From Movie Posters to Digital Paintings, Vivek Mandrekar has done it all!
Vivek Mandrekar is a Mumbai based art director who creates Movie Posters and has been into digital paintings since the past five years. His father, the late. Shri Arvind Mandrekar was a fine artist and an illustrator whose work can be revered in “Andher Nagri” & “The Historic City of Delhi” published by Amar Chitra Katha. His paintings turned out to be a big influence on Vivek as he himself spent his childhood drawing and took the artist’s journey himself when it came to his career choice.
Could you tell us about your journey so far?
Around the mid-90s, a digital evolution came across all art mediums, but what fascinated me the most were movie posters. I spent hours looking at the posters and hoarding and wondered about their creation. I became incredibly excited about the idea of channeling my love for movies into poster art, and to pursue a professional career in this area.
My friend and teacher Dinesh Narayanan introduced me to digital art and familiarized me with its advanced techniques. I would have never achieved such knowledge, as we never had an easy access to things like Internet, tutorials, eBooks, videos and painting from artists around the world, unlike today.
Post SSC, I started my career as an apprentice at a renowned movie poster studio. There I learned a lot in my three years there. Later on, I got an opportunity to hone my skills at Epigram on many more prestigious projects. After a couple of years working as a full-time movie poster artist, I felt the need for something different.
A colleague at Epigram, Balaji Rao Waghmare introduced me to the digital drawing tablet Wacom Intuos and also taught me the basics of it. One of my major influencers was the artist Sheridan Johns who completely changed my approach towards the digital drawing medium. As I became more comfortable with it, I started pushing my work further. My first digital painting was of my favorite actor Al Pacino. I received a lot of feedback for my work from a lot of artists and it motivated me to work even harder. I followed it up with paintings of Leonardo Dicaprio, Amitabh Bachchan and Nana Patekar.
Describe the process behind your artwork?
Basically, I start with some rough sketches on a blank canvas in Adobe Photoshop using my drawing tablet Wacom Intuos with the right reference materials of paintings and images. There on, I visualize how the painting will shape up. Once a style and route is locked I proceed further. Upon completion stage I judge, do the color variants or strokes work? Could it be better? Thereafter, I take a feedback from fellow artists and do the revisions. Towards the end, I add the details, refine it and call it a day.
Which artists’ work do you closely follow? Has their work influenced your own personal style?
A style is merely a presence of your personal aesthetic, never let it become a prop; always keep it as a tool.
I have so many inspirations like Sir Drew Struzan, Sam Spratt, Jeremy Mann, Shri. M.R. Achrekar, Shri. Diwakar Karkare and many excellent artists on sites like DeviantArt, Behance, etc. Each of their work has propelled me to do what I’m doing today. I believe every artist has his own merits and I try to learn from that as much as I can.
I’m never satisfied with one particular style, want to try new things and introduce new techniques into my work. I’m not sure what my work will look like in upcoming next ten years and that excites me the most.
Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? What are your goals for the future in terms of both work and life?
I think I am just at the beginning of my path and there are still too many things to be learned and experienced. I am happy with my forte as an art director and a illustrator, as my love for movies and paintings both deepen. I feel really thankful to my fellow artists who helped me out in my process namely Jignessh Pancholi, Balaji Rao Waghmare, Sagar Morye, Rohan Pore and my close friend Raj Khatri.
Explore, experiment and be open to learning new things. Learn to love the craft and the process. Just be obsessed with getting better and your voice will be heard.
What would you consider the best moment on you career till now?
When my digital painting of Amitabh Bachchan was featured as the 10 best digital paintings around the world in 3dTotal’s “2DARTIST” magazine, it was an honor.
Do you believe that a formal education in the arts is beneficial? Would you advise a fresher looking to enter the field to first pursue a degree in it?
I wouldn’t know what to recommend since I never had any formal education. But my art school was DeviantArt, where I received great feedback and criticism from amateur to professional artists across the world.
I have learnt that an alternative would be online websites, which teach you the same techniques that you’d learn at a Formal School. Since most schools these days cost a fortune; learning through the web with a provided course outline can be a better alternative.
Based on my experience, and from the people I know, a degree in arts or any related course can be helpful, but not necessary. Being self-taught teaches you to absorb and interpret things in your own way and the passion to work makes us excellent at what we do.
If you are serious about your future in art, then yes, it is definitely a good idea to consider getting a formal art education. The worst, you will realize that it was a waste of money and time, but at best, it will be the one of the best things you did in your life. So, if you have the opportunity, you should go for it.