Shaan Patker is a young artist from Mumbai, studying at Pace IIT & Medical at Andheri. He balances his studies and sketching to achieve the best at both. His ardent love for martial arts and sketching is his source of strength and happiness as a young boy. Lockdown gave him more time and perspective to enhance his sketching skills further, Shaan spoke about his passion with Dr Vaidehi and shared how he wants to look at his canvass.
Tell me about your journey into the world of drawings.
I used to doodle random faces and emotions on my notebooks during my school classes. Whenever I would zone out my hand would start working on the notebook and put down whatever my imagination thought of it. Then lockdown happened and I just picked up something to fill the free time and I choose drawing and I fell in love with it. Drawing for hours and hours continuously gave me a lot of innovative perspective towards my canvas. Drawing and filling up a page would satisfy me; it has become a habit and a hobby now.
Which was your first drawing? and what inspired you to draw that picture?
My first drawing was a doodle that I drew about a figure that fell apart into pieces. That is what actually inspired me to draw. See, how people sometimes fall and break into pieces like objects and they don’t get fixed the same way again. Reason can be anything, for the worst or the best. Such thought inspires me to create a beautiful sketch. That was my first artwork.
How do you plan your sketches?
My sketches depend on my feelings and emotions, at times I need an outlet to let my feelings flow. Most of the time they depend on the situations around me. I emote what comes to my mind and my heart at that moment. Sometimes I browse on the internet and search for things that motivate me, I pick up my pencil draw a rough sketch and then with a pen. This beautiful world of art keeps me close to human lives and spirits.
Have you taken any professional training or it is your inner instinct?
I don’t have any professional training I just doodle and try to put down inspired imagination on the paper. I think art is a feeling. Feelings and thoughts are my training.
How would you describe yourself in painting/ caricature or drawing?
I would describe myself in a drawing as flowing water that is pure, at its own pace and yet unstoppable. Like a beautiful calm river. I want to flow as an artist and as a human being in transparency, piousness and that too on my own terms.
I am preparing my colour box and I am excited about it.
Shaan
Which one is your most memorable drawing?
My most memorable drawing is about the thoughts coming out of a woman’s head and manifesting as those demons. It is fun to draw and came out virtuous. I see women suffering a lot in this world, they have a tough life. They need to be visualised and portrayed well and valued.
Which painter you follow the most and why?
I follow a lot of artists such as Junji it’s because he portrays the element of fear perfectly in his drawings and Shawn’s cross because he portrays human emotions seamlessly. Even someone like Van Gogh inspires me a lot because like him every person has a moment where he gets lost in his life and doesn’t know what to do. These prolapses have touched people’s hearts by art. Though I’m still learning, I would like to become better with time.
What is your biggest dream as an artist?
My biggest dream as an artist is to make something that delights me and whenever I look back, those bits of my drawings should remind me of the phases of life I lived and witnessed around me. Life has beautiful shades like a rainbow, there could be many colours to it. I am preparing my colour box and I am excited about it.
Colour or no colours? How you want your canvas to look?
I started my canvas with no colours, just a black pen and white paper and stuck with it as I always doodled black and white which been most of my medium. It motivates me and is a brilliant mode of depiction.
What is your one message to all young artists of your age?
My one message to all my buddy artists is to draw whatever they like and whatever helps them. I will insist them to put down their thoughts and don’t think about what others opinion about it. Draw for yourself and not for others. Enjoy your art. It’s a way to peace and bliss.
