Vidhya Nagarajan

Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo

2012-01-05T09:27:00.004-06:00

Philippe over at Jazz and Draw asked me to contribute something to the blog. In school I took a history of jazz class and I remember liking Afro-Cuban music, particularly the song Manteca.

Chelsea Handler & Mindy Kaling

2011-12-15T09:39:00.003-06:00

Those past few ladies didn't write books, but these two did.
I recently finished reading 2 of hers, Are you there Vodka? It's me Chelsea and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang.
I read her book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). She has a couple of stories in there about growing up and being raised by her immigrant parents which were so funny and relatable.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

2011-12-14T23:31:00.001-06:00

lucy

2011-12-13T09:15:00.001-06:00

Amy Poehler

2011-12-11T20:42:00.001-06:00

tina

2011-12-10T13:06:00.003-06:00

Practicing my likeness skills and all I have been reading lately are books that female comedians have written. If you have not read it already bossypants is hilarious.

Central Ave.

2011-09-26T09:53:00.003-05:00

Here is a map of restaurants on Central ave. in downtown Clayton for St. Louis Magazine. This one took a couple of tries to get right. I had to keep moving things around to make way for the text that flows through in the printed version.

Beer Map

2011-09-09T08:23:00.002-05:00

A Map of the different breweries in St. Louis for Sauce magazine.

Chinatown Food

2011-09-08T11:17:00.002-05:00

These are some spots I made for the Village Voice. The article was about New York's Chinatowns and the different things they have to offer.

ink drawings

2011-08-26T21:31:00.001-05:00

This is Summer

2011-08-12T13:10:00.003-05:00

at the farmers market

2011-08-10T13:10:00.002-05:00

Honolulu Magazine-Things Chefs Wished You Knew

2011-08-03T10:52:00.004-05:00

I was really excited when I was contacted by Honolulu Magazine to do illustrations for this story. It gave me the opportunity to draw a bunch of really peeved expressions on people which is always great fun. You can read about all the things Chefs wished we knew here. Thanks so much Cody!

Lake Union

2011-08-01T14:30:00.010-05:00

A map of Lake Union: Seattle's Grand Central Lake for Seattle Magazine. You can read a little bit about it here.

Some details.

I also did a few spots for a side bar called, So You Want to Own a Boat?

Spay and Neuter Coloring Book

2011-07-17T11:38:00.007-05:00

A few months ago the St. Louis PetLover Coalition in partnership with the American Veterinary Medical Foundation and Nestle Purina asked me to make a coloring book about the importance of spaying and neutering pets. The book is for their No Unwanted Litters initiative and the goal is to cut the euthanasia of dogs and cats in half in our region by 2014. The books are printed and are at several locations in St. Louis. I was to draw 16 pages (including a cover) that went with text given to me. Here are some of the pages.

During the making of the book I had to keep reminding myself that this was a coloring book. Usually when I make images not only do I use line, but I also think about color, and how I can use shapes . Here, I relied only on lines so they had to be just right! I also had to make sure that I kept the illustrations simple enough to so that kids would be able to color them. I had to keep simplifying my sketches because I was getting carried away with details that were making spaces to small to fill in.

I got really used to drawing cats and dogs by the end of the project. Cleo, my cat, served as an excellent model. She appears in the book a few times.
The coloring book was a challenging, but enjoyable. The No Unwanted Litters initiative is such an important campaign and I really hope that their goal is able to be met.

Chicago Music Festivals

2011-07-01T11:55:00.006-05:00

I have a few illustrations in Time Out Chicago this week. Carrie Ferris gave me this fun assignment to draw festival goers of all kinds. "Can you draw hipsters, ravers, and metal heads in a crowd?" "Yes, please!"

The one at the top is about how people from north Chicago are coming to the south side for the Dave Matthews Band Caravan.

Pie and Coffee

2011-06-28T10:08:00.006-05:00

My "Coffee Man" illustration was selected to appear in CMYK Magazine's Top 100 New Creatives issue # 50 by awesome illustrator Nora Krug! This image was from my senior seminar project, A Day in Chennai.

I went to DC a couple months ago and stopped at Dangerously Delicious Pies. This guy was making pies in the back and waited on me and my travel companions as we feasted on scrumptious meat filled treats.

books

2011-06-22T19:58:00.003-05:00

I did this one for The Stranger. The article was about Seattle's need for a literary bar. This was a fun drawing to work on because I have a bunch of interior space drawings in my sketchbook, so it was fun to get to do one for an assignment.

AD Aaron Huffman.

take it to heart

2011-06-01T10:20:00.005-05:00

Here is one that I did for the Hour Detroit Magazine. The article was about young athletes who have heart problems. I love drawing people playing sports, probably because I do not have any athletic capabilities myself!

