Tulika author and illustrator Niveditha
Subramaniam describes what she learnt about illustration during her master’s degree in this guest post.
Though I did Art and
Design in senior secondary school, I am a self-taught illustrator. At Tulika, I
had the opportunity to create my own work as a writer-illustrator. Being an
editor, too, deepened my understanding of the visual. We naturally paid attention
to structure, layout, design, composition and other aspects of bookmaking, and
the collaborative nature of the work as well as discussions involved always
opened up new dimensions.
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| Flutterfly |
Much of this is owing to the
programme being steeped in the practice of observational drawing. The
sketchbook is the illustrator’s playground; the place where the most
uninhibited and freshest work happens; where self-expression is discovered
through experimentation; where ideas for a children’s book emerge from a tiny
scribble. However, observational drawing meant drawing from life and I had
always drawn from the privacy of my desk. It was one thing to sketch in a real life drawing room but it was difficult to step out of
my comfort zone and draw constantly in public places; in coffee shops, pubs,
museums, market squares and so on. Cambridge is a small and friendly city, but
I struggled to be at ease with myself and my pencil, often stiffening
(sometimes because it was just too cold!).
At the one-on-one or group
tutorial sessions where our sketchbooks were reviewed, my lecturers asked
pertinent questions:
Are you drawing from memory here or have you paid attention to what that person really looked like? Is this how the tree is shaped or have you simply looked at one branch and drawn the rest without observing each one? If A was the subject that attracted your attention, why is B taking up so much space on your paper instead? Why are you constantly attempting to ‘finish’ the drawing instead of first paying attention to your lines?
I began to pay attention to
draughtsmanship, and realised that in my earlier work, I had made the
transition to working on final images for book projects without doing enough
sketches and studies.
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| Tsomo and the Momo |
Finally, I decided to abandon
the idea of creating one set of ‘perfect’ final pictures that I would then use
to make my picture books. This change had a significant impact on my work. I
was able to:
a. rediscover the
relationship between the characters without over-thinking anything; whether it
looked ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ or whether I would use them at all.
b. tie in
particular features of the individual characters with the moods I wanted to
express through them.
c. make better mistakes; apprehend what
wasn’t working and why it wasn’t
working because I was no longer thinking of a single ‘perfect’ illustration.
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| The Sky Monkey's Beard |
My interaction with my tutors and peers gently nudged me out of pre-conceived notions of what constitutes ‘good’ drawing. But learning to trust my own instincts and not second guess myself has been a crucial part of this journey. Cultural perceptions deeply inform and shape artistic sensibilities. For instance, a limited colour palette that might suit one particular kind of visual narrative need not work for another. A rich palette, where the use of each colour is not merely decorative, says a lot about a place, its people, and ways of living and being. Being aware that feedback too can be coloured by embedded attitudes and at the same time, taking thoughtful decisions about each aspect of composition is a big challenge. Small but significant breakthroughs happen when one begins to consider these questions seriously.
Niveditha Subramaniam is a children’s book
writer-illustrator. She particularly loves picture books, wordless narratives
and comics. She has published several books with Tulika.
Here
are the books that Niveditha has written and/or illustrated for Tulika. They
are available on our
website.
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