Cartoons about relevant issues

Cartooning is a form of art that conveys serious topics through humorous caricatures. That’s what Utkrishti Katheriya exactly does, with her exaggerated facial features and body gestures in her artwork.

She uses this form of art to express herself as she feels that it doesn’t require too much of detail. “I also like using this form as allegorical representations and symbolism as it gives me the inspiration to experiment with anything to share an idea,” she adds.

“I started drawing caricatures like any naughty kid in school would; drawing funny pictures of my teachers at the back of my notebook,” she says about how she started cartooning. But she took it up seriously only while in high school when she had to make caricatures of her classmates. She then went on to sketch a number of pieces and was also asked to draw caricatures in her under graduation for her seniors.

When asked about her inspiration, she says that the artwork of RK Laxman, Surendra, Keshav, Ashwini Menon, Jug Suraiya, Jim Davis and Jim Morin have been a sort of measure for how she comes up with comics or cartoons. She looks up to them as she thinks that they follow the ‘KIS’ rule - Keep it Simple; she believes that she must follow that as well. Her interest in cartooning, as well as junk art, spikes from having a creative way to address serious issues that affect society.

The appreciation, recognition and more importantly addressing relevant issues are what motivates Utkrishti. Being a student, she tries to make time to create new pieces regularly. “I take my own time. I visualize it and think about my own response to it, which takes about half a day. But sometimes, when I’m inspired, I can finish it in no time,” she added.

She explains that sometimes she finds it difficult to draw certain positions, so she uses a wooden figure to figure out how to draw them.

She also wishes to digitalise her work. But she sees it as a challenge because she has minimal knowledge about it.

Being an amateur cartoonist, she also asserts that she has difficulty in figuring out the right proportions when it comes to drawing a scene.

Utkrishti doesn’t share her work online often but wishes to do so once she learns how to digitalise her work.