"We Should Always Compare Our New Works to Old Ones" - Saswata Mukherjee & Susruta Mukherjee

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1. Tell us more about your background and journey.

We were born and brought up in Kolkata. Both my parents were school teachers and they loved reading literature. As a result of which we had a lot of books to read. Our elder brother had this huge collection of comics which we would flip through. Which was probably the earliest inspiration. Our brother (bonny) made this sketch of Shaktimaan for us looking at which we started sketching our own Shaktimaan. There was no stopping us after that. We were sketching on anything and everything. He was the one who introduced us to almost every pop culture characters.

We were supposed to pursue engineering after school but our awful board results implied that we won't be able to make it. That was a blessing in disguise. We cracked the entrance test for a multimedia course in St. Xavier's College Kolkata. Here we met our mentor Kaustubh Ray who changed our world view completely. Our approach to art underwent a paradigm shift after that.

2. When did you decide you wanted to be an painter/illustrator?

We never really decided to be illustrators. It happened to us. Again our elder brother is responsible for this. We are addicted to it, its like breathing for the two of us. We can't live without scribbling, be it on a piece of paper or digitally (even though that has happened lately).

3. Is it a financially stable career?

We can't really speak for every freelancer out there. We'll share our experience. We worked fulltime in a start up for more than 1.5 years. Even though we were getting paid  well enough, the experience was mentally draining us. There was no respect. There were people running the business with absolutely zero knowledge in the field of design but who would school us every now and then. It felt alright because we were getting paid at the end of the month but that feeling doesn't last long. If you are under people who don't give you enough freedom to explore your skills you don't grow as an individual we believe.

We had a fallout and quit our jobs together in September 2018. We've been working freelance ever since. We don't want to sugarcoat things and say that everything went consistently well after that. There have been times when we weren't paid our dues for months and we've wondered whether working full time was better, but at the end of the day we agreed that nothing must come at the cost of our creative freedom for such a long time (dayjob experience: June 2017- Sept 2018). We started building our portfolio. Collaborated on two projects for Redbull with a brilliant designer and human being called Rituparna Sarkar. Made animated shorts for two other International brands. 

There are pros and cons if you are working freelance:

• Cons are that you will most likely come across clients who would exploit you when you are starting off, things might look uncertain when you don't have work for weeks or months.
• Pros are that you mostly have the creative freedom and even if you don't, it only lasts for a short time. You get to explore all your creatives skills and get better at them, as a result you might start earning better from them. Personally if we weren't freelancing we probably would've never had the opportunity to work with one of our idols, Varun Grover.

I think it all depends on the individual. We need to work hard and intelligently , and know how to grow our audience. That way we believe, you can find stability in anything that you do

4. Who is your favourite illustrator and why?

It's impossible for us to choose one. Satyajit Ray has been an inspiration since we were 9 years old. We are a huge admirer of Shaun Tan's way of speaking through images. These are just two names in the sea of artists and illustrators who have inspired us.

Too many to name actually, Works of Narayan Debnath,Satyajit Ray, Hergé , Goscinny Uderzo influenced us a lot since we were in kindergarten. Of lately if we have to choose one it will be Shaun Tan. The way this man speaks through images is nothing less than magic.

5. Where do you get inspired from to create art?

Everyday life mostly. Everything that happens around us evokes a reaction. We express it through our artworks.  Be it grief, despair, helplessness or ecstasy.

6. What does your typical day look like?

If we aren't working on a commercial project, we get up at around 8.30-9 in the morning, have our breakfast and start reading or sketching. Do some chores . Have our lunch followed by an afternoon slumber (which is extremely important for the two of us). We used to go out for an evening walk and tea session with friends almost everyday before the lockdown and coming back we would have another tea session with mother where we talk about everything. Our days are incomplete without the tea time adda with mother.

If we are working on a project with a tight deadline, a lot of things get changed according to the timeline of the project . Everything apart from the evening tea break with mother. We stay up till late. Wake up early.

7. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring illustrators?

I think we should always love and enjoy the process. If it feels like work you are bound to lose interest after a point of time. We also believe it's extremely important to be critical of one's own work. We should always compare our new works to old ones to understand whether we have evolved as an artist. Also we should always be appreciative of the works of others. Be kind to others.

8. Which is your favourite book and why?

Again, it's pretty tough to pick one, So I will name some of my favorite novels and illustrated books and comics.

Novels:

Shonku Samagra by Satyajit Ray, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Gosainbaganer Bhoot by Shirsendu Mukherjee, One Hundrend Years of Solitude, Coraline. The Other:Stories of Difference by Paro Anand.

Illustrated Books and Comics:

The Arrival by Shaun Tan, Watchmen, The Dam by David Almond and Levi Pinfold, Maachher Jhol by Richa Jha and Sumanta Dey, Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi, Cicada by Shaun Tan, The Graveyard Book, The Sandman by Neil Gainman, Art Matters by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Freedom Hospital by Hamid Sulaiman, Habibi by Craig Thompson.

Like I said it's hard to pick one but if someone was to break our twin jaws if we didn't, we'd still pick two and that would be "Watchmen" because this book is a Masterclass in narrative and character design.

"The Other: Stories of Difference" by Paro Anand is really important because it is an anthology that deals with issues like homophobia, rape, misogyny among many others, that are rarely addressed in young adults' literature but are plaguing the country from deep within. It also helps to grow empathy at an early age which I feel is the need of the hour if we want the youth to grow up to be sensible citizens.

- Saswata Mukherjee (IG: bob_almost) & Susruta Mukherjee (IG: almost_bobby)

Interview by - Abhirup Dey