Riyaaz 1st session

25th March - 31st March

Hoshangabad

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Team : Atanu Roy, Chandramohan Kulkarni, Dileep Chinchalker, Mitali, Shashi Sablok,

Sushil Shukla, Swetha, Taposhi Goshal

Guest : Kalapini komkali, Udyen Vajpei

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25th March

The first session started off with Sushil warmly welcoming the students and

promising them an exciting year. He formally introduced Eklavya – its origin

and current areas and range of work that it has been involved in. Parag initiative

of TATA Trusts was introduced as the one supporting Riyaaz financially

because of their interest in development of progressive children’s literature in

various languages across the country. Riyaaz was started because we felt that

illustrations were not being taken seriously and very less work is being done in

that area.

Introduction by students

Students introduced themselves in very different ways – some through their

artwork, through stories of their personal and professional lives, some through a

PowerPoint presentation or video clips that they had made especially for this

session.

The students were given absolute freedom to present in a way they felt

comfortable. The students were informed through watsapp that there will be a

student introduction session and they could introduce themselves in whatever

way they wanted, but an introduction beyond mere name and place. It was an

interesting mix of audio, video, power-point and photo presentation. This year’s

batch has a diverse group of students. Diversity in age, language, profession,

interests are sure to make the experience an enriching one for all.

There are 7 students who in their professions have worked very closely with

children as teachers or art facilitators. 14 of the students have had a formal

training in art or design. All of them seem to be excellent narrators of their

personal lives. Apart from talking about their interests, they were able to also

provide meta-narratives of their life which was quite interesting.

We have among the students those who are interested in cooking , baking,

history , animals, photography, nature, toys, teacher education, tribals, writing

poetry, theatre, counselling, graphic design, anime, stories, artists, dance,

architecture, travelling, caricature, working with children, Japanese language.

It was particularly interesting to note that Niharika had created an animation –

graphic medium to narrate her story. It was heartening to see the efforts that had

gone into making it. She also shared her favourite sloka “purnamadah

purnamidam..” and a story and

illustration based on the same. She

explored the profundity of the words

in her work. She is a trained

counsellor and a freelance writer.

Debarti had worked extensively with

children. She had indulged in a wide

range of activities – educating

teachers, story- telling, puppetry, toy

making, facilitating story writing by

children, making beautiful toys.

Manoj’s determination to learn art irrespective of the system being unfavorable

to those who were not able to complete secondary education is very inspiring.

Manoj hails from a tribal community living around the Kanha Reserve forest.

His earliest memory of drawing is with charcoal on wall and relief work on the

land prepared by the rains. When he could not get admission into college of art,

he only requested for permission to hang out in the campus and that he needed

no certificate or degree. His stay in Khairagarh University for 3 years exposed

him to multiple mediums and he continues to work as a professional artist in

painting and sculpture. His life

rich with stories and experiences

of his tribe and forest seeps into

his work most naturally.

Bhargav has so far displayed the

most expressive landscapes. He

has formally learnt art and was

also teaching painting at an art

college. It was interesting to hear

his objective views on painting,

what he perceives as the

difference between painting and illustration. He said what he would like to

explore is the narrative quality of illustration that seems to be lacking in

painting. His reading and travelling seems to have added a dimension of critical

thinking towards his work.

Minakshi has been a student of art and currently pursuing her B.Ed. She is also

a poetess, and is actively involved in a group that travels to places and to

sensitize people regarding social issues through theatre. Having parents who are

social workers has oriented her towards to extending her engagement with

societal issues through theatre, art, photography and working with children.

Shubhangi has a formal training in art and also exhibited her works in art

galleries. She recounted an endearing incident from her childhood, that of a

relationship with a Gulmohar tree. The felling of which has left her distraught

and irreconcilable. She has managed to channelize the energy of that bonding in

expression through art and writing. She

is also provides for art experiences, that

naturally stem from and extend to other

aspects of life, for children in her

locality. She believes that there is much

to be learnt from children and is

consciously trying to understand children

and society through dialogues. She

enjoys reading and travelling too.

It might be that each student has to them a lot more than what was made

available to us. A couple of students did not introduce us beyond their name and

the place that they are associated with. There could be a lot of cultural reasons

for the same and hopefully their interests and inclinations emerge through the

year and hopefully becomes a meaningful journey for all.

Classical recital cum demonstration by Kalapini Komkali

Kalapini Komkali is an accomplished

classical vocalist of India. She was born

to Pandit Kumar Gandharva and Vidushi

Smt. Vasundhara Komkali and was raised

into a family of music genre. This

excellent inheritance ultimately resulted

into a quality Indian classical musician.

Kalapini Komkali belongs to the Gwalior

Gharana. The style of Kumar Gandharva is the revolutionized form that after

reconstruction and transformation created a modified style of Hindustani

classical music.

It would be rather insufficient to say that she sang or gave a performance, it was

an evening where we were taken on a musical journey on the smooth sailing of

her notes. Interspersed with anecdotes of inspirations from nature and culture

that have shaped her recitation. There was a melody even in the shifting

between singing and lecturing.

She elaborated on each of the bandish, scripted in a dialect called Malwi that

was a different from Hindi. She rejoiced the fact that each of the bandish

although quite simple a sentence it would create multiple imagery and meanings

for each one listening.

