Admiral GaneshaHaving Ganesha incarnate as a friendly neighbourhood pirate, it only seemed appropriate to have him also suit up as a powerful Admiral of a vast naval fleet, ever-vigilant and ready for action.
I couldn’t think of an appropriat… — Admiral Ganesha
Having Ganesha incarnate as a friendly neighbourhood pirate, it only seemed appropriate to have him also suit up as a powerful Admiral of a vast naval fleet, ever-vigilant and ready for action.

I couldn’t think of an appropriate place for his rat, so I just made it an embossed motif on his belt.

Perhaps I’ll add a large sailing vessel in the background at another time?

Karthikeya

Often in my efforts to experiment with colors, I end up using too many, leading to quite a clutter. My wife kept telling me to keep the colors simple so that they would stand out better.

I made some minor updates to Karthikeya’s design, adding more shoulder armor on his left side, adding creases to his collar and adding more detail to his armor and dhoti. When it came to finishing up the piece, I decided to leave it start with no background. And to play up the contrast even further, I came up with a version in full greyscale.

Which version stands out better?

The Rooster BannerAfter various refinements to Karthikeya’s armor and weapons, I realized that there was one more thing that he carried into battles. He rallied his heavenly troops behind the banner of the Rooster. The story goes that Karthike… — The Rooster Banner
After various refinements to Karthikeya’s armor and weapons, I realized that there was one more thing that he carried into battles. He rallied his heavenly troops behind the banner of the Rooster. The story goes that Karthikeya defeated the evil demon Surapadman and used half of the demon’s life to create this banner (the other half becoming the peacock that carries him around). The rooster I suppose became a representation of battle because they are associated with rooster fighting sports as well as shown as enemies of snakes (which represent evil I guess?).

For the banner’s design, I kept it close to the orange/red color scheme of his spear. I considered inverting the color scheme but decided that a red banner on a gold staff looked better than a gold banner on a red staff. The Rooster itself is a simple jigsaw puzzle like design with colorful plumage and one foot raised, as if it’s ready to march into battle.

I also considered making the banner into a sort of weapon, but decided that there was already too much going on with with it and it might be a bit too distracting and dropped that idea.

Lastly, since Karthikeya is the General of the Heavenly Army, I decided to show his army in the background in the form of white chess pieces (based on my previous design of Ganesha and Karthikeya playing chess for the divine mango)

Karthikeya vs Tarakasura

After a series of drawings of Karthikeya, I decided to go back and revise one of my earliest drawings of him based on my updated design and see if I could improve on anything. I changed his pose to one of a javelin thrower (after all, I had revised his armor based on one) and added more detail to the circlet adorning his forehead (inspired by Lord Elrond from the Lord of the Rings perhaps).

Perhaps the greatest change I’ve seen in myself is that I’m no longer in a hurry to finish a piece. Instead, I see myself taking time to tinker around with details until I’m really satisfied.

One thing my wife did point out was that she still liked the original version for its simplicity and clear focus. As the revised version became bigger with more detail, it had started to lose focus and I had to figure out how to bring it back.

Originally, I placed the focus in the form of a halo around Karthikeya’s head, but quickly realized that there was no use of placing a focus there because it was a small area when compared to the rest of the image and nothing was really happening there. Quite possibly by chance, I had placed the focus on the point of attach in the original piece and realized that this was where the focus always belonged.

And so, I learned a valuable lesson with this. Sometimes, more detail does not always imply a better design. It’s about how effectively you tell a story with whatever you have, with every stroke or color chosen with some meaning and purpose.

So what do you think? Do you like the old version or the new?

