 "Charbak Dipta with his art")
At the Delhi Comic Con 2015, a tall bespectacled young artist stands in his allotted stall with an array of his paintings on display. Meet Charbak Dipta. It is early in the first day of Comic Con, the sun is up, the crowd is getting larger by the minute, and Dipta, like most others in this year’s Artist Alley, is excited about showcasing his art and catching the attention of a publisher or two. Later, when we would meet Dipta again in the second half of the second day, a response from the ‘big guys’ would still be pending.
The Artist Alley at Comic Con is indeed an interesting place. The sheer range of art styles, narrative techniques and stories on display, is bamboozling, to say the least. There are psychedelic aliens, zombies, farmers of Rajasthan, superheroes and gods (of course), Naxals, cat and dog lovers, a very angry Maushi, strangely twisted personalities and assassins. Each unique style of storytelling captures the mood of the story being told. There is social satire, noire, post-apocalyptic fiction, journalism through comics and many more. What ties the myriad colours of the Artist Alley, however, is the hope of recognition. Most artists here are hopeful of receiving commissions from publishers, ad-men, or even PR firms.
“I have been to Comic Cons in Mumbai and Bengaluru, and the response there was amazing. I have earlier received commissions from Times of India, The Statesman and Tinkle, among others. I have heard Delhi is where all the publishers are, so I am very hopeful of getting a few more projects,” Dipta tells us on the first day.
A few stalls away, sits Marcus Santiago, a graduate of the renowned Joe Kubert School of graphic and comic art. Santiago’s blazing red Mohawk is easy to spot in the crowd. A look at his art and the few sample panels of his Graphic stories, would easily convince one that they would similarly stand out. “I have left my full time job, to pursue my hobby as my career. I have been drawing from an early age, and this is what I do best. I am not that good with words though, and the purpose behind coming to Comic Con is as much to hunt for a writer as much it is a search for publishers,” Marcus says.
Why did Marcus leave his job to pursue a career in graphic novel, especially in India, where the graphic-novel/comic book scenes still seem to be standing on spindly legs? Dalbir Singh, the man behind SikhPark, is here as well, and he asks a potent question in return. “Why shouldn’t our art be our bread and butter? I am a film-maker, and I have worked for PR firms, made ad films for companies like Nissan. As an ad-film maker, I would have gone out and looked up the new exciting art on display here – figure out how best I could incorporate these artists for writing the story-board, doing promotional arts etc. An Artist should be able earn from what he does best – his art – and not pursue it as a mere side business”
How has the response been? “I am very disappointed. Publishers must come and walk around, see what is going on at the Artists Alley . I don’t see them doing so.”
Marcus isn’t the only one who has left his job. There is also Neha Rawat Battish, who has set up stall around her self-published comic book Tintin’s Tail, a narrative in pictures about the antics of her pet dog Tintin. The Book is priced at Rs 150. Neha pursued engineering from BITS Pilani, and had been working as a Software Engineer for almost 5 years, before she turned to her art-work full time. She is also selling fridge magnets, posters, coasters and other merchandises featuring her art work. “I do work on commission basis too. I make birthday presents, greeting cards and even wedding gifts. However I thought it was best to self-publish, because it frees you to do your stuff your way.” Neha, incidentally, has had visits from publishers, interested in commissioning her work.
In fact, self-publishing is gaining popularity among young artists, if Abhijeet Kinni is to be believed. Abhijit, creator of Angry Maushi, is a veteran at Comic conventions. He has been to Hong Kong, Singapore, and the other Comic Cons in India as well. “If big publishing houses believe that artists are dependent on them for getting their work published, they are quite wrong. I know many artists, who have gone on to self-publish their works. It keeps the prices down. The sale too is not bad at all,” he says.
“Artists too should not wait for publishers to come knocking on their doors. The initiative should be their own.”
Kinni’s thoughts about artists taking the initiative, are also echoed by Karan Vir Arora, CEO of Vimanika comics. The artists cannot simply sit with their art, he says. Their art may be good, but they would also have to market themselves, according to Arora. Making a comic book work includes both the art and the publicising part of it.
“We have launches to look at besides the massive throng of fans and customers. You cannot expect a publisher to walk around. In major comic cons in USA like the one in San Diego, artists walk around with their art, show casing them to the big comic-book houses. I don’t see anything like that here,” says the Vimanika chief, who has been in every Comic Con India event, since its inception.
Artists too haven’t been idle. Artists like Varnodhar and Raviraj Naik are not only selling their earlier art works, but are also creating spot-caricatures and exaggeration art. Dipta too is selling his art work as posters, each worth Rs 100. “The fan response is amazing. People are buying these in dozens,” he says after two days of the event, adding however, that his main goal of getting a few new projects, is yet to come true. Dipta also points out the fact however, that he does not expect all publishers present at the convention to take an interest in his art. “Publishers like Holy Cow or Vimanika, would not take much interest in my works. They specialise in superheroes and gods, I am more into caricatures and cartoons.”
Ari Jayaprakash puts light on another aspect of this problem. “While I am hoping that publishers will notice my work, I am also a bit sceptical about it,” he says. Ari’s work the Kuru Chronicles is a post-apocalyptic graphic novel, which tells the story of a future Kolkata affected by a deadly virus called Kuru. It heavily indulges in violence, gore, zombie art and even nudity. “My work is for mature readers. In India the perception is that comics are mainly for children. It is up to publishers to take the initiative for providing a platform for mature content.”
In a convention marked more by its merchandise stores than the number of comic-book sellers and publishers, it was interesting to see how reluctant the twain – artists and publishers – were in crossing over to the other’s side. That’s how the situation stood till the end of the second day, anyway.
One can only hope that the situation brightens on the last day.
