Are you afraid of monsters? If so, then don’t be. Here are monsters that will bring a smile to your face. You will find them peeping from cupboards, windows or even meet you by the road side. An innovative idea of Sebin Simon, a freelance illustrator, these monsters have been giving joy and hope to people weighed down by the drudgery of day-to-day living.
Creative head at an ad agency in Mumbai, Sebin created this unique concept of ‘Monster Series’, three months back. After its successful launch there he ventured out to experiment the same in Kochi, one of his favourite places.
“I just love monsters, its unique features always makes one curious and amused. People these days, including me, are so frustrated from their busy schedules that they hardly have time to enjoy or relish the childlike joy in things which we fail to notice. Being an artist, I thought of creating something that would bring a smile on peoples’ faces and thereby help de-stress. As monsters have those powerful vibrant looks, I started visualising them in my surroundings and later started introducing them in pictures,” says the artist, who believes that images have a strong power to connect with viewers.
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Clicking photographs of different locations as he travels around the city, he later creates a monster in the photographs at his lab. “Envisaging characters adds a special feel to the picture and that reflects on the faces of the viewer as well. I had first uploaded a concept based picture on my personal FB page and later when I got good reviews, I thought to upload it on a public page. The response is really good and people are now curious to know where the monster would appear next,” claims Sebin, founder of the Facebook page, Inkology.
‘Monster Series’ is the second concept launched by him, with the first being the series on ‘Illustrated motivational quotes’ that brought many followers to the page. Creating illustrations based on motivational quotes attracted many visitors since its inception in 2014. “It just happened as I tried to motivate myself out from a low phase in life. I used to read a lot of motivational quotes then and the idea struck on why not create illustrations based on them to give it a more powerful impact. But I never thought that it would garner such a response. People have been sending messages and mails claiming that it inspires and motivates them,” says the beaming artist, who has more than five lakh likes for the page. The followers of Inkology claim that the images have changed their entire outlook toward life and helped them in their path ahead. After having created a buzz in Facebook, the series has also been published in international magazines.
The name Inkology has been coined from the term ‘ink’ and ‘psychology’ and Sebin does not believe in endorsing any ads on his page to make it a profitable option.
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He art is simple and that is the USP of the page.
“All the illustrations on Inkology page are very simple and any layman can understand the message conveyed. I don’t use it as a platform to display different colour schemes or my artistic skills. Hence, those creations won’t have the perfection, but anyone can relate to it. The main intention has always been to convey a quote in the most effective manner so that people can easily understand,’ states Sebin.
Describing the illustrations, he adds, “There is no specific style adopted for them. The characters have bigger heads and smaller bodies that makes them alluring. The different perspective of lives and motivational quotes are conveyed through simple cartoon strips.”
His illustrations have been featured in various publications like Duckbill Publications, HarperCollins, Go Clouds, Rational Comics, Cotton Association of India, etc.
Sebin now plans to launch merchandise based on the ‘Monster Series’. Apart from that he also wants to hold an exhibition of his illustrations.
“I want to keep drawing, and that’s my plan,” says Sebin on the road ahead.