Blog Research - Sandhya Prabhat

Captivating and innovative creative content is often the result of key inspiration provided by the world around us, our experiences, as well as other artists creative works. Currently shown in the posts in and around this one I am working on a character design-based project which has placed me in a position where I am coming across several different character designers and their creative works regularly. This has presented me the opportunity to explore and discuss artists which resonate with my interests and engage me on a professional and personal level. 

Characters can be perceived everywhere, and it is often suggested that each character an artist creates is an extension of their own personality recorded down on paper to be interpreted and viewed by an audience upon completion. This case is never the less true to my own character designs and throughout this blog post I will be taking the opportunity to explore other artists character designs to inspire me and provide artist growth stimulating increased knowledge and critical analysis experience. The following artists in the following posts are my top favourite character designers whose work I have recently become acquainted with that will be off influence of me moving through current and future projects. 

Sandhya Prabhat

Sandhya is an Indian independent animator and illustrator from Chennai who creates a plethora of different character designs based on professional and personal interests in culture and the world around her. When questioned in an interview what her inspirations are her response was “Shoes, ships, cabbages, and kings. Oh, also the boiling hot sea and pigs with wings”. This statement in mind it is clear that Sandhya draws her inspiration from a place of vivid imagination which is demonstrated within her artwork through her colourful and adventurous conceptual character designs. One of the key reasons I am drawn to Sandhya is the concepts behind her work, there isn’t often a character created for the sake of creation within her artwork, often there is a clear inspiration or meaning behind each character. This fact and the execution of each idea draws me in and engages me on a level I don’t often find within others creative works. 

 Xayide the Witch from 'The Neverending Story' by Michael Ende for 'Female Characters as letters' project

Sandhya’s art style makes clear use of textured brushes and photographic overlays resulting in an impression that is gritty but utilised in a manor that conveys a playful personality. Whilst the texture is complex in nature most of the character designs are built up from less complex shapes and forms resulting in a unique take on character design that arguably has become associated with Sandhya as an artist. The colour that she applies to most of her characters often makes use of desaturated colour schemes that are enhanced and highlighted with touches of high saturated colours resulting in a balanced illustration. This balance within the illustration results in a design that has become popular throughout social media due to the well prepared visual hook that Sandhya has mastered which makes use of saturation and colour style to resonate and engage with audiences.

Shape and form experiment an extract from her personal work.

I believe the process that Sandhya uses to create the resulting character designs is a combined effect of traditional painting methods using digital software and the selection tool within Adobe Photoshop (Or similar software) to create much of the angular styled shapes. I have come to this conclusion due to the way that each shape and texture created and combined appears to have been forged. This is a process that I am keen to respond to by taking such steps into my own hands and experimenting with the effects and design outcomes.

'Wild things' personal illustration featuring various 'monster' characters.

The content and concept of most of her character design illustrations are often either based upon a proposed brief or based upon literature. This is due to the fact that Sandhya not only studied her degree in animation but also took the time to study a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature. The books and study’s that she has spent her time dedicated too are somewhat sources of inspiration and concept purpose due to the exposure that she has enabled her brain to engage with the subject. For example, one of her most recent projects had her responding to the 36 days of type brief where she chose to illustrate female characters from literature serves as great examples for exactly how, what, and why she resonates and experiments with each of these topics as a concept.

Rara the Bear character design visual development.

Overall, the time I have dedicated into researching animator and illustrator Sandhya Prabhat as well as her creative works and character designs has resulted in a clear increase in the technical theory and application of my character design creation skillset, this has also resulted in a gain in experience which is integral and beneficial to the character design project I am currently working on. Although I may not get a chance to do this during my current project there is several aspects of Sandhya’s design process and character style which I am keen to experiment with in the future as a response to this research. I believe that this will enable me to gain first-hand experience in a form of creative works that I find appealing and resonate with. Allowing me to apply more of what I enjoy into my future design outcomes enhancing the visual appeal that is given. 

 W for Wicked Witch of the West from 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by Frank L Baum, for Female Characters in Literature for 36 days of type project.