An interest in architecture and travelling, has taken her to places to look at

architecture. She specially mentioned her visit to Angkor Vat temple in

Cambodia. She recounted her feelings of being under the spell of those

magnificent temple and temple ruins. With a disclaimer that it is impossible to

imagine the expressions of the sculptures, she recounted the experience to be

stupefying. The sculptures in their rawness and beauty of horror were

highlighted with a requisition that we visit Cambodia to experience it by

ourselves.

26th march

Student briefing regarding rules and fees

The students were briefed about the rules to be followed on campus and the

payment of fees by Shashi . Shashi and Mitali collated information regarding

details of fee and mode of payment. Students were given printouts of

information regarding the same which they had to return with a signature of

agreement.

The students were split among the 5 faculty members. 4 students were assigned

to the each of the faculties by a method of random selection. This arrangement

makes it easier to conduct baseline and endline, allows for interaction between

the faculty and students during the contact session and the faculty will be the

contact person for their mentees during the distance mode.The students will be

mentored by a particular faculty for 2 sessions, the faculty gets rotated among

all groups.

Baseline assessment

The faculty discussed the mode of conducting baseline on the previous day.

Dileep who had worked on the baseline briefed the faculty regarding the

method. The faculty would assess the 4 students assigned to them now and asses

the same set of students during the endline.

The students were to be assessed on the following criteria – A: Drawing skills

B: Understanding of text

C: Conceptualization / visualization

D: Social awareness

E: Interest and Attitude

F: Knowledge of the field of illustration

G: Acquaintance of other art forms

H: Aesthetics

A, B and C were given scores (0 -10) based on the illustration made by the

students. The students were given the story “ kaala aur mein” written by

Chandan Yadav. This particular story was chosen thinking that it would serve

the purpose of evaluating the students on all the criteria better.

D ,E , F, G , H were scored (0-10) based on the discussion with the students

guided by the questions in the baseline document.

[The baseline data and evaluation form is available in a separate file]

2 of the faculty members assessed the students individually and 3 of them

assessed them in a group. The faculty would transit between the questions of the

the document and their own questions to understand the students better.

Illustration kya zaroori hain? by Dileep Chinchalker

Dileep shared a presentation questioning and trying to understand the necessity

of illustration. He gave examples of illustrations used in various contexts. He

was exploring the journey of illustration over a very broad timeline. He also

hinted at the importance of knowing the content, context and target group for

whom the illustration was being made.

Lecture notes in the voice of Dileep

Before asking if illustration is important, let us ask what is illustration?

Although definition is not as important as making illustrations, it’s a good

exercise to start thinking about.

Can a text stand on its own without illustration?

Illustration is an accompaniment to support the text. But illustration can also

stand on its own without the support of a text. What is important is to

understand its role with respect to the content.

Painting is complete in itself and the onus is on the reader to make meaning.

Illustration needs support of other things, a clue, like a word to explain the idea

behind the illustration.

With an example of illustration Bhagavad gita, a book most read in Hindustan

has no illustrations but still a lot of people read it. No other book is read as

widely as this, and people across ages read it. Contrasting between the earlier

versions of Bhagavad gita with no illustration and then as with a small

illustration of Arjuna and Krishna in the coming years it was felt that it may not

have been necessary but now after its introduction one would start feeling that it

is an integral part. It becomes part of the print culture to include an illustration.

Emergence of illustrations in the form of Drop letter: looking at the change in

font of the beginning letter of a paragraph as an illustration, A visual

disturbance to break the monotony of the page and decorative elements around

the page were also introduced.

When we make illustration for children we have to make the visuals interesting

because they cannot read. For early readers, the visuals are much larger than the

text. They may not be able to read but can recollect the “text” based on the

visuals if they are captivated by it.

An experiment with newspaper where it was necessary to design without using

images; Just the placement of the text and playing with the fonts and headings it

would add visual elements and create an illustration by design.

The case of an illustrated dictionary: illustrated with images to inform the

readers about things that may not be available for the readers for reference in

real life – for example, a pangolin. Factual aspects and accuracy of

representation is also taken care by illustration. Publishers also capitalize on the

fact that a particular book is illustrated.

The spectrum of illustrations have reached such a point where there is no need

for any kind of text. Text will emerge from the illustration. With the example of

a dance video where the dance moves were an animated translation of the words

into actions without any rhythm in the body movement, he attempted to say that

it is important to know what kind of illustration is best suited for a particular

context.

Musing over whether we have to depict every scene or is few illustration

sufficient to serve the purpose, it was opined that illustrations should not be a

dead giveaway to the important crux of the story. It should instigate curiosity in

the minds of the readers.

There should be a current of continuity running in the illustrations if there are

more than one. The illustration should hint at the subject without being very

obvious. The illustration is specific to a certain class of people and that needs to

be considered.

The illustration shouldn’t be a literal translation of the text, it should travel

further from the obvious meaning and should have the interpretation of the

artist. It should have multiple layers within the same illustration. Sometimes

illustration does not depict a particular scene necessarily, it could also just be to

illustrate the historical period without focusing on any particular character or

incident.

The font, the white space around, the arrangement of visual elements are also

important in enhancing the experience of an illustration.

He ended with the opinion that each one of us would have a different perception

of illustration and that is important to keep exploring the questions pertaining to

illustration from various perspectives.

