Artist Interview – Barnali Bagchi
by miche on 09/02/10 at 12:42 am
We are very pleased to feature the art of Barnali Bagchi, a very creative and talented artist whose use of graceful lines and imagery can only be described as beautiful.
About the artist
I am Barnali, an Indian now residing in Dubai. When keeping the tiny studio apartment my journalist husband and I call home became very tedious, I turned to the second love of my life – art. (No prizes for guessing the first – my hubby, of course.) At present my art is purely a hobby, though I yearn for the day when I can make a living out of it.
I was born in a small town in India called Jamshedpur into a family where everyone can either paint and draw or sculpt. Doing any of these professionally, though, was always frowned upon. So I was never sent to art school, though I had always wanted to go, instead studying for a BSc in IT systems and programming at university, which bored me. But I kept up my study of art privately on the side and obtained a diploma in fine arts. So far as graphic art is concerned, however, I am completely self-taught.
My work can be seen at
- DeviantArt
- CG Society
- CG Arena Magazine
- CG Arena 2010 Calendar
CG Arena, which featured one of my works in their bi-monthly magazine last year -
and then again in their 2010 calendar -
Discovering a talent
I always loved art, though the art I loved was done with pencils, brushes, oil paints, water colours, paper and canvas. It was only after marriage two years ago that I started reading up about digital art, as I had an always-on broadband connection and lots of time to kill. I started viewing digital art on-line and thought – “Hey, I would love to do something like this!”
So I set about teaching myself the details of Photoshop and Illustrator, with which I only had a passing acquaintance before. Soon I felt confident enough to attempt my first digital painting.
I don’t want to be just a skilful manipulator of photographs; I want my work to be different. So I base it on the rich motifs and styles of various traditions of Indian art. We have a great heritage of art in India, especially in Bengal, my home state, and I want to interpret that art digitally, even in the non-Indian themes I take up.
The base of my art still remains the paper and pencil, and I draw out the outline of every little piece I create before scanning it in and digitalising it. And now I draw hours on end almost everyday, honing my skills through practice.
Favourite software
Photoshop takes care of 80% of my work. The rest is Illustrator. The other tool I can’t do without is the humble MOUSE! All my digital art so far is done only with the mouse. I hope to be able to afford a Wacom Cintiq one day.
The works of art
Careless Whisper
Angeline
Iora
Leda
Radhey Shyam
Rapunzel
Darryl Coleman
Feb 9th, 2010
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work
twapt
Feb 9th, 2010
thanks for sharing, i like photoshop, it is very simple, can you do that with adobe photoshop elements 7
BABU & MUMMUM
Feb 9th, 2010
BARNALI, OUR DAUGHTER IN LAW, YOUR ART IS AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU ARE. WE ARE PROUD OF YOU. MAY GOD BLESS YOU.
BABU & MUMMUM
Ricardo
Feb 17th, 2010
Ya truly lovely art. Like the artist says it is not thru any photo manipulation but original & individual. Great imagery, color & contrast, and the best part is d details. I checked out d links & there awsum.
Hard to believe it was only with the mouse! Beautiful new kind of art from a talent. Plz get a tablet.
Sandra Peter
Feb 18th, 2010
Wow Barnali, you have a huge talent! Beautiful artwork! I love it – all drawn by hand, and then you use a mouse to boot! Your day of ‘making a living out of it’ will come.
Suhasini
Mar 3rd, 2010
Barnali I have seen your work and you have really done well in all your work. All the best for your future.
Arturo
Mar 17th, 2010
Your work is awesome!!, I love “angeline”.
Bhavik
Mar 31st, 2010
Great work . ur Digital Creation style is very nice. All the best for ur great future.
lmyer2
Apr 11th, 2010
Your work is fabulous.
I am just trying to teach myself to draw only this month. I hope someday to be half as great as you. Your pictures are beyond words. I can’t explain but Careless Whisper just kind of takes me in. I can stare at it, and it makes me smile because it takes me away…… somewhere very pleasant. Somewhere I was a long, long, time ago. Somewhere I will go again some day.
ashish
May 14th, 2010
too gd
Oesha Sai
Jun 3rd, 2010
Dear barnali, ur art is amazing, hats off !
ur very gifted, take care
raghava vidap
Aug 3rd, 2010
Hai barnali, ur arts is amazing. all the best for ur grate future………………….. take care
shrinivas
Aug 20th, 2010
HI Barnali Bagchi
your art is beatiful good