Learning to draw again
tons of drawing and lil text. :)
Hello! For many years, I have been trying to write and draw the story about our family. Every year I start in earnest and it overwhelms me and I give up. This year, I decided to do some writing and reading everyday and draw as I go. I was about to forget about it when someone from a major publishing house wrote to me said they would like to discuss my grandfather’s story.
Publishing doesn’t pay and even when I am excited about doing something I give up because it is so overwhelming esp adult books because I haven’t done one in the past. In the pandemic, another adult publisher asked me to do something around dating, love and sexuality. We did three calls and I did some work and I gave up, didn’t even close the conversation. :( I also approach most of these projects with omg-this-wont-pay and then give up because I know I can’t do it. I was different this time.
This time I told the person I was talking to to give me a deadline and told them about my apprehensions and they told me what they could do to help me. I also told them I am able to do my children’s books because my publishers give me a lot of time, I have usually been paid for it and when I have no way to evade it, I make time.
For the book, we are only in discussion phase but I started to read up, I also put down chapters. Coursera had a free course on comic books, I signed up.
In the first week I found out the one way I overwhelm myself is picking a style which is too labour-intensive, one, that I will never have the time to finish. So I decided to go easy on myself this time and also draw more. The course has a fab exercise, making 5 minute drawings. So you set the timer and start drawing. It feels like the warning bell that rang during exams when you had five minutes left and you raced against time to write everything you wanted to. No time to read, etc.
Just like that, you worry about lack of time and not about your inability to draw. I have done five 5 minute drawing and I feel way more relaxed than if I had thought of drawing what I have drawn. I have been able to draw stuff I’d never try and I am going to share some of things I have drawn.
This is a vase that we bought when I was in primary school and were in Kundra, Kerala where we spent a fair part of our summer holidays. There was a ceramic factory near my uncle’s house and we were taken there to see how stuff was made and my mum bought a dinner set which we rarely used /use, this vase and several really pretty small vases. There were alyssum flowers in the vase that I bought from the Dadar flower market and didn’t draw. The plate is from Calgary, Canada and isn’t so deep.
Tulasi and ginger tea in a very nondescript cup. The coaster is from Dilli Haat and the bedsheet is from Sambalpur, Odisha.
I was talking to someone on Instagram who was in Kolkata and I asked them to send me a picture for me to draw and they took one from their balcony. Drawing something like this would intimidate me but I was so obsessed about finishing that I didn’t worry too much. Also, I have worked for 15-20 minutes on each of these after timer went off.
Saina who is visiting Kozhikode sent me some pictures from there because I miss Kerala and this was one of them.
This is my way of travelling, I wouldn’t ever draw a kitchen but I drew Matt’s kitchen in Nanjing, China!
For my class, I had to draw a comic. It is something that intimidates me but I pencil sketched it and then inked it in.
I am not sure what progress I will make on my book but I have a children’s book in print.
If you’d like to buy a copy, here’s the link: https://www.pitarakart.in/Cutpiece-Kumar-e
And if you like my work and would like to pay me, here’s how you can buy me coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/induviduality
<3
Indu
This is a good way to draw without feeling intimidated. Also great drawings there!