KOCHI: Before you is a portrait of Malayalam film actor Fahadh Faasil. As much as it looks authentic, it also seems different. Zoom in, and your eyes will span across an overabundance of dots, in varying degrees, shades and sizes. Aluva-based Syam S Sajeev is the proud artist of this creation. “It takes a lot of your time, but the result is worth it,” he says. Known as stippling, the technique employs dots in a single colour, applied with a pen or brush, in differing gradations of solidity. Stippling is similar to pointillism, wherein dots of different colours are used to blend colours.

The 27-year-old artist is right. Stippling could eat into your time. Proficiency in the skill requires utmost patience, dedication and the ability to not give up.

Find talent missing? That’s because Syam believes the other qualities are more essential. “I wasn’t a born artist. Nor did I draw in school. During my engineering at SCMS School of Engineering and Technology, I happened to be interested in my friend Juwin Thomas’s artwork.

He created hyper-realistic pencil sketches. That inspired me to take up art. I started slowly and tried perfecting basic sketches. Post college, however, there was a gap, as I would keep shifting jobs and travel often. Now, I’ve dusted my sketch pens and started again,” Syam says.

Once he restarted, there was no looking back. Syam religiously followed Instagram artists and chanced upon calligraphy artist Prajwal Xavier’s works. Inspired, Syam shifted to letters and eventually moved onto dots.

“Most dot artists create portraits in just one shade, which is simpler. I decided to use colours which is extremely challenging. If you look closely, you’ll find that a whole lot of different shades are involved. I outline the subject in pencil and then fill in dots. Sometimes I lose patience and the dot distribution isn’t right. Nevertheless, in the end, it looks very pretty,” he continues.

Syam’s works have garnered positive reception on his Instagram handle, with actors Tovino and Aishwarya Lekshmi sharing their dot portraits. “That was a celebrity-like moment for me. Seeing their comments, people called and appreciated. It felt good,” Syam says. He now does works on commission via requests received on social media.

An associate in one of Infopark’s companies, Syam always find time to create art. “I try sketching almost every day. It’s therapeutic; a form of meditation,” he says. Drawing from his own experiences, Syam is a firm believer that anyone can draw. “Creativity is inborn, yes. But anyone can do stippling. All it needs is practice aplenty, and patience. I never considered myself as an artist. Over time, I learnt, modified my skills and let regular execution of the work lead the way,” he adds.