Change

Change.

One constant, infinite variables

The reason to always stay happy

Happy Birthday Baby Bro'! ♫

Everyone back here, misses and loves you, every hour, every day. ♥

My Ace ♠

Maddy, this is for you, because you never ask for anything, but you deserve every good thing more than anyone I know. 

I can not express in words, how much I truly love you. ♥

Dada.

Happy Dada Day!

My Dad(Dada) and I, are a team. The rules of our team are, that we can shout, bully and scold each other, but dare anyone else do the same to either of us, we stand tall(and small) and defend one another until the 'anyone' understands the rules of this team.

Sometimes, people ask me, "How do you draw like so?", well here's the answer; I get that from my Dada. As a child I have spent many afternoons keeping very very still, as he sat and sketched one portrait after the other of me. Which were followed by frustrating pursuits from my end, to draw him. 

Happy Birthday Dada!

Here's to endless singing sessions, crossword, sudoku, scrabble, sketching, dancing and all of the other crazy daddy-daughter things that I treasure. 

Thank you for being the worlds most wonderful father. 

You are what perfection means to me.

 I hope one day, I can draw like my Dada.

24

This one's for the most wonderful birthday I've had in 24 years.

A big thank you to my parents and brother, for making it absolutely star studded and writing one of the most 

touching letters I have ever received; 

to Ladoo, who went out of his way to give me one of best and most well thought of gifts; an actual home for all my work! Yes folks! I am soon to have a website up and running, all thanks to the man. Moreover, also for making me breakdown with happiness for all the other gestures, which I hold very close to my heart. Honestly, you get me *fist bump*;

To my two bestest friends Maddy and Pallu, for making it happen after five long years, I wish I could trap you guys in my awesome new handmade snow-globe and carry you around with me! I could honestly not ask for better friends than you two;

To Shubee, who's been there through the craziest times, been my pillar of support, also just a pillar in general and the most considerate best friend anyone could ask for, if anyone tries to mess with you, you send them to me girl. I now have 50 dogs on my team. 'Bffs for life yaw';

To Harsha, for being at the receiving end of all my horrendous jokes and being supportive and protective *face palm* your face now;

To Nanda, who's always been a willing audience to my ridiculousness and laughed with me, no matter how NOT funny I can sometimes be (it's a good thing you've got some trouble hearing), thank you also for always being around, sharing the same mad interests and sometimes even crying together both when high and low;

To Kanshu, for always making sure I see the other side of the coin. For holding me up when I was falling;

To Porky, for unknowingly helping me through stuff and all the food binge hopping,

To Leo' for being a part of my life and the selfless love;

And to everyone and every dog who made my birthday memorable, with all their wishes and wagging. 

I feel very loved, thank you.

All time love.

Togetherness.

Love like that, is rare. It's true and wondrous to the whole.

Happy anniversary Mumma and Dada. 

We love you. 

November is here.

Forever Best Friends.

This is dedicated to the world's most doting and wonderful mother. 

My Ma and I often take walks, and as we walk, she educates me on the flora around us. She names trees and flowers and shrubs and creepers; scientific latin uttered with every step.

I remember this, like it was yesterday.

 I must have been five or six. We were walking around our coffee plantation in Coorg and she stopped by a flowering shrub. It had bright red flowers that looked like budding hibiscus'. Ma plucked one off of the shrub, removed its calyx (the little green cap that the flower wears at its base) and sucked at the back of the flower. I stared at her and soon followed suit. Oh my! That sense of wonder and surprise makes me smile even today! As I sucked at the back of the flower, I could taste honey! I spent the rest of the afternoon sucking all the honey from most of the flowers I could reach up to. And when they ran out of nectar, I tried eating the flowers (I do not do this on a regular basis, both Ma and Me are pro 'long live nature'). We then made garlands with the plucked flowers to adorn the various frames of Hindu Gods and Godesses in my grandmothers' puja room.

Thank you Ma, for everything. 

You let me explore, make mistakes, dust it off and stand up again. 

You stopped me from nothing.

I try, everyday, to be half as good a person as you are. 

Here's wishing you the brightest, most enjoyable year ahead. 

Happy Birthday,

I love you.

- Mamoni.

When all else fails, sit down and have a good laugh. 

After Dark

Lately, I'd been thinking of new things to draw, and I realised I've never really tried to represent the night. It's interesting how colours work in a dark room. Figuring this palette out, was massive amounts of fun. You should try it too, if you haven't already!

On a side note, this one's for those innumerous times I've heard you singing "ghum naam hain koi", in the dark Satyam. It's also for the innumerable hours you've stayed up to talk to me. 

♥

Happy Intrenational Animation Day!

Thought I'd do something new, so here's my first animated gif. I don't understand why the thumbnail has partial fills and partial outlines, but click on it! That seems to do the trick!

Long live Animation! 

(with certain biases to 2D!)

The Coolest Grandma' 'round the block

Naanu

 She knit the coolest mufflers and overcoats, told me the most descriptive and engaging stories, sang songs from old rhymes to English pop' with me, could switch from telugu to french in a wink and cooked the most amazing mutton curry, rasam and rice. I miss you so much Naanu. But I know you're in good company and the furry boy is around to protect you. 

We all love you. 

And you? You would have loved to meet her.

Typically Tourist

Me at theSaint-Germain l'Auxerrois

Sometimes, some dreams, do come true. I remember sitting with my history project on the Renaissance while growing up, and wondering to myself if such places did, in reality, exist. I had seen pictures, which were not only breath-taking, but unfamilar and alien. I promised myself, that some day, far into the future, I would save up and find out. 

This summer, I had the immense satisfaction of striking one wish off of my bucket list.

