Learning a song

Love to sing? Love to listen to music? Love to figure out songs on the guitar? Cant tune your guitar yet? Tried but didn’t quite get the tuning right? Love Bob Dylan? Fighting a deep sense of lull by singing? Like to do things away from the computer? Want to go for a run? Can’t find time this week? Did you find time last week? Do you want to find time? Are you saving any money? I hope you are not spending it all. Are you? Want to bake a cake? Or shall we roast some pork? Do you want to go to the mountains for the weekend? Wont it be too short? Cant you take some days off? Of you just had a holiday? How long?

Music breaks time into segments, memories. Went to listen to Lou Majaw on sunday. A tribute to Dylan. Very nice to hear some quiet some rough songs in a small gathering. He even asked me to join him for   some songs on the mike! What gates of  wonder music opens. The best thing to do in your free time. Or for a living. Or for pure joy.

Spotted at Comic con

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Robert Crumb wraps up Comic Con India

Something has got to shift in the general mental make up after seeing Robert Crumb’s work. From the line quality to the larger umbrella under which his work sits – mindnumbing stuff. Crumb said that the world needs more satire and less original artworks talking about comics in museums. He was impressed by World Comics India, and felt that there was a great scope for amateur comics. Issues can be brought up easily in the comic format, in comparision with other modes of conversation which fall short discussing taboos.Gary Groth introduces Crumb as a miserable hillarious existential slob.
Crumb says he enjoys lettering and layouts especially in covers.Crumb’s illustration mocking his relationship with women.

On being asked whether he was planning any work on whats going on financially in his country, Crumb said that heavy shit goes on. He is gathering evidence. He has many conspiracy theories. He has been avoiding doing political analysis doing more personal autobiographical stuff for the past few years. But he is gathering evidence. He looked at my sketchbook and even made a little advice sketch! What an inspiring weekend.

And may I add that Gary Groth was a superb host, I enjoyed their conversation immensely.

Style exploration

Todays trial and error has resulted in this. Vectors can be fun. I’m learning how.

Gary Groth at Comic Con India

Day two at Comic Con India. Gary Groth, editor in chief of The Comics Journal and co-founder of Fantagraphics books spoke at length today about his journey through comics and publishing.I loved being flooded with names and given an inkling of what all has been happening in the American comics scene. A brief mention of work worth living for versus shit that doesn’t matter was interesting. Lifetimes worth of social comment, satire  and humour today revealed exposure & inspiration. A precious saturday afternoon.

Robert Crumb looks on as Gary Groth talks about his work.

Mr and Mrs Crumb at Comic Con India

All the biggies are here. The lights are set. The table is laid. Settle those creases on your suits gentlemen, ladies avoid heels. Comic Con India kicked off yesterday with their 2012 Awards at India International Centre. Was interesting to see the makings of a strong high impact powerhouse. Presentation format, the hostess etc reflected something from a school annual day auditorium. You could feel the newness of the concept in India. As Aline K Crumb mentioned, she just came from an event in France where she was surrounded by twenty five thousand people to IIC here, modest but touching. RK Lakshman was presented the lifetime achievement award.

The Crumbs were especially amused by a notorious print of Need More Love, a graphic memoir that my colleague Shone bought the same day from Lajpat Nagar in order to own a signed copy. Apparently, and Shone did not notice, the size of the book along with the length of the stories has been cut. They have never seen that copy. They did not know it existed. Is it home made? We will find out.

The person you are looking at is Rakesh from Blaft Publications. What a surprise to see that hairdo at India International Centre. Fifty points to Blaft. Seated next to him is Yukichi Yamamatsu  from Japan who’s launching his book Stupid Guy Goes to India. He doesn’t speak English but will answer questions in Hindi if put across delicately.

And man to look out for, Author and illustrator of Satya Police who won the category for Best Unpublished Work and a grant and a publishing deal. Wow. And he’s got a good sense of humour  because he was the only one to point out that the music played before the announcements could have been responsible for him having a heart attack!

More from Comic Con India on this weekend. I’d like to thank my genius Art Director for sending me out of office. What a treat.

Portrait of a friend

My age old housemate and friend Aashim Raj is the first of a series. I like to sketch people. I like to sketch them doing boring ordinary things. I’m trying to think of one line per person. What they are to me. Whats their signal quality or strongest character trait. So here we go. 

A flying bus

How much I’d love to take a look at this up close. Sudarshan Shetty has delightfully mad work. Love it. Next time in Bombay. Yummy pictures by MS Gopal, with a bit of information about the bus and more yummy pictures here. Wonder what all this bus could do if it were pushed to be “interactive” . Interactive is the new word for magic.Maybe?

Enter the Sketchbooks

I love seeing other people”s sketchbooks. And its even better when they write about their process and mediums used. Rishabh, my colleague at Tehelka brought this wonderful book he picked up from Italy. Here’s some things for you to look at.