A new age cartoonist

Nikhil Pai, a II year BCA student from St Aloysius College, who started cartooning as a hobby three years ago has now turned out to be a freelance cartoonist and an illustrator. Tagged as one of the youngest cartoonists, Nikhil admits that he started off drawing the cartoons merely for the sake of earning some pocket money, but has now taken the art form on a serious note.

“Though I was good at drawing cartoons, I never took it seriously. When I saw some of my friends who were engaged in one or the other activities like web designing or painting, the desire to draw cartoons grew in me and that is how I transformed from ‘Nikhil Pai’ to ‘Cartoonist Nikhil Pai,” says Nikhil.

The process of becoming the cartoonist was not a bed of roses for Nikhil as there were many hindrances that blocked his path. Despite securing 232nd rank in AIEEE, Nikhil opted to pursue BCA, against the wishes of his parents, with a thought of pursuing cartoon as a profession in the future.

“The people around me underestimated and mocked at me for my madness to draw sketches. So much so that I simply used to draw cartoons and upload it in the social networking sites and in my website and never informed about it to my parents. My parents learnt about my work only after the neighbours and relatives who saw my cartoons in the social networking sites appreciated the work with my parents,” he says with all humbleness.

Nikhil managed to learn the initial lessons of cartooning in a British Council workshop organised by Kerala Cartoon Academy in Cochin. The workshop proved very helpful as he got an opportunity to interact with the renowned cartoonists who appreciated his work and claimed, “the work was brilliant for his age.” It was indeed a moral boost for the budding cartoonist Nikhil Pai.

Apart from designing cover page for the poetry collection book of P G Kamath, Nikhil is working as an illustrator for News Gram (a news portal based in Chicago). Along with it, he has also engaged himself in conducting cartoon workshops for school students and adults. He has conducted 14 workshops in a span of six months. “I enjoy conducting the workshops, as the curiosity and the interest in the participants bring positive vibes in me. Despite cartoonists being ignored most often, I burst out with happiness when I see extraordinary response in the workshops,” he says.

Though Nikhil started off with pen and pencil cartoons initially, he recommends digital art as it saves the time. The complicated cartoons can be done easily using digital mechanism. He dreams of creating a Guinness record with his cartoons and also plans to build an institute where experiments on cartoon could be made, by adopting the technological innovations.

To view his works visit www.cartoonistnikhilpai.com.