JOIN USBangalore-based visual artist and designer Sheena Deviah has a strange sense of humour, one that recently extended to a new project that she has taken up.
She’s ‘Simpson-ising the world’, as she calls it, which is basically taking people’s photographs and changing the tone to a myriad of yellows, pinks and unreal reds.
She speaks to Metrolife about the inspiration for this quirky project, how she plans to take it forward and what the response has been so far.
As is the case with many such obsessions, Sheena’s also began with a simple love for the animated comedy. “I’m a big fan of ‘The Simpsons’ and I had been binge watching the show. Soon, everyone started to look yellow to me!” she laughs.
“Then I started tinkering around on my iPad with a friend’s photograph and made a ‘Simpson-ised’ version of him. He loved it and the entire process only took about ten minutes,” she says proudly.
Describing it as a “non-traditional kooky caricature on a normal, somber photograph”, Sheena adds that making the images doesn’t require much effort at all. “I use my Bamboo stylus with the Adobe Ideas app to draw on my iPad. I’ve done about 20 caricatures so far, which were sent by people online. And the requests are still coming in!” she notes.
But what is interesting is that it didn’t really start out as a project. “I suppose I just wanted to share the love of ‘The Simpsons’. I haven’t done something like this before that involves so many people and is essentially pop-culture driven but ultimately, a bit formulaic. It was just a fun little thing that I started and suddenly, a lot of people wanted in.
That was pretty cool to see,” adds Sheena, who is a self-proclaimed ‘ragamuffin illustrator’. In fact, she not only attempts innovative series like this but also does the art work for several City-based bands. She can often be found doodling away in a corner at gigs.
When asked what direction she hopes this slowly growing adventure of hers will take and she replies, “There are no future plans. It was fun while it was fun. Does anybody have any ideas about what I should do next?” she enquires with a smile.