Wildlife art needs to evolve

As a wildlife artist myself, I feel that the time to use the art form (be it art, photography or film) simply for documenting the beauty or uniqueness of India's biodiversity is long gone. Wildlife art of every kind can and must evolve to include sociopolitical conversations within its spectrum, if it really intends to impact and facilitate conservation. Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day. 

Forests and Rivers

On deforestation, development and rivers from my column with Mid-Day today.

The Illegal Bird Trade in India

A comic on India's illegal pet trade that resulted from a visit to Hyderabad's 'Murgi Chowk', that appears in my column with Mid-Day. Thanks to Chemudupati Samyukta and Shreya Paropkari of The Humane Society International, India, for their inputs and for accompanying me on the visit.

(Readers may note that there is no communal angle intended in the comic. The comic resulted from a sting visit to Murgi Chowk, where most pet traders are dressed like the character depicted here).

Cartoons on Wildlife Photography for Dusty Foot Productions

Dusty Foot Productions headed by the dynamic wildlife film-maker Rita Banerji came out with a manual on wildlife photography for students of its conservation film-making venture, Green Hub last year. I wrote and drew some cartoons for the manual, on the technical aspects of wildlife photography, and also illustrated its cover (the image above, with the gibbon, hornbill and the rhino checking out a video camera).

(On equipment maintenance)

(On using natural light)

(On focus)

(The rule of thirds)

(On the types of cameras used for wildlife photography)

(Aperture)

(On the different modes of shooting)

(On ISO)

(On shutter speed)

(On various shots used to frame a subject)

(On editing/sound editing)

Thanks to Rita Banerji for commissioning me for these cartoons that I had a blast doing, and to Nina Subramani for designing the manual!

Ethical Wildlife Photography

A couple of cartoons I did for Conservation India's guide to ethical wildlife photography- 'Stop! Don't Shoot Like That'. If you are a wildlife photographer, this article by Shekhar Dattatri and Ramki Sreenivas is a must read for you.