Hasta La Creative!

Based out of Mumbai, Ritam has never quite understood the need to create a niche. Shooting extensively across categories—travel, photojournalism, advertising, interiors, portraits, automobiles, fashion, food—he has always sought inspiration and challenge in variety. From training his lens at the blazing dome of the Taj Palace & Tower when Mumbai was under siege in 2008 to documenting the placid course of the middle and lower Ganges, Ritam has framed things as disparate as spas and slums, ketchup and cars.

Over the last decade, Ritam has worked with corporates and publications across continents, and has also been associated with the global agency, Getty Images.
 
Apart from stills, he shoots commercial AVs, and has recently won an International Best Cinematographer Award in London for his first feature film. Ritam has also been in the news for his theme-based calendars and his exhibitions.

Why are you a photographer?
Guess, I couldn’t think or dream of doing anything else. Life is all about what we see and the way we see them. So, perhaps, the innate desire to tell stories the way I see it led me to photography. Whether it’s documenting something or creating a piece of art, capturing a moment or depicting an idea, it’s really about telling a story and telling it well.

Do you remember any decisive moment when you felt ‘I want to be a photographer’?
My father, Robin Banerjee, was a serious hobbyist and still practices photography for the pure love of the medium. Seeing him and his work when I was growing up must have influenced my decision. So when I got the first opportunity to explore photography during my college days in Fergusson, Pune, I took it seriously and started my journey as a photojournalist with the Times of India, Pune edition. I haven’t looked back since.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Like I said: my father. His passion for the art was contagious. Thanks to him, I was exposed to the works of legends like Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts, Steve Mccurry, Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, Robert Capa, Patrick Demarchelier, Max Vadukul, Henri Cartier Bresson, Raghu Rai, Raghubir Singh, Gautam Rajadhyaksha, Prabuddha Dasgupta and several others. Even painters, musicians and filmmakers influenced my sensibilities.

Though I grew up in a small town– Jamshedpur — my upbringing made the canvas in front of me that much wider. From Michael Jackson to Tchaikovsky, Monet to Nandalal Bose, Tagore to Shakespeare, Satyajit Ray to Vittorio De Sica, my education in aesthetics and culture has luckily been quite diverse.

Who was the most influential personality in your career in photography?
As I just mentioned, there were several who influenced my ideas and opinions. Hence, naming one personality wouldn’t do justice.

How has photography changed over the course of the last couple of decades? Is execution/art direction more important than it used to be?
With time, everything evolves. So has photography and us as practitioners of the art. Sensibilities have changed and so have the tools and techniques. The ability to instantly view the results and even tweak the images at will in post-production effectively means: one’s only limitation is the periphery of one’s imagination.

And yes, eye for detail, subtlety in styling and approach, precision in execution and innovation and imagination in art direction has resulted in a sea of change in the manner in which we even perceive an image today.

Given a choice, no other constraints, film or digital?
Both have their own charm. It’s like saying Test Cricket or T20?

What do you think of the current state of Print Advertising photography in India? Is it at par with the work done worldwide?
Print advertising has evolved many folds in India. Not only in terms of ideation, even in terms of execution, we have achieved very high standards. Not only photography, but in many cases, even CGI has had a major role to play. Several jobs done here today are definitely at par with the work done worldwide.

Where do you get your inspiration?
From sounds of nature to people on the streets, everything influences my thoughts and ideas. I keep an open mind, as one never knows what might trigger that ‘Eureka’ moment. No matter where I am, be it in a coffee shop or in the middle of maddening traffic, I keep looking around. I often shoot such moments with my iPhone. Works of different artists also influence me. Whenever I get a chance, I try and collaborate with different artists to not just create but to learn and get inspired. This year too, I did two calendars, one with the dance maestro, Astad Deboo in Mexico and the other with the sculptor, Arzan Khambatta in Mumbai.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit photography?
I would be lying if I said no. There have been times, when the work at hand hasn’t challenged me creatively or technically. There have also been moments when the demands of the job have been unreasonable to the point of being silly. Sometimes things have seemed monotonous. Thankfully, such instances have been few and far between.
What’s your dream project?
Several. But if I had to choose one, it would involve travelling across the globe and collaborating with artists, designers and models from varied ethnicities to create a seamless confluence of different worlds within each frame.

Who would you want to spend a dinner with?
Since I stay away from my family and the demands of my job don’t allow me much quality time with them, I always lookout for the next opportunity to have dinner with them.

