“How do you separate George Mathen from Appupen?” was one of the questions from an engaged audience at Shanthi Road Studio Gallery recently, at an event organised by Toto Funds the Arts where the artist discussed his creative journey with stories from his past and comics that represented him at different points.
George or Appupen, as he is popularly known, is a graphic novelist based out of Bengaluru, and the author of Legends of Halahala, Moonward, Legends of Halahala, Aspyrus: A Dream of Halahala, and The Snake and The Lotus: A Halahala Adventure. The Dream Machine, his latest work, is a collaborative project with author Laurent Daudet.
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He says he took the pen name “Appupen,” which in Malyalam means grandfather, since he tells stories, but it is also a play on his nickname “Appu.”
Through a series of comics that he projected onto the screen, showing himself and his work at different times in his life, George demonstrated how he uses a modicum of words in his books. “I started making comics in 2005, which were scribbles at first,” he later said during an interview. “This started as storyboards for larger stories, but upon realising there was going to be no funding, I decided to switch to comics and put them up online. Blaft Publications noticed my work and contacted me to publish my first book.”
Appupen | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
George works on silent comics, which stem from his knack of storytelling. “I believe it is a great medium to convey a story, because it is quite pliable, unlike animation or film, where a lot more resources are required. With a basic medium like a comic book, you can guage if you are capable enough to hold a reader’s interest while relating a story.”
“Storytelling is the most important thing for me,” he explained. “Even before I started making comics I was intent on storytelling. There is so much information out there now, and if we are adding to that, it should be curated well.”
His residency at Maison De Auteurs in France, is where he found his inner space, he says. “Finding yourself, or being at peace with yourself, is important to one’s creative journey.”
A lot of research goes into the projects that George is working on. “The Dream Machine has a wide market — so I had to make it palatable for science and tech people too; it’s not only comic fans who are going to be reading it,” he explained. “You need to understand what you need for the story. Tell it to your friends, see how they react.”
A selection from The Snake and The Lotus: A Halahala Adventure | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When asked about the challenges in this line of work, George said comics were getting increasingly commercial. “Crowd pleasing content, such as found on social media, is what gets funding. A lot of people can make lovely comics but they cater to advertisements because it pays more.” Due to the lack of incentives for investing time in creating comics, “only people who are really interested in making comics do it.”
He continued saying, “I believe some people get published these days only because they have followers, not because they have anything to say. Nothing new is being said. They are saying the same thing in different ways, because people are not getting it, or thinking about it.”
George’s advice to anyone who is starting out as a comic artist is to “be practical, and to be sure of what you want to say. The world is not waiting for your comic, so be sure of your work — whether it is a love story or on nebular science or anything else. Be the owner of your content, and do justice to it.”
George is currently working on a book with Perumal Murugan. He also regularly posts on his web comic series The Dystopian Times and Rashtraman, both of which appear on his platform Brainded India, which is an international collective for artists.
Published - October 02, 2024 12:12 pm IST
