KOCHI: [To Joshy] What led you to create a graphic novel?
Joshy: I used to draw from a young age. I guess, the interest bloomed then. However, doing a graphic novel wasn’t even on my radar at that time. I had many ideas apt for graphic novels, but the yearning then was to see them all turned into short films.
When did you become accustomed to graphic novels?
Joshy: It was in the early 2000s, during my stint with Toonz in Thiruvananthapuram. It is one of the earliest animation studios in Kerala. I was introduced to many graphic novels as part of the work. It opened my eyes. Yet, I didn’t imagine doing one myself.
So, when did you conceive the idea to do one?
Joshy: In the 2012-’13 period. I had returned home then and had a lot of time on my hands. I wanted to do something creative. So when I struck upon a story idea (which eventually became The Pig Flip), I thought why not do it as a graphic novel? An abundance of time was a big enabler; it allowed me to think clearly. For an artist, the thought process is as important as creating art.
Why a graphic novel? And what were the steps?
Joshy: Because, unlike cinema, which requires an array of people, I could finish this work by myself. That was its biggest allure. First, I sat down to write a good story. Line by line, not caring to think that this was eventually going to be a graphic novel and, hence, could do away with meticulous text. This process took three months, and several drafts.
The next step was to draw. I sketched rough ideas. That helped me understand how many pages it would take, how the illustrations should be, etc. Later, I refined each page. Water-coloured the works and digitised them.This took seven months.
The work (in Malayalam) was published in 2015. How was the response?
Joshy: The work garnered positive responses and this buoyed me. But it was the 2018 Indie Comix Fest, which happens annually in Kochi, that helped the work become the graphic novel it is today.
When the organisers contacted me about the fest, I didn’t have this work in a book format. It was the fest team that encouraged me to print digital copies ahead of the event.
I did — two copies. These were immediately bought, and requests poured in for more. So, I decided to print a set. Naturally, there also came a desire to see the work reach a wider audience.
Was that why you decided to get the work translated into English?
Joshy: Yes, I didn’t know how to market the book, save for occasional posts on social media. It was then that a friend suggested to me to get the work translated into English. Another friend connected me to K K Muralidharan. He was very taken to the work, and translated it astonishingly quickly. Translating it to English was a turning point.
[To Muralidharan] Did your Kerala background help in translating the work?
Muralidharan: Yes, it’s safe to say that I knew Joshy’s characters well. There are real-life characters like those in the place where I grew up. That certainly helped.
You seem to abandoned English syntax here…
Muralidharan: I think translating graphic novels of this nature is more like subtitling for films. Also, a big chunk of writing in The Pig Flip is conversational. Tiny fractions like grunts, nods, scoffs, laughs and shrugs carry loads of information and piece together complex meanings. I have played around with these notions, making it sound almost ‘un-English’.
My hope was that it would constantly remind readers that the characters they see are not speaking English.