Whats on your iPod?
I like all kinds of music. From classical ragas to rock, from Bollywood’s latest number to Hungarian folk, I love it all. What I play, from Bob Dylan to Munni badman hui, depends on my mood.

Mac or PC?
Mac. Since I have been using it for quite a while now. I guess, I am too used to it.

Ritam can be contacted via his website here.

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Sujata Keshavan
Chairperson: Ray+Keshavan/Brand Union
Judge, Branding, D&AD awards 2014.

What does your role as a D&AD judge entail?
The D&AD awards are highly respected and are widely regarded as the Gold Standard of awards. It really means a great deal to creative professionals to win a pencil. The best thing about being a judge, is that one gets the opportunity to see the most recent, most brilliant work, the best of the best. It gives you a sense of the state of design in the world.

What are you hoping for and expecting from the entrants this year?
I have heard that D&AD attracts the very best entries of all competitions. I have very high expectations. I will be looking for innovative ideas that reflect creative thinking which is not gimmicky or attempting to be clever in a facile way.

How did you get involved with the work that D&AD do?
While I have judged competitions in many countries, I have not really been involved with D&AD before. I was delighted to have been asked to judge this year. I think it reflects the fact that D&AD is probably looking to extend its reach more substantially in India and other regions in Asia.

What do you think of the Indian Creative Industry?
There is a huge amount of talent in the 1.2 billion people in India. It is a deep civilization with a culture in art, craft and literature that goes back thousands of years. What people lack is access to a good design education and an overall exposure to great design. If only more people had this, there would be a huge creative renaissance.

What are your hopes and where did you think the Indian creative industry will be in 10 years?
Liberalisation of the Indian economy, combined with globalization and the internet revolution has led to incredible opportunities for the Indian creative industries. There is so much to be done, and design is an integral part of the growth story. Young people today are breaking out of traditional boundaries and I see a great deal of enterprise and innovation bubbling up from the grass roots. Instead of taking small steps, technology and access to information enables people to leapfrog. In 10 years, I think that the creative industries will have matured and reached the critical mass to have great impact. I am extremely optimistic about where India is headed.

What steps did you need to take to get to where you are in your career today? E.g. Qualifications, work experiences.
I was one of those lucky designers who had a textbook design education. I did my undergraduate training at NID (The National Institute of Design) in Ahmedabad, India. The brainchild of Charles Eames, the 6 year programme was strongly influenced by the design schools at Ulm and Basel. It gave me a wonderful understanding of what design is and how powerful it can be to change things. I then did a graduate degree in graphic design from Yale. I returned to India in 1987 to set up Ray+Keshavan, the first professional design firm in the area of brand design.

Do you have any advice for anyone trying to break into the Indian creative industry?
I honestly think that this is one of the easiest industries to break into. The entry barriers to the creative industries are extraordinarily low. Unlike architecture or engineering, one does not need to have a qualification or to be certified by an association to become a designer. All one has to do is to focus on developing a strong portfolio of work. Again, the industry promotes a liberal non-hierarchical environment, and is most welcoming of newcomers. As India develops, there is huge opportunity for design so I would very much encourage young designers to break right in.

At Yale, I was fortunate to study with some great designers who have shaped design vocabulary and thinking in the 20th century. They included the legendary designer of Corporate Identity, Paul Rand; the gentleman designer Bradbury Thompson who redefined print, the iconic swiss teachers Armin Hoffmann and Wolfgang Weingart and the celebrated font designer Mathew Carter. They often presented divergent points of view, but what each of them did was to up the ante and inspire us to reflect more critically on our own work.

In particular, Paul Rand was hugely inspiring, and fostered my love of identity design. He was the most intelligent of my teachers, and I understood from him the importance of intelligence in design. Other great heroes of mine have been Andy Warhol and Alan Fletcher.

But above all else, the art and craft traditions of India are astonishing in their depth and breadth and continue to be an abiding source of inspiration.

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Bodhisatwa Dagupta is a Creative Director, Grey worldwide, Delhi, at the time this interview published.

Bodhisatwa, or Bodhi as he is fondly known in the advertising circus is an obsessive, compulsive writer. When he’s not writing ads for a target audience he hasn’t met, he’s writing the first line of books that he won’t write. And when he’s not writing that, he’s writing about irrelevant things that have no implication in the macrocosm of things. Bodhi hates long words. Like obituary. And when the time is ripe, he’ll write his own, thank you very much.

