Secret of Finding the Right Medium for Your Idea!

It's a no chicken or egg analogy.

The idea comes first. Period. The medium gives a vent to portray the context like in 'Skating Glory', an installation made for NID Bangalore's annual fest. For this artwork, illustrations using poster paints were made on corrugated sheets which were later cut into skateboard shape so as to give it a fun and raw college-like look.

At times, the medium participates in the idea as in the case of the glass etched illustration 'Evolve'. The creature that is depicted is embedded rather than staying in its free form, implying the translucency of the creature's existence.

Mix it up to sort it out.

Mixed media works best when it comes to abstraction of ideas. The traditional style of inking, when later coloured digitally, helps give the artwork a modern philosophical look. The idea in 'Escapism' is all about observing, guarding and the dilation of these when observed from a different perspective. And the digital aspect, like the hazy boundaries and the surreal surroundings, help dramatise the theme.

A mix is also noticeable in 'Droid in Process' that has an illustration against a digitally created futuristic background, giving it a unique appeal.

While working with mixed media, it's important to not let the medium disrupt your idea. The medium should enhance the thought. Like in 'Profanity', digital tones of light and dark are used to showcase the power of the illustrated dark lord.

Colour code the thoughts.

Though colour patterns vary from medium to medium, the basic fact remains that colours are selected keeping in mind the mood of the context. The saturated ones suggest vigour and powerful ideas as in 'Bloom'. The creature's bright green dress gives a vive of purity and harmonistic perspective of nature. Her bright red hair gives the feeling of passion and joyousness that nature has to offer.

On the other hand the dull colours talk about the subtleness or the illusive nature of the idea. 'The Grand Escape' stays in the grey zone to highlight the underlying theme. The artwork suggests the collision of thoughts in an abstract way which leads to the breakfree of a mind that then spreads into a different zone.

Symbolisms, metaphors and analogies are also mediums.

Abstraction involves disguising plane visions. The illustrated mechanical hand of Frankenstein in 'Bring Me to Life' depicts the conscious idea of destruction by our own. But the twist in observation here is that the posture of the hand is not threatening in any sense, rather it is playful. The ugly mechanical hand tries to explore the beauty of the butterfly in a way he isn't aware of, as he was never taught the love behind his creation. The underlying thought, is that the ugliness we are born with doesn't traverse if the love and care doesn't.

In 'Tangles of Insanity', the creature, its lustrous outgrowths and the dark background can be compared to the mind and mood of the artist who spreads the brushes rhythmically on to the canvas, creating a dilemma for itself and plunging into the dark corners of the mind in order to deviate from the general consciousness.

'Not Just Another Pill' uses the analogy of the effects of drugs. The random outburst of mixed feelings out of the node and the hand symbolises, it's about how you take the pill and adapt it in your life. Metaphorically, it's the feel good factor of a thought or an idea incepted in the human mind.