With stars as her muse

A lawyer by profession, Shikha Nambiar, took a sabbatical from work after serving in the court room for over three years. “I did not want to argue for the rest of my life,” she says. With art screaming out from her, she joined a special course in visual arts at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology that gave a boost to her perpetual longing to explore her creative side, the result of which is ‘Sunny Skies & Starry Eyes’.

An eight-month-old startup, ‘Sunny Skies...’, is noted for its unique illustrations and hand letterings available in different arty products. “I wanted to pursue arts as a youngster. But during my college time, the art stream was not looked at well and I was a little skeptical to take this up professionally. But after five years in law school and three years as a lawyer, I wanted to pull myself out of it. I enrolled in an art course and started freelancing as an illustrator for brands and that answered my calling to be an entrepreneur,” recalls Shikha.

She was inspired by the sunny skies while stars became her muse. “Sunny sky makes me happy and inspires me to paint. Also, stars fascinate me and you can see that a lot of my products have stars on them,” she explains. Kickstarting the venture with a series of truck-art post cards, she now works on fridge magnets, bookmarks, hand-painted diaries and notebooks and hand lettered canvas.

While she does illustrations using the many softwares available, it is hand painting that holds her special interest. The bookmarks she makes are colourful and pour out the love for reading; post cards are equally colourful and take inspiration from daily life; dairies have trippy illustrations while the hand letters have all kinds of creatures displayed in unusual patterns.

“I am inspired by my travels. Also, music plays an important role and lyrics (mainly from her favourite band ‘Coldplay’) form the basis of my creations. Soundtracks of new movie too never fail to grab my attention and I like hand lettering all of them,” she says.

She sources raw materials which are in abundance in the City and adds, “During my travels, I look out for sketch books that have good quality papers. I visit all the stationary shops to look for stuff that interest me.” A partaker in flea markets, she opines that Bengaluru is the best market for her products as “there are many art lovers in the City.”

She adds, “Also, there are events happening every weekend that help promote arty products and this is exhilarating. Flea markets like Kitsch Mandi support budding artistes and help us get an exposure.” It is at these flea markets and from the customers there that she gets new ideas. She is keen on working on more creative items in the near future that will include illustrated calendars and planners.