ನಾಟಿ ಬೀಜ (The Organic Seed)
Directed and Edited by Adithyaa Sadashiv
Produced by Vinyas Studios and Annapoorna Prathishtana
Duration - 87 minutes
Visual Artist
Filmmaker


CHILDHOOD DRAWINGS/SCRIBBLINGS
Some of my childhood drawings which have been preserved by my father. Though I don't remember the exact date and time of these drawings, it has always had a deep impact in me. I constantly study and analyse these drawings as every scribbling of a child expresses much more than what is seen
I strongly believe that every child is born as an artist (especially a surrealistic one) because of his/her unique representing of both figurative characters and abstract figures. As we grow up and start to learn art academically, the innocence and freeness in our strokes and scribblings gradually starts to fade away. We as grown ups hesitate to even apply colours and strokes, instead we start to think if the colours are appealing or if the characters are anatomically perfect. These absurd scribblings of a child can lead to a lot of interpretations everytime one looks at it in a different angle


These abstract figures of mine did not have a specific meaning back when I did it and also till the present day. All i can do is assume what I was thinking while working on a drawing but can't come to a specific conclusion or explanation about my work by giving it a title.
As we grow up and gain information about art criticisms and art history, we start to analyse our childhood abstract works and interpret it. We compare our childhood works to that of a modern artist as most of them are influenced by primitive and child art, I feel that these abstract figures of mine closely resemble Henry Moore's semi abstract, fluidic sculptures with the usage of hollow spaces as his identity.


It's clearly evident that the below drawing of looks like a sun (if that's what I really wanted it to be) because of the bright orange and red colour. Every child has an unique style of drawing the sun without having a definite circle or outline to it. I have observed that in most of my absurd shaped drawings I have used the center space frequently by filling another colour in it. These drawings if mine have a definite outline which has been made after filling out the colour.


Children, generally between the age 3 to 5 years draw absurd geometrical shapes without any definite plan, purpose or intention. As they scribble around on books and papers, they stick to a few shapes and colours which they go on using in most of their drawings. These shapes and colours are a result from their memory which they would have come across in some or the other place. In my drawings, I think I have tried to draw a sun by using blue as a dominant colour. As you can see I have repeatedly applied colours on top of each other, there's a bit of orange, black and cyan which is vaguely seen.


Children associate themselves with a dominant colour. As they experiment with different mediums, children tend to choose a specific color and use it as a dominant feature in most of their characters and abstract based work. Child art researchers David Lewis and James Greene believes that the colour blue is a sign of self confidence and greater maturity in children. As I observe and go through my drawings, there is an abundant usage of colour blue. If I have to interpret or describe my own work after 15 years, the huge blue spot which is a central highlight in the work looks like a gigantic whale, thus occupying most of the space in the paper, which might or might not have been my intention while working on it. .


One thing I strongly believe and observe in these abstract scribblings of mine is that the spaces in the center of every drawing are the hollow space that I was trying to represent. Children unknowingly show the hollowness and depth in their drawings by filling another colour to the space in the center in order to differentiate that the area around is a solid figure and the center space is either hollow or there is depth to it. As we grow up we understand that hollowness in a solid figure is nothing but an empty space. The first drawing is a little different compared to the others with the usage of yellow and the small green spot which makes it look like a fish.
Cars are one of the most common objects we can find in children's drawings, they are very much fascinated by them and find them something unique. When I go through my drawings, I have drawn cars and school buses which I have travelled in. Children (including myself) generally portray themselves as a car/bus driver in their drawings or sometimes their family in a car, travelling together. In the above drawing I have written random numbers along with a tick mark, this was because as a child I always had the habit of grading my own drawings, maybe this was a result of my observation when my teachers corrected the answer scripts.


Researchers believe that children start to use the technique of shading in their drawings at the age of 6 or 7 to add depth in their works. At this age children observe people, animals and characters in books that they come across. Distorted human faces/parts in human faces is a common feature to observe in most of children's drawings, this is only because they see eyes, ears, nose and mouth as something interesting and unique, they try to exaggerate or distort them depending on how they look in reality. I have a faint memory of drawing these above portraits. I think the first drawing is a self portrait or can also be a wounded person (because of the swollen jaws) I came across. The next two drawings are the characters in a book that I used to read every night when I was young.


The below drawings are the ones that I started when I was in 1st standard, I can see a drastic change in my drawings. When we start our schooling or take part in art classes/competitions, we are taught an easy way to draw and colour something. Similarly a child is made to draw or apply colours in a particular way which is appealing either to a child's parents or the audience. However, my father and I disagree to this because till the age of 6 or 7 years a child expresses everything freely without any hesitation but the moment a child is taught to draw in a particular way, he/she thinks twice before drawing the way they like but tries to draw the way they are actually taught, thus making them lose the boldness in their drawings which they had since the beginning. And these drawings can be anything, like a typical scenery or animals which are taught to draw easily using shapes or letters.
Observing and analysing child art is a very interesting experience (especially analysing one's own work) because children do not have a specific intention or a definite purpose during the work process unlike any modern/contemporary artists where it's clearly evident in most of their works. Children's drawings can convey a lot more than what we actually see, these drawings reveal their personality, emotions, attitudes and also a child's introvert/extrovert nature. So let us all be serious about preserving and analysing child art and also allowing a child to express anything freely





