Illustrator Kanika Gupta is known to make things that are not only unique but alsovaluable. It was by fluke that this lass, who was born and brought in Mumbai, but based in the city, entered the art field. She was a part of a TEDx event in the city sharing a colouring zone experience. Showcasing her illustrations, the young talent conducted a master class on doodling. This city-based illustrator is quite famous for her creative walls, murals, customised blinds, carpets and wallpapers, wedding cards, tags etc. The winner of the Home Review Design Quest, before the event, said, “At the TEDx, I will be creating a colouring experience along with a master class on doodles.”
The audience can reconnect with the artist and learn the art of doodling. Kanika’s inspiration to enter the art field started at home. “The thought of becoming an artist started in childhood. My father travelled a lot; he would get a lot of stationary which was really pretty. The stationery made me itch to use and create something unique. My mother too was an artist, who did quite a lot of work.” says Kanika, who is an alumni of JJ School of Art and the founder of Iktaara. There is a saying that inspiration to do things comes from anywhere, and in Kanika’s case, it comes from nature. She explains, “I get ideas by just looking out of a car window or taking a long walk.” Life always has a strange way of working itself out, and one can’t do anything about. A chance enrolment into an art school made Kanika the person she is today.
She elaborates, “As a child, I was into making toys and growing up, I wanted to be a toymaker. The plan was to do engineering and since colleges took four months to start, I got enrolled in an art school and things just fell into place.” Kanika still makes toys but in a different way. Her illustrations have a lot of pen work in black and white. “If I want to play around with colours, they are mostly mystical, “The process that I follow depends on the type of work I’m doing. For me everything starts with an idea, a sketch and then it comes onto paper. Ideas comes fast or really slow.”
“The people in the city are becoming more aware, but some are still okay with imitations. Creativity, I feel is on a rise as a lot of artists are emerging,” feels Kanika who loves the works of Oliver Jeffers and would love to collaborate with Manish Arora. Since competition is strong, her word of advise to budding artists is, “It’s important to keep the practise going. One must not get de-motivated and should take up any small opportunity that comes their way. One should never leave their style behind or get carried away by commercialism.” During her free time, Kanika loves to doodle on her Ipad Pro, loves music and travelling. In the future, the doodle queen wants to bring out more picture books, art on walls, restaurants and more interactive work.
