As a child, Akshaya CR spent hours looking into the clouds from her balcony. “I saw elephants, tortoises and humans in those clouds. I even came up with little stories around them,” she recollects. With time, Akshaya’s imagination grew and now she uses her social media page called ‘FACE’ing things’ to express herself. “I started by taking a picture of the clock in my room. Then I drew a face on the image and made it look sad. My friends loved it and asked me to make more such sketches inspired from things around. This encouraged me to start the page in 2017. Over the past four years, I completed 100 artworks,” says the 26-year-old. She is an architect and works as an assistant professor at SASI Creative Institute of Design.
Akshaya’s works are simple and cheerful. “I am a very positive person and it reflects in my works. I don’t preach, I just do art to bring a smile to the person who is seeing it.” She is a self-taught artist and does her illustrations on an i-pad. “It takes me only half an hour for the illustrations. My subjects include mirrors, milk cans, pins, tablets, balls, fruits and more. She closely observes people around her to learn about emotions. Expressions of her favourite characters from the cartoons Tom and Jerry, Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter’s Laboratory also find a place in her works. For example, she has drawn an angry neyyappam with the face of Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes. “I loved how it turned out. My followers also sent me photographs of random things that they found in their homes and I used them too in my designs,” she says
Akshaya has also collaborated with corporate companies. “My most challenging project was a calendar using a single leaf. I had to create 12 different characters using a leaf and it was both challenging and fun. I created tortoise, bugs, humans and more with it,” she says. Her favourite work shows a six-month-old child surfing on the sea while the sun looks down at her in amazement. “She is my niece. We had a photoshoot organised for her and I decided to add some fun to those images.”
Akshaya is now focused on creating more on GIF’s and animations. “I met the popular animator Vibhav Kumaresh last year. He is known for the advertisement campaigns for Vodaphone and Amaron Battery. I showed him my work and he encouraged me to concentrate on animation. I draw every frame and it takes me at least two weeks to come up with a piece,” she says. She plans to come up with a new series on her page soon. “I am brainstorming for ideas. During the lockdown, I have been honing my skills in animation. Now my content will be even better,” she smiles.
