Meeting Maniacs: Bhanu Pratap!

First of all, a real thanks for taking out time and doing this interview. Being a hardcore fan, I'm just gonna hop on to my mission rather than being all gabby.

COMIC ADDICTS: I know many of our readers want to get right to questions about 'Munkey Thugs' and 'The Damned Book', but I think we should start by you telling us a little 'bout yourself.

BHANU PRATAP: Hey Anupam and Comic addicts, thanks for this interview. I am already feeling like a celebrity( I hope to make this interview controversial enough). But really, I am glad that you guys are making a platform as cool as this available to us, as creators and fans of the comic book medium.

Ok, I am Bhanu Pratap, a painter, comic book artist/writer, or cartoonist. I was born in Una, Himachal Pradesh, but brought up in Delhi. I am currently working out of New Delhi, working on a few group art exhibitions, and two- three comic projects(not counting the thousands I conjure up in my head everyday). And I do plan to do a lot of things in these mediums in the foreseeable future as well.

CA: You are both a writer and an illustrator. So with this in mind: who have been the major role models of your life?

BP: Is this the question where I get to totally be a fanboy and name all the artist heroes I have? Yes!!!

Well I can’t name them all here, can I?

Let me just try to name all the people who have helped me get to this point in life and as an artist.

First role model would be my elder brother, who inspired me to pick up pencil and draw Jambu (an old Indian robot superhero). Then artists/painters like Phil Hale, Francis bacon, Egon Schiele, Ashley Wood, Kent Williams, Euan Uglow, Andrew Wyeth, N.C. Wyeth. Mangakas like Naoki Urasawa, Katsuhiro Otomo, Taiyo matsumoto, Junji Ito, Atsushi Kaneko, Jiro Matsumoto (NSFW), Okama (NSFW). Paul Pope, Alberto Breccia, Hugo Pratt, Jose Munoz, J P Leon,

(Click to enlarge)

THE ALEX TOTH and THE JACK KIRBY, Moebius, Nicolas De Crecy, Nicolas Nemiri, Jason, DAVID MAZZUCHELLI, Guido Crepax (NSFW), Al Columbia... Damn it, the list goes on… maybe I can make a list and then you add it to the end note?

There are so many awesome inspiring artists/writers/ demigods out there waiting to be discovered by more and more comic book fans, and I would implore anybody who reads this to know about all these stalwarts of art history.

Oh and I would also like to point attention to sites like drawn.ca, conceptart.org and others like these as great places to find hidden gems of the art world.

CA: Did you go through any special kind of training artistically?

(Click to enlarge)

BP: Well, I have been half self taught, half trained at school, actually a private art institute. One thing I found out though is that, even though to learn the technicalities of art one doesn’t need to go to an art school, but for one to grow as an artist and a person, being in the company of other like minded people and mentors is very important, even pivotal.

So if anybody who is studying art on their own,should find a peer group and a support system to grow.

CA: What was the first comic you bought that proved to be the biggest influenced you a lot and why?

BP: First comics that I bought that influenced me a lot were the Batman series and Phantom, I was also lucky enough to see old Neal Adams batman comics(obviously at that time I didn’t know the name). But something that really turned me towards making comics was Spawn( and portions of the image comics), that comic had a visceral feel to it, it was a comic tailor made for teenagers. But I also liked what stuff Greg Cappullo did with the cape, and the writhing bodies, that had an obvious impact on me wanting to draw contorted figures and crazy camera angles.

But then artists like Kent Williams, Alex Toth, Dave mckean really influenced the story telling and the designing aspects of my work.

(Click to enlarge)

CA: Talking about comics now, what are the comics that you still read today?

BP: I still re read a lot old Jack Kirby comics, old Tezuka works, and lotsa old stuff, the masters.

But of the recent works, Blue Estate by Image which has a few of my fav. Artists in it, the recent Haunt which featured Nathan Fox has got me excited, Corey Walker’s return issue for invincible, Turf by Jonathab Ross and Tommy lee Edwards. Peplum by Blutch, Je suis Morte by Nicolas Nemiri, Fueye by Jorge Gonzalez. Both these comics are in French, which I can’t read, which is the case for most European comics I read. I devour comics like anything, but I am not that into the Marvel or DC universe, especially multiverse concepts and the reboots, its like to figure out one little detail, I have to read five different continuities of four different titles.

Oh and theres a lot of manga pile of stuff that I read, vagabond, Jiro Matsumoto’s stuff(freesia) was cool, Atsushi Kaneko’s Soil, god. . . the list can go on. Again we can have another end note for that.

CA: You are currently one of the five artists in the collective known as Abstraktsia. Could you share somethings about it and how the experience has been working with talented artists like Swapnil Singh?

