Shaping art

KOCHI: Growing up in Kumarakom, the picturesque village in Kottayam district of Kerala, Jibin Joy didn’t consider himself much of an artist. However, securing a graduate degree in animation and design and beginning to work with lines and colours kindled his interest in art. “For a long time, it was hard for me to zero in on a style. I wasn’t really moved by anything I made,” he says. Scrolling down Jibin’s Instagram feed, however, this self doubt reflects as his evolving style. From simple caricatures of everyday objects, filling surreal depictions of emotions to handsketched line drawings, or the geometric shapes Jibin has recently started experimenting with, his style has undergone a sea of change. 

Leaving home to work in Bengaluru is what really changed his perspective. The 27-year-old is now a designer with a prominent service provider. “It is when I started working here that I noticed how everyone does more than just everyday tasks.

There is a design language for everything they make. I started doing more research on different ways of making art, or the more simple ways to play around with colours which was always my dilemma,” he quips. “When I am making sketches for work, it has to be more cartoon-like. It is for the common people to understand and be influenced by. But my personal style was always too complicated for a wider audience,” he says.

It is quite recently that Jibin stumbled upon geometrical art. The third artwork from the series features a medieval glass art influenced by the drawing of Mundz TDT, lead vocalist with South Indian metal band The Down Troddence. “I was surfing on YouTube when I found an artist who could make just anything out of geometric shapes. It is a meticulous process where you take each element and try to incorporate shapes into it, and ultimately make a bigger picture from those smaller elements,” he says.

Jibin, who has finally found his style, also plans to spread the word to more people. “If you are an artist without a strong fine arts background, you might struggle to find a comfortable style. This might even end up making you feel like you cannot draw. But using shapes to bring out an image is a simpler, more analytical process that even the unconventional artists can try,” he says, adding that he is soon planning to provide tutorials on geometrical drawing.