The Eisner Award, founded by American comic editor, Dave Olbrich are given out annually and this year Indian graphic designer Anand Radhakrishnan won an award in the Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art) category.

Anand Radhakrishnan, a 32-year-old from Mumbai was recently recognized by the Eisner Awards and the graphic designer describes it as ‘a great validation’. He worked together with UK based colourist John Pearson on a graphic novel ‘Blue in Green’ by UK- based author Ram V, which was released in October 2020.

The novel’s graphics touched upon themes like ‘existentialism’ and ‘sadness’ and are mixed-media images, created using pencil, ink and acrylic paint. These have been described as ‘hauntingly realistic’ portrayals of a young musician’s self-doubt and struggles in pursuit of creative success.

In addition, Radhakrishnan also believes that graphic novels have the potential to be as big in India as Manga is in Japan. He is currently working on another graphic novel with Ram V called ‘Radio Apocalypse’, the tale of a radio station and crew that have survived the apocalypse which is set to be released in October.