Create art that defines you

[Music]

the journey started

with getting to know the subject of

calligraphy for the very first time

at the event calif 2008 conducted by

achook palace school of calligraphy

it was held at julia school of arts and

i remember

it was first of its kind exhibition in

india during those times

it was truly truly a mesmerizing feeling

for me

and looking at the amazing set of

artworks displayed at the exhibition

and the demonstration of paolo sir

himself i got this feeling

for the first time i want to do this

i guess that was my moment of epiphany

i had just completed my 10th grade back

then in fact my parents took me to this

exhibition

which i am eternally grateful about

looking at my interest getting developed

in this subject

they not only encouraged me to learn

this art form

but also enrolled me to the calligraphy

classes of sri lanka square research

which was located in the nearby facility

and that’s where my journey

of learning calligraphy actually started

later as i pursued my graduation from

sunset college of applied arts i have

got to know

and i learn various new subjects amongst

which was also typography and

calligraphy

in the course of four years i happened

to think of

ideas inclining towards calligraphic

executions

and it happened to me naturally am i

learning

any particular subject what

subconsciously happens to us

at the initial stage is we try to

um like adapt and

get close to the references we are

looking at right

that’s what we try to achieve at that

point in time but it looks like we are

copying or replicating

uh but the intention is always trying to

achieve the results

which are as close as possible to the

master’s work

of course that happened with me too

i was really fortunate enough to meet

professor vinay sanika sir

in the fourth year of my graduation he

was

one of the senior and most respected

professors

from jesus school of arts who came as a

visiting faculty for us

in that particular year to make the most

of his opportunity

i fondly showed him my calligraphic work

while i was expecting to receive

compliments from him

he did appreciate my work but most

importantly he asked me a question

and i must say that changed my entire

approach towards calligraphy

since then he asked me

in your assignments i could see the

influence

of the existing words of the master

category first

then what have you created of your own

in this

well i was taken aback and

it the question made so sense it was

actually a googly or a yorker

that i didn’t know how to play

but the question did stay with me for

much longer

since my childhood days uh actually i

have been

very fond of creating greetings for my

friends and my family

during birthdays or any special occasion

uh

most of my friends have also treasured

it till date

as i learned calligraphy and explored

its more styles i happened to create

calligraphic festive greetings

during those times since

signing the sword had asked me a

question and it stayed with me for

much longer every time i created a

festive greeting

i happen to think what is

unique that i am creating in this i

guess

that was my another moment of epiphany

when i started looking

at calligraphy with a new set of thought

process

while it had a calligraphic expression

it also had

a strong base of ideation in it

i took it as a project or a subject to

experiment

with the calligraphic forms and

eventually it became a wonderful passion

project for me

and it’s still going on it must be

somewhere around 2014

that i started creating this calligraphy

greetings

new set of thoughts and started putting

it on social media

my intention was quite clear instead of

just writing happy new year

or uh in a particular script or a style

i thought calligraphy can be used as

more of a visual form

to communicate let me share with you my

thought process by showing some of my

work

so you can understand and relate more to

it

you see this uh artwork on the slide

it is inspired by a guruji who who was

drawing

um a form of swastika on my uh on the

wall of my house during an auspicious

occasion and it rang the bell

it was my moment of eureka and i was

like why can’t this be called as

calligraphy

and i have it in my thoughts in this

festival i created

uh this greeting as ruthan varshavindan

which means

happy new year in the and i used a

medium as

kumkum and used my finger as a tool

it does create much difference and it

brings authenticity

to the entire image

next what i created in consecutive years

is the

critique of kodi again but as you see it

is

the letter in gudi padwa in a

conventional style but there is a form

of goody incorporated in it that made

much of a difference

and it is still being shared and

appreciated by much

many people that i know another attempt

of the same subject of kodi

you can see and it is

made as an illustration in the form of

the copper vessel

that is that we put on the top of the

kodi so even if the subjects

the subject remain the same even in the

consecutive years i tried to experiment

with the different forms similarly in

the festival of

diwali i happen to look after the

cultural aspects of it

and create festivities for the same

let’s have a look at it

in this particular art form uh you can

see the form of

diya being incorporated in the lettering

and you can you can see it’s a visual it

is not just written it

in the consecutive is there is another

attempt of writing

super deepavali as a same lecturing but

in the form of fire rifles

right it is there are so many aspects

that we

associate diwali with so i just try to

incorporate them in the festive

greetings

as you see ahead there are forms of diya

itself

in the festive greeting and the words

are also shubhadi bhavani

but it is very different from the

approach that i had before

so as it is an activity since past six

to seven years

my approach my learning my understanding

went

on um like improving and i created these

greetings

especially in last year when we all were

stuck at home

due to pandemic and we couldn’t meet

each other

our close ones or friends in this time

of pandemic

i thought to create a motion graphics

poster for the first time

which could bring joy and happiness to

people and not let the enthusiasm

of diwali get away let’s have a look at

this motion graphics poster

as you can see there has been a

thoughtful effort

made in experimenting with the forms

with the tools with the mediums with the

compositions

and it all had a different message a

different kind of

authenticity to share similarly uh there

are a few more greetings i would like to

share with you

that you can see in this greeting or for

independence day

it’s a form of a word in tri-color

