Famous Portraits

Digital and Ball-point artist, Shital Verma, tells us about his process and idea behind creating portraits of renowned individuals from various fields and what exactly it takes to bring out what they symbolise or stand for as personalities.

 

CG. How do you conceptualise the use of lines and textures in your works and how do you execute them?

Shital. To begin with any drawing or artwork, I look at the character first and what kind of lines or textures justify the artwork; whether it’s a ball point pen drawing or digital drawing, and such other aspects. Lines and strokes, in particular, are my priority. All this helps me gain a clear picture about how I want to further proceed with the conceptualisation and execution.

 

CG. What fascinates you most about the stories behind every face while creating portraits?

Shital. I choose some distinguished characters for portrait paintings, such as Salvador DALI, Zohra Sehgal, John Hurt, Ranbeer and many more. Their expressions with which they get naturally or symbolically associated with over a period of time are what tell their on-screen and real life stories to the audience. I mostly try to represent and portray their charisma in my works, in the best possible way. In Virat Kohli ’s portrait (on page 38), for example, I tried to bring out his toughness and determination through lines