Category Archives: sketchbook

sketchbook

Weekend shenanigans

Like I said the other day, I just have to keep up with the scenius. Keep drawing daily, find opportunities to study the form, and keep trying, good or not, as Lynda Barry has said.

One thing we forget with digital media is the material properties of the materials…the organic flow or the way the materials shape the outcomes.

I haven’t any experience with watercolours and so pushing myself out of the comfort zone of flat colors which is what you need in comics but – my friend Raj always complains my drawings look a bit flat.

So tried a bit of depth in last night’s sketch – coloured this on Procreate where inks don’t bleed haha.

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sketchbook

Hanging out with the scenius

Austin Kleon often talks about gathering a scenius, and I have to say – for me that’s @pacificleo @royalbengal @whackonondo & @the_legend_of_raj. We have a group called Wider than the sky. What is great is that my scenius is not just talking, but also doing. They’re constantly making things, churning out ideas, art, films, explorations – so I have no option but to do, and keep up my end!

There’s no way to escape, @the_legend_of_raj even sent me that handy little @sennelier1887 watercolour box!

These drawings are from the weekend, drawing at a street corner outside our little tornado’s karate class.

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Event, Life, sketchbook

Welcome to Namma Bengaluru

Big news from me: The brown boy and I now live in Bangalore, our 5th Indian city. This is exciting, I love being able to live in and learn about different parts of India and savoring some of the local culture, not to mention the sweets!

Driving into Bangalore, we were greeted by a double rainbow…

Despite the brown boy’s love for masking tape, things have been busy and chaotic, as we went uprooting our lives and then making new rituals in new spaces.

Drawing, as always is the most grounding ritual for me – to help me really connect to a place and be in the moment.

If you’re around, don’t hesitate to hit me up!

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List, sketchbook

Looking back to Januaries past

This is the year, some of us old timers are counting their blog ages. inktales was started by me in May 2006, and in 2007 I moved over from Blogger to WordPress. I often think, that at 17 years of blogging on inktales, it’s one of my longest relationships – second only to the brown boy.

Today I was looking back over Januaries past, and while some Januaries have been super prolific (hello, 2009!) most years I don’t blog in January! Here are some of my favorites when I have roused my fingers out of Delhi’s icy winter to draw and type:

Design for foreign cultures

Here I am being inspired by Dr BV Doshi, who passed away yesterday. My Masters class was doing a project with immigrant children in Malmö at the time, I was finding it so difficult to empathize or get the nuances of their experiences. Language was a factor, since most of the children knew Swedish and their mother tongue, and not English, and my folkshögskola Swedish was nowhere near conversational. And then I read this interview in Blueprint Magazine.

Other favorites from 2009:

Revenge of the hairdresser

La Bella

From a series on food in NID, La Bella, our favorite eatery from NID days

First attempts

My first attempt at storytelling of our life, such innocence and still so true…

And these two lovely ones from 2019, another prolific January

A weekend with Lekha

A new year

Filled with food and love

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gutotales, Life, parenthood, sketchbook

A year of drawing Orin

One of the things of being a parent is that you have to spend time with your kids. Lucky for you if they are entertaining. As in years past, our tornado still takes forever to eat a meal so I use the time to draw. It’s great to have a living breathing human being at close quarters to draw from! Between mouthfuls, we chat.

Sometime in August I was making notes for my DesignUp talk, and thinking about “belonging” when Orin chimed in:

“You belong to your parents, but you live with us!”

“Do you know centipedes lived in the time of dinosaurs?”

“Do you know what a sundial is?”

I don’t know what he thinks of us…

Here they are watching the FIFA World Cup, and the brown boy thinks this is the best drawing of him that I’ve done since 2003. That drawing is actually hanging on my MIL’s fridge I think.

Here we were discussing our best movies/TV shows of 2022. The brown boy chose Better Call Saul, while mine was Dune, and the tornado chose Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

At least one of you drew me!

We’ve created a monster, I say…

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Books, sketchbook

Books of 2022

In 2022 I didn’t read as many but I read widely.

If I had to choose themes –

  • Career & Business – The 7 habits of Highly effective people*, Wolfpack*
  • Design – Design Justice*, Hello World^, The Brand Gap^, Paul Rand Conversations with Students, Drawing on Courage*, Super Normal*
  • Film, Art & Creativity – Art Matters, Creativity, The Creativity Leap, Wes Anderson^
  • Fiction – Pixel^, Tell me How to be, Carrie Soto is Back^, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Christie Affair, Bright Lines, অগ্নিসম্ভব and অগ্নিকুসুম*
  • Graphic Novels – Pablo^, Esther’s notebooks, The Best we could do, I was their American dream, The Butchery^
  • History – A little history of the world, Broad Band, The Equivalents, At Home in the World*, Man’s Search for Meaning*
  • Physics – When we cease to understand the world^
  • Poetry – Very close to pleasure there’s a sick cat^, I hope this finds you well
  • Travel – Dark Star Safari
  • Uncategorized – Visual Thinking*, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction*, In the Shelter*, The Right to Sex^, The Book of Hope

*These books were life-changing – impacting the way I thought about myself, the world, how I live and work, what I choose to do

^These books were excellent. Some of them I gave as gifts to others, and I would probably re-read later in life.

More Books posts are here

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