Illustration Journal of Sweta

If you are someone who wants to develop and hone your senses on colour perception and hue shifts through games then there are the apps for you. These are Android apps. 1. Blendoku 2. I Love Hue Blendoku was actually once recommended by Pascal Campion in one of his Facebook posts for illustrators.

I found her works back in 2017 through Google doodle of Begum Akhtar’s 103rd Birthday. India born, Manuja Waldia currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Waldia transferred from the fashion communication program at National Institute of Fashion Technology, in New Delhi, to the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in Wisconsin. In 2014, she graduated with a BFA in Communication Design. Her work focuses on female empowerment and sisterhood. Manuja’s personal illustrations are filled with elegant figures who clearly understand the meaning of feminism. You will find her work and various articles here. Website-  http://www.manujawaldia.com/ Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/manujawaldia Interviews and articles- https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/manuja-waldia-illustration-040418 http://www.vervemagazine.in/arts-and-culture/discovering-the-many-facets-of-graphic-designer-manjula-waldias-personalit y https://illustratorslounge.com/editorial/manuja-waldia https://medium.com/ladypar

Coming from Visual Design background, I always wished if somehow illustration could be integrated with apps. I never really liked the way every graphic element used in app was either taken from stock image sites or inspired from works posted on Dribble . Even in most kids app we can find a set style of imagery is used which has a general look. I felt the visual treatment lacked uniqueness. Then one day I came across a storybook app  Pickle – the little bird who doesn’t tweet   which was authored and illustrated by Alina Chau's work. Since it was an ios based app I couldn't download and experience it. I kept on searching in Android platform to find out similar apps. Luckily, I found two apps which were free, developed by Fox and Sheep  1. The Jungle Book 2.  Nighty Night - Bedtime story I love the illustrations and the tiny interactive animations that happen in these apps. Fox and Sheep collaborates with Illustrators to develop these apps. Artists like Chris Haughton and Christ

Samir Narayan is Concept artist and Illustrator based in Kolkata. There is no dedicated website or Instagram account of his works. I follow his personal Facebook account where he shares his works. Here are some of the links where you can get a glimpse of his works- Behance-  https://www.behance.net/samirnar3f08 Key Takeaways- I love the way he adds a humorous take about daily life and different political or other issues. I also love the way he portrays Bengali culture which is funny but not satirical . The way he pushes his character forms to bring out the appeal is very commendable.

I always found similarity on Sandhya Prabhat,s work with  Chaaya Prabhat  's work. Today I found out they are sisters. Her brief bio- Sandhya Prabhat is an Independent Animator and Illustrator based in Chennai, India. She holds an MFA Degree in Animation and Digital Arts from NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia, and a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Stella Maris College.    Website-  http://www.sandhyaprabhat.com/about Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/sandhyaprabhat/ Interview-  http://theladiescompartment.co/women-in-literature-as-illustrations/ Key Takeaway- Her work is very similar to her sister's work. Both of them use vibrant colours with distinct shapes.

I came across her work on 2017 through her illustrations for 36 days of type on Behance. I have been following her ever since. Today on the occasion of Holi, she illustrated the Google Doodle. A short bio of her- Chaaya Prabhat an illustrator and graphic designer based in and from Chennai, India.She has been drawing from a very young age, and since then it’s consistently been a part of her life. Eventually she  pursued graphic design and illustration and got M.A in Graphic Design from SCAD Hong Kong.  Here are some of the places where you can find her work- Website-  https://www.chaayaprabhat.com/work Instagram-  https://www.instagram.com/chaaya23/ Behance-  https://www.behance.net/Chaaya Interview-  https://ballpitmag.com/portfolio/chaaya23/ Key Takeaways- I like her vivid use of colours combined with clean shapes. The palettes she induces are offbeat and vibrant. There is a playfulness in her style. I also find a sense of flow and rhythm in her works.  

For past few months I was coming across beautiful cover design of the book 'The Teenage Diary of Nur Jahan' publisher by Speaking Tiger books, in various social media sites. I wanted to know who is the illustrator, but could not find much information. I even went on to ask Speaking Tiger books, via Instagram, but didn't get any answer. But today I got to know the name of the illustrator, because someone kindly tagged her name in comments over Instagram. She is Debasmita Dasgupta. On a side note I will like to mention, it makes me feel real bad when I find, there is no mention of illustrator when book promotions are done in various media. This is a big issue and there are artists outside India, who are voicing their views on this over twitter. That would be a whole another blog post  for some other day. So back to my artist find-Debasmita Dasgupta Debasmita Dasgupta is from West Bengal which is my home state too. She currently lives in Singapore, as evident from her Ins

Today while  going through Pinterest, I came across  Xavier Deneux 's works. Key takeaways- I loved the way he combined, bold shapes with bright colour to create simple yet eye-catching images for kids books. I liked the graphic look of his works. Information- Though I didn't find any website, Instagram or similar kind of dedicated place to view his works, I found some sites sharing bits of information about him. So here is a link which gives brief intro about Xavier Deneux https://bayard-rights.com/our-authors/xavier-deneux Illustrator Xavier Deneux is an author-illustrator who lives in Paris’s 18th arrondissement. He graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. With a diploma from ESAG, he worked as a graphic designer, creating posters and decors. He then decided to devote his talents to illustration. Specialising in books for the very young, he is published by Editions Nathan, Milan et Tourbillon. Author Xavier Deneux is an author-illustrator who lives in

My illustration journey started around 2010 when I came across illustrations of one of my favourite artist Pascal Campion. Ever since I have constantly pursued the topic of illustration. While I was working at my full time job as Graphic Designer, illustration is something I always loved and created. From around mid of 2018 is the time, I started to pursue illustration as a full time engagement, rather than a hobby. Over all these years I have came across various artists, information materials, blogs, interviews which have helped me broaden and strengthen my view about the field of illustration. However, due to lack of proper record keeping, I tend to loose those links many times. Also there are times, I just forget about any valuable piece of information, that I have come across. In this blog I will keep together all these sources. I will also journal my takeaways from these sources to help me remind and rewind in future.