Lower Parel artists making live portraits more accessible

Sessions at A Good Feeling are held over the weekend starting at 1 pm and going on till 7 pm In the first hourandahalf the model is initially asked to offer different poses while holding on to each for 10 minutes In the remaining hours the model takes on more relaxed posesManoj Maran is no stranger to the spotlight Having worked as a theatre actor and model for three years the 24yearold is comfortable with prying eyes and the camera lens However a few months ago when he entered the auditorium at the IIT Powai campus to pose as a model for a group of artists he felt like a newcomer all over again I was terribly nervous he recalls It was the Versova residents first stint as model for artists He had to sit still for a couple of hours on a stage while his audience observed him closely sketching him all the whileWithin an hour however Marans nervousness ebbed The artists attention to detail was astounding When Id get back to my pose after taking a moments break they would correct me by reminding me exactly where my hand was in the previous stance I was amazed he says The highpoint was when he saw all the sketches at the end of the session The thrill of being a muse for an artist is unmatchedSince then Maran has been one of several models for a bunch of artists who come together every Saturday at Lower Parels A Good Feeling Studio to draw a model from life Herethey experiment with new material and learn different techniques while producing a set of sketches Curated by artist Anand Radhakrishnan along with Kishan Dev Patel Saumin Manasi Parikh Sajid Wajid Shaikh Deeganto Joardar Design Fabric Life Draw is a weekly workshopWhat started off as a closed underground group of three members now has 10 core members and 80 others in queueAfter I graduated from Sir JJ School of Art I realised there was hardly any opportunity for me to sketch from life says Radhakrishnan who is currently working on a graphic novel Grafitys Wall that captures the citys street culture He enrolled at the Bombay Art Society sessions at Charni Road and Sanskar Bharati in Dahisar for live portrait sessions that already had hundreds of artists in queue Those sessions were good but academic What I wanted was something more experimental he saysModels are given props to make the process more interestingMore than just modellingThe Lower Parel sessions are usually held over the weekend starting at 1 pm and go on till 7 pm While in the first hourandahalf the model is asked to offer different poses while holding on to one for 10 minutes in the remaining hours its a more relaxed pose Kishan Dev who works as a freelance artist and worked on storyboards for films like Ek Tha Tiger and Bajrangi Bhaijaan among others says the idea is to get a sense of both still life and moving images The idea behind short poses is to set yourself a deadline In the rest of the session you have time to pay attention to detail and take in contours says Dev Initially the group would request friends and relatives to pose If that didnt work wed tell people that wed pay them and give high resolution scans to upload on social media That got us a quite a few people laughs Radhakrishnan There was also an instance when the 25yearold along with a fellow artist got a kid from the Potraj community who play drums and dance to it while violently flagellating themselves to pose for them We look for character in the model Its about the personality he says All models are paid a fee of Rs 1000 per sessionManoj Maran with his sketchIts not copyingWhile the culture of drawing from life is widely practiced in Europe the concept is still very niche in the country While its taught at art schools artists usually find themselves fumbling for such opportunities once they graduate Manasi Parikh a Mumbaibased illustrator who studied fine art at an institute in Barcelona found herself in a similar situation when she returned to the city I tried to see if there were groups who would do this but couldnt find them she says So the 28yearold would call her artists friends over and make sketches of her grandparents while they sat watching television Parikh who has attended a few sessions feels sketching from life helps understand the basics of art betterIts not about copying which you can also do from a photograph Here its about observing the details and rendering them the way you see them What I learnt in Barcelona was more about what to see and how to see it she says Sometimes the models are even given props to make the process more interestingArtist and illustrator Sachin Kondhalkar says the best part of the session is that its nonjudgemental You can draw the way you want The idea is to learn the rules and then break them Thats how you learn says Kondhalkar who has owns a design studio in BorivliWhile the models have been in steady flow for the group a challenge that remains is to find models who will pose nude Parikh who during her stint in Spain would regularly draw live nude portraits feels that the stigma surrounding the job that makes it a taboo in India There nude artists are respected and theres no awkwardness about the practice However Radhakrishnan and team are trying to get nude models for their sessions There are a lot of factors involved You need a restricted group security more money and willing people But we are still trying to work things out he says