I think it’s very important for an artist to start the day with a fresh mind, it allows more space to develop ideas and handle the stress from deadlines.
Hi. I am Rahul. I am a concept artist, illustrator and an art influencer. I inspire many artists through my page @artattract_india, my page ranks in top 10 art featuring pages in India.
My art journey started from my school days, me and my friend we all were big fans of dragon ball z and cars (automobile design) we all use to draw cars and cartoons on back pages of all our textbooks and notebooks we use to compete with each other a lot.
Later, years passed, and everyone left drawing started taking studies seriously because of parents pressure, I was the only one who continued drawing till 10th grade.
I have won a lot of competitions in my school time also continued drawing till 12th grade, I was average in studies but excellent in drawing after 12th I decided to go for product design & automobile design.
I was lucky that my parents didn’t hold me back as there has always been this stereotyping statement of “How can you earn a living with art? No.”, my parents supported me all the way until this day.
I took the CEED crash course and applied for IIT Bombay. Later, I found that I was not eligible for the test so my one year got completely wasted till than I was handling my family business, 2 years went by I didn't do anything I was just drawing as a hobby (more on that later in the interview).
2. When did you decide you wanted to be a painter/illustrator?
After 2 years I got a job in a comic studio where I met my first boss Nishchit Kulabkar. For me, he was more than a boss, he was my mentor. He guided me in my career and inspired me to continue my art journey.
He showed me the path to continue forward, he introduced me to graphic tablet and digital art medium which changed my life forever, now I was able to do commercial art with the help of a digital medium.
Later, I joined an art institute to learn different tools and software used in industry, I have done 2 years diploma in 3D and VFX & I was doing both jobs and my diploma at the same time. Later, I got into other jobs where I was doing concept art for games.
Currently, I am working with a sports company where I am responsible to create illustrations and graphics for big sports events like football and cricket currently I am working on illustrations for upcoming IPL events.
Over the years, I've learned that knowing how to use multiple tools is important in order to be an efficient artist. Each tool definitely helps to define your style as an artist.
3. Is it a financially stable career?
Yes, it's a financially stable career if you choose to go with commercial art. Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. It includes visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone to inform, illustrate, or entertain.
Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, movies etc.) for viewers with the intent of promoting sale and interest of products, services, and ideas. I would just recommend every artist to go for commercial arts.
4. Who is your favourite illustrator and why?
There’s so much talent out there and it’s hard to keep track. But these artists are some of the best and my favourite and if you’re an aspiring artist then these names should be on your radar.
Digital concept artist (James Paick, Maciej Kuciara, Darek Zabrocki & Johnson Ting).
5. Where do you get inspired from to create art?
Movies and games mostly, I’m obsessed with technological stuff, especially articles on our latest tech. Discovery channel/nat geo/history channel also provide a very strong boost on inspiration. Those are the best in expanding our visual library.
I also rewatch some of my favourite movies like transformers/ Blade Runner/ joker/ inception/ Akira/ Terminator/ Matrix etc just to keep my inspiration going. Well, I guess my fav genre should be sci-fi then, I also like fantasy films and games!
I also browse through a lot of great artists works daily, sometimes I do a little study and sometimes I ask them for guidance, it never hurts to learn more, especially learning from the masters.
6. What does your typical day look like?
I think it’s very important for an artist to start the day with a fresh mind, it allows more space to develop ideas and handle the stress from deadlines. To me the best way to start fresh is writing my diary first I read my gratitude list daily I have been doing this from last three years and it changed me allot.
But it’s not just the morning routine to ensure maximum creativity, the part on how you handle the stress throughout the day is as important, always take short breaks from long hours on a painting, maybe a 10 mins break in an hour, just to keep the brain juice flowing peacefully, to avoid idea blockages.
Read some books, watch some videos, walk around, anything to get your mind off the painting just for a little bit. Working your butt off for 8 hours on a single painting non-stop without any mental breaks is going to kill you and the painting. So I always try to ease up a little to avoid trashing my desk.
7. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring illustrators?
One advice I Always will give to other artists is to be consistent, do maintain sketchbooks, try to sketch daily for an hour trying to copy different art styles on beginning and always use references for drawing & know how to sell yourself, how to convince people to commission you, whether it’s online or face to face.
Always make sure you have a strong portfolio and always be honest to your clients. Once you’ve a stable source of income from commissions, you can easily devote yourself to being a full-time freelancer, but it takes time and effort.
So choose wisely when you start, there’s no wrong decision in this (so no worries) just gather different opinions from people in the field and make up your own decision.
8. Which is your favourite book and why?
One of my favourite books which I recommend to all artists and creators is Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. It's very useful and inspiring, it explains so much in 160 pages in such a simple way that it sticks to your head I can say A Crash Course to boost your creativity.
The second book is The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. What Darren has taught and is still teaching me in this book is, I must take full responsibility for the results in my life. I am one hundred per cent responsible for what I am and where I am today.
The third book I recommend most to artists is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, this is the book that really hits you at the core and encourages you to turn pro. Must read multiple times from time to time.
Interview By - Shruti Kaval
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