Hanuman’s Big Meal!I was watching the movie ‘Bajrangbali’ where Hanuman is shown eating all the food in Seetha’s kitchen and asking for more. Having just finished showing Ganesha enjoying a typical Tamil style meal, I realize… — Hanuman’s Big Meal!
I was watching the movie ‘Bajrangbali’ where Hanuman is shown eating all the food in Seetha’s kitchen and asking for more. Having just finished showing Ganesha enjoying a typical Tamil style meal, I realized that I had stumbled onto something much bigger.
Hence, I decided to do a piece showing Hanuman enjoying various popular North Indian vegetarian cuisines. Of course, this is only a small island in the vast sea of the Indian Food.
The items on the plate in clockwise order from the 1 'o’ clock position - Bhel Poori, Banana, Naan, Vegetable Pulao and Methi Paratha.

The items in the first circle around the plate in clockwise order are - Salted Lassi (the pot to Hanuman’s left), Daal/Lentil Soup (blue bowl), Aloo Palak/Potato-Spinach (orange bowl), Gobi Masala/Cauliflower (purple bowl), Chole/Chickpeas (green bowl), Rajma/Kidney Beans (yellow bowl), Aloo Bhaji/Fried Potatoes (silver bowl), Aloo Bhindi Masala / Potato-Okra (teal bowl), Kadai Paneer (grey bowl)

The items in the outermost circle around the plate in clockwise order - Raita (violet bowl), Maa Laddoo (light red bowl), Jalebi (yellow bowl), Chocolate Barfi (brown bowl), Kheer (maroon bowl) and Carrot Halwa (purple bowl).

Well, do you feel hungry now? I sure do!

Ganesha is always portrayed as a jolly bringer of good wishes and gifts, so it was an interesting crossover to visualize him as Santa Claus v2.0 in a wintery landscape, carrying a huge sack of presents. And this time, I made his rat into his under-s… — Ganesha is always portrayed as a jolly bringer of good wishes and gifts, so it was an interesting crossover to visualize him as Santa Claus v2.0 in a wintery landscape, carrying a huge sack of presents. And this time, I made his rat into his under-staffed helper elf team instead of an under-staffed reindeer team.

Being the General of the Gods - Karthikeya rides a peacock into battle, well, according to the stories anyway. But a peacock is a tiny thing, how does one actually sit on it? But then it occurred to me that Ostrich racing actually exists and realize… — Being the General of the Gods - Karthikeya rides a peacock into battle, well, according to the stories anyway. But a peacock is a tiny thing, how does one actually sit on it? But then it occurred to me that Ostrich racing actually exists and realized that its possibly how Karthikeya rides his peacock. That plus his lance would have to be much larger to reach out past his vehicle and attack his enemies. And that odd combination of facts led to this drawing, retaining the same basic design as my earlier drawings of him.

I decided to experiment a little with my Hanuman design to see if I could get some more detail (like the fur on the face, an extension of the langur monkey look I had originally taken inspiration from) and enhance his physique (which is supposed to be as strong as Indra’s thunderbolt) while still being simple and consistent with my earlier designs.

I also decided to make his mace design more consistent and user friendly (with grips and such) and also make it heavy and massive but one that he could lift effortlessly.

Maybe he needs a bird sidekick now?

Karthikeya is the General of the Gods in Indian Mythology, leading their armies into battle against the forces of evil. Unlike Ganesha, who is easily recognisable no matter what you do with him, or Rama who can be identified by being blue and carryi… — Karthikeya is the General of the Gods in Indian Mythology, leading their armies into battle against the forces of evil.
Unlike Ganesha, who is easily recognisable no matter what you do with him, or Rama who can be identified by being blue and carrying a bow, or Krishna who is also blue with a peacock feather in his hair or Hanuman who is a monkey, Karthikeya needed quite a bit of thought to give him that unique and engaging look.

I decided to take the design from my previous piece ‘Karthikeya meets Avvaiyaar’ and upgrade his armour into a high collar and asymmetrical design inspired by what lance and javelin users might wear in the Olympics. The left shoulder is shielded since that side is likely to face the enemy for a right-handed spear user. The right side I left bare, allowing greater freedom of movement. The armour itself is in shades of maroon, which I have retained from the earliest colour palette I chose for Karthikeya, for the sake of consistency.

