A study on the art style of
Bimal Das
Faculty Guide: Prof. Chandan Bhattacharya
Student: Riyaaz Roy
One of the most profound illustrators of India and more specifically Bengal, is the
great Bimal Das. He is one of the few illustrators whose unmatched style has found a
sense of belonging among Bengalis due to his apt depiction of subject matter, mood
and theme.
His illustrations were specifically targeted towards little children- an audience who is
more likely to get captivated by wonder, fantasy, capable and prone to imagine and
innocent enough to believe in that which is beyond the practical.
He has often collaborated with Bengal’s Lewis Carrol, Sukumar Ray, one of the greatest
poets and storytellers to have ever been born, as an illustrator.
Although, Sukumar Ray was himself instrumental in illustrating many of his own works,
Bimal Das has his own unique way of interpreting Ray’s characters which entertains
people across all ages.
A comparison between Bimal Das and Sukumar Ray-
Bimal Das developed a comic approach Sukumar Ray had a more realistic way of
towards Ray’s characters and he depicting his characters and a much less
exaggerated on the features clearly detailed one. With his attention more
displaying the absurdities of Ray’s towards imagining and creating his
creations. Also, his style is characterised characters and expressing them through
by heavy detailing and delineation of his lines, he illustrated perhaps to simply
textures, large heads and eyes in the make his work clearer to himself.
form of circles with dots.
Eg- Kumropotash (top) and KaathBuro (below)
Bimal Das’s style can be categorised into 2 types:
• Line art- Highly detailed sketches in mostly red or black ink with meticulously
drawn textures of objects.
• Coloured art- Compositions with characters drawn in the form of cartoons but
with realistic colours and play of light and shadow.
Explorations:
For being comfortable with the style of Bimal Das, I began to sketch in
his style. I have highlighted some of my observations below, which I have
concluded on during the same and have used in my final illustration:
Bimal Das like most cartoonists Although, his style could be easily
always tended to make the faces identified with caricatures, he used
larger than the body, thereby his knowledge of muscles and bones
creating a childish appeal. in his illustration, exaggerating any
or both of these whenever required.
Instead of treating objects with a
singular fill or gradient, he preferred
creating interesting textures like
that on hair to explain the flow of it.
Like most of his objects, he had his way of detailing the drapery of clothing he chose for his characters.
He often used long or broken yet distinct lines to show folds. Also, he successfully illustrated the
contours of limbs while still maintaining the illustrative aspect of it.
Even his way of delineating clouds, terrains, stones and
foliage had a particular style to it.
He made his animals
anthropomorphic, often
introducing strong human
expressions and attire which
all obviously goes missing in
the real world. He also used His illustrations are often characterised by humble and
thinner lines to make the rural and simple scenes, often using geometric shapes
details, folds, etc and a thicker for illustrating residences.
line to make the boundary.
I had chosen Sukumar Ray’s ‘Gaaner Guton’ – a very popular verse of Ray illustrating
the exploits of Vishwalochan Sharma, a character who simply loves to sing with his
heart’s content thereby inviting cacophony and destruction in his surroundings.
The extent of exaggeration and hyperbolic demeanour of the verse makes it a story
having great potential of being expressed through animation. At first, I broke the story
into 6 beats and made 5 different compositionse depicting the same beat.
Beat Board-
Beat 1: A hot day in Kolkata…the folks were minding their own business.
Beat 2: All of a sudden, the might Vishwalochan Sharma vocalises with
his thunderous voice.
Beat 3: His voice loud and rash drives every listening folk crazy…
The animals run helter-skelter, some of them fall unconscious, the
ones under ocean petrified in awe of the song’s discord.
Beat 4: The richter scale goes high and the grounds beneath shake wildly
uprooting trees and residences.
Beat 5: Someone can’t take it anymore, the agonised goat charges at our
protagonist like a fierce bull
Beat 6: Vishwalochan is hit hard in his lower back extremities so much so
as to numb him into eternal silence (he learns his lesson)…
Attempting to create the old Kolkata-
Rough practise…
Trying to characterise Vishwalochan
Sharma
Final Thumbnails-
Selection and Improvement on the final Thumbnail-
