MOST AWAITED...........

'Ulaga-nayagan' that's how I address him. It in fact means 'Global Leader'. He is indeed one of the few legends we have come across or possibly we would in the future. The best of the rest and icon of the cinema era. He is not just a person who can act or just portray a role.
He is the best known for his versatility. It can be noticed right from the handicapped Sappani in '16 vaidinile....' and the nayagar, a Don of his times in the all time hits Nayagan to the sturdy cop in Vettaiyadu Vilayadu and the yet to be released, most awaited Dashavatharam.
The most unforgettable, best, mind blowing, breath taking roles he carried out in his lifetime brings me pleasure and joy in making a sketch of his. This is my latest sketch as of today. I truly enjoyed every moment i spent on him on the ivory board.
The best thing about the photo of his is the grin look which enticed me to just go for it.The 'mush' itself delivers a rocking impression on the viewers.
The eyes says a lot. The well built body, a short well groomed hairstyle, a tightly held stare makes him unique from rest of his roles in the past.
As an artist I get the right zeal to make a portrait, if a slightest of uniqueness is noticed. In such case when I noticed such a huge amount of difference in this photo, I just latched on to the opportunity in terms of the leisure i had and fortunately made it happen. It was a great feel to make it happen. It was a long time strive to make a sketch of the legend.

May be because of the absence of the uniqueness or me failing to recognise the uniqueness, it possibly worked out only now, after a long long time.
A small 5 mins video was being captured when the legend was in the making (please ignore the audio in the background). Below is the link for the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2LbrgCzPx4

STRENGTH IS DEFINITELY THE LIFE!

Life is truly about enjoying every step.... It is immaterial whether the step is on a lakhs worth marble floor in a centralised AC hall of a 7 star hotel with ur rbk gear on or on a thorny way with a bare foot under a scrotching sun.

We always think that a tough situation or a happening which comes by, which we obviously don't wish to, is always bad. But in real sense its that particular instance where we have to face it with a great sense of maturity. In short we need Strength. Swami Vivekananda always preached the same, ' STRENGTH IS LIFE and weakness is death'.

Its real fun to sketch a personality whom I love, respect, truly admire and much more beyond all these.......

Its the same in this case, as i really enjoyed while i spent time on Swami. Its an even different feeling if the sketch is a bit unique. Like in this case, its just the face and a merged neck, which must always gives the viewer a feeling of viewing Swami as a whole. I always forget my past and wassup in the future, while am with a charcoal stick for such sketches. This is in fact my second sketch of Swami while the first was in early stages of the millennium in 2001. It was made of a clutch pencil with a 0.5mm lead. Its always challenging to achieve the originality with a pencil that too with a 0.5 lead. If my memory is good, that was my first portrait to be framed.
I was very much overwhelmed with the response i got for the sketch, until one person, Mr. Nagaraj Bevur, happened to see it. Actually i must have mentioned him in my first post itself.

Mr. Bevur is an employee of GTTC, B'lore. GTTC happens to be the place where i pursued my Diploma. He at first praised the skill. but later he started to pull out the loop holes in it. He was the first to make me realise that the merging of two patches was the most important and the necessity for a charcoal sketch. I am very thankful to him for his golden words and the palm tree he sketched to make me realise. Even though he spoke to me for few mins, it made a huge difference in my life and those words were for my lifetime.

The one most unforgettable coincidence while i was making this sketch is that my granny happened to pass away at my native at the same time. She had breathed her last when i was giving finishing touches and meanwhile my cousin was capturing the video of the sketching. Received the call when i was about to view the clip. It was on a Sunday, 4Feb2007, at around 2000Hrs. This is perhaps the most unforgettable sketch of my lifetime, one is for it being the personality i admire, and the other of which i need not mention.

The small clip of the same ( Kindly ignore the audio):



Striving to improve on my skills as the days are rolling by. My blog would be a bit boring to most of you. Its a bitter truth for me. Am really sorry for those who feel so.

FOREWORD

A charcoal may be black, but can give lively stares when carefully spread on a paper......!

About the Charcoal: The sketches are done by a charcoal made of willow wood on an ivory board. The beauty of sketch purely lies in the true character of the charcoal. The roughness in the bits delivers the timeless beauty. The originality in the sketch purely lies in the handling and manipulating the bits of charcoal.

The reality: In reality, to make a pencil or charcoal sketch look original, the trick lies in the theory of illusion. How to make the white sheet look even Brighter.....? Puzzled.....? Here's a simple way.
Darken the area which surrounds the patch which is to be seen brighter and see the difference. All my sketches are illusions in fact.


The Paper: These sketches are done on a hard and rough card board. Preferably the ivory board in fact. The roughness of the paper surface renders a lively look to the charcoal spread on it.


Paper pencil: The pencils made of the paper pulp are generally used to smoothen the charcoal shades. Helps in merging two shades on the same patch. This finishing tool of a sketcher gives awesome touches to the portraits. If used aptly, these may well be called as pencil of platinum for an artist.


Whats the diff between a caricature and a sketch of charcoal..? Its simple. Caricatures are just a bunch of curves to resemble a person or an object. It just gives a rough idea to an onlooker. Charcoal sketches are pure replica of the photo. Importance is given to every minute detail, right from the looks in the eye to a hair dropped on the shoulder for instance. Its a mixture of curves and shading in charcoal.


How did it all start: My craze towards paintings is from a very tender age of, may be 5 or 6. The truth behind all these is immense practise and nothing else. Never been for a class or camps. The backbone, morale booster and of course a tough critic is my 'MOM' believe . The thirst to make paintings was there inside i believe, and i always got an opportunity to breed it. I trulyhabits grow based on the atmosphere and surroundings. Likewise for my thirst to increase, there were two of my good old friends, Arun and Ravi H.K. They would expertize with the paint on canvas. Somehow wasn't so comfortable with the paint, but always forgot the world when i dealt with pencils in those days.
The craze grew. I started experimenting with charcoal. Was somehow good at shading, but not at generating a photo copy. The tips from Ravi, to grid the photograph which we look onto, helped in generating a mere replica of what i saw. Then it improved and now its possible to master it out with out a reference grid.
Charcoal helped to restore the originality in the photograph in a good
short period.
Hope this blog will be a time to cherish for most of you. Catch you in my next post.