A specific design element I added was the six sided star in his armor. This symbol has been associated with Karthikeya, representing that he was born from six sparks into six bodies, nursed by six heavenly maidens and combined into one form with six heads and six pairs of arms.

One might notice the similarity between Karthikeya’s six-sided star symbol and the 'Star of David' (which is also similar to the 'Seal of Solomon’, the ring that gave the King Solomon the power to control demons). Coincidence or connection, who knows?

Lastly, I strongly considered drawing him with six heads and six pair of arms to keep him immediately recognizable. However, I wanted to show him as being nimble, agile and ready for battle and I felt that having six heads/ twelve hands would make him feel a little awkward, especially if he’d be waving around a sharp and powerful weapon. So I figured this would be the form he’d take before taking a stab at something.

Avvaiyaar is an old woman who has mastered the Tamil language through divine blessings and is quite proud of her mastery. One day, she’s wandering through forests/fields where she encounters a boy on a tree asking her if she’s hungry for some fresh Nagapazham (Acai Berries). After some witty wordplay with the boy, she realizes that there is still much more to accomplish and humbly asks the boy to disclose his true identity, whereupon he reveals himself as Karthikeya, the God of Warcraft and Speechcraft.

There are quite a few stories of Divine Intervention in Indian Mythological literature where the mortal in question is left awestruck by their encounter. I saw this scene in an old movie and found it quite amusing and decided to try recreating it.

The foreground has Karthikeya disguised as a goatherd on a Acai Berry tree with Avvaiyar standing below him blowing dust off the fallen berries.

The background has Karthikeya reveal his divine splendour to the old woman, mirroring his pose from the foreground. I did quite a few re-designs on his armour and his spear with a lot more detail from earlier versions of him. I also kept the character’s color scheme consistent between foreground/background to indicate that it’s the same guy.

In the movie the boy says he raises goats but there were none to be seen. I decided to remedy that by filling the pastures behind him with a pack of goats!

Having drawn Ganesha as a Viking, it seemed natural that I should extend the trend just a little further and draw him as my favourite childhood cartoon character, He-Man! He-Man was a timeless classic from the 80’s, with its titular hero alway… — Having drawn Ganesha as a Viking, it seemed natural that I should extend the trend just a little further and draw him as my favourite childhood cartoon character, He-Man!
He-Man was a timeless classic from the 80’s, with its titular hero always fighting to protect the good people of Eternia against evil forces. He-Man always had a good nature, willing to give anyone a second chance and believing that everyone had good in them that just needed to be felt and expressed. In addition, he’d end every episode with some words of wisdom to build the character of the impressionable young children watching the show. All of these were definitely characteristics worth looking up to.

This made me believe that it was quite appropriate to have a crossover/homage between Ganesha and He-Man, both living up to the name ‘Masters of the Universe’.

Here he stands before Castle Grayskull, magic sword held aloft, chanting “I have the power” as the lightning transforms him. And of course, his little rodent sidekick was a natural cringer about to be transformed into Battle-Rat :-)

Ekalavya was a self taught master of archery. As the story goes, he sees the Pandava and Kaurava princes practicing in Dronacharya’s ashram and requests the guru to teach him as well. Drona turns him down citing his lower caste. And so the boy… — Ekalavya was a self taught master of archery. As the story goes, he sees the Pandava and Kaurava princes practicing in Dronacharya’s ashram and requests the guru to teach him as well. Drona turns him down citing his lower caste. And so the boy makes an idol of Drona and practices before it (presumably watching the lessons of the other boys in secret as well) and masters the skill of archery. Drona discovers this when he finds a dog running around with its mouth full of arrows and asks for the boy’s right thumb as payment for the “lessons”. Without hesitation, Ekalavya offers his right thumb to his guru despite knowing that it will hurt his archery.
The important foreground pieces are Ekalavya ready to offer his thumb, Drona demanding for his payment, the statue of Drona that Ekalavya practices before and the poor dog that ends up with a mouthful of arrows because it barked too loudly and disturbed Ekalavya’s practice session. Also, I made Ekalavya’s color scheme mimic that of Drona as a way of representing a student wanting to copy his teacher in more ways than one.

