‘The Trouble with Trouble’ is a children’s book published by Pratham Books which I had the opportunity to illustrate in 2019. Written by Menaka Raman, it is the light-hearted, touching story about a child called Abhi and their misbehaving, prawn-stealing dog - Trouble. Pratham is among India’s largest NGO’s, and has made immense contributions in the fields of child welfare and education. The process of illustrating this book allowed to to reflect not only on my work as an illustrator, but also the larger impact I hope to make through my work.

I drew most of the references for the book from my own personal experiences. The main character, Trouble, for example, was inspired by a boxy-looking stray dog from my hometown affectionately known as ‘Chippy’. The author and I would often share images from the social media page ‘Today in Microfashion’, which inspired Abhi’s the childs' eccentric sartorial choices.

Process

The initial stages of illustrating the book required a great deal of research which I believed would add to the authenticity of the book. Since it was set in South India, I wanted to become as familiar with the plants, foods, and palettes of the region as possible before beginning. I would usually sketch out rough drawings, which I would the transfer on to my iPad and polish on the Procreate App. After a few rounds of feedback from the Pratham team, the characters and pages would be finalised on Adobe Indesign.

Overview

Illustrating this book has been among the most fulfilling, yet challenging projects of my career so far, not only because I’ve always wanted to illustrate a children’s book, but because I felt compelled during the course of illustrating it to do justice to the characters and the storyline. It was crucial to everyone who worked on this book to create a familiar visual space that could be relatable to children from not just diverse geographical settings but also different economic backgrounds. This allowed me to rethink how I perceive my environments, gather information and relay that information, especially for a younger audience. The objective was to create a bright, humorous visual space which does justice to its cultural context without resorting to tropes. Hopefully, with this, a few more children will be able to see themselves in the books they read.