How Dyslexia Shaped Vibha's Illustrations

Vibha Surya shares her perspective on growing up with dyslexia and how this shaped her as an illustrator. 

When I was around 6 or 7 years old, my school teachers realised I had dyslexia. During PTE class or General activity class, a few classmates and I were sent to remedial class. And those classes changed me. I remember looking forward to those classes every week!

As a child with dyslexia, reading was kind of a nightmare for me. I used to browse through pictures or illustrations from books, magazines and newspapers but I was never really interested in reading.

But whatever I saw visually, I took it in. Obsessing over every little detail in the illustrations that added more to the actual story. Thanks to my wonderful teachers and my parents I slowly started to enjoy reading and by the time I was 13 or 14 years old, I used to finish chapter books in one day. But the fascination of images never left.

In today's fast paced world where attention grabbing is not enough, I try to make my illustrations tell an extra story beyond the words. It may be a tiny cat on the side or another side character but I believe those really matter the most. As a tribute to my mirrored 'E', 'S' and using A instead of E, I try to include this learning disability wherever possible; and my final thesis for my Master’s program in Children's Literature and Illustration from Goldsmiths, University of London was about Representation of Dyslexia in Children's Literature.

If you'd like to see more of Vibha’s work, you can check out her portfolio here.

To work with Vibha, please contact: [email protected].

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