1.Can you give us a brief about your work?
– I am basically into doodle making,I try to make doodles of alphabets for what they stand for . For example if ‘A’ stands for ant , making the cartoon of ant is what I do. If ‘Z’ stands for Zebra, making a zebra out of Z is the way my doodles stand out.
2.How did you start your career as a cartoonist?
– I started at the Toonz Animation Academy in Trivandrum where i worked as a character designing in a film.Later on,I was appointed as a faculty member in Animaster, Bangalore.
3. And when did you first doodle
– I started making doodle 5 years back, I was working in an firm called ‘Sai Feature Syndicate’.It consisted of a group of artists where I was among the younger lot.I gained alot of experience and knowledge from there and also learnt the art of doodle making.Doodle making is the best way to learn the art of drawing.It is the basic of a picture and animation,it is a type of a scribble.
4.In what projects have you worked so far?
-While working in Sai Feature Syndicate, I got chance to make illustrations and cartoons, for leading newspapers and magazines such as Manorama, Labour India, Ajit Daily, Thejus, PCM magazine and Learnware among others. I have brought out 20 books on art and drawing,cartooning doodles of animals, vegetables and caricature making. Learnware have also released three cds on doodle making, one is doodles made out of alphabet,one is on doodles made out of animals and the third one is a cut paste method which I have used to make doodles out of colourful faces for instance from a circle we can make a star or a flower and many other things.
5.Have you done any specific course related to this field?
– I have done my KGCE and I have also done an Advance Programme in Animation and Digital Arts from the Toonz Animation Academy, Trivandrum.
6.Do you teach this art as well?how has been your experience?
– Yes, I do teach in the arts section at the IADS International Academy of Design Science College, Kerala.The experience is wonderful.My main aim is to educate children through the art of doodle making,through this art i want to teach children the art of drawing and also educate them for instance by making doodles of alphabets,children not only can learn drawing but also learn alphabets and also the character i make with those alphabets,children can understand about the character as well,its a very good learning curve for children through drawing.
Which is your favourite doodle drawing
– Actually my favourite doodle drawings are going to come out soon,its called ‘Alphabet Anatomy’.In this i have made doodles of alphabets with characterizing each alphabet as a human for instance i have doodled the alphabet A on an artist and a astronaut so, A for artist, B for butcher and so on.Besides that, the daily doodles published in Manorama, a Malayalam newspaper 5 days a week are also my favourite. It helps children know a lot of information for instance as part of Mother’s Day, drawing mother from the letter M was the lesson taught. Thereby children will remember which day is special for what.
7.what is your definition for doodle making?
Doodle actually make people relax.The pressure is rleased while u doodle.You discover your own new world.
– In the early days when you start from scratch everything seems difficult but slowly slowly you get the hang of things.Personally, making doodle cartoons in Malayalam is the most difficult because the font in Malayalam is difficult.On the contrary making doodle in the english alphabet is the easiest,I have 5 versions in the english alphabet and 2 versions in Hindi.
9.Who has been your inspiration for your art?
– My stay at Sai Feature Syndicate and my guru Venu variatah inspired me to get into this form of art.It was a very good learning curve,doodle making is not a well known art form in India,not many people know about it and thats what attracted and inspired me to this.My main purpose is to educate and teach children through this.When i was young most of the people were not interested in animation, i was the only one among my peers. Im happy to see the amount of recognition art and animation is getting these days,I love the demand of drawing,cartooning and animation among young children.I try to teach every age group the art of drawing from a kid to a K.G kid to a 10 std,for instance doodle making differs for a K.g kid to a 10 std,the difficult and the characters gets complexed for a 10 std kid.
10.Your cartoons for animation have been included in the kerala syllabus. tell us about it?how do you feel?
– I feel proud (smiles).In kerala animation has been a part of the syllabus for the 10 std,it feels good to see your work getting recognised,my works have been published in many leading newspapers and magazines. I have also been awarded with Animaster IGLOO and the best animation short film award for Hunger in 2008.It feels blessed to get so much apperciation.
11.How has been your experience presenting ‘easy drawing’ on Amritha tv?
– I have been associated with Amritha TV since a very long time,many of my friends are working with the same.The head saw my work in some of the newspapers and called me and gave me this offer.I believe this is the best platform as children all over can watch and learn the art of drawing.Its a learning process for them,instead of books,this is a way through which they can learn alphabets and many other exciting things.
12.What are you currently working on?
-Besides the tv show, I am currently working as a Animation cartoon consultant and i specially teach Limited Animation which is based more on cartoons than realism.Limited Animation is less on animation,it has a very kiddish flavour to it.Technically speaking, its limited.
13.What are your future plans?
– I have a lot of things in my hands at the moment ( laughs ). There is a book i am going to be publishing,it has one doodle for each day of the year.So,every child can learn one doodle a day,there is also two CD’s i am going to launch soon in the markets based on thumb impression which may be out by Onam.I will also be working on a CD based on magic animation in which children will be teaching animation through Magic. I have done work in 5 languages Hindi,Malayalam,English,Tamil and Kannada,my wish is to work in all the languages of India,I really want to work in the Northern languages and I am even researching on Punjabi .I am also in talks with the publishers in Oriya and Assam,so hopefully my work would be seen by the people Assamese soon.
14.Would you like to add anything?
– I just want to do more and more work for the education of the kids.I really want to see more and more children in doodle making.I just want to tell the children that,”your drawing is my slogan”(smiles)