Hasta La Creative!

“I’m a little crazy and a little funny and a little musical and a little cartoony and a little anti-social and a little kid.”

???Why are you into Advertising?
I’m not into advertising. Who said I’m into it? Sue them.? I’m into music and drawing and sarcasm.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
Yes I did attend a commercial art college but it was totally useless.? The best artists are the ones for whom art comes from within.? Luckily my bad college in a way helped me from becoming stereotypical.

Tell us about your recent campaigns?
I recently worked on Rin Neel. Our tvc should still be on air.? Currently working on Smirnoff.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up???
My friend Surhud Pawar was my role model. I really started drawing after watching him. He is like an older brother to me. I am always grateful to him.

?Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
Stefan Sagmeister. I love his approach to work.

?Where do you get your inspiration from???
I get my inspiration from music. I draw according to the music I listen to.
You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style???
3 minutes precisely. True story.

?Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire???
Audrey Kawasaki, Dan Wolfe plus millions of others.

?Do you have any favorite fellow illustrators or resources relating to your fields???
deviantart.com has been helping me since ancient times.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent??
Not yet. I think young talent needs space and time more than nurturing to explore their potential.

Tell us something about the JWT environment.
JWT lets me do my thing.

Tell us about your biggest challenge as Creative Supervisor – Art, in JWT.
Travelling in the train to come to office. Once you start working everything just happens.

Tell us about your 1st brief as a creative in the field of advertising?.
Ahaaaaa… It was a joke. I was doing illustrations for an encyclopedia.

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite…
I really enjoyed working on a pitch for Zint while I was in Grey.

You recently won  AdFest 8 Young Lotus Workshop 2012 for the topic ‘Arrest Cyber Crime’ with Mayuresh Dubhashi. Can you please enlighten our readers what was it all about?
The Adfest 8 competition in Thailand won us a silver. The national leg of the campaign won us 1st place in India. It was all about creating awareness in the fast growing digital market in india.

Having worked in Grey, Mudra and now JWT, can you please tell us what qualities these Ad Agencies respectively  have appended to you as a professional and as an human?
It’s not the agency that makes the people. It’s the people that make the agency.

Tell us any one thing that you miss the most about Grey and Mudra?
The double bhurji and the mysore cheese sada dosa.

What do you think of the state of Print advertising right now. At least here in India, the released work is most often too sad???
Lets just say we are like this only. When we get the time and budget we do good stuff.

?Do you think brands who’s advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
It’s subjective.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Eat less. Have a lot of green tea and humility. Wiggle your toes.

What is your dream project?
Getting more sleep in life.

Who would you like to take out for dinner??
The love of my life ofcourse.

What’s on your iPod?
A price tag.? My Ipod is in the shop waiting for me to buy it.

??Mac or PC?
Both.