“Being inspired by the subway doodle, I started my own version of it, drawing over the photographs that I take while travelling.”
Thousands and lakhs of people travel in Metro in their routine lives. You may find them reading, listening to music, talking to the fellow passenger, or just leaning doing nothing. But wait; there is a man who draws in the Metro.
Samar Khan is a software developer. Doodling has been his hobby. You can define doodle as a rough drawing made absent-mindedly (as per Google).
But in Samar’s doodles, he adds his own creativity in each doodle he creates. I found stories in it. He has brought the concept of ‘Metro-Doodle’ to India. And it is loved and appreciated by people all around.
Let’s hear it in Samar’s words:
“I’ve been doodling all this time since I was a kid. I have never been to any art school. It started with doodling on the last pages of the notebooks during the school. You can always find something in there. As I spend so much time in my commute, and there is so much that keeps happening in my head, I thought of bringing it to life through my drawing. Being inspired by the subway doodle, I started my own version of it, drawing over the photographs that I take while travelling. Metro-doodle basically started for me to put my time in travelling to some use. One thing is that I was able to create Doodles for people to enjoy and another was that it was a daily practice for me to work and improve my skills.
“Things have been changing. I now take art related freelance work too that I work on my weekends.”
Why Metro?
“As I travel almost every day in the metro, giving a couple of hours from my day in commute, I thought it would be great to put it to some use. As I draw in the metro, I prefer my artwork to be based on the metro. There is no reason for it though. It’s just that the metro scenes are the scenes that I see every day and there is always something to draw on.”
What inspires you to doodle?
“There isn’t any specific area the inspiration comes from rather it’s a mixture of so many things. The stuff I like to watch, read and think about; the people, the conversations and almost everything. The metro gives me a huge canvas to imagine things and draw. When I am creating my artwork, I try to keep it different from reality. Science fantasy and fiction have always been my preferred genre of choice for TV, movies, books and games. All these creatures that I use in my artwork come from here. It’s fun.”
On his choosing this unique art of Doodles:
“The purpose I create these is to entertain people. Doodling these makes me happy, keeps me entertained and the people I draw these for enjoying it. That keeps me going. And I will keep creating as far as people will keep appreciating and enjoying my creations.”
How do you create it?
“There isn’t a fixed process for me creating my doodles. But it starts from capturing photographs. Sometimes, the doodle idea comes first that inspires me to click a particular scene. Sometimes, the photograph inspires my doodle. Once I know what I need to draw, I import the photograph into my drawing application in my phone and I start sketching. It usually takes me around 3 4 hours in total to finish one.”
Tell us something about the characters you choose for doodling:
“I draw monsters and aliens because humans are boring! I used to love thinking, reading, watching about space and extra-terrestrial life. I still do. I try to keep my doodles a little different from reality, to give them that fantasy look which takes you to some other world for some time giving you a break from reality.”
How was the response from people?
“When I started, I never expected metro-doodle to become this big. It was unexpected. I had no plans when I started. And I have no plans as well. Earlier, I used to do it for myself, but now I do it for my audience and I just want to keep creating for them. – My work has been received very well on Instagram. People appreciate my work. And that keeps me going! Things have started to change for me since metro-doodle has gained popularity. And I constantly try to impress my audience even more. For an artist, it feels great to have an audience to showcase his work. And I am lucky to have such a big one. Let’s see what’s waiting for metro-doodle down the line!”
Your favourite doodle till now:
“Well, there are many. But the one in which there is a monster giving a hug to a sad man is my favourite so far.”
You can see Samar's work here:
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/metrodoodle/
Instagram Profile: https://www.instagram.com/metrodoodle/
[Keep yourself updated at]
C4N India’s Facebook Page
(https://www.facebook.com/C4N.in/)
www.c4n.in
[You can also share your story on]
c4n.india@gmail.com
Share Your Story
(http://www.c4n.in/share-your-story/)
More info: c4n.in