The background in this piece is more symbolic, representing the simple life that Ekalavya comes from, surrounded by mountains, forests and his own little hut.

As christmas approaches, I started seeing a lot of drawings of Santa Claus as a Norse Viking warrior. Also, I was reminded of the story of Ganesha’s creation, when he fiercely guarded his mother with a battle-axe/mace in hand against any intru… — As christmas approaches, I started seeing a lot of drawings of Santa Claus as a Norse Viking warrior. Also, I was reminded of the story of Ganesha’s creation, when he fiercely guarded his mother with a battle-axe/mace in hand against any intruders, even his own father Shiva.
It was this fierce and battle-ready quality that set me thinking that in that moment, Ganesha had shown qualities equivalent to that of a Viking warrior, for whom the highest honor was death in combat which made they worthy of entering Valhalla. Also, the cold of Mount Kailash where Ganesha lives easily rivals that of the wintery arctic waters where the Vikings sailed.

Decked out in furs and leathers, with an enormous battle-axe swung across his shoulder, I wanted him to look imposing and menacing, while retaining his poise and grace. If you can’t see his smile, it’s possibly because his face is covered by that braided ginger beard :-)

And to finish the piece, I took inspiration from some celtic knot designs of rats and put one on his axe. (Yes yes, no connection between the Celts and the Nords, but it’s just cool)

I did think, should I add a fur cloak or a Viking boat behind? Perhaps next time.

In an ideal crossover of jolly old men, I figured one of the best would be a combination of Ganesha and Santa Claus. They have a lot of similar qualities in terms of bringing happiness and prosperity to the world. So here’s my take on the Gane… — In an ideal crossover of jolly old men, I figured one of the best would be a combination of Ganesha and Santa Claus. They have a lot of similar qualities in terms of bringing happiness and prosperity to the world.
So here’s my take on the Ganesha Claus delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls around the world, with his pet rat standing in for the reindeer pulling the sleigh across a snowy winter landscape.

Ganesha and Karthikeya are one of the few sets of brothers in Indian mythology who fight but also get along pretty well unlike most others who are usually either violent with each other (Ravana and his brothers, Vali and Sugreeva etc) or are extreme… — Ganesha and Karthikeya are one of the few sets of brothers in Indian mythology who fight but also get along pretty well unlike most others who are usually either violent with each other (Ravana and his brothers, Vali and Sugreeva etc) or are extremely nice to each other (Pandavas, Rama and his brothers etc).
I was reading an Asterix comic and out of the blue a thought struck me of how Obelix was a lot like Ganesha in his mirth and jollyness and Karthikeya was like Asterix in his shrewd, no-nonsense attitude. Ganesha’s rat of course suitably replaces Dogmatix.

There’s a description of what Asterix and Obelix thought of themselves from ‘Asterix and the Great Crossing’:

“We are brave, we have only one fear: that the sky may fall on our heads.
We like a bit of joke. We like our food and drink.
Sometimes we lose our tempers. We are a rowdy lot and we like a punch-up.
But we love our friends. In short, we are Gauls!”

Now Ganesha and Karthikeya are no strangers to fighting amongst themselves (the whole mango incident, anyone?), but like any family, they eventually patched things up and became pals again.

And that led to this drawing :-)

One of the very first drawings I did related to Indian mythology was one of the Pandavas with Krishna from the Mahabharat (second drawing above). After nearly a year, I went back to the piece and started thinking about how I could improve it and struck upon the idea of drawing each Pandava brother along with their respective divine parent and in some way showing a story from the Mahabharat or just showing the personality of the brother (the first drawing above).

So to the center is Yudhistira being questioned by his father Yamadharmaraja, the God of Death, on the nature of the universe. The spirits of his four brothers are trapped in the flames and can only be released by successfully answering all of the questions.

