Creative Updates from Soumesh Choudhury
Kolkata-based illustrator Soumesh Choudhury recently shared some of his latest projects with us, including a new illustrated book and a feature interview with India’s leading creative magazine, Creative Gaga.
Soumesh has just completed illustrations for Indian publishing house Mango Books, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He often begins his process on paper, using ink and watercolour, before moving into digital refinement, resulting in richly detailed and expressive illustrations.
Soumesh shared a few words about his approach and what made this project particularly special to him:
“I’m always keen and interested in folklore and fairytales, some classics retold or some new takes on folklore as well. I am particularly interested in recreating vintage magical, whimsical worlds, with the detailing of the story. This led me to creating these illustrations for “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carrol. It was a joyful roller coaster ride of characters and scenes; with the Mad Hatter, the Kingdom of Cards, The Queen of Hearts, The Cheshire Cat and in particular, Alice herself. I tried to create an unusual fairytale look. As it’s a chapter book, I tried to grab the attention of young readers' eyes with bold colours and scenes showing Alice’s fun journey.”
After coming across his work online, Creative Gaga reached out to Soumesh for a Q&A, highlighting his distinctive visual language and storytelling sensibility. The magazine describes his work as using “tenderness, texture, and hand-drawn honesty to reconnect us with our environment.” They also note that rather than portraying climate change through destruction, Soumesh’s illustrations explore our relationship with nature, blending folklore, gentle emotion, and subtle observation.
If you’d like to work with Soumesh, please contact: [email protected]
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