Illupatode

When in doubt, don’t think.

I have an Excel sheet full of illustration ideas, categorised in groups by topics, colour coded and what not. I also have gotten bored looking at that sheet, but nevertheless, it is a helpful guide for when I want some ideas and motivation to make art.

Anyway, last year when I got a devastating diagnosis, everything in my life just stopped. My overthinking mind also stopped. I spent days just gazing at the sky with no thoughts in my head. Silver lining, huh? A couple of weeks later, things started to settle a bit and I decided to doodle again. So I picked up my colour pencils which I never use, and just starting making shapes. I had no concern of what I would be making, how it would end up looking, I didn’t care if I make ugly non-art. I just wanted to move my hands while my mind was at a standstill.

In my family, there is a Punjabi word called “Illupatode”, roughly translated as something non-sensical, or jumbled up; like a language or script you don’t understand, or doodles that don’t make sense. So here are the colourful little Illupatode I made, just doodles of a blank mind, for a change.

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Crayons to the rescue

Sometimes (most times) when my mind goes completely blank looking at a fresh page of my sketchbook, wondering what to draw, fearing an uninspired, ugly sketch, I turn to the comfort of crayons. The sensation of just rubbing a rich, creamy oil pastel crayon on a sheet of paper feels almost cathartic. And the resulting page with its saturated, textured colours is quite satisfactory to look at.

I always keep a box of crayons handy, for inspiration is a moody thing, you never know when it decides to fly away.

Amazed

One of the most fun Apps on iPad Pro is the Amaziograph and I've clearly been tripping on it a lot. You can make patterns, designs and random doodles endlessly. Whoever tries it, is entertained for quite a while, you see, it is very difficult to make an ugly drawing on this app. Here's how it works:Trippy, isn't it?Here's some more:These are some of my favourites:A colour wheel, because, of course a colour wheel. :) :)A variation of something I used to doodle since a while ago  (See here and here )Tries to make use of the symmetry feature here.Tried my hand at making an abstract camouflage-like print.And my most favourite - inspired by snowflakes on a dark winter night (which of course we don't have in Bangalore, hence just an imagination):)

Pretty graffiti

I just returned from an almost two-week trip to Germany and Czech Republic last week, and while I bombarded my Instagram with a ton of pictures, here are some sketches I started there and finished here.The art and graffiti on the walls of Berlin were quite inspiring and as I tried to imitate some of it (and failed!), I realised that typography can really be tough. We don't appreciate graffiti artists enough!prague_graffitiAnd this is exactly what was going on in my mind as I was walking around in Prague. Every. Single. Building. Is soooooo beautiful, you can't decide where to look! It seriously is overwhelming. And since I found some graffiti in Prague too, I just HAD to put it down in a doodle.f_pretty_prague...and that's me, sitting on a bench on a river island in pretty, pretty Prague. Sometimes when you finally find those moments of peace that you've really been looking forward to, you don't even feel like sketching because you don't need anything else to feel happy and content. Just look up at the sunlight streaming though the leaves, take a deep breath and you'll find yourself smiling to yourself. But I just had to capture that peaceful moment, so here's a quick sketch I made: prague_islandOur country might not be as clean and well maintained as those, but I sure am glad we have parks and trees for lazy, peaceful afternoons like this.