Below is the initial sketch.

You can read the article here.

horace grant

2011-05-29T16:31:00.005-05:00

Unfortunately, the bulls will not be making it to the finals, so this is my last bull for some time. Horace Grant was in the news recently for disagreeing with Scottie Pippen who said "LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game."

more bulls

2011-05-13T11:47:00.004-05:00

One of Carlos Boozer.
The bulls have not been to the eastern conference finals since MJ. Let's beat the Heat!

Bulls

2011-05-08T21:49:00.007-05:00

I'm rooting for them during the playoffs. Here are two decent ones from my drawings this evening. Joakim Noah and league MVP Derrick Rose.

spots

2011-04-14T10:22:00.006-05:00

Here are 6 spots I did for the Village Voice special comic issue. It was an all comics and illustrated issue to pay tribute to the MOCCA festival. These spots were for the voice choices section. You can see all the art work for the issue here.

Baseball

2011-04-01T14:40:00.004-05:00

Here is a 1/3 page illustration I did for Time Out Chicago. The article was about how the cubs and the white sox both have road trips up to Boston's Fenway Park. Thanks to AD Josh Engleman for the fun assignment!

icons/smoking

2011-03-04T18:16:00.004-06:00

I did a quick drawing after I read about the smoking ban in NYC in the New York Times, then decided to finish it.

I made these icons for Sauce Magazine's newsletter. I have not used illustrator since junior year, but I found that it's like riding a bike.

AIGA Trivia Night

2011-02-16T08:05:00.004-06:00

I did the illustration for the AIGA trivia night poster with the type by Annette Gleason. I'm going to the event on March 2. Hopefully, all those design classes I took will help me out!

King Penguins

2011-02-10T17:00:00.005-06:00

I made this after I heard a story on NPR about king penguins. Flipper bands that some researchers use to track the animals cause the penguins to die because they are not able to move freely in the water.

Winslow's Home

2011-01-17T20:01:00.002-06:00

I think about their brisket sandwich often.

Newcity

2011-01-10T12:34:00.001-06:00

Here is a cover illustration I did for Newcity, a city magazine in Chicago. The issue was called the Education issue. Chicago Friends! Pick one or two up. They are free!

They draw and cook

2010-12-27T13:05:00.004-06:00

I illustrated a recipe for the blog they draw and cook, and they posted it today!

water break

2010-12-21T11:39:00.002-06:00

Boats and other things that float

2010-11-29T00:50:00.005-06:00

Steve Nash

2010-11-15T10:29:00.005-06:00

I found this show on my on demand called Iconoclasts. It’s a show that profiles two creative individuals often revealing unexpected qualities in those people. I watched one episode with Suns point guard Steve Nash and academy award winning filmmaker Ron Howard. Both seemed really admirable, having to overcome many obstacles to get to where they are today. Here is a little portrait of Nash. He seems to always get these painful face injuries during the playoffs. Busted eye, chipped teeth, and a broken/bloodied nose. Ouch!

"I Paint My Mind"

2010-11-06T18:04:00.005-05:00

Friend and art enthusiast Evan La Ruffa, runs a Nonprofit Arts and Culture Web Magazine and Art Advocacy Orginization called IPaintMyMind. Guess who he decided to feature the other day?! Check out my feature as well as many other great artists here.

Bourdain and Batali

2010-11-01T09:58:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago i got to see Anthony Bourdain give a talk at the fox theatre. It was great and he was really funny! He talked about his distaste for the food network, stories from his life and advice on traveling. Ever since I've been watching "No Reservations" on my Netflix instant queue like nobody's business.

Warpaint

2010-10-25T21:15:00.004-05:00

Their new album, The Fool, came out today. You can stream it here. I've seen Warpaint live a couple of times and they are really great. Also, they are coming to the Gargoyle on November 19!

Chicago food map

2010-10-18T12:48:00.006-05:00

A map I made about great places to eat in Chicago. Some of them I have been to but others are on my list for future visits.

UPDATE

Please e-mail me at mail@vidhyanagarajan.com if you want print!

Goodbye, summer!

2010-10-01T15:33:00.006-05:00

I went to Chicago a couple of times this summer. Here is one of a few drawings that I have of the city. I'm working on finishing up the others.

man with dog

2010-09-20T16:30:00.003-05:00

getting clean

2010-09-12T11:55:00.001-05:00

Juanito

2010-09-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

based off a photograph that was taken while I was in Barcelona. At Pinotxo bar.

patterns

2010-09-01T11:35:00.001-05:00

John Frusciante

2010-08-26T10:39:00.001-05:00

Monk like. Making music .