Introduction by faculty members

Chandramohan gave

us a glimpse of his

work and shared with

us his personal

journey as an

illustrator and artist.

He talked about his

style of working

from memory and the

nonnegotiable need

to observe the world

with attention to the

smallest detail. He

strongly believes that everybody has the capacity to observe and be able to

recall any image just like a computer and transfer it to the paper if skilled. His

passion for art has to his credit about 15000 illustrations excluding other art

works like painting and sculpture. He feels that there should be no fear

hesitation associated with any medium and that one must explore all the

possible mediums including digital art and photography. It is in the broad and

deep exploration of the mediums that an intuitive knowledge of choosing the

right medium for expression emerges. He said that the expression of ideas in the

most suitable form is what is needed and that need not be restricted to the

traditional mediums. He was of the opinion that an illustrator must also be a

good photographer, a typographer, a designer, a calligrapher, an art director and

so on.

Sushil introduced himself through one of his writing. It

was title “Farvari” (February) based on the changes in

the nature during the month of February. It is a record

of the delightful intimacy of the writer with his

surroundings –leaves, trees, ants, tea-maker, flowers,

grass, children and his own self. The longing to see in

nature, the fantasies of his mind and expressions of

hope in a beautiful play of words was enchanting to

hear in his own poetic voice.

Taposhi shared how her

inclinations and aversions in

childhood translated to her

becoming an illustrator. She

traced the course of her

professional life after

graduating from Delhi

college of Art. She had

worked with an advertising

agency, Katha, NBT, and as

a freelancer with many

publications like Ladybird, Chakmak, and Pluto. She reflected upon the

dynamics of her professional life and her inspirations and her style of working.

She humbly noted that she is here to learn just like the rest of the students.

Atanu shared his passion for illustration by

sharing a range of illustration works that he has

created over the years. He took care to explain

the details of each work displayed– purpose,

medium and ideation. He was of the opinion that

there was no need to be scared of using

references and one can adopt it. He shared with

us the story of him becoming an illustrator

despite his aversion to it. A narrated hilariously a couple of quirky events that

led him to join an art school and how he became a professional illustrator. He

filled the evening with stories from everywhere.

Dileep started with a bold statement that he is

not an illustrator at all, but a seeker. He then

traversed through his life journey with an

interesting presentation of his college, work and

family life interspersed with his life

philosophies. He had dabbled in various

interests and occupations. An exciting journey

marked by quirky events of his life that gave

him a wide range of experiences. Creativity and

outlook of life as he saw it in various forms

were shared with the students which made it all

the more interesting.

Film screening- Babe

A 1995 Australian-American comedy-drama film directed by Chris Noonan.

It is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig. The main

animal characters are played by a combination of real and animatronic pigs. It

was an important film to study visual effects and angles in which the scenes

were shot.

27th march

Understanding the text by Sushil Shukla

Illustration could be decorative, informative, explanatory, interrogative, political

or amusing and so on. Its role like most art forms will take multiple meanings

based on the context it is placed in. In this course which focuses on illustration

for children’s book, it’s a core necessity for the illustrators to understand

literature in its form, content and the social

and cultural context in which it is being

conceptualized.

The textual content has to be understood by

the illustrator at various levels. One reading

of which will give them a rough idea of the

story or poem, another of understanding the

characters and what they depict, or inform,

another layer of extending the story or

poem to a more universal experience that goes beyond the characters of the

story and reaches out to resonate with more fundamental experiences that runs

common for most of humanity.

Lecture notes in the voice of Sushil.

Identify the form inherent in the prose and poetry. What are the basic criteria

based on which a text can be differentiated into prose and poetry? How did the

poet arrive at the creation of such a poem / prose.

What does it mean to understand? When can one say that they have

“understood” something?

I used to be afraid of “understanding” for the fear of not being able to enjoy it

for the immediate pleasure it gave me while reading it. It is more important to

enjoy it for the pleasure that is obtained from reading it at least once. Further

one reads it to locate the source of its aanand (joy). Over interpretation can ruin

the essence – plato.

There is a lot of literature when being chosen to publish, a lot of good literature

doesn’t get selected because people assume that “children will not understand

it”. 2 things – It is unfortunate that one assumes that someone will not

understand something. It is also audacity to think that we know what a child can

understand and cannot, underlying which is the assumption that all children are

the same. And we also have a single interpretation of “understanding” itself.

Children are very different from each other, and each person is different at each

moment of their life. So what are children like? What does it mean to

understand?

Suppose there is a poem about a mango tree, there will be no difficulty for

people to agree that this can be understood by children. Hence, ninety percent of

children’s literature is based on seasons. Season is a much exploited

conversation starter when we meet someone whom we do not have anything

meaningful to share. Probably that is why we do the same with regard to

children’s literature.

It shows how we think about children. So what does it mean to ‘understand’ a

mango tree? Is it possible to understand the mango tree without also

understanding soil, bird, sunlight, water… and so on? From there to understand

water, we have to understand fish, clouds and so on. It is quite amazing how

everything is so interconnected. It is in the nature of modern education to look

at things in isolation although that is not how things are in reality.

Understanding is not discreet but a silsila – a continuous process that grows and

transforms with multiple experiences that we have with our environment.

