Viswas Nair TK

2011 - The year of the drama...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:07:00 +0530

… all of which has been laid to rest, hopefully. I don’t think I have ever looked forward to a new year being so different as this one. As always, however messy a year might be, the reading and gaming list leaves me with a deep sense of happiness and accomplishment:

Books:

Like the flowing river by Paulo Coehlo
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
World War Z by Max Brooks
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Breakfast of champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Journey to the center of the earth by Jules Verne
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
The colors of Magic and The light fantastic by Terry Pratchet
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Gora by Rabindranath Tagore
Anzacs at War Commando Comics
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Games:

God of War I
Portal 2
Mortal Kombat
Call of Juarez - The Cartel
Witcher 2 - Assasins of Kings
Resistance 3

Hampi photos now uploaded to flickr

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:26:00 +0530

Hampi photos now uploaded to flickr

And now for the Caucasian/brown version. I had to correct the...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:08:00 +0530

And now for the Caucasian/brown version. I had to correct the eyes, make the nose less round and change the cheek bones to get it this way. I still wasn’t able to reproduced the original. Realized that the face has to be become thinner which would mean redoing a lot of the work that went in (the paper wouldn’t have been able to handle it anymore). The nose had to become shorter which meant redoing the lips, something which I wasn’t willing to touch (this was the hardest bit). Some of the angles were also wrong. It is amazing how very minute variations in angles can have a huge impact on the looks. 7 billion people in the planet and most of them unique looking. The biological aspect of the origin of unique faces fascinates me.

10 hours of labor. I chose the wrong photo to do this one. It...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:04:00 +0530

10 hours of labor. I chose the wrong photo to do this one. It was shot in the dark with a flash, so there was too much lighting and shadows on the face which would look proper only if the background was dark as in the original photo. I couldn’t do the dark background well enough, so the shading turned a Caucasian into an African. I am not satisfied with the accuracy of the reproduction but I like how the face doesn’t look weird. Also managed to damage the paper around the cheek region which gives an acne effect! Good learning experience though. I especially like the way the hair turned out.

This was very challenging because it isn’t a copy from a...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:20:00 +0530

This was very challenging because it isn’t a copy from a drawing. I drew this from a color photograph so figuring out the shadow and lighting was hard, especially on the face. The lips and the nose were quite the ordeal. The original had the woman resting her chin on the left hand. I drew the limbs first and then the face. After spending a lot of time on the face, I realized that the face had to become smaller to do which I would have to redraw large parts of the limbs which I didn’t want to do. I modified it so that the face no longer rests on the arm and added a t-shirt as a filler. The right leg could have been a bit thinner. I also didn’t get the lighting and shadows on the limbs properly because of changes in the posture that was made.

What can I say, I am addicted! :) The female form is too...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:54:00 +0530

What can I say, I am addicted! :) The female form is too enticing.

This was a copy of woman sketch by jamie mosher available here: http://jamiemosher.deviantart.com/art/Woman-sketch-187225043

I didn’t like the original bra design and decided to bring in some creativity into this piece by replacing it with a t-shirt bra. I especially like the way the original author handled the collar bone (and my reproduction of it as well). The navel and the left feet was the most challenging part. The missing face and palms made the task a whole lot easier. I made changes to the muscle structure in the thighs and knees by changing the shading. The original looked unusually muscular for a woman. Overall, a very satisfying work with all the curves.

I need to buy my own scanner. The actual drawing looks much more detailed than this scan.

This reproduction of a pencil drawing titled German rider and...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:43:00 +0530

This reproduction of a pencil drawing titled German rider and horse was my first attempt at shading for shadows and lighting. This was drawn upside down. The original had a horse with a wider face. While not intentional, I actually like my leaner horse better. The face came out surprisingly well. The rider seems to be sitting in an awkward angle and his left leg is a little too long. The left arm glove area got a bit messy as compared to the original. Not having to draw a face (saved by the helmet!) made the task easier.

This is a reproduction of an anime girl I found...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:33:00 +0530

This is a reproduction of an anime girl I found here: http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/7635/2/1/49653/how-to-draw-an-anime-woman-step-13.htm

I didn’t follow the instructions in this page and went about it my way. I don’t have too many complaints about this one. It was fairly accurate reproduction that was simple to do since it didn’t have any lights and shadows. It was a good exercise in understanding shapes of limbs.

This reproduction of Picasso’s portrait of Igor Stravinsky...

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:18:00 +0530

This reproduction of Picasso’s portrait of Igor Stravinsky was done upside down. Being one of my first works, I was quite happy with the picture overall. The face is way too tilted and looks a bit funny around the mouth region. The crossing of fingers looks a bit awkward but then so does it in the original available here:

http://www.abcgallery.com/P/picasso/picasso25.html

2010. Mostly Accomplished. A few shortcomings.

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:15:00 +0530

Books:

Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Wheels by Arthur Hailey
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Sin City: The big fat kill by Frank Miller
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
India A History by John Keay
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
The murder artist by John Case
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Rainbows End by Verner Vinge

Games:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from butcher bay
Chronicles of Riddick - Assault on Dark Athena
Borderlands
The Witcher
Just Cause 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Machinarium
God of War 3
Unchartered 2
Resistance
Resistance 2
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
Dead Space
Medal of Honor
Call of Duty: Black Ops

Fusion Perfected.

