Hasta La Creative!

A little about yourself. Why are you an Illustrator?
I’d call myself a visual artist, illustrator, designer and director of animation. I’ve always liked to sketch, scribble, make flip-books out of maths textbook, collect magazine cutouts, create scrapbooks, make weird characters with collage, get my hands dirty with my fav green sketch-pen and basically create images, some that are still, some that move. I realize I’m doing the same things now, in a different context, on a different scale, and varied mediums. Yeah, and seafood, beer, music does help.

Did you attend school for fine art or design?
I did my BFA from Sir. J. J. Institute of Applied Art.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
There were always people i looked up to, different people at different times/phases in life. Having one role model all your life would be boring!

When did you start freelancing?
I started freelancing before art school happened, doing small illustrations for magazines, school / college annuals, publications, etc. This was about 10 years back!

Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
Nope, never, why would I want to quit something I love doing. There were rough patches when getting moneys out of clients was a task, but never did I think of quitting.

Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
Yes, theres lot of illustration design happening in Indian advertising. But unfortunately most of them are unoriginal. Refreshing work is very rare.
Mostly I create illustration designs for agencies in the areas of lifestyle, sports, fashion and music.  I’m very open to publishers as well. Would love to work on more books with interesting themes.

Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
Shri. Ravi Paranjpe has been very prolific and has a terrific range of work, and he has been working since the 70s-80s. I admire him for his persistence, skills and hard work.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on Illustration as a career option?
Illustration is an exciting career option if you really enjoy it and don’t mind the initial bit of struggle. Go for it!

Mac or PC?
mac, anyday.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
if i could, it would be the spanish beauty Penelope Cruz!

What’s on your iPod?
Cake: B-sides and rarities, Thom Yorke: Spitting feathers, Radiohead: Rainbow, Nitin Sawhney..

Sameer can be contacted via his website here

Sharad Haksar is an award winning photographer and founder/CEO of 1pointsize, “a unique ad agency” in Chennai. 

Why are you a photographer?
What else can I be? I’ve been hanging around with a camera since god-knows-when. I guess the joy of capturing a moment in its most glorious form, is what drew me to photography. As I am evolving, I realize my driving force is no longer the quest for a pretty picture. It’s the thrill of sharing what I see with my creative eye. That’s what keeps me going.

Do you remember any decisive moment when you felt ‘I want to be a photographer’?
I wanted to be an architect. I was in the process of applying to colleges. One day, I just shared my work with photographer Iqbal Mohamed. He just asked me to give up my college plans and join him. That was the most decisive moment.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My role models keep varying with time. In my formative years, it was the venerable names in photography – the likes of Ansell Adams and Raghu Rai. After 20 years of shooting, I’d say, I don’t have one role model now. I feel there’s a lot to learn from so many talented people in photography, advertising and design.

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(TrendHunter.com) As the Founder and Editor of Ads of the World, Ivan Raszl knows the importance of spotting trends. The Ads of the World archive and community features advertisements from around the world, and Ivan Raszl…

(TrendHunter.com) As a Co-founder of Boing Boing, Mark Frauenfelder knows the world of Internet blogging, and is definitely on the cutting edge. Beyond his work with Boing Boing, he is a columnist for MobilePC Magazine,…

After a long time in the making, The KDU is finally back online and bigger than ever. We now hold a collective website to showcase the very best of the KDU’s work in a well balanced, beautifully planned and direct way.

It’s been 5 long years put together in one place for you to see the highlights of what’s been going down in the KDU trenches. HOTTTTT STUFF!

We’ll also be having our own personal blogs soon so keep your eyes open for any new intel.

TRUST

Nishant Choksi : I’m a 33 year old illustrator working from Brighton, England. I’m married and have a daughter with a second one coming in July. I like comic books, UPA animation, Gram Parsons and coffee.

Why are you an Illustrator?

I wanted to be a comic book artist but could never get beyond the first panel. Illustration seemed like the best alternative.  My work is one panel from a longer narrative.

Did you attend school for fine art or design?

I studied fine art at Central St. Martins. I didn’t like the look of illustration and design courses as they were too structured. The fine art course was more about working things out on your own and self initiated.

You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?

I’ve been working for about 9 years and my style has developed a lot in this time. It was much more angular and cartoony in the earlier days. I still feel like I’m finding my voice. I have a way to go before I feel I’ve nailed what’s in my head.

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We chatted up with Kaushik Mitra, Senior Creative Director at Bates 141, on the recession and advertising creative…

As a Creative, what does recession mean to you?
I think the first thing it means to all of us is, ‘no raise’. It also means less spend on proactive initiatives which are done keeping an eye on the award festivals. But I’m hoping it will mean more time to mself.

Do you think the recession will force clients to think more innovative? (can you give examples?)
To be able to understand what clients might do in recessionary times, you have to first understand the recession itself.

Look, from whatever I have gathered from the media, this recession is serious. Much more serious than any of the slow downs we have experienced in our professional lives atleast.

In the west, it started off with too much credit being given to too many people. As a result many Americans have had to return their new flats, cars, and other expensive purchases. But this recession doesn’t just hurt the techie or the banker. It hurts the banks, many of whom have already gone in the red. It hurts the industry. Imagine, car makers trying to sell in conditions where car owners are actually returning their luxury cars or SUVs. It’s tough. Very, very tough, specially when you consider a huge number of families in India who are dependent on their children now settled in the US and UK.

Therefore, old people will suffer. They may still have enough to pay their essential medical bills, but they will not have money left over for a foreign holiday. Or a new car with driver to run errands for them.

I think the other set of people in India likely to be affected is the huge (some say, 300 million strong) middle-class. A lot of the young ones have made their bucks from the IT, tourism or the service sector revolution, which as industries are interconnected to the global economy. This set of new-age worker is unlikely to be buying premium cars and fancy HD televisions immediately. In fact, a few of them might even default on their home loans or car loans. Reports of farmer suicides are already getting overtaken by reports of techie suicides.

So in conditions like this, I see the car industry launching fewer cars, though there will be some desperate attempts to clear inventories. Tourism is already affected, and things may not improve. Definitely sectors like household electronics or anything else that’s remotely conspicuous will be affected first, as people generally try to postpone their high ticket purchases.

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By Gary Hustwit, the same man behind Helvetica: The Film, now comes Objectified, a documentary dedicated to our relationships with objects in everyday living, from the idea to the final product.

A must-see for any kind of designer at the very least.

The movie hasn’t been released yet. Any new information will of course be posted here.

Director extraordinaire Michel Gondry was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly and asked to point out his 25 all time favorite music videos.

Via: ReformRevolution.

Down at the Keystone Design Union headquarters everyone is always busy with the pile of work that keeps on coming in, however, good ol’ coleague David Harris (A.K.A. SON) has been taking the time to interview a few of our family’s featured members.

So far he’s gotten his chat on with Neil Duerden, Nelson Balaban and more recently Pawel Nolbert.

Pretty cool interviews to get to know and see what different members from around the globe are up to.

Stay sharp for interviews to come down at the KDU global news site.