Portrait artists take their usual spot on Beach Road by 6 pm. You’ll find one every odd kilometre down the beach,engrossed in the canvas. Almost every passerby stops to give a quick glance, admiring their skill. . The cost depends on the type of medium used to sketch — pencil costs the least, followed by charcoal and pastel colour, which costs the most. The former takes less than 10 days to make. If you can wait a day, they can also get these framed for you, for an additional ₹100.
If you make your way to the INS Kursura Submarine Museum from Victory Memorial, the first artist you’ll probably see is TDS Dharma. The 47-year-old has been coming to Beach Road for the last 20 years. Each evening, Dharma sets up two chairs, a drawing board stand, and a small battery which powers an LED lamp. The artist was always passionate about sketching. But his family discouraged him to take up arts and always made him believe that he can’t earn a living by being an artist. So after tenth grade, he worked as a driver for few years.
But even when working as a driver, he would make sketches of the people he came across. With each sketch, he trained himself to become a portrait artist. Dharma has an apprentice under him now: Life Insurance Corporation of India employee Sushant Kumar Mohanty, who has been under his wings for four years.
Mohanty says, “Every day, I come here to get better at portrait making. For me, it’s a form of relaxation.” When Dharma first started drawing portraits, he charged ₹30. Today, he has clients over WhatsApp as well. People send him pictures and he keeps the portrait ready in a day’s time. Dharma earns most during the wedding season, making anywhere between ₹3,500 to ₹5,000 at a three-hour event.
Passing phase
A few metres further from the Submarine Museum, you’ll find 34-year-old Ramana Tumula engrossed in his sketches.
Born in Vizianagaram, Tumula’s passion for art and hard work took him to Sri Venkateshwara College of Fine Arts, Hyderabad. After completing his bachelors, he worked for an ad agency for few months, but soon realised his heart lies in film production.
He got a break as a part-time storyboard artist, for Telugu films such as Juliet Lover of Idiot , En Adugu Neethone and Agulika . But the high cost of living in Hyderabad drove him to Visakhapatnam.
He has been showing up at Beach Road for two years. But unlike Dharma, he prefers to carry just a drawing board. He sets it up at 6 pm each day, but tunes into movie trailers or a short film.
“I don’t like making portraits; I want to write scripts and one day direct a film,” says Tumula.
He often goes to Hyderabad, for commission based work and to network within the Telugu film industry.
He says, “ Try karta hun, bas! I just try!) My turn will come too.”