While art and literature gives ample space for the many audiences from

different places to participate in their own way to place themselves and

complete the creation, Modern education focuses more on very general aspects

of a person and doesn’t address the uniqueness (apnapan)/ individuality of the

person. In school, an essay on cow would say that cow has four legs –

something that is also common for a buffalo, goat etc. It does not explore the

distinct feature of the cow that brings out the cowness or the individual’s

experience with cows. A child once very honestly wrote in an essay, “hamari

gaai ke bhi chaar pair hee hotey hain” .”Gai ke do hi seeng hotey hain agar

ladai main ek toot na gaya ho toh”, was the response of one of the students.

“Drishya ek purdah hain” by Ashok Vajpei illustrates an important point in that

simple sentence. He says that when we see a certain thing, it veils all those

things which we do not see because of the seeing of that particular thing. That

which is being made visible is a deliberate attempt to hide all those which must

not be seen. In literature, Dekhna (seeing) and Dikhna (that which is seen) has a

positive connotation and nahi dikhna (that which is not seen) is considered

negative. But in this sentence it is almost reversed, the writer throws light on

that which is not seen as being important in the vis-a-vis which is seen.

In the light of this sentence we can relook at everything that we have been made

to see.

Women, Children, Dalits, and other minorities being depicted a certain way in

art and literature shows us their status and outlook we have has a society about

each of the category. If you analyse the lyrics of Hindi film songs, written in the

voices of women are actually written by male lyricists. They write about how a

woman feels and that actually shows us what the male feels about those things.

Try reversing the gender of a joke that you found funny, you will realize that it

is not funny anymore. So the joke is not in the content but in the social reality.

So when we are laughing, we are laughing at the vulnerability of the subject.

The meaning is not located in the words alone. It is located in different sources.

To arrive at meaning, mere words are insufficient. If you listen to the words in a

conversation of a couple in love, one would wonder what is going on. The

meaning is contained in the act of being together and the spoken words are

meaningless in that context. Hence when creating a particular artwork, one

needs to capture the essence of what one wants to communicate, construct it in

the mind and from there device ways to express it. The meaning, hence is

located in various aspects and not just in words.

Bolu is a character in a story. He is like a green- bee eater. It flies it chirps,

when it rests, its quiet and Bolu was like that. He would talk when he walks and

walks when he talks. If you tell him to stop, he will stop talking and then stop

walking. Suppose I met Bolu and think a lot about him, there is a smriti

(memory) of Bolu that is formed within the reader. Smriti (memory) of Bolu and

someone I met in real are at the same level and it’s the strength and potential of

a good story to make that possible. The association the reader has with the

character is the same as the kind one has with people in real.

When we say, role of literature is not mirroring the society that means we

assume nothing changes in society. Whereas it is actually we are creating our

realities – so the language, thinking, dialoguing, everything changes after

reading a good literature.

Understanding the poem Hatasha by Vinod Kumar Shukla– how do we

understand it?

Kala (art) creates a moment. It creates a moment where we lose all our identities

and identify ourselves with the most basic nature of being human. In this

moment we connect with everyone and become equal to all in very fundamental

ways. The activism and revolution that the literature can attempt to is only

possible in that moment is what Abhinav Gupta claims. The journey of art is to

create a particular kshan (moment). In that moment it creates a universal

experience that can be shared by all and proposes for such a moment to present

itself in the life of all.

So looking at Hatasha in this tradition, what do we know about the person? In

terms of gender, geographical location and so on. We don’t know anything. The

more important aspects are hatasha (despair) and saath dena (togetherness).

Someone is unhappy and that person needs help. And the two individuals are

equal in all aspects.

In contrast to that now let us look at stories with start with, “Ek baniya tha….”

What does that mean ? Who is that person? Here the person is not important, its

being a baniya (the caste) that is important. Another problem is that it assumes

that all baniyas are the same, but that is not true at all.

Comparing the two we see that in Hatasha, the individual is more important

than the identities that define the individual. But when we say “baniya”, the

caste of the individual is given importance.

The content and craft of writing a story is changing these days. It need not be a

linear narrative, but can also be like a dance, where there is a certain movement

without linearity. One can look at the same story standing in one place but with

different perspectives.

In the way one writes about a particular thing, so many other things / qualities /

nature of writing come along with it. Maybe because of the tradition of

exposure to stories for these many years, we have been oriented towards

literature. This orientation prepares us to naturally handle a given story. There

are some stories where we can easily identify how a story works – anayaasi -

unknowingly, without having to think too much.

Hungry leopard finds a tortoise. Tortoise retreats into the shell. A fox, a friend

of tortoise passes by. The fox asks the leopard to throw the tortoise in the water

so that shell becomes soft and can be eaten later. So the leopard does that and

the tortoise is saved. Nobody asks why couldn’t the leopard eat the fox?! That is

because we are oriented to understand where the story actually lies. The story is

not about what the leopard does, the story does not lie there and that is known to

even a very young child.

IDGAH (1933, Premchand)

Very few stories have been written about lower class muslims and this is one of

them. Hamid is a central character in the story, he is 5 or 6 years old. He doesn’t

have parents and live with his grandma who takes care of him with great

difficulty.

On the day of Idgah, he goes out with his friends. The description of the day of

Idgah is in such a way that the reader is able to participate in the imagination of

the ambience of the environment and festival.

