(1888PressRelease)
May 19, 2009 - Summers are never complete without workshops especially if you are a kid. Parents love them as children are occupied; kids love it because it is fun and so do organizers. India Habitat Centre regularly holds such workshops. Come May 18, 2009, the centre is hosting a beginners’ cartoon-making workshop for children between 10 to 16 years. It will be conducted by Delhi-based cartoonist, Ajit Narayan.
About the workshop
As mentioned above, this is a beginners’ workshop. Children will be taught the basic techniques and tools that go into cartoon making. Says cartoonist Narayan, “The idea is to make children aware about cartoons; these are not a serious learning-oriented sessions.” Since these are essentially hobby classes, the idea is to make them fun and interactive. Says Narayan, “When I take these sessions, I am more than aware that I am not expecting to see them taking to cartooning as a career option. However, to the best of my ability, I try and make the children realise that learning cartoon-making can be useful in more ways than imagined in their studies and career too.”
Explaining further Narayan says the kids’ awareness of cartoon-making could, for instance, help them prepare more interactive project work in school or as professionals in preparing better presentations and reports. And it generally goes down well with his students. As he outs it, “I teach how to draw a cartoon as against how to make a cartoon. All I teach the kids comprehensive cartoon-making techniques.”
What is cartoon-making?
In India, the most that people understand is political cartoons. Ask anyone which cartoonist he/she likes and the answer will in all probability be RK Laxman or Sudhir Dar. Explains Narayan, “In India, cartoons have for long being synonymous with political cartooning. However, ever since the animation revolution took place the ambit and scope of cartooning has increased manifold.” Today, cartoonists are hired by a host of industries—for illustrations on gift and consumer items like cups, mugs, caps, T-shirts, in advertising, greeting cards companies, publishing houses, etc.
Cartoon-making versus painting
Actually the two are quite different—while a painting is lot more detailed, cartoon-making is about minimal use of strokes. Also while painting can be highly imaginative drawing heavily from the painter’s imagination, a cartoon while being imaginative burrows heavily from real life. And humour is an integral part of all cartoon-making. Elaborating further, Narayan says, “All a cartoonist, especially a beginner, needs is the humble pencil box and his or her observational skills.”
About Ajit Narayan
With 17 years of experience behind him, Ajit Narayan is certainly a veteran of sorts. For many years he worked as cartoon consultant with Times of India’s NIE (Newspaper in Education) and is currently employed with Scholastic as a cartoon consultant. In his many years in the profession, he has been to all the public schools in Delhi for teach and interact with students. Also included are visits to residential schools like Welham Girls School, Dehradun; Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior among others.
The author is an entertainment news editor and works for many websites related to event, bollywood, music, movie, concerts and theater. Visit one more interesting article of author: visit: http://www.buzzintown.com/?792&venid=981
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