CHENNAI: Three paatis are happily seated on a stone bench under the streetlight. The exchanges of what happened in their houses that day and gossip about the neighbours makes them giggle. Near them is a man petting his dog, a family struggling to feed their daughter, and people scrolling on their phones. These are everyday visuals for illustrator Varshini Krishna. “Daily paakarathellam thaan,” she says.
An evening stroll through her township in Madurai will render more scenes like these. As an artist who tries to bottle her thoughts and ink them on canvas, Varshini presents the Madurai she sees in the new 2023 calendar she recently launched — Bench Tales, on her online store. Her art doesn’t stop at what she sees, it also extends to what she hears and feels.
Art as work
Little did Varshini know, while pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology that she will soon find her calling as an artist. After her graduation in 2018, she started venturing into everything from pencil colouring, oil painting, Tanjore painting to digital painting. Under the guidance of artist Sabapathy from Madurai, who used to do sculptures for temples, she learned the basics of human anatomy.
When COVID-19 hit our homes, Varshini found it hard to create art because of the unavailability of raw materials. That’s when she delved into the craft of digital illustration. “Art is something that came (naturally) to me. Though I had a love for painting and doodling from a young age, it never bloomed into something until three years ago. The transition from traditional paintings to digital art was slightly difficult as it was my first time. But, now I am only doing my work on my iPad,” says Varshini.
Areas of inspiration
Her Instagram page @happysapien_doodles_ is adorned with more than 200 graphic illustrations and a follower base of close to one lakh. She experiments with cartoon sketches, doodles, mandala paintings, movie scene recreations, and customised storyboards for customers. Talking about her art inspirations, the self-taught digital artist says, “I watch a lot of movies and am inspired by how the characters emote on screen. Framing their particular expressions through illustrations is what I do.
These movie tributes are the ones that gave me popularity as an artist on social media. There are also elements of nostalgia I incorporate in my paintings. Those will be tales told by my mother or things from my childhood that I vaguely remember. Apart from these, there is also inspiration drawn from daily life scenarios, festivals, and other digital artists on social media.”
Creating collections
Selling art was not her priority, but Varshini says that it was important for her parents to know that she was making money as an artist. When she was doing well as a freelance artist, an online store creation came to her organically. Through it, she sells stickers, illustrated notebooks, colouring books, and ‘how to draw’ guides.
The highlight of her collection are the PS-1 products, including stickers of the characters in illustration, colouring books and notebooks with illustrations of Kalki Krishnamurthy and Poonguzhali. “My mom is a huge fan of Kalki. We have a mini library at home where she has Kalki’s book collection. We have Ponniyin Selvan books of three different publications, old and new. My mom narrated these stories to me and I also listened to audiobooks while drawing. After the movie was released, I made the characters’ illustrations and thought why not make it into a sticker collection as stickers are nostalgic. That was the start.
Then I made a Ponniyin Selvan-themed colouring book for my niece and that got good reviews. It made me launch it officially as a colouring book,” shares the artist who was praised by Ponniyin Selvan actors Aishwarya Lekshmi and Shobita Dhulipala online.
Varshini aspires to create more sticker collections and also launch colouring sheets for adults. The calendar includes 12 illustrations for all the months, with a desi touch. “Art is something which I rely on while having anxiety and stress. It also brings me immense happiness, which is what I want to share with others,” she concludes.
Order at happysapiendoodles.com or DM on Instagram.