(The Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois has a very dark history with respect to the 1572 massacre, google it or find a book!)

Initially, I wanted to do a moving background for this, which I did eventually and then discarded to try out lighting and shade on the character. I had some good fun doing this! Enjoy!

Solace

STRONG.

I'm pretty damn sure, Little Me could take control, not just that, but with ease.

With Mooshes

Unwind

I don't get it

Sometimes, we just don't understand.

holiday

To the boy who makes me happy. 

Three weeks of utter bliss. 

Thank you!

.

Carrots!

I've been meaning to do this for such a long time! Long over due dedication to my friend Sandhya. 

Growing up with Anne in our lives, here's a little something to remember her with! 

(found the ebook online and used the exact excerpt you picked, hope you like it!)

loopy

I've been wanting to do this for a while too, finally got around doing it. If you ever see me with a straight face, you must know and truly believe, my thoughts at that point are performing a circus.. :D

Limbo

I've been making a full fledged plan to sit with my anatomy drawings again, so here's the first to start with!

      

the wait

A never ending series of fortunate events. ♥

A solemn promise to stay crazy.

All that you need; more importantly, all that you want, too.

Someday; one day, reunited.

An introduction to uncontrolled happiness. 

I love you Leo'.

To the most wonderful father and by far the coolest person I know. I'm so glad I am your daughter Dada.
I love you. - your baby girl. Always.

 

Of course, I strongly believe we don't need a single day to celebrate how much we love our mothers. But keeping a date down in the calender just for Ma, is also something so special. Here's to the woman who magically seems to be the solution to every problem, giver of endless abundant love and the superpower that keeps everything in perfect balance. Mamma, we love you. 

Happy Birthday Kanshu! Love you! Have an awesome year ahead! :D

I was listening to Bob Acri's piano music, and I think I instantly saw exactly where I wanted to be in the near future, of course listening to Acri's piano alongside. Now this to me is my ideal space. I'm getting there, I already have the shorts :). The perfect way to look at this would be to be playing Bob Acri on the side. (Windows users may also have one of his tracks as a part of their sample music :) ).

This is for Thoughtshop Foundation. The colours are coded for six faces of eight cubes. Participants roll the cubes like dice and get to tell a story with the top faces of all eight cubes. I had a ton of fun working on this, working for them is always a pleasure.

In More Detail:

These illustrations are for “Storybox”, a skill-building game that encourages positive thinking. It is part of a set of participatory tools for youth Change Makers – volunteers with the WE CAN CAMPAIGN.

The game stimulates the ability to envision positive outcomes for girls and women in adverse circumstances. It has been designed in response to the need to empower young people, to enable them to act with inspiration and hope when dealing with situations of gender based discriminations and violence they see around them.

The tool is being piloted in English and Hindi through a few organizations associated with We Can Campaign.

There should be links to download USER MANUALS and DIY kits on the Thoughtshop Foundation website soon. I shall update this space as soon as the links are up! 

Why sit indoors and watch the rain, when you can step out and enjoy it while it lasts? An absolutely brilliant beginning to a new day. Wish you all some rain from this side. 

This one's for Misa. :D Happy Birthday Shubee, I wish you eons of happiness and the faithful company of dogs. You and I, would both agree that to be surrounded by them would be the ultimate dream.

Misa loves you. 

To Pallu and Maddy, this is our glamavatar :D . Together we can beat any weather! Lots and lots of hugs and kisses coming your way!.

I know I've already mentioned how wonderful she is :). It's finally your birthday, and I want to wish you infinite amounts of love and good luck! Get that scooty and come to me! :D Happy Birthday Spandeshwari, may you always be blessed and crazy. Oodles of love.

(psst.. I didn't miss the little spot on your chin).

She's a wonderful person and an even better friend. Almost Happy Birthday Nondi aka d'Lisa, This is your early greeting :). I love you and for you, I shall always be there. You've never made me feel like I did too much :D (infact I feel like I can't do enough) and you always go out of your way. 

This is a late birthday greeting to my best friend in the whole wide world Maddy, she's the hippest immunologist I know! I know you've been wanting this for a while :). I love you so SO MUCH Maddy :D. Happy Birthday love.
(Though unintentional, the drawing reminds me of Kathy Keene from Archie comics!)

So recently, I started this diary of little quotes I thought I should pen down. These things come to me in flashes and I keep thinking I should write them down but never do so. NOW I have :). I hope that I can look back at these to sometimes make me feel better, sometimes to think and sometimes make me learn from my mistakes. I thought I'd illustrate one of them:
 "Sometimes, somethings hurt so much, that we're left looking over our shoulders, instead of looking at the road ahead of us'"
I'm sure there are plenty of us who feel that way every once in a while, but do not be defeated, this too shall pass. :) .

Guys only 5 more days to vote!! Please score and give feedback! the link is here too : http://www.threadless.com/submission/407155/family_weekend

Practicing faces in front of a mirror, an age old habit that has now finally translated to something useful! Loads of fun and great for practice!

Seven frames of long, thick, lovely, waving hair. If only.

SO this was an experiment of new things, a list of things I haven't animated before, like water, swimming, waving hair, fish and cartwheels! You see I can't really swim (I will learn someday), but at least here I can save myself the embarrassment of arm floaties! :D Hope you enjoy it as much as I did doing this!.

a leetal detail.

By request! :D For all those believers.

So I want to try a few different things I haven't tried, there will be more in a few days!
p.s. the blur is hand drawn.

So it was four days with a laptop not working, took out the sketchbook watched some good dvds! This one's my version of a poster for Mona Lisa Smile. A 'Stepfordian' 1950's wife, let's just dust it all under the rug and smile!