Why are you into advertising?
Strangely enough, because I like the word ‘fuck’. I’ll explain. When I was a kid, perhaps 6-7 years or so, I used to see these hot shot advertising executives waltz into my place to have meetings with my dad (who, because he was in PR) had to deal closely with them. They looked really cool – long cigarettes dangling dangerously from their lips, drinking at odd hours, and using the word ‘fuck’ freely. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to be cool. And so at the age of 7, I made up my mind that I’d like to be in advertising.

The reason I stayed in advertising, years later, inspite of finding out that contrary to popular beliefe, it is not cool at all, is simply because I don’t think I can do anything else.

Tell us about your recent ad campaigns.
Well, there was the India Bike Week campaign we did for Fox Traveller this year. There was a film a few print ads – but the cherry on the cake was that the client bought into a full VO film. It’s always nice to have a client who understands. Then there was this activation we did, again for Soundtrek, a show again on Fox Traveller. We used augmented reality to turn a mall floor into piano keys, allowing people to actually make music when they walked. It was fun, to say the least.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Of course – they always are. But they changed a lot too, as I grew. My biggest role model was perhaps my father who actually taught me to write. He was a great writer himself, and we used to have these poem competitions back at home. When I started learning about advertising, I wanted to be Neil French. Only, the more I wrote, the more I realized it wasn’t easy to be Neil French.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
A little hard to say, because there are hundreds of people who influence me every day. I see something done by someone, and I want to do it too. The next day, I see something else, I get influenced by it. I’m most impressionable that way.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
There’s this little door in my cupboard. A trap door of sorts. My wife and me made it together. It opens up into this strange, magical place where deer and imagination run naked and wild. That’s where I get my inspiration from.
I’m kidding. I get inspired by applause. The more I get applauded, the more I’m inspired to do something better, greater.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent? 
Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I have my very own little program designed by me, to help interns know everything there is to know about advertising. Someday, I’ll start off a little school and earn shameless amounts of money.

Tell us about your biggest challenge as the creative director of Grey.
To act like the Creative Director of Grey. I’ve often been chided because of my flippant, cocky ways. “You can’t say these things to that person”, or “you can’t write those kind of mails”. I’m a fun guy by nature. Unfortunately, the way the person holds himself has a direct co-relation to the designation he holds.

Tell us something about the agency environment. With such a large team, how does that affect individuality and creativity?
Depends entirely on the energy of the large team. Or small team. It doesn’t matter for me. What matters is what the team is feeling. If everyone in the team is excited, filled with positive vibes, it’ll trickle down to the individual.
If everyone on the team is busy dragging the next person down, creativity will not flourish. There’s far too much of negativity for that to happen.

What do you think of the state of print advertising right now? At least here in india, the released work is most often too sad. Are agencies ignoring released print?
I think the quality of released work has become fantastic in the past few years, so I differ with you completely. I know, I know. The heralding cry is that print advertising is dead. Thing is, as long as there are magazines and newspapers, it’ll never be dead. I remember reading a brilliant line when MTS relaunched a while back.
It read “We’re making 3G history. By making 3G, history”. You call that sad?

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite.
Well, to be honest one of my favourite campaigns that I wrote, was not traditionally advertising. When I was hosting Longhand for the second time, I wrote a series of ads to get people to write. I received a little less than 500 entries that year.

Do you think brands that win advertising awards, do well in the market?
Brands that keep the promises they make do well in the market. If after great advertising, and an orgy of awards, if the brand itself is bugger-all, it’ll die. So no, it won’t do very well in the market. Not unless it’s in the market, shopping for coffins. In which case, it’ll do wonders.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
To keep getting inspired. And to follow people, not agencies.

What is your dream project?
Every project I do is a dream project. Simply because till a few years back, I would never have dreamed that I’d be doing it.

Mac or PC?
MAC, always.

What’s on your iPod?
Fungus, probably. Haven’t used it in years.

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Le travail d’Andy Gilmore fascinent jouant sur des motifs géométriques se développant à l’infini et des dégradés de couleurs à la manière de kaléidoscopes. On le découvre très influencé par la nature et ses motifs dans l’interview vidéo réalisée par Ghostly International. Un travail intrigant et poétique à découvrir.

