Monday, December 5, 2016

inktober 2016! Sketches 1 - 4

Wow, it has been more than a year already! This is how procrastination of a few days extends up to a year... But the good news is that I have been sketching more frequently, and more regularly and more industriously. I am on instagram (@swagatikamsj) now and it is very convenient to post my sketches on it. My goal is to sketch every day, for whatever time it may be. Although, I am yet to achieve that goal,  I think I am slowly making progress towards it, despite my resistance against discipline :D 

This year's inktober has been great ! This time Jake Parker had set up some inktober 2016 themes, one for each day.  At first, I did not like them because many of them had negative tone to them. But then, I thought, lately I have been focusing more on  watching and sketching or doodling. This would be a good chance to think, imagine, and put it on paper.  And I got started with lot of enthusiasm.

1.FAST I enjoyed doing the Cheetah. I could not think of anything else for "fast". I had exactly this posture in head, and I hunted for it in google images until I found what I was looking for. It took a while to get the proportions right.  I added the dots and lines to the end to create an illusion of motion. I signed off with excitement for the second day!
#inktober #inktober2016 day 1 #fast #cheetah #sketch #ink #sketchbook #animalsketch

2.NOISY I was very excited about this theme. I got this idea when I was in Hyderabad. Evenings at Indira Nagar used to be crazy with high volume of traffic increasing pollution, noise and temperature.  The moment I entered IIIT campus from market, I used to feel as if I entered a different world. The temperature dropped, pollution vanished, and it was serene. Then I imagined, how the trees on the highway might be feeling especially because they have to sit there all the time! I was so curious that later I took an online course to know more about how trees perceive. Sadly, it turned out trees do not have any ears, they cannot listen. :( They can perceive light, touch, smell, taste, but not sound. Anyway, the picture stuck to me for long, and I am glad I put it down on the paper.  I enjoyed doing the trunk of the trees, and customizing their expressions. This is one of the positive experiences I gained from inktober. It helped me to put those ideas on paper that I kept procrastinating with a fear of not doing justice to the idea. Now that I look at it, I feel, 'Could have I done better than this?' Answer is, 'No. I love this! In fact, I am amazed by this!'

#noisy day 2 #inktober #inktober2016 #ink #indiaink #grayscale I know that trees can't hear, but I imagine, how annoyed would they be with all these man made noise!


3.COLLECTING I love this sketch! It is so cute! I have many reasons to love this! I am satisfied with the posture of the girl. I tried to copy the orange pencil color style of Jake Parker and I love it. It brightens the scene, and it is light enough that I do not have to erase it. That lowers the pressure a little. I remember, a few years back I got a feedback from a traveler in train that my sketches lack depth. I think I could overcome that in this sketch. I enjoyed doing the trees, their trunks, and the backdrop of the orchard. It was meditative. The sketch brought back beautiful and vivid memories of Phulbani, the town where I have spent the most beautiful years of my childhood. The memories of mango trees, the sultry summer, raja doli, and rain, collecting thuri amba (small mangoes, that you have to eat by sucking the juice out of it instead of cutting it), all were playing in my head when I was doing it. I want to keep staring at this sketch, keep remembering those memories, and want to dive into the orchard exploring what's beyond like I did in Phulbani.

Day 2 of #inktober a little girl #collecting mangoes from a mango groove, #indiaink #ink #inktober2016 #sketchbook #posture #illustration

4. HUNGRY After the excitement of the first 3 days, pressure started building in, my expectation rose up. I wanted to sketch a little kid starving. But I was afraid of doing it. Then at the end of the day at work, I told myself to just do it instead of worrying about doing it well. I did not have my sketchbook in my bag on that day. So I got creative and picked my sticky notes and quickly sketched it on pen. I felt relieved with the little creative idea here.

Trying to catch up for two days of lag #hungry #inktober #inktober2016 #ink #postit #stickynotes #sketchonstickynotes
 

It was a good beginning. Last year, my goal was just to do something, even if it meant just a quick doodle. This time, every sketch I put down on paper, came from a deliberate idea. I always knew what I wanted to do before I sketched. I searched on internet and sketched some photographs, then I used this as a chance to ink my imagination and memories. Some themes forced me to think hard, and put effort to think of a scene.  I felt, there was an improvement in my sketches too. Overall, it was a great start.