Artists’ Sketchbooks 02: Tanya Singh

Tanya’s work consists of a lot of photo illustration and digital illustration with strong composition and bold colour palettes. This aesthetic is evident in her sketchbook, full of bright neon shades and fluid line-work and gives the viewer a peek into her refreshing design approach.

Who

Tanya Singh is a 21-year-old illustrator and image-maker. She is originally from Delhi, and is currently completing her final year at the Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore. She goes by @thedoodlemafia on Instagram.

Tell us a little about your work and artistic practice.

As an image-maker, my aim is to recreate what I have envisioned and hence, I am not bound by medium. I like to employ a variety of tools to create a piece - photography, digital media, drawing, collage and don’t impose too many restrictions upon myself because I’m already bound by lethargy and the constant shortage of art materials. I use this to my advantage and make the best of what I have at the moment. If I have magazines lying around, I cut them up, if my rotring pens are out of ink and need cleaning, I’ll get my hands on sketch pens - I adapt my style to the mediums available. If you follow my work, you’ll notice that my aesthetic changes with the medium I employ but the themes/elements that intrigue me remain constant. Most of my work is an outcome of song lyrics stuck in my head (check out the #loopinglyrics on Instagram) or just how I feel about that particular day!

What does your sketchbook mean to you?
People often ask me about my work and artistic practice – my sketchbook is my work. Everything begins in my journal, every phase that I have had has stemmed from something I created in my journal. I wonder if I can just make journals for a living. That would be the dream ‘job’.

Could you share one piece from your sketchbook that means something to you.

This is something I made in one of my recent journals (Yes, I have a shelf full of journals which perhaps, trace the evolution of my aesthetic), its called “Cringe” - A representation of how I feel about Mondays. This piece was, in fact, made on an awful Monday morning. It was such a terrible day that I proceeded to make cynical/frustrated/almost dead characters the rest of the week.