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:52:00 +0530

Fusion Perfected.

"I read for that exhilarating feeling of magically being transported to another place and time in the..."

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:49:30 +0530

“I read for that exhilarating feeling of magically being transported to another place and time in the shoes of someone I never will be to earn an experience I can never feel otherwise.”

"What worries me about religion is that it teaches people to be satisfied with not understanding."

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:30:11 +0530

“What worries me about religion is that it teaches people to be satisfied with not understanding.”

- Richard Dawkings; Heart Of The Matter: God Under The Microscope | BBC (1996)

The basic maxim of life - happiness, I forgot to seek in the...

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:25:17 +0530

The basic maxim of life - happiness, I forgot to seek in the simplest of my actions.

Hand out of a moving vehicle, the strong breeze pushing against it

The third support wheel removed from the bicycle, the first balance

When the toy moved without me having to push it

At the end of my home work

Reveling in the joy from quenched thirst

Eat your cosmetics and apply fruits on your skin!

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:31:47 +0530

Someone said “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. They were of course referring to eating an apple, but the marketing guys at cosmetic companies took it a tad bit too seriously.

The day is not far when you will walk into Health and Glow/ Mannings, take a table and be attended to by a waiter who will hand you a menu card which will have custard apple facial cream for starters, an olive aloe butter body lotion for main course and a jack fruit jam foot cream for dessert. Ofcourse, all this is not to eat but you will be forgiven if caught eating out of the tubes in secrecy. They do sound delicious.

There already are menu cards at spas and salons but for now you know that everything in the menu is for cosmetic application. But what if you don’t know what is to be eaten and what is topical? In these times when women can shell out $250 to soften their skin with semen (check this if you don’t believe me), anything is possible.

A trip to my neighborhood Mannings and I was baffled by the extremities of bullshit in the cosmetic industry. I know what a soap is, I know what a shower gel is. I know shampoos and conditioners. What the fuck is a shower cream? How about one that is called (is it made of?) Goat’s milk shower cream!!!! Do they expect me to lick myself while I am having a bath? Is this for the new age man who doesn’t have time to make his drink in the morning so he can have his beverage and bath at the same time?

And don’t worry if you are lactose intolerant. They have a green tea spa exfoliating bath scrub just for you. Someone said Green tea is the best of the lot for consumption. If you can drink, you sure can apply.

And if you are a health freak, maybe you should mix goat’s milk shower cream with the green tea spa exfoliating bath scrub and rub it on yourself. Only, expect to look like a douche with two horns sticking out of your forehead.

Words strung like pearls

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:43:00 +0530

One Kashmiri morning in the early spring of 1915, my grandfather Aadam Aziz hit his nose against a frost-hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray. Three drops of blood plopped out of his left nostril, hardened instantly in the brittle air and lay before his eyes on the prayer-mat, transformed into rubies. Lurching back until he knelt with his head once more upright, he found that the tears which had sprung to his eyes had solidified, too; and at that moment, as he brushed diamonds contemptuously from his lashes, he resolved never again to kiss earth for any god or man. This decision, however, made a hole in him, a vacancy in a vital inner chamber, leaving him vulnerable to women and history. Unaware of this at first, despite his recently completed medical training, he stood up, rolled the prayer-mat into a thick cheroot, and holding it under his right arm surveyed the valley through clear, diamond-free eyes.

Salman Rushdie. Midnight’s Children. There is a reason why this is the Best of booker prize winners. Each word so exquisitely chosen to not disturb the flow of ideas, so pure, so original, so thoughtful. Never have I felt so flattened by the power and beauty of words. If books are written like buildings are constructed, this one would be a Sky Scraper, one of the tallest.

Along the way, a travel video on Hampi.

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:05:19 +0530

Along the way, a travel video on Hampi.

"As homo sapiens, we thrive on the hope to reach an ideal state of living, which just wont happen,..."

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:59:34 +0530

“As homo sapiens, we thrive on the hope to reach an ideal state of living, which just wont happen, because we don’t have it in us to know what the ideal state is. We are just a bunch of miserable people who need to pass time until our evolutionary successor finishes us off. Can’t wait for AI to take over”

When it rains

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:40:07 +0530

Nothing causes more panic than rain for a lot of people. I suspect more people have had panic attacks trying to escape rain than from something grave. It is a natural phenomenon that people have endured for ages. But still, most humans are simply not used to the idea and dislike it. There is a desperate urge to run for cover as if the rain would kill the person. The justification always is the discomfort of wearing wet clothing.

Big deal. Mind over Matter. Get wet! Enjoy the shower! Unite with nature! It really is not that big a deal and if for a moment you can forget the inconvenience of wet clothing, you actually enjoy the chillness and the overall sensation. Its just beautiful. Except when I am on my way to work. Even then, I live with the inconvenience.

"On Materialism - Easy is buying an expensive guitar. Tough is buying a cheap guitar and learning to..."

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:26:00 +0530

“On Materialism -
Easy is buying an expensive guitar. Tough is buying a cheap guitar and learning to play it well.”