and the tool used to draw it is the word

feather

we associate word with freedom with

independence

and it is coming out of the darkness so

it has a multiple

layers of ideation but the execution is

very minimal

just the form of a bird in as a

calligraphic stroke

in the tri colors drawn with the

bird feather and as you see this one

for makarsan karanthi it’s a festival

where we exchange sweets and say

uh so when i couldn’t meet anyone in

person

i thought i really want to share sweets

so how if i create a lettering

using the switch itself so i draw this

uh makar sankaranthi for reference and

then arrange

this terrible in a particular form that

it looks authentic

and also because it is a festival of

kites i happen to incorporate the word

happy and it has a very

wonderful illustration of a kind into it

similarly for pongal though it is not

the language that i am familiar with

i happen to experiment in the tamil

language

and give pong well wishes also

for the festival of rakshabandhan you

can see it is a form of

rakhi and it’s a sacred trait that

strengthens the relationship

the most affectionate relationship i

would say so it’s

rakshabandhan word written itself in the

form of rakhi

and this slide you can see the festival

of

eid where we are wishing to everyone

it has aspects of the culture and

the practices that they do so that was

another attempt

another you can see is the holy the

enthusiasm

the fun the joy of holi and saying holy

hey

that feeling like when i’m sharing the

visual with you you should

not just see the greeting you should

hear the greeting you should feel the

greeting

that has been an honest attempt all the

time and that you can feel with the

greetings for sure

another greeting that you you can see

right now is for teacher’s name

when uh the idea actually there is a

good story behind it that i was not able

to think of a good idea

for teacher’s day and on the morning of

september i happen to think of this one

line

that the journey from alphabets to

typography

couldn’t have been possible without you

which is true

absolutely true it came from straight

out of my heart

and i happened to make this particular

greeting

similarly along with festive greetings i

happened to create

tribute posts when we lost someone whom

i am very

like close to me or have been admiring

them the first one i created is

for as a tribute for dr apj abdul when

we lost him

and it was just two basic strokes which

is creating his identity

which is having no expressions because

no more

and this art was also um included in the

blog

which titled top 10 artists who gave

tribute

to apj abdul kalam from india

so that was a really a big moment for me

when it was nationally appreciated

in last year especially we lost so many

people

and due to pandemic it has created a

havoc

more than festive greetings i created a

tribute posts in that year

this one in particular was for someone i

really admire

and look up to dr rahab indori he has

been one of my favorite

writer and poets and when i heard the

news i happened to just

calling up this verse

foreign

it just came from heart to heart and

there are of course

many more of such which you can see on

my social media handles

in all these years it made me more

curious to look into the indian

tradition

and practices and the rituals that we

practice

it also gives you a learning that we do

have a huge treasure

of scripts and languages but it has not

been explored to its best potential

along with the caligraphic executions

what really made it my style

is having a strong base of ideation to

it

and most importantly i urge looking at

calligraphy

beyond just the art of beautiful

handwriting

and looking at it looking at it as a

visual language

to communicate and connect with the

audience

yes that’s what i feel calligraphy is

all about and

it became my way of staying in touch

with my people

and really creating a good body of

course

there have been occasions when i have

had tough times coming up with these

ideas

because it’s a recurring event every

year it’s not easy to work on the same

subject subject every time

so of course i face challenges coming up

with these sort of thoughts

also with the set of responsibilities

personally or professionally

it was difficult to balance to create

this particular greeting

timing has been the most crucial factor

here so

most of the times when i thought of an

idea it was too late to execute

but sometimes i made sure that i will

think of an idea prior and create these

greetings regardless of what and i will

share it in due time

because the importance of the reading

will stay if i share it with you on the

particular day

and a new point in time today if i don’t

post

the message or i don’t post it

on social media i get around eight to

ten messages from people

asking for i’m waiting for your post

where is it

because they really connect to the post

mode they

ask me that i want to share it to my

close ones and they wait

for uh sharing my creative itself

it really feels a good satisfaction and

i feel

this itself is an achievement when

people are eagerly waiting for your

artwork

what else do you need this brought me

a huge exposure in the industry and

brought me some good opportunities

working with

the finest advertising agencies brands

and clients

it also got me opportunities to conduct

workshops

at prestigious design institutions

and my work also got exhibited in

various

exhibitions internationally and

nationally

from the point of epiphany to the moment

of achievement

my journey completed a full circle

exactly ten years after when i was

invited

to take a workshop at california 2008

18 sorry at the california 18 conducted

by

school of calligraphy again and it was a

wonderful wonderful feeling for me

later in 2019 i got to share stage

with the masters i have always looked up

to

and it was a wonderful moment to be

as a panelist at the first national

calligraphy fest

held in kerala in this short period of

time

i was fortunate enough to get great

opportunities

but also it was a byproduct of working

with patients

and persistence amongst a lot of things

that i have learned in these years

i would like to share a few key points

from this talk

when you create a design think of the

context

and not just the content as an artist

don’t feel try to tell people what you

do but do tell it in a unique way

you will never find time to create

something

unless you make it a priority so make

sure that you

prioritize what you want to do as a

subject of

your work always remember

observation is the key so keep your eyes

wide open

all the time and most importantly

do look for references and inspirations

but create art that defines you