2024 | Longlist | Children's Publishing
- Why did you create this work?
I made this book to realise and emphasise that not everything needs to have a purpose or use. Oftentimes the useless things make us human. In a fast world full of reasoning and practicality, I wanted to be slow and learn - to appreciate things for what they are and not only what we seek from them. And wanted this to come across through loving characters. - How were your illustrations used?
I wanted to create an expressive protagonist and a subtle grandpa and tree trunk ( which only later reveal their beauty) and a playful ambience for the narrative.
With the use of tropical colours and details exploding from the artworks. They were composed keeping in mind that they pull the suggestive text forward and compliment it. Pushing the story ahead with text and illustration hand in hand - What materials and techniques did you use?
I was on a 3200 km journey while making the book. And as I would not have access to a studio at all times. I used watercolours and inks for the base layers with pencil details and scanned them to keep them with me for the route. Refined them digitally for the final spreads, with an exception of a few illustrations that were made entirely on iPad. - Was this project commissioned?
Commissioned - Commissioner Company
Flying Eye Books Ltd - Commissioner Instagram
@flyingeyebooks - Instagram
sarthak_kath - Biography
Sarthak Sinha is an artist and educator, born in India. His love for nature and exploring the diversity and colours of the wild has taken him from the tropical rainforests to the high Himalayas where he made children’s books from his tiny studio, and worked as a kindergarten teacher. He now lives in Lyon, France. - Where are you currently based?
France
