Lavanya Naidu is an Indian creator based out of Melbourne, whose warm, lifelike illustrations remind us of the magic in the moments of our lives that we usually take for granted. Her recent illustration series, aptly titled 'Relish', captures the characters and personalities you regularly see on a night out at dinner. We caught up with her to find out more.

Tell us a little about 'Relish'.

This is a personal piece that I had been thinking of for some time. Whenever I'm out eating at a cafe or a restaurant, I often find myself unconsciously observing the other diners around me. There's a story at every table and this piece is inspired by just that.

How do you create?

My process is fairly straightforward. I usually keep a log of ideas as they occur to me - some of these are duds and others I'm keen to realise. I first flesh the idea out as a thumbnail, to get a sense of composition, character placement, whether the focal points work, or in a piece like this one, travel along the piece and rest at different areas. I then transfer this thumbnail to a rough. This can sometimes go through quite a few iterations if I'm not convinced and sometimes none at all. Then I go ahead and line the artwork.

I have a tendency to start with faces. I'm not sure what it is, but it gives me a sense of things coming to life. If I have a strong idea for the lighting I begin with putting in the values of the brightest and darkest areas in the illustration. Then comes paint and when I'm unsure I'll swatch a small thumbnail first and then proceed. Post this is adding in all of the effects, glows, light, shadows etc. It's possibly the stage where I have the most fun!

I like for things to flow when I'm working and this means that sometimes the end result can look different than the original idea, but to me, that's what makes it fun. I also like challenging myself with new things in every art piece, whether it's something as obvious as a palette or the way I draw a nose.

Who and what influences your work?

My biggest inspiration is the magic in everyday life moments. Capturing that sense of wonder in the ordinary is something I hope to achieve through my art. Animals and nature are a big inspiration too.

One of my biggest influences has been French animation. I was introduced to it when I was in college, over a decade ago, and fell in love with the style - so detailed yet so playful, and the authenticity in their storytelling resonated with me.

What are some things this project taught you?

I've been creating a more colour-pencil like look to my art recently and this piece gave me a lot to practice with it and was a lot of fun to work on.

Who are some artists you admire?

Gabriel Gomez, Bosmat Agayoff, Preetham Gunalan, Sukanto Debnath, Lorena Alvarez Gómez, Debangshu Moulik, Juliaon Roels, and Cécile Carre.

What's a project you wish you were a part of?

Inside Out 2 and Wolfwalkers.

You can follow Lavanya here.

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