Hamid avoids buying sweets, toys, and so on by giving quirky yet logical

excuses to his friends about how those things are useless. Hamid reaches a shop

that sells chimta (forceps). The conversation between Hamid and shopkeeper,

which Premchand has ornamented very interestingly. When he takes the forceps

home and gives it to Amina, she feels very sad. Although there were so many

attractive things and Hamid might have felt hungry too, yet, in all those

moments, all he thought about was Amina. Some writers exclusively write a

line or two about the emotion that they want to capture in the story. In this story

too, Premchand writes “Amina was crying like a child and Hamid was watching

her like an elderly man”. In today’s literature, people believe that all that the

writer has to communicate must be done within the story and not outside of it.

For that may mean that the writer is doubtful whether the story was able to

communicate the ideas and it had to be said separately.

Like Ashok Vajpei said “Drishya ek purdah hain”, Amina was not sad because

Hamid brought her a forceps. If you look at the craft of the story, you will find

that it reiterates the fact that there are things that someone has but not Hamid,

and this is repeated again and again. It creates a mood where what is available

in the mela cannot be afforded by all. So then who is the mela really for? How

many of those things in the mela are available for all? Even if they are available,

they cannot be afforded by all and so making them unavailable for a lot of

people.

The craft employed here by the writer, of announcing what is available in the

market and also distinguishing that those things are available for someone and

not for Hamid. The craft of contrasting that there are certain things and at the

same time they are not, is so strong in the story. Premchand has never

mentioned about those basic things that constitute a childhood as being made

available for Hamid. We must not look at childhood from a middle-class

perspective and assume that a child who is a rag picker has no childhood. Each

of their childhood is a unique world – one which is complete with material

environment and the mind.

When we talk about deprivation, Amina with great difficulty tries to collect

money for Hamid’s outing. Amina saved the money like her dignity is how the

writer describes it. This has been excluded from the abridged versions made

available to children in textbooks assuming that children will not understand it.

Amina constantly tries to pull together and make available a few things for

Hamid, so she giving him money to spend at the mela was another attempt to do

the same. But, even then, Hamid behaves very unlike a child, and like an old

man, when he buys her tongs to pick rotis that she bakes.

Premchand tries to typify a “child” by assuming that children have a certain way

of looking at the world and that they loves sweets and certain kind of toys but

Hamid has not been influenced by those. Hamid talks and acts like an older

man.

If I was an illustrator and had to illustrate it according to the story that surfaces

after the first reading it would be different from the illustration attempted after

understanding this part of the story.

The students had a prolonged discussion on the story and the discussion covered

aspects of multiple meanings, intent of the writer, assumptions in a story, what

is the position of the writer in a society and so on.

Visit to Sethani Ghat

It was the first outing for the session. Everyone got ready with their sketchbooks

and were on the ghats in no time. The students were asked to sketch the

happenings of the ghat. Outing serves many purposes.

The visit to Sethani Ghat with sketchbooks was to induct live sketching as a

method to learn drawing and composition. The students were asked to freely

capture the life in Sethani Ghat and they were to receive feedback from the

faculty members. The students and faculty dispersed to various parts of the Ghat

and got down to sketching, observing, conversing, photographing, and so on.

Most of the students were sketching human figures. Each one at their own pace

and style went about sketching for about an hour. The students received

feedback regarding each of their works the next day during a sharing session.

28th march

Presentation on sketching by Chandramohan Kulkarni

I thought there was no need for sketching and was proposing the same, but I

stand corrected that sketching is very important. But before one jumps into the

act of sketching, it is important to see. It is also important to know what we are

doing and why we are doing.

At Sethani ghat I was not sketching, but only observing. This morning, I opened

the megapixel camera of my mind and sketched from my memory. We tend to

react too quickly, but it is more important to see. There was a lot happening on

the ghat, which many of you have missed out. My sketches are not

proportionate, but there is a language of the line.

The hand is not about proportion, it is about the movement – the hand tying the

hair – hence I do this deliberately. I am putting forth what I do, but not what you

must do, you must find out what you must do. It is best that you do not copy me

so that you do not ruin your work. I have studied anatomy very closely, I know

what is and what I want to do. There is a difference in photography and

sketching. That which is not there in photography is possible in sketching and

we have to find out what that is. Do not get carried away by just photography.

Look at things more closely. Sketch when you feel like it. Observe people, their

postures, their shape, the objects in their hand etc. Drawing and sketching are

different. Sketching is more rapid. Did you notice that there were footwear lying

around? Those footwear become a prominent part of my sketches. There is life

in it. A moment is created. There was a photo of a deity, and … observe what

strikes you the most. It is not necessary to be outdoors, one can do sketching

exercises indoors too. In the future if there arises a need to make an illustration

of Narmada ghat then you must be able to do it without having to use photo

references.

While I am working I do not know why I am doing a certain thing, I just keep at

it only knowing that the hulchal (commotion) and mahoul (ambience) that I

experienced should be visible in my sketches and all my decisions are based on

that. Suppose I made a sketch on that spot it would probably be different from

the one I have made. It is important to not react towards sketching, it is more

important to pause and reflect before jumping into sketching and also develop

one’s “seeing” and observing.

