Comic Artist - Volume 3 2016

F

ive years ago, I was a brat who

was overconfident about my

art skills. I drew the same four

poses over and over again, but

since I drew them well, it just

fed my ego! Then I met one of my heroes,

who was kind enough not to throw my

sketchbook away, but harsh enough to let

me know that I didn’t know how to draw.

“Your drawings have no life. You need to

feel what you are drawing. Your back

needs to ache if you’re drawing someone

bending over,” he said. Honestly, I didn’t

understand a thing. But it did set me off

on a hunt to understand what he meant.

Three years later, after having regularly

sketched every day, I got the first glimpse

of what he was getting at. While drawing

a girl sinking into her sofa, I realised I was

sinking myself, to feel the pose.

This wasn’t my only experience,

though: there were numerous more that

shaped my observation. Each of them

opened me up to a world of possibilities.

Through this workshop, I would like to

share my ideas in the hope that they could

give you that little push to explore the

world for yourself. My aim is to help you

personalise the worlds that you create

through your art.

Somnath Pal

LOCATION: India

Somnath is

an Indian

independent

artist, with

a masters

degree in animation and

film design from IDC, IIT

Bombay. He illustrates,

draws comics, works on

films and drinks lots of

decent filter coffee!

http://ifxm.ag/som-p

1

BEYOND REALITY

One of the exercises

that I often do during my

observational drawing

sessions is stir things up

for myself, just to turn the

excitement dial a notch or

two higher. I experiment

with my drawings and go

beyond the reality of the

moment. Sometimes

I exaggerate the tension

in the figure to levels that

are not achievable by the

human body, or push the

existing scenario into a

different world of physical

laws. Purists might contest

that this isn’t observational

drawing – and perhaps

they’re right – but I’m

certainly having fun!

Artist insight

Workshops

WAYS TO WATCH

THE WORLD...

Somnath Pal talks about learning through observation and empathy,

to create art that’s emotionally engaging and has a strong personal voice