shyamala's world

You can see Samidha Gunjal's latest artwork in Suddenly Cow, a picture book written by Sowmya Rajendran and published by Ms Moochie books. Read ahead to find out more about Samidha's creative journey with the book.  I first met Karthika Gopalakrishnan( Project Manager, Multistory Learning Private Limited)during Shantiniketan residency workshop two years ago. We co created a story book (unpublished 2015) since then I wanted to work with her until one day I got a call from Karthika! It was around the same time last year and Karthika asked me if I would be interested in illustrating a book for MsMoochie books. She told me that title was ‘Suddenly cow’. It was an immediate YES as there has to be a cow in the story. I really enjoy drawing animal for children stories. S uddenly Cow is a story about Anu, who hates Upma, and this cow who keeps appearing suddenly from nowhere! It’s a simple but beautiful story written by Sowmya Rajendran for her cute daughter, Adhira,who lo...

Habib Ali is the illustrator of the award winning picture book, Neel on Wheels .   Written by  Lavanya Karthik and published by Duckbill , this book  was a winner in the Children First competition organised by Parag Trust and Duckbill. A riot of imagination, this rhyming book is a visual delight.   Habib Ali tells us more about his recent releases. How did this book come about? My alma mater, Riyaaz Academy, had set up a stall at the World Book Fair in 2017. My illustrator friends and I  had exhibited our artworks. I met Ms Sayoni Basu(editor of Duckbill books). She liked my artwork. A few weeks later, I received an email from Duckbill inviting me to work on a book. How difficult was it to create  images for this book?In every spread,the wheelchair arrives in a new avatar. Did the manuscript come with illustration notes? It was indeed challenging to create layouts for the book. Several of my final artworks had be abandoned. It...