in the town where Im currently residing in.

After a lot of hestitation and pestering I agreed to join in. I dont remember the last time I performed something, so I was kind of scared. But this proved to be a gala fun time for me.  The play was titled 'The Army Wives' Diary' and was a fun take on the different stages and phases that an Army wife goes through. There was drama and a lot of humour. I enjoyed myself thoroughly during the event.

Most participants were Army Wives themselves and wanted to have a lot of fun during this play. It was decided that the play would be all fun based and different roles and characters were assigned. I was asked to shake a leg and help out here and there. After what seems like years, I danced in public, with proper steps and chereography. I dont remember the last time I had so much fun!

I also volunteered to do some sort of publicity and handle their art direction. For funs sake, I made a couple of teasers and poster (after a full fledged photoshoot) for the event. These were sent out as circulars and got good a pretty good response. The photoshoot was also a whole lot of fun, with kids and aunties giving me some wonderful poses!

Since the play was a lot of drama, for the end, I thought it would be different and fun to have a proper credit sequence, so with prior permission, I started to build on that as well. I clicked candid shots, edited and added music and compiled it together. It was an amateur attempt at a credit sequence, but it did work finally!

The play was staged on last saturday and got a huge response and even a standing ovation! People enjoyed it and I did too.

I had a wonderful experience and enjoyed every bit.



The Teasers and Posters

                                   

The End Credits Sequence

Colour for this chappal: Pink, Yellow and Green