All the students have to sketch from memory without looking at old sketches or

photos captured.

Purpose of sketching by DileepChinchalker

Role of sketching is seen as an important aspect of all art programmes. I am

unable to say whether sketching is important or not. It has been a disadvantaged

that I have not sketched enough. Guruji had a stronghold on his sketching skills.

In his time it was not possible to use photographs for reference in his artworks.

The sketches are that of Guruji’s to show an example of good sketches.

The sketches are not very well defined but tell us about the nature and form.

The necessity is also not to be realistic in sketching but personalize it according

to one’s needs and calling.

Sketching helps to understand how one needs to handle the tools – pencil, pen,

etc. the feelings in the artist will translate onto the medium if one understands

the handling of the material.

During outdoor sketching, there is a large view to be captured onto a small sheet

of paper. We have limited time to complete the task. So it is more important to

capture the contours and forms in view instead of getting lost in capturing the

details. It is very important to be habitually observant nevertheless.

Practicing sketching will strengthen one’s lines. It also allows for movement -

being able to sketch well will help the viewer to go over the parts of the image

one after the other just the way the artist wants it. One gets distracted by

excessive shading, but it is more important to bring the contrast in other ways.

An alternative to shading is to notice what the dark and light areas are and

highlight the images by positioning the sun and creating shadows. It is

important to visualize the positioning of the object/ figure on the page. An

estimation of how much space each object/figure would require is also

something one figures out while sketching. The sketches may go on to become

works of art in themselves or be the supporting materials for creating a painting.

Human figures and animal figures might seem difficult initially but it is

important to capture the form to resemble the animal. People have a style of

their own even in sketching. It is possible to distinguish certain trees/ animals

by capturing their form and without having to get into the details of every leaf.

Human figure sketching opens out a range of possibilities for expressing many

things by capturing the body language and expressions on the face. Capturing

postures and expressions and likeness of a particular person can be captured

with without having to draw in detail, but with minimal but vital features of the

person.

Some places look very similar. It is possible, though, to bring about the special

character of the place by focusing on the special features of the place that define

the place. The magnanimity of rocks, mountains or characteristic features of the

locals are things one can help capture the essence of the place. It is not

necessary that one is always sketching to be able to do this, but one has be a

very good at observation to do justice.

Everyday objects are equally important to be sketched, it is not necessary that

we go to a scenic place every time to study and practice sketching. The intention

of sketching is not to indulge in meaningless physical labour but to sharpen

one’s observation skills.

Feedback on students’ sketches

On seeing the sketches made by the students, the

faculty decided to hold a feedback session to

understand the difficulties of the students and to

address them. The students one-by-one presented

their sketches and reflected on the exercise.

Students expressed their difficulties while sketching.

The problems ranged from habits that students are

not able to get out of – using eraser, not being able to

attempt sketching smaller objects, resizing, human

subjects moving away while sketching them,

perspectives, inability to capture the quality of water,

inability to remember and sketch from memory,

pencil leaves a very light mark – too scared to make darker lines for the fear of

making mistakes. It was important to recognize the difficulties so that they

could be worked upon.

The general feedback was to be aware of all the preferences, things that they do

and do not

Taposhi’s comments :

Imagine that you are already illustrators and a client tells you that they do not

like your work. That is because what is looked into while selecting or rejecting a

certain work is when we look at human figures. Usually people find it difficult

to get the hands and legs right. So if not enough sketching has been done, it is

very difficult at a later stage. One has to sketch everything without

discrimination. A lot of minor errors can be avoided by looking at things

closely. Although references are easily available on the internet, there is no

substitute for the practice that the hand needs in order to be able to do good

illustrations.

Atanu Roy shared with the students his feedback on each student’s work. He

pointed out to the areas that each of them need to work on as they presented. He

was also encouraging them to work harder and emphasising on the fact that

there was no substitute for sketching.

photos of some of his earliest sketches and interesting snippets that led to those

sketches.

Film Screening - Not one less

It is a 1999 drama film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, adapted from Shi

Xiangsheng's story "A Sun in the Sky". Set in the People's Republic of China

during the 1990s, the film centers on a 13-year-old Wei Minzhi, in the Chinese

countryside. Called in to substitute for a village teacher for one month, and is

told not to lose any students. When one of the boys takes off in search of work

in the big city, she goes looking for him. The film addresses the economic gap

between urban and rural populations, and the prevalence of bureaucracy and

authority figures in everyday life. Minzhi possessed of a stubborn streak,

determines to bring him back. She enlists the 26 remaining pupils in earning

money for her trip. She hitches to the City and begins her search. The boy,

meanwhile, is there, lost and begging for food. Minzhi's stubbornness may be

Huike’s and the village school's salvation.

29th march

Relooking at kala illustration

After looking at the illustration

of the students for the story

“Kaala aur main” given for

baseline assessment, Sushil

decided to discuss the text with

the students and help them

attempt illustration for the

same with a nuanced

understanding.

