A film plays on the screen as Ramjith A works on an illustration. When there is no film to watch, music fills the room.
For the Kochi-based artist and graphic designer, cinema and music are as much part of his creative process as the tools he uses.
His latest artwork, an infinity-zoom illustration inspired by the film ‘Dorothy’, has taken social media by storm. The video crossed 4 million views within two days of being posted and has now surpassed 6.8 million.
Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj even ended up collaborating on the post, while actor Keerthy Suresh shared the work and commented her appreciation on the post.
But behind the viral numbers is an artist who is finding his own way to tell stories. And that journey began decades ago.
“My interest in art began in school, when I was in 6th grade. My family also influenced me as both my parents and my elder brother dabble in art,” Ramjith says.
Finding encouragement at home in Mannarkkad in Palakkad, his mother, a tailor, became his first critic.
“I used to share whatever I drew with her, and she would give her suggestions,” he adds. He briefly attended drawing classes but discontinued early on and then honed his skills on his own.
Pencils and pens were his favourite. He began by drawing simple scenery and portraits first, often filling the pages of books with sketches, before gradually moving on to more detailed works. Watercolours and other mediums followed later.
“Once my parents noticed that my skills were getting better, they encouraged me to participate in competitions,” he recalls. While in college, he won first prize at a national-level competition at Nehru College, Coimbatore. However, he had to return to Keralam before the award ceremony and missed collecting his certificate and prize.
But recognition eventually found him. After moving to Ernakulam in 2018, he explored different creative avenues, working at a photo studio and a printing press before becoming a graphic designer. However, he always wanted to move beyond conventional portraits and drawings.
“I used to draw a lot of celebrity portraits as well, but kept looking for my own style, which would make people stop and look at my work,” he says.
His first experiment with infinity-zoom art appeared in 2023, inspired by the film ‘Chithha’.
“I was so moved by the movie that I wanted to give it my own touch,” he says. Instead of recreating a film poster or drawing a character, he wanted to capture a story’s emotional essence through a series of illustrations.
Films such as ‘Animal’, ‘Manjummel Boys’ and ‘Aadujeevitham’ became subjects for further experiments. He also created an artwork inspired by the Wayanad landslide.
Each video uses around 10 to 11 illustrations to tell a story in 45 seconds to a minute. “The challenge was to convey the film’s emotional highlights without making the video too long,” he says.
Ramjith creates detailed illustrations using Procreate on his iPad, then arranges them on an expanding canvas using the app Endless Paper. The result is an ‘artwork within an artwork’ effect, with each zoom revealing another illustration.
While Ramjith enjoys the attention his work has received on social media, he does not feel pressured to keep up with the platforms’ demand for frequent content.
His artwork on ‘Dorothy’ took him two-and-a-half weeks to complete. “The frames and visuals of the movie are pieces of art themselves. Getting their intricacies right was a challenge,” he says. He is now working on an artwork inspired by ‘Baththa’.
“I mostly work on such projects during my off days. There have been times when I’ve sat and drawn for 24 hours straight. When you get into a flow, you cannot stop,” he says.
Balancing his work and passion can slow down the process, he adds, but he is unwilling to compromise on the quality. For him, art comes first.
@ rj___ram on Instagram