WINTER END!!

Well if you ask any one in the city of Mumbai about it's winters, they will probably laugh. That is because seemingly there are only two seasons here summer and rainy. Well some how we did experience a certain amount of chill beginning of this year because of certain climate anomaly. Undoubtedly it was pleasant and as the heat is rising i am dreading the summers which will be here to stay till mid June. Anyways, below are some animals made on flash and some touch ups on Photoshop. The difficult bit of this illustration was to decide upon the cute baby animals, as majority of them had that factor in them in excess. I further intend to make a calender out of it, hence twelve of them.

Here it is, the baby animal calender. Do send me a message in case any of you want a printable copy of it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! WELCOME 2012

Wishing everybody a wonderful new year ahead ! It is my heartiest wish that this year is full of happiness and joy and may your every wish come true. 2011 ended with release of some amazing dance and melodious numbers, among the endless list a few are "Move like Jagger" by Maroon 5, "Mr Saxo Beat" by Alexandra Stan, "Why this Kolaveri Di" by Dhanush and Anirudh and so on. Well, what better way to start the new year than a sketch of Lord Ganesha, the god of luck and well being.

Sketch on Flash

YEAR END!!

"FAMOUS DETECTIVE STORIES", by Wilco Publishing House is the book i finished reading this month, as i was on the way to attend a college friend's wedding. Each story in the compilation and their author are exceptional and worth a read, but a few of them have made a permanent place for themselves in my list of favorites. I really enjoyed reading the, "The Gold-Bug" by Edgar Allen Poe, and coincidentally found an omnibus of his work. I am absolutely in love with it, but unfortunately i find very little time for it. 2011 has come to an end. This year has been tough and fabulous, it taught me a lot and strengthened me. Adios 2011!! Well, below is an illustration i have been working on whenever i found some free time, inspired by the spirit of Christmas.

All flash and a bit of Photoshop.

All flash and photoshop

This is another illustration for the Ability magazine. Ability magazine focuses on stories related to differently able people. I personally feel it is a fabulous effort and i contribute to it without commission as and when it is required of me and i can.

UPDATES

I am really happy to share that my short film, "RAMATIYA", was nominated in the best professional short film category at ASIF India, and it won. I am really thankful all over again to NID, Ahmedabad and the ASIFA India team. More than acknowledging that i have created something worth recognition, the award has given me encouragement and has inspired me to create something even better. My attempt is not to fail them and myself. Fortunately, i was able to attend the event, which was fabulous. There were people from around the world to present what they have been working on professionally and share their experience. It was in units of astronomy informative and exhilarating.

http://www.asifa.in/iad11/winners.html

Below are some quick artworks/sketches. They were made using flash and some play with Photoshop. These are outcomes of unavoidable and indispensable urge to create and escape from the essential materialistic life. They are also inspired by some very psychedelic tracks by Bjork and Dandy Warhols. Recently i was done reading, Rabbi's Cat by Joan Safar. The book is an enjoyable ride into Algeria's Jewish culture and a cat which speaks it's mind. Let me not talk about it any further and ruin it for you. I am almost done with my detective stories omnibus. I will be writing about he authors and some of the stories in my next post. They are absolutely fantabulous and brilliosome.

BACKLOGS !!

Just as i was done adding a few illustrations to this post i was down with health. While recovering i was able to see Rio. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The colors and characters were absolutely brilliant. As i was reading about the film i found out, the protagonist was initially a penguin. Wow !! that would have been a very different film. Among the screenplay writers, Don Rhymer is my favorite one. He also wrote Surf's Up. Which i personally consider as the top ten animation films. Ok ! This particular post is dedicated to some of my work i was unable to complete earlier or could not add to the blog.

This is what remains of what was supposed to be an animated promotional film for Chitrakatha Student International Animation Film Festival '2011. Sadly the ambition didn't come to life because of the realities of Mumbai professional life and ambitious plans.

I had earlier posted this illustration. But i wanted ot further work and detail it a bit. All Flash and Photoshop editing. The new Avatar is here!!

It seems as if it has been ages since i have been working on this illustration. The basic idea was to dedicate this illustration to our beautiful planet and it's creatures living under water, on land and conquering the sky. Nature is my biggest inspiration. It's mesmerizing colours and forms triggers my creativity endlessly. All Photoshop.

This was a map postcard that i made a few months back for the store CMYK in Pune. Had great fun doing something fresh.

Collage is my rediscovered love. I love to do things to images. I often feel that a captured image is hiding a lot in itself. Some how i want to bring that out.I tried playing around with a friends Photograph and apparently she liked it a lot. She herself is a brilliant designer. (http://carciofocontento.blogspot.com/).

TOMORROW NEVER COMES !!

Good god !! For a while i was convinced, i will never be able to get back to my blog and peacefully write a few lines. Past few months have been demanding and i had to be more than myself . A list of songs were my companions through the highs and lows. In fact most of the numbers are soundtracks of the popular Television series, "SCRUBS". I am hooked, not only to the songs but the series as well. I am currently watching the eighth season.The unmissable songs among them are, " Dreaming of you", this song is from a brilliant band called the "The Coral", formed in the mid 90's. "Superman", by Lazlo Bane. "Good Time", by Leory and "Overkill" by Colin Hay. Pomplamoose, numbers without failure, were always on the playlist.

Apart from this for months, i am stuck with a book which is a compilation of detective stories. I simply am unable to get through the last few stories. But in the mean while a friend from work, who is a brilliant Illustrator ( http://jsmarur.blogspot.com) lent me this graphic novel. The Rabbi's Cat, which i am thoroughly enjoying. Below are images of some of the projects i was working on a few months back which did not materialize.

The above two frames are from the packaging project which fizzled. I used Flash and Photoshop for this project. I basically had to package their show reel They had different programs under the same company.

Another project which fizzled out. I had to create a fake identity and create design layout for graphic animation.

These are among the promo concepts for a holi promo. Sadly they didn't materialize. Would have been enormous fun.

BUSY SUMMER TIME!!

HEELLLOOO "Mumbai Summer" !!!! The heat and my stress are competing with each other. The plummeting rickshaw rides. Noisy, honky, fumy, nauseating and perpetually under construction roads. The jittery and suffocating trains. Amidst this madness a number of songs teleport me to a music heaven. A few among them are: "Bin Tere (Reprise)" from the movie, I Hate Love Stories. Shekar's voice in the song is amazing and it's lyrics and composition by Vishal is right on the money. "Stop Me" a cover of a 80's British band, "The Smiths", by Mark Ronson. This song features one my favorite recent singer Daniel Merriweather. "Beggin" cover by the Norwegian hip-hop band Madcon. The song was originally sung by the 60's American band, "Four Seasons", and apparently they were the most popular band before the Beatles. Well, so much for the songs. Below are some of the illustrations i made when i had some spare time. I will soon be writing about my on going projects.

This sketch is dedicated to my all time favorite movie, "Ratatouille". Pentool is my recent love in Photoshop. I get sharp and crisp forms and selections.

Say hello to MOONALISA!! Another one with pentool in photoshop.

A quick e- card i made for my little sister. All Flash!!!

A quick illustration with Photoshop.

Some experiments with Flash and Photoshop.

Some experiments with Flash and Photoshop.