Digital art has come a long way since the sixties. With how accessible reference material is these days, there really is nothing standing in the way of anybody trying their hand in being just a little more artistic. Still, there are those who are just a little better at it than you or me. Some stand as truly talented and pose as a certain milestone for others to reach. Today, we bring you a few of those individuals. Go through their work. You might just be inspired to create something on your own.
Amirkhan Pathan
Amirkhan Pathan’s curation of digital art is just a sheer pleasure to browse through. Part of the reason lies in the fact that Pathan draws inspiration for his artwork from popular culture. You are just bound to find something that you relate with. Perhaps, a caricature of a character from your beloved show catches your eye or, maybe, the incredible sketches of real life figures strike your fancy. It is important to note that Pathan art bounces between styles. One moment, you are staring at an amazing rendition of Amrish Puri and, in another moment, you are marvelling over a beautifully coloured portrait of a Hindu deity.
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar quietly slips in an artistic piece that is so reminiscent of artwork for a Lo-fi track. A lot of Shankar’s work comes off as heavily based on personal moods. There is the Alex Ross rendition of Superman and, then, there is a beautiful landscape with a lone boatman. I would not claim to know a lot about art but I would be willing to hazard a guess at the manner in which Shankar approaches art. There is a deep sense of immersion, on Shankar’s part, regardless of the style or subject he is engaging with. When he dives into landscapes, he does it with as much persistence, enveloping his entire style in that specific category, as he does with pop art.
Srideep
The most striking piece, personally speaking of course, that Sri has, hidden amongst the many gems, is the one where he uses Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ as a background to one of his favourite Bollywood movies, ‘Tamasha’. Go through his work. He has some truly wallpaper-worthy pieces of digital art. What’s interesting is the manner in which Sri uses colour to frame most of his pieces. There is an even more pronounced usage of colours in his most recent pieces. Yet, none of them come off as too loud. Sri’s hand is restrained, deliberate and, dare I say it, purely magical.
Aparna
One of my fondest memories of my childhood is tied to the packaging art for Amul Butter. You remember the artwork on the packaging, don’t you? Take that artwork and refine it ten fold and you get somewhere close to describing the artistic pieces that Aparna is putting out. There is a sense of cheery thought in each of the pieces that she has in her catalog. It is, perhaps, a reflection of her own self. From the girl waiting on the subway station to the woman draped in a sari, each piece stands, on its own, as a reminder that simple things can seemingly bring the most joy.
