The disarming, childlike smile is what catches your eye first and then the quirky and vibrant illustrations on notebooks, cards, coasters, calendars and posters that jostle each other for space. Sitting at the counter of Kochi’s first open air flea market is Madhuvanthi Mohan who is living a life most youngsters can only dream of. She is an illustrator who runs her own company Something Sketchy; she retails at 15 stores across nine cities in India as well as four stores in New York City. In addition to that, she also runs a not-for-profit Illustrators group ‘The Sketchup’ which hosts intimate gatherings with established speakers across the country. And that’s not all — she loves to travel and has painted murals at some far-flung locations in the country as well as abroad.
Though Madhuvanthi does not give herself undue credit for her achievements, there is no doubt that her unmistakable talent has made her scale heights that someone her age would not easily reach. She says, “When I started, I was not thinking ahead too much; I just did what I felt was right and what I enjoyed doing. Illustrating was and will always be a passion and I am in a space where I work on what I enjoy and love doing.”
Beginning as a copywriter in an advertising firm in Mumbai, this Bengaluru-based youngster found her bearings when she started sketching for an internal campaign in her ad firm. Later, Madhuvanthi’s doodle born out of boredom caught the eye of her boss, who had a music band and he had her illustrating for his music gig. She mentions, “To give credits to my work, my Facebook page Something Sketchy happened and subsequently, I participated in a flea market at Bengaluru that had my products flying off the shelves. I also got some orders and my brand evolved!”
Each of her illustrations has a story behind it. She points at a book cover and shows a cleverly drawn fox that is almost hidden from sight, save for the nose. She adds, “What I wanted to convey was that things are not what they seem like.” She points to a cute cat and says it is her own pet that inspired her to illustrate this. Her inspirations come from many sources as she states, “It can be from the places I have been to, the books I have read, the people I have met or the music that is constantly playing in my earphones.”
Madhuvanthi has the soul of a nomad and she loves to travel but she makes sure to include her passion in her travels. She talks about one particular experience — the Roadtrip Experience project that had musicians, filmmakers and artists gong on a curated road trip for two weeks collaborating with locals. They covered most of the North East and after the road trip ended, Madhuvanthi chose to stay back in Kohima for two months. She reveals, “The owner of the lodge where I stayed mentioned that guests were finding it difficult to locate the place and so I painted a 70/10 feet mural of a giant fish which acted as a landmark. This mural work was done in exchange for my accommodation.” She also spent four months in New York doing summer courses at the School of Visual Arts. She displayed her works at some flea markets there and one of her illustrations on a notebook found its way to the Humans of New York site. She recalls, “While in Berlin, where I got just 14 hours (from 10 pm - till noon), I managed to paint a small mural in abstract typography with Berlin in Hindi and Bombay in English.”
The Illustrators group Sketchup is something very close to her heart because she started it for a reason. “When I quit working, I missed being around other artists and illustrators. Sketchup is a group of similar-minded illustrators and artists who can bond, inspire, support, collaborate and connect with each other. Basically, it is a platform by artists for artists. We have established speakers and have sessions all over the country including the Northeast. I get some interesting speakers like a tattoo artist who spent some time with a tribe of headhunters.
The tribe gets a distinct tattoo or marking every time they severe an enemy’s head. Our speaker shares his experience with the participants.” Madhuvanthi is managing her entire entrepreneurship single-handedly save for an intern whom she enlisted shortly. Her biggest strength is her scientist parents who support her career choice.
