KOCHI: Abhinav S has been an artist since childhood. He used to make little doodles on paper with pens. The day he stumbled upon the Japanese anime Naruto on the kid’s TV channel Cartoon Network, he was awestruck with the characters and wanted to recreate them.
“There were communities on discussion forums like Reddit. I joined them and started publishing my works. The praise I received from these groups encouraged me to start an Instagram page and take up commissioned work,” he says.
The self-taught artist started venturing into digital art when he joined the National Institute of Design. They were inspired by Marvel movies and Japanese anime, and the beauty in daily life. “I loved reading manhwa, comics, and watching anime and movies and wanted to explore the style. I find anime doesn’t capture the facial expressions in detail, and I have been working on that,” Abhinav says.
Abhinav’s artworks are never crowded. There are only minimal elements to his art. The character always takes the center stage. The colours are contrasting, yet blend to give a fading effect. Abhinav gets his natural flair from his father, an art professor. “I never studied under him. It was at Navodaya School that I started taking drawing more seriously out of peer influence,” he adds. The Thiruvananthapuram-native is currently studying furniture design at NID.
Find him @abhi.vpm
Avenging art
His work inspired by the post-credit ‘Shawarma scene’ from Avengers Endgame garnered international attention. It was even published in an article by the Screen Rant. His Avengers-inspired art was also noticed by a cast member of the movie.