Uncovering the many Facets of Illustrating!
Indian-born illustrator – now based out of Canada – Devika Oza shares her own vision, insight, and approach to illustrating as she goes into the finer aspects of the process.
With art running in the family, Devika Oza moved from Kolkata to Canada for her love of illustration. From tons of wedding cards to books, she’s illustrated extensively. More as she recounts her journey here:
CG. What’s your story? How were you as a kid and how did illustrating come into the picture?
Devika. My nana was a professional artist, so I think I was fortunate enough to have 10% of his talent trickle down to me. My mother made my brother and I take drawing classes from age 3 that I attended mostly every week till I moved to Canada. I wanted to be a doctor growing up but my mom always knew I’d do something with art. I was an extremely shy kid. I didn’t really talk to anyone apart from my elder brother but I’d draw a lot of books; scraps of paper and, to the dismay of my parents, the white walls of my home.
CG. What was your surrounding environment like and did it support your desire to illustrate?
Devika. My parents have always been super supportive of whatever my brother and I wanted to do. My dad always told us that money is not the primary goal, as long as you love what you’re doing. As an adult, I’m not sure how true that is but I definitely did end up doing what I love. I think my Dadaji was my biggest cheerleader, though. No matter how horrible my painting was, he would always use words like “Marvellous” and “Fantabulous” to describe them.