Baseball vendors

2010-08-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

This has to be one of the most uncomfortable jobs. Lugging food and heavy crates of beverages around in the hot sun, screaming at the top of your lungs and reaching over people to collect money. Here's to baseball vendors everywhere.

cat naps

2010-08-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Dream Journal

2010-08-09T11:22:00.000-05:00

I always have dreams that are completely nonsensical. This one involved a hang glider and sleepy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Running with the bulls

2010-07-25T10:50:00.000-05:00

This sketch was based of a photograph I saw in Sports Illustrated. Why do people do this? So crazy.

bld

2010-07-23T10:13:00.001-05:00

Sketch of the inside of this amazing restaurant I went to last week in Los Angeles.

bikers

2010-07-19T16:22:00.001-05:00

john Locke

2010-06-22T16:48:00.001-05:00

re- watching Lost while I work. It's so good.

Kobekobekobe

2010-06-15T12:15:00.001-05:00

I made this during the lakers/Suns series. Remember when Steve Nash got his face smashed in, and kept playing? I love it when Kobe makes this face. He gets that underbite going and you know he's not losing the game. We need to see that underbite tonight, Kobe!

Post class sketchbook

2010-06-15T12:08:00.000-05:00

Graduation!
made while watching the last episode of Lost/re-watching some first season episodes

more sketchbook stuff

2010-06-09T16:46:00.001-05:00

some sketchbook spreads

2010-05-07T11:05:00.001-05:00

Seminar Project: A Day in Chennai

2010-04-26T15:50:00.001-05:00

Here are the spreads of my book. Photos of the actual book to come soon.

cover image
end page
title page

end page.

senior seminar project

2010-03-26T22:53:00.001-05:00

Here is one of my many images from my semester long project. I am making an illustrated book all about the wonderful craziness that is Chennai, India. More to come!

a dog, woman, man, banana, and...a cheetah?

2010-03-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

This was my first assignment for the narrative sketchbook class. We had to create an image that included the banana, dog man, woman, and in my case, a cheetah. The image had to tell some kind of story. Fun assignment!

political review cover

2010-02-14T22:07:00.000-06:00

whoa, its been a long time. here is the illustration i did for the on campus magazine, the political review. The theme of issues was " a decade in review." This is the version before the type was added.

quick gestures

2009-12-13T14:13:00.001-06:00

while watching basketball

Buried Child

2009-12-09T12:15:00.000-06:00

This was my final for Illustrating for text. We had to make a poster for one of 6 plays and I chose buried child because I thought of some great material to work with while reading it. The play is about the down fall of an American family. Sam Shepard subtly hints that the son and the mother of the family have an affair which leads to the birth of their child. The mother's actual husband becomes angry, kills the child and buries it. Throughout the play, we can see how this family secret haunts their lives.

Larry David

2009-12-04T00:27:00.001-06:00

This was the first project I had to do for editorial. The assignment was to pick any well known person and make an illustration about them. I chose Larry David because he's hilarious and I love him. This image is actually the revised version of the original, which was pretty bad. I'm not even gonna show you.

Robot Sharks!

2009-12-03T16:33:00.000-06:00

I had to illustrate a spread for an article called "The cyber sopranos." The story was all about bot armies taking over other people's computers and infecting them with viruses and loading them with spam mail. I had to figure out a way to show a mass of evil/technology somethings taking over a mass of innocent/technology somethings. This is what I came up with.

Political review

2009-11-14T11:07:00.000-06:00

Portrait of michael moore for the political review.

Villains!

2009-11-12T11:17:00.000-06:00

For this assignment we had to choose two villains, one from 19th century literature or before, and one from modern day film. The two villains had to share something in common. I chose The cyclops from the odyssey and Elle Driver from Kill Bill.

These were ink drawings that I scanned in and added some color to digitally. One of my favorites from this year for sure.

You are what you eat

2009-10-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

I was given the cliche "you are what you eat." After a bunch of thumbnails I arrived at this idea of characters from different regions eating pizza that reflect their own body types. Brush with india ink and fluid acrylic washes. So fun.

Line work

and here is the small revision

the gargoyle

2009-10-21T20:23:00.001-05:00

This was book review illustration for The Gargoyle about pornographer drives off of a road and is in a fire. He winds up in a hospital burnt and horribly disfigured.

american airlines

2009-10-21T15:58:00.000-05:00

these are 2/3 illustrations i did for my illustrating for text class. We had to create visual metaphors for articles that appeared in american airlines in flight magazine in september. The prompts were dealing long distance relationships, and securing your Wi Fi.

basketball?

