Hema.N : Our brand new designer for 2016!

Super Talented, Super Sweet and Super Sketcher Hema Nazareth is the newest designer in the house. Vibrant and spontaneous, her love for food, and her incredible sense of humour reflects in everything she doodles. We managed to catch her for a little gup-shup right before her midnight snack!

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> How would you describe yourself to a stranger?

Um. Brown : )  I love food, I’m a big time texter and I hate phone calls. Also I’m very eager to be funny. Laugh at my jokes and I’ll love you forever.

But I also have a terrible memory, so forever isn’t necessarily too long.

 

> Did you always want to become an illustrator or life had other plans for you?

I am actually an animator by training; albeit lazy, and not a very good one!

I always knew I wanted to do something creative. Right from an early age, I was very enthusiastic about music, story telling and art; and these all really helped me to be an animator, a promo producer and now an illustrator – which is ultimately what I have enjoyed doing the most and feels the most ‘me’.

But yeah, ‘in the old days’, we didn’t even know that being an illustrator could be an option! My O Levels and A levels were primarily science subjects; luckily when I was done with my 12th, I heard about art colleges and NID and realized that I didn’t have to necessarily go in a purely academic direction, and I could pursue creativity in an area that could also be a good career and commercially viable, such that my parents didn’t have to fear me scrounging on the streets eating Vada Pao.

 

> Tell us a bit about the graphic designing industry. Is it difficult to stand out amidst the clutter?

There are graphics and illustration everywhere you look; so I guess there really is enough work to go around; requiring all kinds of styles!  So although there are many graphic designers and illustrators out there; everyone has something to bring to the table and each person finds their own niche.

 

> How will your describe your illustration style?

Hmm, it’s a little like me – Kind of goofy and rough around the edges but cheeky and colorful. I love color!

No matter what I do, even if I wear fancy labels from head to toe ( which I don’t);I can never really look sophisticated or slick;  and the same is true of my illustration style – it’s got heart but it’s very, erm…earthy? : )

What I do like is to do is add little details; an element that adds humor or insight wherever I can.

 

> Books or Movies?

I love both. But I guess maybe books since I am that annoying kind of person who you would want to slap because they say things like ‘ oh the book was better than the movie’ and ‘oh I can’t see that movie till I have read the book’

 

> What are the everyday things that inspire you to create art?

Number one on the list would be music.  I can be having a really brain dead day, and I can put on my iPod and just be immediately transported to a world of all sorts of thoughts and ideas and emotions. Humor and great writing come next. I love clever word play; so a great book or blog or smart TV show really work for me.

Also, car rides. I am like the family dog; take me out on a car ride and my ears flap in the wind, I stare out the window and I go into a zone!

I automatically start thinking about all sorts of things and stuff that I want to create.

> What do you usually do when you’re not doodling? What’s a day in your life like?

A day in my life is food filled. Every meal for me is important and I always have to eat something yummy. Plus a midnight snack. I have zero restraint when it comes to food.

And I know I shouldn’t say this, but i watch a LOT of TV. Mostly at night once my work day is done. But I have breakfast in front of the TV, and my lunch break too!

When I’m not working I like to travel and see music concerts – I am a concert junkie, I get obsessed with a band and then I have to go see them somehow. I like to read when I can, I try to do a bit of yoga, but generally I am pretty lazy when I am not working!

 

> Food or Sleep?

Food. Anytime. I can survive with not that much sleep and be ok, and still quite cheerful.

Take away one meal, and I make ‘Hangry’ sound like a cute hamster in comparison.

 

> What do you love sketching the most?

Animals, funny weird looking people and creatures and food.

 

 > If the world ends tomorrow, what is that one thing you would like to do today?

 I think apart from all the obvious things like seeing my family and friends and maaayyyyyybe my husband, I would go to one amazing concert and get super hammered because there’s no next day to have a horrible hangover nor an embarrassing memory of the stupid things I said!

That’s pretty shallow, I know.

 

> What is your ideal alternative career option?

This is so much a part of me that I have never really thought about anything else I could be but I guess if I wasn’t doing this, then maybe something to do with writing. But ideally, I’d want to be in a great band and play the drums like a Goddess!

 

> Give us a Hema-fied message to all the aspiring illustrators.

If you’re an illustrator like me who has drawing limitations, find an innovative way to make those limitations work for you! It could be a totally different way to visualize something, which might actually make it better.  Also, work hard, and be professional – deliver when you say you’ll deliver, manage your time. Don’t be a douche bag.

 

> How is it working with Chimp?

It was super fun; and I am really glad I got to work with a quirky and humorous brand – I have always liked and bought Chimp products. The whole experience was very chilled and really enjoyable.

 

Here are some lovely prints designed by Hema :
Hema's Design Collage01

You can buy them here: http://bit.ly/2lEMHq1