It was by chance that 21 year-old Sri Priyatham was introduced to the world of caricature and portraiture as he calls it. A random sketch by a classmate caught his attention and made him realise his interest in drawing caricatures which till now had been limited to doodles on the margins of the page.
A student of Bachelor of Fine Arts at Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts university (JNAFAU), Sri found his calling in sketching people and personalities and decided to pursue it as a career. He has worked with Quicksilver advertising agency and Hands Media while doing freelance work.
The Beginning
“When I started drawing, it was usually that of the Khairatabad Ganesh. As I grew up, it became drawing Pokemon and Beyblade cartoons, says the youngster. However, despite the random introduction to the craft, since then he has been clear of what he’s wanted. “From the very beginning, it was clear in my mind that I wanted to make this a profession and not just a hobby,” he shares. A road very rarely taken in this age of corporates and IT sectors, we wonder how his parents took it when he told them he wanted to pursue a career in illustration. “They were supportive but also apprehensive as it’s not the usual field like engineering or medicine which were my initial options. Once I realised my penchant for the craft, I didn’t want to jump on the usual bandwagon.” With his parents' support, he decided to get formal training and learn the finer nuances and techniques involved in drawing illustrations and caricatures.
The Inspiration
“Every artist has his own style and an individual technique unique to him. People think that caricature drawing is making a nose long or creating a bulbous forehead but there is more to it. Caricature has it’s own principles,” explains Priyatham who has been drawing for over 10 years now. He counts Jason Seiler, who draws illustrations for Rolling Stones, The Wall Street Journal, and Jan Op De Beeck, a Belgian caricaturist as his inspirations. “Jan is like the number one caricaturist in the world. He does magic with a pencil in minutes. I one day want to be as good as him, the Pencil King.”
The Technique
The final year undergraduate student explains that caricatures isn’t just about contorting the body parts into funny features but that there is a science behind the drawing. “Caricature involves studying the essence of a human figure, the bone structure and curves. I start by studying and marking the shoulders, the hollow of the neck and the ears,” explains Priyatham. He starts by looking at a high resolution photograph and drawing the basic shape of the body – like a rectangle or square – and uses an oval for the torso (as the ribcage is oval), draws the limbs cylindrical and so on. Once he has the outline on the paper, he starts giving it a solid shape by drawing on a graphic tablet with a stylus which is connected to Photoshop. There are many techniques that one can use when drawing caricatures. Line art which is a basic outline, medium art with more details and full-fledged sketch with details of the face along with shadows. “I create shadows by using cross hatching which is basically drawing parallel lines to where the light falls on the face,” says the illustrator. Caricature drawing depends a lot on the faces. “When I see people I see them as clowns. I observe the facial features. I see beauty in every face. I think the bigger the forehead is, the better the caricature will be. It depends completely on the anatomy of the face. Every artist interprets the shape differently,” adds the fan of Manga comics.
The Art
Sri’s caricatures and illustrations include Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln and Charlie Chaplin while Leonardo DiCaprio is his most favourite celebrity. His caricature of Manny PacQuiao, the Indonesian boxer, placed third in a contest on Caricaturama Showdown 3000, a Facebook group which has 10,000 members from across the globe. Sri is also one of the few artists who’s work is being featured in a book called “50 Years of BOND," which is being prepared on the account of the completion of 50 huge Years of James Bond Series. Besides entering his work in contests, he is busy with individual orders from people who like to have caricatures made of their loved ones or themselves. “I once had a client who wanted me to interpret his dreams and draw something. I told him clearly I draw people and don’t interpret dreams,” recalls Priyatham about clients with funny requests.
The Future
Sri is not looking too far ahead. However, he is ambitious and wants to host a show of drawings soon enough.
“Right now I’m planning to exhibit my work at The State art gallery in a couple of months. Then there is Comic-Con; I’d like to put up a stall there the next time and I’m looking for funds. I’m hoping to see that comes through,” says Priyatham. He also plans to go to Singapore to learn further techniques in caricature drawings. “I want to join the Feng Zhu School of Design as well to study the art in detail,” says Priyatham on a parting note.