­I am an illustrator/cartoonist with over 14years of experience in leading English newspapers of India. After doing my BFA from College of Art, Chandigarh I joined The Indian Express Newspaper in Chandigarh as an Illustrator in 1996 and worked there for 10 years drawing illustrations and cartoons based on city life and politics. After that I joined The Times of India, Chandigarh as Chief Designer, and made several cartoons and illustrations on city life besides designing the news and special stories’ pages. I have been dabbling with 2D animation since 2000, and it was in 2008 that I joined the entertainment website www.santaBanta.com as Team Leader (Art& Animation Dept) and executed several comic strips, caricatures, portraits, small flash animations based on bollywood humour, a couple of 3D animation clips, and wallpapers. Since 2010 onwards I started freelancing full time and have been making
‘how it works’ animations,
illustrations,
comics,
webdesigns and
logos for various clients accross the globe.

Printed works:

Over 2000 illustrations in leading English daily newspaper, The Indian Express, Chandigarh.
Over 200 illustratios in leading English daily newspaper, The Times of India, Chandigarh
Illustrations in over 70 books for various publishers in Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi.
More than 100 pen sketches for bi-monthly literary journal Kafla-intercontinental
Over 150 articles and art reviews of local art exhibitions in The Indian Express
Over 100 ‘Art History’ articles as a fortnightly column on art published in city magazine section ‘Simplicity’ of The Indian Express, Chandigarh.

Educational Qualifications:

Master of Arts from Panjab University in History of Arts, in 1999 with 67.8 % aggregate marks, got 1st division and topped the batch. Won silver medal.
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA 4-yr-degree) from the Government College of Art, Panjab University, Chandigarh, specializing in Applied Art in 1997 with 68.5 % aggregate marks, got 1st division and topped the batch.
Passed National Eligibility Test for lecturership in Visual Art conducted by UGC, Government of India, in Visual Art in 1999.

Fine Arts Awards:

National Award by NCERT, New Delhi, for illustrating a children’s book in 1995.
Gold medal for painting in all India exhibition by `Avantika’ – art group in New Delhi 2002.
Silver Medal by Panjab University for standing first in MA-1st year (History of Art)
Various awards at College level.

Solo Exhibitions of Paintings and Drawings

Drawings at Oslo (Norway) in 1996
Impressions & Expressions- paintings at Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi 2003
Exhibition of paintings at Dharamshala Museum (Himachal), 2004
Paintings at Alliance Francaise, Chandigarh 2003
Drawings and paintings at Fine Arts Museum, Panjab University, Chandigarh 2000
Drawings at Govt. Museum, Chandigarh in 1996.

Participations in Art exhibitions:

Annual exhibition, Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, 2004
Annual exhibiton, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, 2004
Regional AIFACS exhibition in Chandigarh, 2004
All India Exhibition of Art 1996 at Govt Museum, Simla, Himachal Pradesh.
All India Exhibition of Art 1997 at Amritsar;
All India Exhibitions of Drawings 1995 at AIFACS, New Delhi
Group Show by The Art People, New Delhi at Rabindra Bhavan – 2003
AIFACS Painting exhibition (regional section) in 2002;
Drawing exhibition by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi- 2002;
Bank of Punjab art competition 2002, 2003
Group Show of paintings by young Chandigarh Artists in 2001

Invitation to Workshops:

Two-day Drawing workshop by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi 2006
Painting workshop at Panjab University Museum 2005
Cartoons and caricatures workshop by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, 2003
Drawing workshop by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi 2002
Young sculptor’s workshop by Govt. College of Architecture, Chandigarh 1996
Painting workshop Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi 2002
Painting workshop by NZCC at Kalagram, Chandigarh 2002
Young artists workshop at Govt. Museum, Sector 10, Chandigarh, 1998

Works in Collection of:

Fine Arts Museum, Panjab Univeristy, Chandigarh.
The Chandigarh Press Club
Alliance Francaise of Chandigarh
Indian Express, Chandigarh
With private collectors worldwide