Krishna Bala Shenoi was only 19, in 2013, when Steven Spielberg praised him, in an email the director’s assistant sent, for the animated video tribute to the director. This incident is proof of Krishna’s immense artistic talent. His work ranges from illustrations for picture books and portraitures. Versatility and realistic representations of his subjects are his forte. “Range is something I admire in illustrators, film-makers, and creators of all kinds for the matter” says Krishna. “My favourite artists have a specific point of view but have multiple ways and styles to voice them with. It's something I aspire to. I'm working on my third book of the year and have tried, so far, to have them be quite different from each other.”
Take his illustrations for Deepak Dalal’s The Paradise Flycatcher. Every detail of the birds has been drawn with precision.
An illustration from The Paradise Flycatcher
How long does it take to complete a project? “I work on one project at a time. The shortest time I've spent on a book is one month. The longest was about eight. A little longer and it could've been a full-term pregnancy!”
Speaking about the creative process, Krishna says: “The text is all I get to begin with. I do a storyboard and send it to the publishers, and then there is a back and forth until we agree on what the illustrations will be.”
The medium Krishna uses is digital. “I draw on a graphics tablet and imbibe my work with certain characteristics of traditional art.”
Krishna, a graduate of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, was an instant success with his very first internship.
Krishna Bala Shenoi
“I interned with Tulika books for six weeks. I worked on a picture book called Okaasama Otousama, which explored parents and families from different corners of the world. This was some time in 2014. I'm currently working on my 11th book.”
Krishna is a born artist, and has been drawing ever since he can remember. “To protect the walls of our home, my mother covered them with chart paper for me to draw on. She used to dabble in drawing and painting now and again, which I realize was quite inspiring in getting to me draw myself.”
His latest offering is Get Off That Camel . The story is written by UK-based veteran children’s author A.H. Benjamin and published by Karadi Tales.
Get Off That Camel
"More than anything, what excited me about Get Off That Camel was the opportunity to bring some wackiness to my illustrations. Most of my books up till then had been quieter and more serious minded, so it was refreshing to be able to draw whimsical chaos involving a girl taking a camel where it does not belong."Visit his instagram page @krishna bala shenoi.
