Madhav Nair

The Artist
Madhav Nair is a comix artist and an Illustrator based in Bangalore, who goes by the Pseudonym deadtheduck. He is a recent graduate from Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. His early steps into the world of Art and Design took place when he was a kid. He reveals, while talking about his roots to art, ‘I liked drawing a lot growing up, it’s possibly the only thing I did apart from watch a lot of cartoons and hunt insects in my grandparents’ garden.’ Art and Design convinced him that he could be doing something he actually enjoyed and make a decent living out of it. As he grew up, his dreams took shape.

So far, he has conducted comix-making workshops, worked on a number of editorial illustrations, book covers and album covers. His illustrations are a melange of vibrant colours and seemingly melting forms. All of this is marked by a touch of eccentricity.

The Work
Madhav looks to nature for inspiration, natural processes like decay, digestion and disease. In my opinion, the vibrant melting forms seem to hint towards that. He further reveals the source of his inspiration is what kept him interested in watching documentaries about natural ecosystems and the relationships that exist within the food chain. After a while, the boredom that ensued from watching weaponized animals winning all the time, is what propelled him to create comix and drawings that morphed and distorted these hierarchies.

The Mediums
‘Time, Space and sometimes, drawing ink’

The Creative Process
Madhav keeps a journal, the pages of which are filled with his ideas, which he jots down as and when they occur. This also forms the pool from where ideas for most of his comix and illustrations are taken. On talking about this journal, which is an essential tool for him as a creative, he says, ‘I don’t think I can work without it, if I lost my journals I’d probably do Masters or learn how to design websites or something.’ 

Furthermore, having a physical connection to his work is important to him. Thus, his illustrations see a blend of hand drawing and digital intervention. This also allows him to explore dozens of colour combinations, which satisfy his creative appetite. Talking about his work, he comments, ‘So at least  30% of my process is joyful, painless and fleeting- unlike drawing, which can get quite sweaty sometimes.’

The Future
‘I’m saving up for a good field recording device because I really want to try and work with recorded sound and make soundtracks to the comix I make.’