Raj Khatri is a Digital Artist and Art Director at Marching Ants, Mumbai.
 
Few words about you in third person…
Learner, explorer, curiously curious, tech geek, movie fanatic, rockaholic, collector, foodie, optimistic and workaholic…

Why are you an illustrator?
Because I would suck at everything else, period!
Eddie Vedder couldn’t be a chef, Spielberg cant spin a ball, Marty Friedman won’t kill it with a camera as he does with those riffs. I guess we all are born to be a king at something and jack at everything else. I guess this is my path to the throne

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
Nope…  I used to be a science student. In my second term of SYBSC. I realised I am just wasting my time in all these ‘education’. It was time to star my real ‘studies’. Hence i left my college. And took up designing seriously. And started practicing 10-15 hrs a day. Learning the softwares and tools at arena multimedia. With tutorials on my floppy drive. And vague ideas on my mind. I went on to create some really horrendous crap. But It cleared a lot of cloud off my head about the basics of digital art, Photoshop and designing in general, and also made me realize good work from bad and take notice of smallest nuances in an artwork which makes it stand out.

Tell us about a recent campaign you worked on?
Recently i just finished the campaign for ‘Go Goa Gone’. Which was quite fun. Being the first zombie action movie in the country. I was lucky to be part it. Although the original concepts and ideas were much darker and brutal than the toned down version that finally came out. But I am still happy with the response its getting. So its all good.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Many many role models. I never knew their real names.. I grew up in a boarding school. And when all my friends would be interested in watching the sports section in the news paper. I would be interested only in one page. Movie theatre listings.. Not to catch the next movie but just have my glimpse of the small block ads in black and white which would have the movie key arts printed.  They were like small movie poster miniatures.. I was also fascinated by the audio cassette covers.. I would just love watching the intricate details on the movie logos.. as I never had access to international art much those days.. These were my ideal studies. Later in life as I was growing up.. I started collecting the cover arts of rock band albums. From the awesome ‘Eddie’ covers of Iron Maiden to more simpler but powerful arts of Metallica.  The brutal stuff of Slayer, Megadeth.  Then ya of course those comic books of He-Man and Batman. Also the Chacha Choudhary and the Sabu thing.  The diagrams in Science and Zoology books. The portraits of historical figures which I would try to replicate with my pencil. All of these made my world.  I guess all these fine artists behind all those artworks made me whatever I am today.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in illustrations?
While in school it was my art teacher Mr. Vinchurkar.  He is a very very simple person with really great skills. Today when i look back. I realize so much I learnt from him. And then while growing up. I kept learning from everyone and everything. Still doing so.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
My art is very pop culture centric.  I still need to find my inner voice i guess.  my inspiration can come from a great vocal piece in a song to an awesome dialogue in a movie. To greatly shot movie scene and it would compel me to make a tribute artwork for it. .
But in my professional path. I try to think on a broader strokes.  When working on a movie campaign.  My intention is always to design a visual which will give the total gist of the movie and the true flavor of its environment. And same time make it enticing for the viewers to go out and watch it in theatres.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
No not yet. I wish it never comes to that. I may want to quit a situation but never my destination. As there is great saying “A company just owns your job. But you own your career” as far as I am enjoying whatever I am doing. I am totally into it. The moment it gets ugly. I try to wind it up asap and move on to something more exciting.

Tell us something about the Marching Ants work environment. With such a large team, how does that affect individuality and creativity.
The work environment at MA is nothing less than a school class room. Noisy, funny and full of fun with all of us being the back benchers.  Crackling and cracking. Even in the gravest times. We have some nonsense to make everyone burst out in laughter.  Actually we don’t have a large team. but we have a very concise , concentrated and supremely hardworking team which yields some of the best movie campaigns in the country. People are very varied in their personal interest which always gets something interesting on the table as a team. I am really proud of the people I work with or have worked in the past. All of them have rubbed something on me for sure.

Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
I primarily specialize in poster art.  Which is more of digital composting and manipulation. digital illustrations are my hobbies. And given the working schedules at MA I never get time to collaborate with any other artist or illustrate for anyone else.

Have you considered turning your illustrations into toys?
Toys. Well there are already toys based on my illustrations they are called action figures. Well what I really would want to do one day is have my illustrations made into postcards and get them posted around the world. Maybe someday.

Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
Ya many of them.  Mukesh Singh, Saumin Patel, Shreya Shetty, Nithin Kumblekar, Vivek Shinde, Abhishek Malsuni, Abhishek Singh.

Do you have any favourite fellow illustrators or resources relating to your fields?
Many many. Apart from all those people mentioned above.  The works of the great Drew Struzan, Bob Peak, Oly Moss, Ken Taylor, Sam Spratt, Alice X. Zhang, Martin Ansin. Many awesome works on society6.com, behance.net, deviantart.com, mondoarchive.com.

You have such a wide experience as a top working professional. What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on Illustration as a career option? Is it paying well enough?
I just have to say.  Please don’t let money be the reason to come to designing or illustrations. Let it be your love for the art.  Love it. Hone it. Then excel in it. And believe me money will surely follow.

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite.     
Well the very first movie poster that I designed was for the movie NAINA back in 2005. Which is really special to me.  Apart from that the website for movie Rang De Bananti, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Mangal Pandey, offical website for A R Rahman created in 2007-08. Print posters for City of Gold, Agent Vinod, Shor In the City, Kahaani, Players, Game, Iqbal, Zinda and of course currently the posters I did for Go Goa Gone.

Tell us something of your personal projects.
Well my personal projects are illustrations and paintings i do as a tribute to my favourite actors, movies, bands, singers etc.  It’s very pop. Very poster and very me. Every time I start a piece I try to adapt a new style. With digital pen tablets. Its so so much open fun to experiment. Its always a surprise to realize what all u can achieve. I am currently working on a new vector painting. Which once complete will be released in 2 versions. One as a portrait of the actor and the other as the poster for the movie. Really excited to finish and share it.

Somewhere by end of this year of mid next year I would want to put up an exhibition with best of my illustrations and see how its received. Then later plan up an online store too. Lets see.

What is your dream project?
It would be to design a movie poster for the gods.
Nolan, Spielberg, Tarantino, Fincher, Jackson, Scorsese. Someday. Hopefully.

Mac or PC?
PC

What’s on your iPod?
Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder Solos, , Metallica, Iron Maiden, Dire Straits, Ccr, Pink Floyd, Doors, Oasis, Nirvana, Megadeath, Slayer, A R Rahman, Deep purple, Guns And Roses, Eric Clapton.

And lots of OSTs.  From Star wars, The Last of the Mohicans to Django Unchained.

Personal Work:

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A deep thinker, a keen observer, an experimenter and an entertainment package is what defines Saurabh. He has an uncanny knack of transforming his observations into a great form of art. What is most unique about his work is that, every piece of work he produces has something different about it.  His art is a visual treat for the clients and the consumers.

Why are you into Advertising?
This is something I always wanted to do. I didn’t get into this field by chance or because I was just seeking some career option. I fall in love with advertising and new ideas every day and it completes me.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
No. Like they say, if you have the passion to do something, you learn it in no time. After my Bachelors in Management Studies, I did a one year MBA course from Indo-German Chamber of Commerce where I specialized in marketing. After that, I landed up at Umbrella Design Firm where I was moulded and guided by Bhupal Ramnathkar.

Tell us about a recent campaign you worked on?
The Volkswagen Bluetooth film (God) that is currently on air and a few more feature-led print campaigns for Volkswagen.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Bhupal Ramnathkar, Mohammad Khan and Piyush Pandey’.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
I owe my success largely to Bhupal Ramnathkar. Since I didn’t receive any formal education in art or design, it was at Umbrella Design where Bhupal Ramnathkar taught me the basics of advertising and design. I am where I am today because of him.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I believe that great ideas mostly come when one is under great pressure. So, my inspiration comes from something as vague as a bad brief, a tight deadline and an impossible client.

Tell us something about the Bates work environment. With such a large team, how does that affect individuality and creativity.
During my tenure at Bates, I was mentored by Abhinav Pratiman. Someone who always pushed his team to think one step ahead. It was during this period that I was given major responsibilities as well. And the briefs on most brands were challenging and interesting which really motivated me to build on his creativity.

What do you think of the state of Print advertising right now. At least here in India, the released work is most often too sad? Are agencies ignoring released print?
I believe that print is still the purest form of advertising. Rules have changed as per the need of the hour and as per the clients’ expectations. Digital, Integrated, Innovative, 360 are a must do, but print isn’t dead yet. No other medium can capture the essence and the philosophy of the brand as well as the print medium can. It’ll always have its special magic about it. Unfortunately, most of the released work is not up to the mark. However, great innovations have happened in the print medium in the past and will continue to happen if the clients are bold enough to release good work.

