Delighted to announce that recently I have illustrated a series of ten children's books titled under the name, "The Mahabharata: Children's Illustrated Classics".
"The Mahabharata: Children's Illustrated Classics" is published by Rupa Publications I Written by Charu Agarwal Dhandia I Illustrations by Kavita Singh Kale I Book design and Product packaging design by Rachita Rakyan.
Art illustration style/inspiration/motivation behind doing this project :-
Mahabharata epic is about a Kurukshetra battle for the throne of Hastinapura. The story has many dark and gore narratives that are extremely challenging to present visually in a picture book format for children, so I decided to refer to Indian miniature paintings, in particular Pahari paintings. The use of symbols and poetic metaphors in these miniature paintings is beautiful.
My Mahabharata illustration project is an aesthetic inquiry into the Pahari paintings, a style of miniature painting that developed in the Himalayan kingdoms during the period of 17th to 19th century. The aim of the project is to expand my own artistic practice by responding to ancient Indian miniature painting aesthetics.
With a desire to sensitize children with Indian miniature painting aesthetics as well as illustrate a complex narratives in a easy format, I transformed the treatment to look simple and contemporary from children’s point of view. Indian miniature paintings also helped in my visual research of landscapes and costumes.