He pointed out to consider aspects like the way in which the story is crafted,

what is the writer saying and what are the things unsaid directly but emerges

from other things in the story. It is possible that there are confusions regarding

what the author is trying to say but that can be effaced from understanding each

character and looking at inter-relationship between the characters

“A poem is actually speaking of those things which are not written in the

poem”

So an examination of the relationship between kala and the writer brought out

the responses of the student’s understanding – they are friends, the writer is a

friend, philosopher and guide to kala, writer and kala as migrants, writer as an

empathizer, writer and kala as being not 2 different but the same – in sharing a

common lived reality wherein they both have been displaced from their land but

during different time zones. Shared reality of having been forcefully displaced

from their forest and land is what emerges from the story. And that aspect which

is not obvious from the story is in the hands of the illustration to bring out.

He said that there are certain aspects which speak about the craft of the story,

understanding of which will help one to fill in those information unsaid by the

writer in words, but said in other way. For example instead of saying that kala is

from an adivasi background, it was sufficient to say that he spoke in korku. It

tells you who the story is about the adivasis, a language speaks a lot about

people’s culture, so adivasi life, like their language is a reflective of minimalism

and resourcefulness.

In an illustration for this story, it wouldn’t matter if there is a juggi (Shanty) or

not or kala or not. But, it would be incomplete without factory and buildings

because it is a story about snatching away land – by whom and from whom are

the questions to be addressed in the illustration. The emotion that if the land is

gone, along with it is gone many other things that are meaningful to the person

is the underlying emotion.

The use of the phrase “koila nikal aaya” and associating that to the end of all

fears pretty much captures the gravity of the situation. It is important to arrive at

the Bhaav (emotion) of the writing and to compose an illustration by staying

with the emotion, one can afford to forget the details of the scenes, but it is

more important arrive at the core emotion and attempt illustrating again.

Study of an object and its distortion by Chandramohan Kulkarni

A bit disappointed with the quality of students’ works, Chandramohan decided

to organize a demonstration.

Sketching in the context of a fine art course and that for an applied art course

are two different. It is important to develop the understanding related to

sketching and the intention also becomes very important, There was a tendency

to look at sketching through the window of illustration and that too in a very

hurried way. Hence this exercise of sketching the shoes and then bringing out its

unique character.He asked them to forget defining sketching, drawing, and other

technicalities. He proposed to move away from sketching and looking at things

more closely. He took off his shoe, placed it on a table and did a close study of

it. He studied it with utmost care and focus. The students quietly watched him

complete the image of his shoe, line after line, stroke after stroke and careful

stippling to produce various texture. Once he completed it, he asked the students

to do the same - to sketch their footwear by being in love with it. He also asked

them to compose it creatively and be cognizant of the space and positioning of

the drawing.

While the students darted off with their drawing materials to occupy various

parts of the campus, he was busy creating distorted imagery of the shoe that he

had studied. He was of the opinion that if one sees closely, one will be able to

see and experience things beyond the shoe and that needs to be explored and

recreated without losing the form of the footwear. His shoe had transformed into

a monster baring its teeth.

Once the students had completed their first task of studying their foot wear, they

were asked to look at it again to see and experience the footwear differently and

draw their mind. This exercise on one hand opened up the idea and experience

of seeing things closely, by paying attention to every curve, texture, form that

makes a shoe a certain way. The extension of the exercise also brought in the

element of imagination and creativity to be expressed through distortion of the

footwear to produce an interesting image.

30th march

Home assignments

The students were briefed about their assignments that they would be taking

home. The students were asked to fill their newsprint sketchbook with as many

sketches of humans, animals and objects that they see around them. The

importance of sketching exercise was emphasised by all the faculty members

univocally. The students were reminded about their reflection logs. They were

asked to record their feedback regarding sessions and make note of their

understanding and dilemmas related to illustration.

Each student took home books from the library that they will review in the

coming session.

Apart from this, the faculty is available to converse through phone and internet

if the students need any assistance.

Understanding of Text by Udyen Vajpei

Poetry is not a commodity that can be used and understood without

understanding the tradition from where it is coming. It is not possible to

understand a poem in a few hours, to understand a poem is a matter of

understanding the culture and that is a longer journey. So taking James Joyce’s

advice, one must remember the poem and take it along with oneself and

understand it newer ways as we understand the world and the culture of the

poet. Understanding poetry and the logic of language is work of many years.

There is no guarantee of when one would understand a poem and fall into its

depth, “it will catch you unaware”.

Brijbhasha by its inherent nature was the language of poetry. This language had

a sensuous nature, compared to Hindi which is a more stiff language.

Premchand’s stories because of nature of Hindi itself are quite non-sensuous.

Nirala tries to consciously and determinately look for ways to better the

language. Bengali was his first language and after having listened to Ramcharit

Manas from his wife in Brijbhasha, he experienced the language to be very

pleasing and was impressed by the sensuousness and learnt the language from

her. Being an outsider to the language, he was able to see the nature of the

languages, the difference in the quality of Khari-boli and Brijbhasa, and tried

consciously to bring the sensuous nature into his Hindi. It was not a given, but

something he created by tampering and playing with it in his poems without

compromising the philosophical depth and reflective character. This was later

exploited by other writers. In those terms, this is one of Nirala’s best poems

because Hindi as a language is opening up to be more perceptive.

● Poem 1 : Baandho na naav is taav – Nirala

The poet is in a space where once his lover used to meet him. The lover is not

physically present but in his memory and mind. The reference to the bank of the

river is iconic of sanskrit literature conventions where bank of the river is one of

the eight places that is considered as the places apt for rendezvous of lovers.