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite…
The print campaign for MTV Play.
Do you think brands who’s advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
Yes. Examples being Coke, Volkswagen, Adidas.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Answers aren’t on the internet; it’s in your mind.

Mac or PC?
Mac. It just makes layouts look flawless.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
David Droga and Marcello Serpa.

What’s on your iPod?
Music for the mind, body and soul.

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Rajaram Rajendran, runs a Bangalore based tiny film production studio called Eleven Elements, where he makes films, and does digital image production. He consults on interactive and app design, runs occasional free workshops on designing for the digital medium, digital filmmaking and matte painting. He also clicks some photos sometimes, writes an article here and there and makes some music.

Why are you an Illustrator?
I’ve been making random images since 2004, but never knew what to call it. Then i started visiting Deviant Art sometime in 2008, and suddenly a whole world of Digital Art opened up. Because of the kind of work I saw there then, I got super inspired, started messing with more digital illustrations and some photo manips, and from there it kinda kicked on, as I kept learning.

Did you attend school for fine art or design?
No. But we have the internet.

You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?
Quite a while in fact. When I started off I had absolutely no clue what i was doing. With digital, you know, if you keep messing with the software enough, something or the other that looks interesting will come up. I feel the trick is to be aware and push past that phase, till you’re able to create what you visualize. Sooner or later, some kind of pattern or a style will kick in.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Oh yeah. I was a big fan of 2Advanced. Also Fantasy Interactive, 247 studios, Joshua Davis, Gmunk, North Kingdom, Group 94 and a whole bunch of others.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Illustrations?
There were so many, i really can’t list out. But Ingo Ramin of 247 media studios  comes to mind first. His work kind of made me understand the word ‘detail’.

Do  you take workshops on designing on Digital medium.
Yes I do. Not a hell lot so far, but i want to find the time to do that a lot more this year. We have a lot of talent around in print design, and it really is super easy for print designers to move to digital / app design.

What made you decide to become a freelance illustrator? When did you start freelancing? Do you illustrate for advertising? Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
Somewhere around 2005-2006. I also worked in a company for a year or so during then. The only ‘proper’ job I ever had. From then on it’s been mostly freelance/small studio set-ups/learning and working at the same time.
I do illustrate for advertising, not too much till now though. Films take up most of my time. When I do, I work with agencies, yes. I prefer, I guess just like everyone else, working with agencies/clients who make it personal. Who put themselves into the work they do.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
Nope. Never. Digital illustrations are my best way to experiment with new colors, learn new techniques, learn more on composition or typography, you know, the basics. You can never learn that enough.

Have you considered turning your illustrations into graphic novels?
Not yet. Plus, i don’t think i’m that good at it to confidently create a graphic novel.

Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
Deepu Sasikumar. Brilliant style, and quite humble about it. I really like George Mathen’s work too.

Do you have any favourite fellow illustrators or resources relating to your fields?
Behance to see the best creatives going on around the world. Deviant Art has great resources. Abduzeedo is a fantastic resource for everything. Greyscale Gorilla for 3D, Video Copilot for Aftereffects and Motion Design, FFFFFound or Devour or even Pinterest, for inspiration.

Tell us something about Eleven Elements.
Eleven Elements has always been my personal portfolio/experimental work site. In 2011, i kinda registered it and started working with that name. It’s just me, my computer and a studio / room really, with real talented people collaborating on a project basis. We do films and digital image production.

You have such a wide experience as a top working professional. What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on Illustration as a career option? Is it paying well enough?
Ha ha, I don’t know about ‘top working professional’. Well, start with something you’re really interested in. Be good at it enough to walk into a place and accept responsibility for the output. And don’t stop learning. Observe. Do not worry about the money in the beginning, if you put out good work, honestly, the money will follow.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Anyone who’s interesting enough to have a conversation. Since i’m not.

What’s on your iPod?
Apparat, James Blake, A A Bondy, Thom Yorke, Fink, Bob Dylan, The XX, Four Tet, Johnny Cash, Madras, Led Zep, Sulk Station, Cake, Sigur Ros, Leonard Cohen, and a hell lot of others. I mean, don’t you think iTunes’ India pricing is fabulous?

Mac or PC?
Mac.

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