3

short sketch for a lousy day :P

2 (Shubha)

1

Coffee!

Just finished my project!

Torchlight FanArt WIP

Sax

The Scarecrow's Nightmare

Fast Turtle

Fast!

For Illustration Friday

Dr.Smerg

For the Illustration Friday Site

Self Portrait

Writer at Work - WIP

Illo work

This is a sample of some of the illustrations I did recently during my internship with Tulika Publishers. I have to say, I've never in my life had more fun doing 'work'!

Dag

Infinity

Watering the flowers

Friendship

Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings. (thanks to: http://www.coolfunnyquotes.com)

A loveletter to video games

Video Games from MUSCLEBEAVER on Vimeo.

Its brilliant! but NSFW though! Please be careful!

Nikujin

A tough-ass game with a Ninja in the nude and loads of cartoonish violence? Count me in! One of the coolest games to come out of the indy gaming scene - these pics are my appreciation of it's greatness.

Grey Elephants in Denmark

... not to be mistaken for Brown Hippos in Rajasthan (sorry Chaitanya :D)

I had the pleasure of being associated with this excellent play, and now they've put up a website, a blog actually, and its got some paintings by me, photos by Venkat, and lots of other goodies. Go check it out!

Multiple Personality

Tatsuya Nakadai in Kill!/Kiru(1968)

Greatest samurai film EVER! :D

Edit: Also THE funniest! Watch it!

Its hard to scratch your nose...

... when you're a 50ft high dinosaur...

If Cricket was like Real Life

I am wanting a bit of food...

... if you can please spare it please.

He sat in the shadows pondering...

... why one of his hands was bigger than the other.

Old Man and the Tea

This was an assignment I did last semester... I'd like to say I had fun making it, but then that would imply academics is fun... So, uh, I won't say it.

Meh

Why The Happiness of the Katakuris is my new favourite movie

I'm in love with Keiko Matsuzaka. Or maybe I'm in love with her character, Terue. Despite the fact that she's a Grandmother(!) in this.

The subtleties in the acting - The whole family plays it straight while all the characters around them ham it up. A lot of critics have accused the whole cast of hammy acting, I don't think thats true. And oh, Keiko Matsuzaka blows everyone away.

Tetsuro Tamba's Grandpa Jinpei.

The way the songs have been picturised - the style has more in common with concert films than standard musicals. The actors are rarely performing for the camera. Instead, Miike films them from various angles so that the actors dont know which camera to perform for. So it ends up looking like the characters are performing for themselves, which, to tell you the truth blew my mind away.

The Ending. Best ending EVER. Miike captures the beauty of life in a single shot.

Kenichi Endo's tiny role near the end. Endo is a Miike regular who always seems to deliver the goods. He's my new favourite actor.

Songs that are catchy as hell. And unlike Bolly/Molly/Tolly/Kollywood films, they don't overstay their welcome. In fact some of them seem to end before they even start.

Its not Terue. I love Keiko Matsuzaka.

The stop motion sequence near the end - brilliant! Again, a lot of reviewers complained about it's use because Miike ran out of money for proper special effects, but I found the crude imagery to be very evocative and touching. In fact I liked all the stop motion sequences, even the one at the beginning that seems to have no connection whatsoever to the rest of the movie.

Heh heh

Today's Inspiration

Dunno if you guys follow the Today's Inspiration blog, but today's entry is a must see. Robert Osborn seems to have been a truly brilliant artist, in the lines of (forgive the pun) Ronald Searle. He seems to have been able to convey a lot through minimal lines, in fact even more so than the master (Searle) himself. And he seems to have been an ace in various styles. Check it out!

Piracy can't kill your music

Just ask Trent Reznor. I'm sure a lot of artists can learn from this example, and I'm not just talking about musicians.

Which Student are you?

By no means do I consider myself an art student. I would have loved to have "studied" art (do you actually STUDY something at college anyway? I always learnt more on the job, or at least thats how it feels) , but I spent 5 years trying to understand architecture instead. Cartoonist/Illustrator/ "Art Teacher" (now I'm going too far) Chuck Dillion has posted a collection of cartoons title 'Which Student are you?' very much reminiscent of stuff we used to see in MAD Magazine when it used to be funny.

Guess who?

Kambei

Z

Blogging Giant

Old Man

Productivity Tips:

It works... trust me.

Samurai Rebellion (1967)

A film that starts off with a simple premise, but builds gradually into a deafening crescendo of rebellion. While the name suggests an action flick with samurais chopping each other's limbs off, the film focuses on the sidelines on a samurai family, the Sasahara family with Toshiro Mifune at its head. Mifune is a samurai who can't boast of too many skills, apart from swordfighting, and is in charge of the armoury and inventory of his Lord, the daimyo of the Aisu clan.

The introduction briefs us about Mifune's skill with the sword, and also brings Nakadai's character into the forefront as an equally skilled swordsman. The director cleverly introduces Nakadai into the mix early as he is absent from most of the film, but his equal billing with Mifune is justified as he is closely involved with Mifune, and is pivotal to the emotional effect the film has on us.

The central focus however is the love story (in the traditional restricted Japanese sense) between a mistress of the Lord, Ichi and Mifune's son Yogoro. Ichi is forcefully thrust upon Yogoro once she falls out of favour with the Lord, but soon redeems herself to the family as a loving and caring wife/ daughter in law. The rebellion in the film comes into fore when the Lord makes a 'U' turn and demands her back, and the film uses this opportunity to explore or atleast expose the complexities that are tied up with loyalty - to your lord, to your wife and to your friend.

Afternoon siesta

This is me trying (in vain) to ape Pascal Campion

Ze General

Short one tonight

The Ron Clark Story

I'm glad its based on a true story because I would have felt like complete doofus for wasting 90 minutes of my time (not counting the ten minutes I spent writing this) watching such an improbably positive film.

It's not often that you find a cliche interesting, and The Ron Clark Story is one of those exceptions. Matthew Perry shines in this nth re-imagining of 'To Sir, with Love', only this time the film is based on a true story of a Ron Clark who, surprise, managed to turn a dysfunctional grade class into some of the most promising students, EVER!

Since I've already told you that I found the movie interesting, let me tell you why. Two words – Matthew Perry. Oh wait, two more – the kids. Director Randa Haines has to be appreciated for the performance she manages to get out of most of the kids in the film. I found myself constantly marvelling at how naturally they reacted to Perry – I wonder how they achieve that?

Matthew Perry is great as Ron Clark, he deserved the nominations for the Golden Globe and the SAC Guild award. Ten minutes into the film, Matthew Perry WAS Ron Clark (the character, I don't know anything about the person). You wont believe how refreshing I found him here after the mental assault that was Chandler Bing (Yuck!). I got a whole new level of respect for him after this.

Oh wait, there was a love interest in the film too... and seeing as I have to strain to remember anything about it, I'll just say it wasn't annoying. It didn't get in the way. So forget I mentioned it. Good Film, I enjoyed it.

Rating - 5 stars for Perry and 2 more for each kid in the class.

Oops!

Now be a good doggy...

... and give my eye back?