The poet transitions from one space into another to be able to see different

things from various perspectives. He then transforms to become his lover itself

to understand what kind of a person she is, there is this movement from being

him and then his lover. The emotions running through the poetry are varied and

not discreet. It keeps shifting from one to another and gets juxtaposed too. At

any given moment, one can experience the existence of more than one bhaav.

Each line of the poem was tried to understand at the level of its meaning,

metaphorical meaning and those which are unsaid but comes from a certain

tradition of Sanskrit literature that the poet was exposed to. Poetry is not written

by words alone but by the context in which it is written. So if one doesn’t know

its historical and cultural underpinnings, then one reads not a poem but just

words. So, even having a dictionary and knowing grammar become insufficient.

● Poem 2 : Mangal - Vinod Kumar Shukla

The poet is from Chattisgarh but his first language is Hindi and not a language

local to Chattisgarh. He was one of those families which migrated and kept their

language alive in the hope of returning to their land.

Stars and astronomical objects are usually used as metaphors to indicate

distance. In this poem, Mars, as a planet is the subject. The convention of the

poem is reversal. The subject –mars- towards the end of the poem is only

symbolic and the poem is not talking about mars as much as it is talking about a

redemption for earth by being more conscious and responsible towards it.

When he says “मंगल ग्रह इस समय पथृव्ी के बहुत पास आ गया है” it is not

just that mars is closer, but mars as a subject for poetry too is closer now. The

silence of mars, is observed not as the lack of sound, but lack of life is an

interesting usage. The aspect of vyanjana is demonstrated when the poem

reads,” अब पथृव्ी के पड़ोस में क़ोई नह ं …. समय पडने पर पथृव्ी का कौन साथ देगा” but what it actually means is that the earth better get its act together

in light of ecological degradation that is taking place and there is no one to help.

Earth is imagined to be a home for all the creatures, complete with neighbor –

Mars. Something as untenable as earth and mars has been transformed into

something more familiar.

The poet talks about the neighbourhoods on earth. The earth was described as

home, but the home is now referred to as the planet, complete in itself. There is

a comparison of earth and mars to one’s own home and neighbor. The poet

keeps shifting between referring to home and earth ; mars and neighbor , but the

space is the same.

Mangal ho is a phrase used to shower blessings. Here, the usage of “Mangal ho”

is taken as “becoming part of mars”, or “making the mars, one’s own” as well as

a “blessing”. An everyday act of jumping has been transformed into a cosmic

event and in that jump, the mars is owned. The imagination of this spectacular

act is a highlight of the poem. Comparing mars to an empty house which needs

to be inhabited by all those animate and inanimate things that occupy the earth

is a cry of desperation trying to point to the fact that there is no other planet like

earth to save it from being destroyed and hence wishing that forests, rivers, sky,

mountains, all the creatures including that last person be able to move into mars.

Since there is no neighbor to help the earth, in time of its need, there will be no

one for the earth and hence, mars needs to be populated so that mars will help

the earth. The cry of hopelessness comes from seeing the plight of the earth and

placing that hope on mars. In trying to see mars as a neighbor, he is proposing

for a new vision where one sees one’s neighbours as an entity that deserves all

that oneself seems to enjoy.

Visit to Sethani Ghat

The students and faculty had a second visit to Sethani Ghat. The students were

looking forward to another session of sketching and being outdoors was a great

break. This time, Atanu did a live demonstration on the Ghat. It was quite

amazing to see how he seemingly effortlessly sketched the people and the

temple. His every stroke was a defining the object more and more clearly and in

no time, there it was captured in all its liveliness. The students gathered around

him studying his hand and eyes.

Taposhi too demonstrated sketching with pen.

Confident lines flowed through the pages to create

images as effortlessly too.

The students then dispersed driven to make their

own sketches. They remembered their sharing

session and the feedback that they had recieved

from the faculty and expressed the difficulty being

unable to put it into immediate practice.

31st march

The students continued to work on the kala aur main illustration that they were

attempting for the second time after having a discussion with the students. The

students were given the art materials that they needed. New set of books were

made available for the students to take home for their book review assignment.

In the class, the faculty- Taposhi , Atanu , Dileep and Chandramohan were

interacting with the students and giving feedback on the students’ work.

The session ended by 3pm since some of the students had left for their homes.

Those students who had completed their second illustration submitted their

works. The others are yet to finish and will hand them over in the next session.

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Everyday there was an hour each set aside for Library and Mentor-Mentee

interaction.

● Library hour : It is mandatory that students spend this hour only with

books. The students are free to access the Eklavya Library as well as the

Riyaaz Library. The collection includes children’s book, books on art and

education, magazines etc. All students spend a quiet hour reading either

alone or in a group. It was decided that two students everyday would give

a book-talk about the book that they had read during the library hour.

Maybe it will be looked into from the next session.

● Mentor-Mentee Interaction : This time allows for the students to discuss

in detail the topics dealt within the class and other aspects related to

illustration. It is also the time where faculty can share their personal

experiences, work and otherwise for

a more holistic learning. It was

observed that some students do

interact with the faculty members

while others continue to spend the

time reading or interacting with their

peers. This period of interaction has

great potential to encourage a

culture of dialogue and also provide

insight into the realities of working as an illustrator in the industry.

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