The whimsical world of cartoons has captured all of our hearts at some point in our lives. From a child to the elderly, cartoons catch our imagination and humour us. It is to this colourful world that Mangesh Khollam’s caricatures beckons us.

Based in Pune, Mangesh is an established cartoonist, illustrator and character designer. His love for art blossomed as a child and was carefully nourished by his family. “I was inspired by my father to take up cartooning; specifically by his 1972 artwork titled ‘Bhrashtachari Rakshas.’ I am especially grateful to my primary school teacher who identified my potential in fine arts and brought it to the attention of my parents

They in turn gifted me with a set of ‘How to Draw’ books, which greatly aided in my success as an artist. At the age of 12, I realised that I wanted to make a career out of cartoons,” shared Mangesh.

His art works come from a place of happiness and love. This is evident when one carefully observes the subjects of the artworks. “I draw inspiration from the fun and happiness around me

Hence, my artworks mostly revolve around happy incidents or childhood memories, thus emitting happiness, peace and joy through my work,” explains the artist.

It is necessary to develop keen observation skills in order to master this craft,” said Mangesh. To aid aspiring artists on their journey to perfecting this skill, the artist offers three key skills that one must hone with utmost care - Observation, Visualisation and Basics of sketching.

“For anyone who would like to learn caricature, you must first understand basic shapes, anatomy, expressions, gestures, depth and perspective. I strongly recommend that you observe and practice at least 30 sketches everyday to obtain a balanced caricature”.

Mangesh’s expertise in this field helped him gather a wide range of experience. However, every artist must have at least one work of art that means a little more than all the others.

“Last year, I worked on a caricature of the Late Balasaheb Thakare for a cartoon exhibition called ‘Amache Fatkare’ at Cartoons Katta; this is by far the most favourite piece that I’ve had the pleasure of working on. It was an honour to sketch the caricature of Mr. Thakare as he himself was a renowned cartoonist and inspirational figure in Indian politics, ”noted Mangesh.