BP: Ummm, actually abstraktsia is not there anymore, RIP. But it was a definite new and different experience to work with so many creative people all at once, all the discussions over the drawing table. Obviously its always hard to keep artists collective going for too long. I would say that Abstraktsia was a happy accident when we all collided while we were running towards COMICS. I would still love to do more collaborative efforts, we need that scene in India, where lots of creative artists get together and work on projects, not being too much directed by publishers and whatnot.

It was a great experience working with Swapnil, since we come from different background, hes a pro comic artist, and I come from a fine art background. So there was a lot of give and take and collision of ideas. I hope to see his newer projects at the coming comic con.

(Click to enlarge)

CA: Which medium of drawing stuff do you usually prefer- Digital or Pencil?

BP: Theres no preference, just solutions to issue that I am trying to resolve. For the past year or so, I have been working digitally on comics, and paintings. I do use the blue drawing pencil to sketch and ideate, it really lets the hand loose on the paper. I would love to also work with a cintiq some day since somehow a tablet feels a bit off always.

CA: Going through your various works, one can see your two different styles-(1) The traditional painting-like style and (2) The one that can be seen in Munkey Thugs. What programs do you use when doing digital work?

BP: For Munkey Thugs I specifically used This rather new software called Manga Studio, it has a nice interface and system to make comics, though the brush engine needs to be pulled up a bit, which I am sure we are gonna see soon. TO make covers, illustrations and paintings I use Corel Painter X.

CA: Now this is something I've been looking forward to: Recently, Damned: Book I was demo released during the 1st Indian Comic Con at Dilli Haat, New Delhi. What is 'The Damned Book' about?

(Click to enlarge)

BP: Ahhh Damned Book, now that’s a question, hmm…

Well I think that Damned book is a concept more than anything else, its about trying to really push the sort of stories that get told in Indian comics, yknow, we have the graphic novel scene, and the superhero/mythology based scene, but there is also nothing that really targets both late teens and adult people, stuff that is experimentative and entertaining at the same time. Basically we want to do a bit of dark side of stories with this book, and make a structure where the comic creator has no restrictions. No such thing like” oh don’t you think our average reader might not like it?” will get mentioned.

CA: Now, let's talk a bit 'bout 'Munkey Thugs'. The name's awesome for the action/adventure, urban and shonen genres if I may say so. You are both illustrating as well as writing the comic - could you give an insight into what readers can expect?

BP: Firstly readers can surely expect a hell of rollercoaster ride with this comic it’s an action adventure story with a lot emotional weightage to it. They can expect lots jumping from building ala parkour style. Lotsa action but no mindless shit. There is also a lot of street culture and revolution of where, the youth really gets empowered. Its going to be a long series, so I still haven’t panned out how really I am going to do it over the years. But hopefully I will make it fun and intriguing and make a good story of it.

CA: As an artist, do you have a favorite piece you have worked on which holds some significance for you?

(Click to enlarge)

BP: Well I don’t know if I can really answer the question that well, theres no one piece that holds that significance, since whenever I revisit something I did, I see huge flaws, things I would now do some other way.

But One thing that really excites me is the sort of curve and path I can see from my current work, yknow where its heading, and what looks like next few steps in the path seem really exciting. Another thing is, after I am done with one piece, I am already excited about the next one, so I don’t really think much about the pieces I have done.

CA: If you don't mind sharing, what are the current projects on your desk these days?

BP: I am currently working on Munkey Thugs, Figuring more about Damned book, another comic project called “40 Winks” with Aakshat Sinha and Anupam Arunachalam. And there are always paintings going by the side, I am currently working for a group show that’s due early next year. And one of my paintings will be up in a group show pretty soon. So all in all I have got my hands full and more.

Sampling 40 Winks (Click to enlarge)

CA: Quite a few days back, you posted some sample pages about a comic you're doing in collaboration with writers Aakshat Sinha and Anupam Arunachalam. Could we at least get some sneak peeks (*wink*)?

BP: Oh yeah sure, The project is called 40 WINKS. It’s a supernatural thriller, done in black and white. The first issue will be out at the coming Comic Con. Heres some of the stuff we can show you at the moment.

CA: How's the experience of working in the Indian Comic Industry been for you so far?

BP: Well Frankly, I don’t really know since I haven’t worked in the Industry per se. But its exciting, especially with the Comic Cons and whatnot.

CA: Finally, could you give us one word you'd use to describe the current state of Indian Comics Industry.

BP: Indian comic Industry I think, is in its nascent stage, since there aren’t that many readers, creators or Publishers. But I see that as a good thing, we, right now can shape the industry to be something really awesome.

One thing I don’t really like about the Indian film industry is that there are almost no other genre than the drama/bollywood style stuff, yeah every now and then people come up with good shit, but still we don’t have great hallmarks in horror, thriller, sci-fi, and other genre. That is something I would want to see happening in the comics Industry, but in comics I would love to see more Shoujo, more slice of life like stuff.