ILLUSTRATORS' DAY (2007)
Editors, publishers, writers, illustrators and translators met over a cup of coffee last weekend to celebrate 'Illustrators' Day' in the little hall adjacent to the library of the Children's Book trust (CBT), Nehru House, New Delhi. The meeting was hosted by the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC)on Sat 17 March 2007 and was scheduled to begin at 10.30 a.m.
When Dr Brian Mendonca, Editor, Educational Division, Oxford University Press, stepped in, Mr Pradyumna Kumar was sharing his experience of winning the grand prize at the Noma Concours, Tokyo meet in December 2006 for his painting illustrating his story 'How the Firefly Got its Light'. The painting can be viewed at http://www.accu.or.jp/noma/english/e_index.html This is the first time an Indian has won this award.
The Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations has been organised biennially by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU). This Concours is to discover up-and-coming illustrators, graphic designers and artists in Asia (except Japan), the Pacific, Africa, Arab States, and Latin America & the Caribbean; to provide an opportunity at which they can present their work, and to offer incentives for their creative activities.
Kumar displayed exquisite samples of his work which is totally immersed in the Madhubani style. Perhaps the best known genre of Indian folk paintings, the Mithila (also called Madhubani) paintings are from the Mithila region of Bihar state. For centuries the women of Mithila have decorated the walls of their houses with intricate, linear designs on the occasion of marriages and other ceremonies.
The contemporary art of mithila painting was born in the early 1960's, following a famine in Bihar. The women of Mithila were encouraged to apply their painting skills to paper as a means of supplementing their meager incomes. As with the wall paintings, these individual works are still painted with natural plant and mineral-derived colors, using bamboo twigs in lieu of brush or pen. For examples of Madhubani art see http://www.indigoarts.com/gallery_asianart_indiptg1.html Initially a preserve of women Pradyumna Kumar now takes on the mantle.
Mr Joshi, also at Tokyo for the meet said he was told by his counterparts there that he was lucky to be in India which had so many languages. The same artwork published in 1 language in a children's book could appear in several translations of that work. Much thought was given to picture books and how these books really give scope to the artist. Joshi said that an unwelcome trend was emerging in which the text i.e. content was being given more importance than the picture - which should be the other way round actually.
Acknowledgement of the artist in the book was called for, though there were some publications that even published the photo and a short bio. The Tokyo meet felt that as a child changes the page the colour scheme should change.
Others who spoke were cartoonist Ajit Narayan who shared how his book 'Cartooning with Ajit Narayan' took 10 years to print before Scholastic publishing house accepted it. He was told the book would only succeed if it is a series. As a 'cartoonist' it was difficult to be accepted. He shared the fact that often the illustrator is caught between the publisher and the author. Unless it is explained what is wanted specifically, the artist has to draw from 'pure text.' 'There have been many cartoonists before,' he said 'All were self-taught. But none of them have shared their knowledge. I feel this should be done.' His two books in black and white done with markers were doing very well in the market.
Subir Roy, illustrator for CBT said that today the book was a product and market-driven. The story should have scope to be illustrated. One book of his was selling for 25 years only because of its simplicity. There should be more information books for children. Saurabh Pandey shared with the group how he had to use his ingenuity to make a lifeless topic, seemingly in one colour, come to life in his book 'Counting Clouds.' He tried low angle shots, top angle shots, and introduced an aeroplane to break the monotony. And he gave the clouds faces. He felt that in children's books produced in the west the child's psychology is simplistic, whereas in India there is far more diversity. A book loved by a child in one part of India may be rejected by another in another part.
Rajeev Banjara said there should be a similar conference such as this one, but on a national scale. Madhavi Menon was impressed with Brian's work and proposed that Brian speak at the end. Brian said he felt he was among friends. He said that from the point of view of a publisher, having a different colour scheme on the next page may raise the cost of the book and make it unaffordable for children. However to meet this need there are various colour combinations of books i.e. which are totally 4 colour, 2 & 4 colour, and single special colour. Also, school publishing is usually in crown quarto and demy quarto sizes for coursebooks - and that too packed with text. Illustrators have to work within these constraints.
Those assembled took heart that Brian's book of poems 'Last Bus to Vasco: Poems from Goa'(2006) was self-published. They admired the cover and enjoyed listening to his poem 'Barefoot Child' which was published by OUP in 2006. Brian hoped that more traditional folk art idioms like Madhubani would percolate into mainstream school publishing too. Writer and translator Yukti Banerjee shared her work, her translations into Hindi and displayed a book written by a mother-daughter duo. Yukti had beautifully designed Hindi script in the form of a Warli brocade.
Manorama Jafa secretary general CBT chaired the morning and called for papers for the international conference on storytelling to promote peace in September this year. Shail Tiwari, Convener of the conference urged publishers to present their views at the conference.
Later Brian sauntered into the CBT book shop and picked up two books written by Asha Nehemiah and illustrated by Subir Roy. These were 'Ludakta Pahiya' [The Bobbing/ Runaway Tyre] (2006) and 'Grandmother's Sari' (2006). He also picked up 'Folktales of India,' all three of which were promptly snapped up by 10-yr-old Nikhil from the dwelling across Brian's house to read. Nothing like being a child once more.