To its immediate left is Bhima eating all the food meant for Bakasura after having killed the demon, overseen by his father Vayu, the Wind God.

To the right of the center is Arjuna, trying to shoot the eye of a fish by gazing upon its reflection in a pool of water in order to win the hand of Draupadi in marriage, overseen by his father Indra, the Rain God.

To the far left is Nakula, master of horses, overseen by one of the Ashvini twins, God of medicine and herbs.

To the far right is Sahadeva, master of cows, overseen by the other Ashvini twin, God of medicine and herbs.

So the other day my mom tells me that she saw a painting of the Musical Trinity. I immediately envisioned Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva playing musical instruments. Then she clarified that she was referring to the ‘Musical’ trinity of Karnatic Mus… — So the other day my mom tells me that she saw a painting of the Musical Trinity. I immediately envisioned Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva playing musical instruments. Then she clarified that she was referring to the ‘Musical’ trinity of Karnatic Music - Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshidhar and Shyama Sastri.
But the idea of a Musical 'Trinity’ had already started playing in my head. So here’s my representation of Brahma playing the Veena, Vishnu on the flute and Shiva with the Mridangam, creating a musical harmony for the creation, preservation and dissolution of the world.

*In some ways, I suppose it parallels the 'Music of the Ainur’ from the Silmarillion.*

Drawing Ganesha as Iron Man set off the spark for this drawing, also showing a playful take on Thor as played by Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel movies. My focus here was to retain his dynamic energy as well as show the power of the hammer, while reta… — Drawing Ganesha as Iron Man set off the spark for this drawing, also showing a playful take on Thor as played by Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel movies.
My focus here was to retain his dynamic energy as well as show the power of the hammer, while retaining the fun-filled nature of the character.

Life of Hanuman

One of my earliest drawings from Indian Mythology was of the life story of Hanuman. Looking back, I’ve always felt that the first one was very crudely done and could be done better. (New version above, old version below)

And so I went back to the original, picked out the parts that I liked, added some new events, re-drew some ones which I thought I could improve and then put them all together in one big circle of his life. Can you identify all of them?

1) Hanuman as a child reaching for the sun as his mother Anjani and father Vayu look on
2) Learning the mysteries of the universe from the sun
3) Meeting the exiled prince Rama
4) Growing to a giant size in order to cross the ocean
5) Overcoming the snake demon ‘Surasa’, the shadow demon 'Simhika’ and the captivating mountain 'Mainaka’
6) Meeting Sita in the Ashokavana in Lanka
7) Burning down Lanka’s capital city
8) Building a bridge of floating rocks
9) Defeating a cursed crocodile while on his way to…
10) Retrieve the mountain where the Sanjeevani medicinal herbs grew
11) Carrying Rama and Lakshmana on his back to give them a vantage point during the battle of Lanka
12) Witnessing the coronation of Rama and Sita
13) Showing that Rama and Sita forever reside in his heart

Celebrating Diwali!When I was thinking about the festival of Diwali, I was reminded that it was to commemorate and celebrate the event of Rama killing Ravana. Along with the bursting of firecrackers, I’ve seen celebrations in North India wher… — Celebrating Diwali!
When I was thinking about the festival of Diwali, I was reminded that it was to commemorate and celebrate the event of Rama killing Ravana. Along with the bursting of firecrackers, I’ve seen celebrations in North India where they burn effigies of Ravana filled with firecrackers resulting in dazzling displays of light and color.

This created an image in my head of Ravana actually bursting like a firecracker when Rama killed him, literally becoming a symbol for the festival of light. The second departure I had was from traditional depictions of Ravana with 10 heads. I thought to myself, attaching 10 separate heads to a neck would be anatomically impossible! But if he had heads in all directions, then they would fit neatly on one neck. Also, you could only see a few at a time, so all you needed to do was to convey the illusion that there were more heads around the corner. And this is what I came up with :-)