"Visuals Are More Attractive Than Words."

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1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I come from Kanpur, it’s not a big city, but I feel that it’s very vibrant. I completed my schooling there and then, I got myself enrolled in the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Gandhinagar.

It was the turning point of my life, I started seeing things differently. The cultural shock, homesickness, meeting, and interacting with new people, all these things started grooming me in order to get the sense of who am I today.

Even though I was graduating in textile design, I always struggled to relate to it. I would find myself thinking of why did I not choose other design fields which could give me the creative freedom I wanted.

I always felt that I could contribute to the world with my art, I just still didn’t know back then and even nowadays, that’s always a question that I keep seeking the answer by exploring many styles. But still, I reached in my final year and I made my mind change rather than starting to pursue a professional life as a textile designer.

Right after, I got the opportunity to work with one of India’s best music clubhouses named “Bluefrog”, and I must say that it was an amazing journey I had there. This opportunity made me develop a sense of art within me.

When you find this project where you are asked to create something new, which you can relate to a particular music genre or artist then you get the chance to challenge yourself and drive deep into your artistic world. That’s how I started to work as an illustrator.

If you ask me to sum up, I would say it has been full of excitement, failures, learning lessons, and more importantly with a zest that asks me to explore something which can’t be said in words. This has been my journey so far.

2. How and when did you realize your passion?

Since my childhood, I have had a clear idea of what I did enjoy to do, but knowing how to express myself. it was the challenge. It’s been within my consciousness that I want to do something in the art field especially in the pattern, portrait design, or other conventional art forms, but it was in college where I started exploring these new ideas.

The passion for art has been always there but for which particular subsection, it has been changing since then. With time, you will start the experiment and exploring new ways of expressing your art, as a creative or an artist, we are always filled up with ideas to create new forms, shapes, or lines.

Currently, I’m excited to explore this new side of queer progressive art in the form of doodle and patterns.

3. What are some tips you would like to share with amateurs in your line of work?

One of the most helpful tips which I would like to give is to have thick skin.

You know what you are doing and what you want to be, so take the criticism to the extent where you can learn and improve, not where you start losing creative confidence.

Work hard, enjoy the things you do, create art, and make this world a better place.

4. What is the most important skill one should possess to be a successful artist?

Personally, I still don’t know the meaning of being a successful artist. Success can be measure by many factors and it changes from person to person. As far as my thinking is concerned, you consider that it is important to have a sense of adventure and neutrality.

The eye has to travel, so does your creativity and your imaginations. And, traveling without adventures is not fun. The neutrality gives you a chance to see all perspectives while you creating.

I feel combining both gives your art a timelessness.

5. What are the various opportunities available for an aspiring artist?

In this digital era, it’s a good thing for all artists that Art is getting more exposure than before, and these create more opportunities for us.

Now, we have new ways to show our work for example, by posting our artwork on Social Media, making our Website or even, creating our own e-Store to sell your work. However, this also made the market much more competitive and there are a lot of great people out there that we can get inspired from.

In my experience, throughout these years, what was always worked the best is still the old school methods, my friends or clients refereeing me - word-to-mouth. I believe that building relationships and exceeding people’s expectations will always be the best magnet you can have to one day, live by doing what you love.

6. Which is your favorite book and why?

I was always attracted to visuals than words.

But, I can name two of my favorite films, Gabbeh by Mohsen Makhmalbaf and The Color of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov. Their images and poetic approach makes the experience different every time that you see it, you will have a different grasp of it, depending on your state of mind.

- Kriti Shukla, Artist

- Interviewed by Kedar Lalwani

- Edited by Shilpy Sharan