2009-06-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

I don't know why, but i've been all into the playoffs. I can't get enough. Here are some sketches i did throughout my breaks today.

Go lakers!

My first Typography Post!

2009-04-05T13:15:00.001-05:00

I think this is the only good think I've made in Typography all year. We all were assigned random titles of made up books and we had to make a book jacked using actual materials, no computer aid (except for the spine and the authors name). I made mine with cut paper. My story is about a blackout in Baltimore.

Editorial illustrations

2009-04-05T11:40:00.000-05:00

For this project we had to create 4 illustrations, 2 spots, 1 half page and 1 full page. The article was about how dangerous nuclear power plants are, and how stressful and confusing it would be to shut one down. Yay for traditional media!

We are Wine Bottles!

2009-03-22T12:11:00.000-05:00

For this project we chose 3 animals from a list and constructed them 2-d. I used ink and a brush. We were then suppose to create labels for various products, I chose wine. I made the "familiar" with ink and brush as well, then added/changed colors in photoshop.

Yuko Shimizu

2009-02-20T12:49:00.000-06:00

This Week the art school brought illustrator Yuko Shimizu to talk to us about the field and her work. Umm... She is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. She is such a great speaker and so funny! All the illustrators in the major always have mini panic attacks about getting work once we get out of school, but she was able to relieve some stress.

Check out her work, its pretty incredible.

http://www.yukoart.com

Nagarajan

2009-02-15T11:12:00.000-06:00

For my web design class I have to create a Website based around my last name. Nagarajan means king of serpents. These are designs of the potential homepage. I'm going with the last one.

fables project

2009-02-08T11:30:00.000-06:00

Can you tell what this story is about?

Out of a list of 6 options I chose to tell the story of the Serpent and the Eagle. An eagle and a snake are engaged in a battle. A country man witnesses this and saves the eagle. The snake, in retaliation poisons the mans drinking cup, and right before the man takes a sip from the cup, the eagle knocks it out of his hand. A one good deed deserves another kind of thing.

I will revisit this one before the semester review. I need to work on the background tone and tweak a few things here and there.

This was a really difficult project for me. Communicating such a complex story with only three images was a challenge. Also, drawing figures in such a specific way with unspecific references was frustrating.

Work doodles

2009-01-08T14:54:00.000-06:00

Zombies anyone?

2009-01-01T13:48:00.000-06:00

Here's one I did on a rainy day last week. It's Alice from Resident Evil. Why? I do not know.

Baraccoli

2008-12-23T17:53:00.000-06:00

Pi is adding a new drink and Pizza to their menu inspired by our new president-elect. Meera asked me to do an illustration of Obama devouring the Baraccoli pizza to put in SAUCE.

Exquisite corpse

2008-12-08T20:50:00.000-06:00

The image on top was made by 3 friends. And the second image is my interpretation. So fun!

Final

2008-12-08T20:40:00.000-06:00

"building the brooklyn bridge"

2008-11-25T17:14:00.000-06:00

This is in an early stage for my final for word and image. We have to create three images with 15 figures in an environment. I was assigned the construction of the brooklyn bridge. At first I was kinda bummed because I though the subject was boring, but it's awesome now. I decided to color digitally because I felt inspired after I went to Jeremy Lasky's lecture about the making of WALL-E. There is definitely, definitely room for improvement though. It's due the week i get back from break, and i still have two more images to draw. AHHHH!!

Arctic Caveman

2008-11-25T17:00:00.000-06:00

For Digital adventure we had to pick from a list of adjectives and characters and create a sort of advertisement for a product. I chose an arctic caveman promoting e-zee shake. I'm going to revisit this one before final reviews.

2008-11-25T16:41:00.000-06:00

We had to choose from a list of items to build in illustrator and we could only use black, white and red. I chose a monkey, a vespa and and octopus. This was the second time I had used illustrator. Pretty rusty, they could use some work.

2008-11-25T16:33:00.000-06:00

For this word and image project we went down to the riverfront and were asked to create a thesis statement based on what we observed, then create 5 images based on the statement. My thesis was about the different patterns that could be found around the riverfront. I used gouache, ink and digital color.

Calamity! Slots+Craps+10 Martinis= Bad Night at the Casino

2008-11-24T23:58:00.000-06:00

This was our first project for word and Image. Everyone was assigned a word equation to visually communicate.

"The Bull Incident"

2008-11-24T23:42:00.000-06:00

Here is the comic I just finished for Digital adventure. This is Meera' s unfortunate encounter with a wandering bull in the streets of India.

Im finally starting a blog! Ahhh!

2008-11-24T23:17:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to start one of these to show friends/family what i've been making at school. I am also making this because I am currently putting off studying for an exam!