In the summer of 2011 Itch You Can't Scratch was not yet finished and I was getting worried over what will be my future in cartooning.
Around that time I read Khushwant Singh's new book - Absolute Khushwant and I found it perfect for graphic adaptation.
It was divided into chapters like - On being an old man, on being a writer etc. etc.
I also realised that a comic on him was bound to make lot of money when Khsuwhant Singh dies, and given his age I expected that'd happen soon.
I started working on it.
By sitting extra hours after office, after finishing Itch you can't scratch pages, till 3-4 am everyday, I kept doing these -
At that time I was so much into him, that my girlfriend thought I really loved him and she gifted me this awesome Khushwant Singh painting for my birthday :
By the time I was done with the inked artwork for a single chapter I got an epileptic attack. and I dislocated my right shoulder. So I could not draw any more.
I got the artwork colored with the help of Neeraj Menon.
The finished page looked like this :
I send this pitch with this proposal letter to Penguin Books -
Too gaandchatu, I think thats why it got rejected.
and they shredded it.
I meet some people at Penguin later and they remembered seeing my pitch and were impressed with the idea but didn't like the way I finished the final product, i.e 5 printed pages cut with a rusted cutter, so the prints had improper edges.
They said that if I could manage a better, bigger pitch it might have a better chance. and it could be pitched again.
So, i could not get the time to finish this better pitch, it kept getting delayed until finally this year I sat down and finished it, with the help of Shikhant, my talented engineer turned artist cousin, who was working with me at that time and Rajkanwal Suri, a great illustrator who has been helping me from some time now.
We made two interesting covers -
And an interesting forecomic where Khushwant Singh dies, and then has to defeat God in a game of tennis to live on (I lifted this from a comic Afrodisiac), Khushwant Singh goes on to win, but in vain -
I adapted three chapters from the book :
On being an old man :
On Nehru :
Around that time I read Khushwant Singh's new book - Absolute Khushwant and I found it perfect for graphic adaptation.
It was divided into chapters like - On being an old man, on being a writer etc. etc.
I also realised that a comic on him was bound to make lot of money when Khsuwhant Singh dies, and given his age I expected that'd happen soon.
I started working on it.
By sitting extra hours after office, after finishing Itch you can't scratch pages, till 3-4 am everyday, I kept doing these -
At that time I was so much into him, that my girlfriend thought I really loved him and she gifted me this awesome Khushwant Singh painting for my birthday :
By the time I was done with the inked artwork for a single chapter I got an epileptic attack. and I dislocated my right shoulder. So I could not draw any more.
I got the artwork colored with the help of Neeraj Menon.
The finished page looked like this :
I send this pitch with this proposal letter to Penguin Books -
I meet some people at Penguin later and they remembered seeing my pitch and were impressed with the idea but didn't like the way I finished the final product, i.e 5 printed pages cut with a rusted cutter, so the prints had improper edges.
They said that if I could manage a better, bigger pitch it might have a better chance. and it could be pitched again.
So, i could not get the time to finish this better pitch, it kept getting delayed until finally this year I sat down and finished it, with the help of Shikhant, my talented engineer turned artist cousin, who was working with me at that time and Rajkanwal Suri, a great illustrator who has been helping me from some time now.
We made two interesting covers -
And an interesting forecomic where Khushwant Singh dies, and then has to defeat God in a game of tennis to live on (I lifted this from a comic Afrodisiac), Khushwant Singh goes on to win, but in vain -
I adapted three chapters from the book :
On being an old man :
On Nehru :
Post script :
The conclusion to the Forecomic :
Which I don't like as such,I hammered my brain to think of a better ending but nothing came to my mind.
And there was the miniature Khushwant Singh ad which Shikhant designed and Adhiraj wrote :
a credit page :
a better cover letter :
and the back cover :
I sent this to Pneguin books again, and also gave it to the people I knew - no response.
I went to the Khsuhwant Singh Litfest at Kasauli
and gave my pitch-comicbook to Khsuhwant Singh's Son Rahul Singh there, he seemed happy with it.
No response.
I finally found a contact in this new publishing company Aleph and gave it to them there. They seem interested in it- no response.
I am happy that I atleast finished it, nicely, I tried out a new style, more coloring in my work.
& it got me the biggest assignment of my life :
2 comments:
It's brilliant, loved going through the pages.
Thank you so much Ravi !
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