Always wanted to sketch but didn't know how? All you need is to go on Instagram and find @abhimanyughimiray. Abhim
Why did he think of making this illustrated guide? "I received a lot of messages from youngsters and amateurs on Instagram who wanted to learn drawing but were struggling with their approach. It reminded me of my own struggles 10 years ago, when I had just started sketching, and I wanted to share my experiences to help them improve," he says.
He has taken household objects like a measuring tape, mosquito repellent, broken them down into basic shapes, essentially simplifying artistic basics. His hand-drawn posts have garnered quite a following and have been shared multiple times. "I wrote and drew the instructions by hand to make it simpler, precise and devoid of any jargon," he explains.The fact that it has a good dose of funky humour helps! While he started sketching at the age of five, the 36-year-old honed his skills after attending the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad. "I learned a lot from my seniors, batchmates and YouTube videos," he recalls.
His weekly posts feature basic issues that an amateur artist or someone learning to sketch for the first time may face. This week he is teaching people how to draw confident strokes and there are 25 other such issues that he wants to cover. "This is a great time for those that are creative to spend more time with themselves, in their own zone and understand their art. People can practice and hone their skills as there is nothing much to do and nowhere to go," he says. "Instead of getting bogged down by the lockdown, people can choose to learn something," he adds.
Born and brought up in Delhi, Abhimanyu is also a TEDx speaker. His artistic journey took him to Mumbai, where he even had worked with filmmaker Anubhav Sinha as a storyboard artist, and China before he finally landed in Bengaluru. Abhimanyu is also the founder of Aambo Studio, which specialises in murals, illustrations and animation. "We paint murals for corporates and have collaborated with brands like Coca-Cola, Facebook, Microsoft and so on. Very recently we did 12 murals for Uber," he says.
These Instagram posts aren't his first brush with teaching though. After graduating from NID in 2011, he went back to the Bengaluru counterpart of his alma mater as a lecturer in 2014. He also conducted drawing workshops for several college students in Bengaluru, including those at Reva University and St Joseph's College. "Indian youth have very limited exposure to art compared to youth abroad. Seldom does anyone follow their passion and pursue art. I would like to see more youngsters sitting with their sketchbooks and trying to capture the essence of our country and its culture," he says.
Here are the rest of the images from the post
