Archive for September, 2009
12 items.
Aarti and Sonia are off to India this Friday. I’m trying to make the most of the time they have left before they take off. Today’s cartoon captures a bit of what’s going through my mind right now… hope it resonates with you.
I’m planning to keep myself incredibly busy over the course of the next few months – to make time go by fast enough to where I can join them in Mumbai this December…
Thank goodness at least we have video chat, so we can keep in touch despite the great distance.
-Krishna
P.S. I was interviewed by Sequential Tart recently. Take a look!
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I spent a few hours yesterday making a few tweaks to the site, most notably in the area of site graphics. In addition to making a small revision to the UNcubed logo, I overhauled the header images for each page.
Below you can see what the header image for the contact page looked like before.
Here are the roughs for the revised contact page image.
And below is the completed image that now adorns itself on the contact page.
As weird as it sounds, I feel much more comfortable drawing my characters now. This level of comfort has allowed me to look at each character and make appropriate tweaks and changes.
The changes themselves were gradual, and somewhat unconscious. (A similar thing happened with my characters in PC Weenies). The bottom line is, the more you draw your characters, the more likely you’ll begin to see them evolve. And that, to me, is exciting.
-Krishna
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This is what happens when little kids get their hands on mamma’s favorite lipstick. May I present the evidence?
-Krishna
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The comic above was garnered totally from personal experience. Maybe you can relate?
I’m experimenting with using at least one other color besides gray shades in my strips. Let me know what you think…
-Krishna
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As promised a few days back, I wanted to share a sampling of the interior art found within a typical Amar Chitra Katha comic book. This particular page scan was taken from “Ashoka”, vol. 536.
Apparently, over 90 million copies of ACK comics have been sold since 1967. And there are 400 titles to choose from. But each title is self-contained, and not numbered as a continuing series.
The art is clearly staged – and always confined within a panel. The colors are flat -with no tonal shading. Backgrounds are simplified, but convey enough information for the story to be understood in its context.
Interestingly enough, there are no half-tones or any other Western design elements found within. The printing also does not appear to be the typical ‘dot-print’ offset kind, that is typical of most comic books from the 80′s and earlier.
The book credits Meena Talim for the script, Ram Waeerkar for illustrations, and Anant Pai as editor. I am assuming that Waeerkar lettered the comic as part of his illustration duties.
Hope this sheds a little insight into Indian comics!
-Krishna
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Kids say the darnest things, don’t they?
Sonia is talking up a storm these days. She’s very interactive and playful, and picking up new words on a daily basis. She enjoys it when we read books, and can complete the sentences on her favorite books. She can also count to 15.
I think all this is quite amazing. (Of course, I’m biased.) For a 10 24 month old, Sonia’s definitely on the fast track as a learner. Kids at this age are so innocent and pure – they wear their emotions on their sleeves, but their personalities are also coming through.
For instance, when we ask Sonia to “perform” (i.e. ask her to count, etc.) in front of family and friends, she gets incredibly shy. When they go away, she talks a mile a minute. It reminds me of the following cartoon:
Anyway, hope you enjoy the latest ‘toon! (And welcome, JEFBOT readers!)
-Krishna
Update: Art imitates life. This afternoon, Sonia broke my glasses while I was taking a quick nap.
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My sister in law, Lucy, is staying with us for a few weeks, before the girls pack their bags and head out for India in early October. I’ll be joining them in December, when the Fall quarter is over. It’s going to be lonely for the next few months, but somehow I’ll manage. The good news is, thanks to webams and Skype, I’ll be able to see Aarti and Sonia every day.
Lucy brought me a few Amar Chitra Katha comics, which I’m always appreciative of… (My family knows I love comics!) 
ACK’s are of equivalent stature to Marvel comics for Indians – they’ve been around since 1967 and are one of the (if not the) largest comics distributors in India! Amar Chitra Katha comics focus on the stories of Indian heroes, both mythological and famous figures from Indian history.
Compared to their Western counterparts, the artwork in all Amar Chitra Katha comics is flat color. The drawings are all competently rendered. There is no panel experimentation, but, nevertheless, the stories are told in a clear and deft fashion. Another interesting point: the comics are pencilled and inked by the same person in each case. (There is no separate penciller and inker.) Also, each Amar Chitra Katha comic is self-contained – meaning no need for back-issue bin hunting. These comics have influenced at least 3 generations of Indian kids – they help keep Indian culture alive and relevant to kids. No small feat!
Virgin Comics, a few years ago, tried to revitalize and retool Indian heros by making them more palatable to Westerners. Their effort was met with luke-warm interest.
Instead of Virgin’s approach, I’d like to see a strict retelling of the stories, with gorgeous artwork in a variety of styles. The stories, as told by the writers of Amar Chitra Katha, are interesting, historic and compelling. I think there’s a lot of untapped potential in Indian comics – I’d love to see how today’s artists would illustrate these stories…
-Krishna
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The thought was entertained, and quickly, smartly shut down. Below are the digital pencils for today’s comic, for those of you who enjoy seeing process work. (Click to embiggen.)
-Krishna
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The older I get, the more I wince being reminded how old I am…
I still get carded at the grocery store, so that’s probably a good thing.
-Krishna
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