Drawing from real life experiences

'Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness' describes Nikkita M, a cartoonist, illustrator, artist, UX designer, art educator and much more. Nikkitahas created her distinct identity at a young age.

Speaking to The Young Hans Nikkita says, "I began my art training under my mother at the age of three. Whenever there was a drawing competition my mother ensured that I participated in it. Participating in the drawing competitions during my childhood was a huge driving factor for me to constantly unlearn and learn and my mediums of work include pencils, charcoal, water colours, poster colours, acrylics, digital and mixed media."

During the lockdown, Nikkita started live sessions to teach drawing to people of all age groups. "I observed that people would draw or paint along with me during these sessions and they loved the simple things that I taught them.

Now, after several requests from my followers, I hold online drawing classes for both kids and adults. While some of these classes include one-on-one teaching. Apart from this, I also freelance for various companies that request me for a particular artwork or doodle or even to design their newsletter. "saysNikkita

Recalling how she dived into the world of cartoons when she was only seven-years-old, she said, "My parents enrolled me in cartoonist Rahnu's class. I got to train under him for nine years. I also trained under painter E R Lakshmanan where I learnt the skills of painting.

When I finished school, I was supposed to pursue Arts, Commerce and Science but I chose to study fashion designing at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Though I study fashion designing primarily, I also get to study all kinds of artforms. This broadened my horizons; I learnt that art is not just restricted to fashion. At the same time, I learnt UX and graphic designing."

She started creating beautiful watercolour paintings, sketches, illustrations and so on, and posting them on my Instagram page. Soon, her followers began to reach out to ask if she could create a particular piece for them.

"It was probably the first time that I felt happy doing what I wanted and people liked what I did. In 2018, I attended this event called Designer in Bengaluru where I met many designers and artists from across the globe. After interacting with a fellow artist named Ben, I felt like I had finally found a place where I belonged because the work that he was doing was really unique.

He would attend the events, take notes and convert them into paintings, drawings and sketches. This intrigued me as his sketchbook was filled with beautiful visuals and phrases from many other such events. The people who were hosting this event had called for applications from artists who wanted to cover the events and the workshops in a unique way. I applied and they liked the sketchbook concept."

Later, in 2019, four other artists and she got a chance to cover the events. "It boosted my confidence that I was going in the right direction. My inspiration comes from my life experiences, my mood and emotions which are quite volatile and I channelise that energy into creating art." concludes Nikkita.