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The Hindu Pantheon has for centuries been a source of wonder, to the religious, the scholarly and the artistic. For animator Soumyadipta Roy and his wife Riddhi Joshi, it became the basis of a new and exciting foray into the world of Indian graphic novels. A year ago they found themselves again debating the intricacies of the religion and its many parallels in modern science, “We noticed that the theory of evolution (from fish to turtles to apes and onward) was very similar to the reincarantions that Vishnu took as Matsya and Kurma.” says Roy. The more they delved into the subject matter, the more they discovered and soon realised that these two seemingly opposed schools of thought could actually find some reconciliation. Their animation backgrounds kicked in and they decided to chronicle these stories in a graphic novel called Winter’s Child, a post-apocalyptic journey through science and religion, a first of its genre in India.
Roy has always been a devotee of drawing, recalling his school days where he spent more time in the art room than in actual classes. Today he’s made it into a successful career working on projects like Harry Potter, World War Z, Stan Lee’s Chakra the Invincible as well as concept art and storyboarding for video games. When he and Riddhi - a 3-D Graphic Designer and co-creator of the novel - took on this project, it was more than just a whimsical hobby, it was filling a gap that he’d long observed in Indian art.
The area of post-apocalyptic science fiction is one that’s being extensively explored throughout the world, from zombie wipeouts to natural disasters, a quick search will turn up scores of movies, TV shows and comics streaming through Western media. Somehow though, the same craze hasn’t made it to Indian shores. Even with a noticeable rise in popularity of graphic art and animation, a phenomenon backed by the rise of Comic Con culture, there’s still no high quality content in this space, a problem Roy is on a mission to rectify.
The story of Winter’s Child is set in the distant future, where the ice-apocalypse has brought an end to the world as we know it. It follows a main protagonist, navigating life in a harsh new reality while they struggle to come to terms with surviving this world and whether the source of hope should lie with faith or with science.
This project is currently being crowdfunded on Wishberry and promises to be the spark the Indian art community needed to bolster the graphic novel community. They’re offering a selection of goodies to investors like posters, exclusive hardbound editions and video tutorials to nurture your inner comic book creator. Post the release of the novel they also hope to start work on a fully dramatised, motion comic, which will be yet another milestone in the field. Whether you’re an existing comic collector, or looking to start a new hobby, we can assure you that this beautifully crafted creation deserves a place on your shelf.
To help bring this project to life via Wishberry, click here.
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