Art and Design

I started sketching during my school times. I used to draw something from the textbooks, comics or artbooks that were gifted to me. We did have an art class in our school, but in India (at least where I studied) it was more like a time to chill with your classmates or finish up your homework. I had a couple of classmates who were really great at sketching and painting, but there was a lack of motivation. Art in India is still seen more like a hobby than a carrier option. Although, in the past few years, people have started supporting artists and encouraging them to take it up as a full-time thing. Once secondary schooling was completed there was no official art(painting, sketching, etc.) class throughout my college years. Every time I took the pencil to start something new, there was a minute of doubt -where am I heading with this, is this going to turn out to be a waste of time. On the other hand, I couldn't live without painting. So, I used to start the piece and keep going. Some...

 This was like the commission that every artist dreams of; something that is challenging, makes you think, activates your brain cells. You know it from the moment you are assigned the project that its going to be unique, its going to be something so different (although the style may not be new), nothing like this is ever made and maybe won't even be made in the future.  It's the work that involves a lot of thinking, exchange of thoughts, ideas, visuals, references. You have an idea of what you and the client want, but it all comes to that stroke of paint that ends up on the canvas. A project of immense size, something you haven't take up before. It's all exciting and dreadful, will I be able to deliver. (dramatic pause) AND then, the day arrives when you have to begin, put down the first stroke of paint. The process then takes its course, with adding something, changing some bits and adding more paints, more changes, more paints, smudging, changing the composition, and ...