Sharktivity #14: Spinner Shark dances the gloom away!

The spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna), rightly named because it can spin while breaching out of the water. What a sight that would be!
They are listed as vulnerable in the IUCN red list.

Be sensitive and sensible.

Did you know that a shark can sense you in the water in many different ways? It can see you, smell you, hear you, feel you and feel you. The lateral line of a shark can sense pressure changes in the water and their ampullae of Lorenzini can pick up the faintest of electrical fields. Except, they have better things to do than stalk you for the sadistic pleasure of it.

As much as I love the song "Every breath you take" by The Police, I always thought it was a bit stalkery. I've had a stalker or two in my life (and not because they love my cartoons and want a commissioned piece) which is already a stalker or two too many. I just watched the show "You"which aims to make you almost root for the psycho but victims of stalking would only be sickened by it. It's any day better to be stalked by a shark, than a psychotic human.

We all belong.

I did this for my cousin's non-profit Special Sources last year.

Shark Fest UK 2016

I made this logo for Shark Fest 2016 and it won! I'm excited about it. I'll update this page more once I'm closer to being there.

Fifty Sharks of Grey

Before you assume that I'm a Fifty shades fan, I believe that Fifty Sharks of Grey would be far less scary and less dangerous than Christian Grey. I haven't watched the "Fifty shades of Grey" movie yet but I have read the books and I can tell you that they're dreadful. The writing was sadistic and I suppose one would have to be somewhat masochistic to read it and enjoy it. It was simply an abusive relationship being declared as romantic and it's only because the illiterate author would constantly re-emphasize on how attractive the psycho-stalker-boyfriend was that women bought it.
I'm actually quite surprised that I managed to draw fifty grey (grey-ish) sharks. I owe a huge deal to the "Sharks of the world" book. (A must-own!)
Some of my sharks are quite straightforward and easy to guess, others not so much and probably don't make a lot of sense. I think a couple of them have a numerous variety in their category and possibly one of those varieties are grey in colour so I just gave a general representation. And it's possible that I got some of them wrong so please pardon any incorrect drawings.
I will try and put up a version with the names printed next to the corresponding shark soon.

Answers will be posted soon.

Race Sharks

I got the idea of drawing a hammerhead shark designed race car while drawing another sketch and thought it would be fun to do a bunch of shark designs on race cars. But I got bored quite quickly. I guess I shall not be entering the car sticker industry.

Shark du Soleil

Now this would make a great Cirque du Soleil show!

The Shark Ages

A while ago I wanted to rename this comic strip to "The Shark Ages" and announce the change with this strip. But several people said they actually like the title "Oh, Dakuwaqa!" so I guess I'll leave it that way for now. Besides, The Shark dressed in armor for no reason is funnier.

Nightsharks

Here's my rendition of "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. This is another painting I saw for the first time at a friend's place. It must be nostalgia month or something. This is also another picture that has been parodied by several people. I haven't seen a Shark one yet though.
I wonder if I should change some of the sharks. I wasn't too sure about the Tiger and Oceanic.
And it's missing the red but I'm not going to make it look as if my shark was bleeding.

After all, everyone needs to know how.

This strip follows the previous one. As you can see, I wrote the book just to make this strip. I can't think of a better, much-needed self-help book. 

How to be a Shark.

The Shark's first book! Can't find it in the stores? Blame the publishers for not publishing this awesome book.
The moral of this story? Probably that you simply cannot be a shark. At least try and be the best human you can be.
Ps - This is also kind of a prologue to an upcoming comic strip.

Some of the best stories are born out of boredom

This is kind of a prologue to the upcoming strip.

"Sharks of the World" book review!

I just got my copy of "Sharks of the World - A fully illustrated guide" and it is one of the best purchases I've made all year! It has details about more than 500 species of sharks and Marc Dando has done an unbelievably awesome job of illustrating them. He was very kind to sign my copy - that makes mine priceless! 

If you love sharks, this book is a must-have. It's fun, educational and beautiful.

Authors: David A. Ebert, Sarah Fowler and Leonard Compagno
Illustrator: Marc Dando

Also available from NHBS and Amazon UK.

Sharks love to photobomb!

Animals that photobomb are hilarious! Notice how the bear is mortified when it gets photobombed?... .that's how much this bear loves photos of itself.
The Shark in the first photo was just a trial sketch but the expression cracked me up so much that I had to keep it.

The Shark's Poem

I grew up reading the poems/rhymes of Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Ogden Nash and Shel Silverstein.  I love those but I really can't appreciate many other forms of poetry. Especially the "deep" and "painful" ones.
Many years ago I wrote a poem about a shark which I thought was pretty good for a ten-year old. I've searched all over for that notebook but sadly, it is lost. And so, I attempted to write another shark poem. My poetic skills obviously haven't improved but it was fun writing this. I didn't get to do an Earth day strip this year but I mentioned it in the poem. :D

Here's a separate panel with just the poem.

Crazy Shark Lady

This is probably the most elaborate sketch I've done so far. I've never spent this much energy or time on backgrounds before. It was hard. Harder still was having my sister pick on all the imperfections and making me correct/change things.
I'm not sure if all the details will be visible here so I'll put up a bigger image on the Facebook page. See if y'all can find all the shark related items in the room! Some items are imaginary (aka "I hope they make these), some are real and I'd love to be able to afford them (like Victor Douieb's sculptures) and others are stuff that I probably want/have. :)

Back to the Planet of the Sharks

Personally, I think "Planet of the Sharks" would make an awesome movie. 

Sharks > Monkeys, any day! 

Soak in laughter!

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "Soak no more"? That is the question Surf asked. At first, I couldn't think of anything other than soaking clothes prior to washing them but that would be a bit too bland and direct and my characters would have hated me.

Then I thought about tea bags.  The fun tea infusers (especially the sharky one) makes tea bag dipping and soaking seem rather boring comparatively. It would be really cool to have interesting new ways to achieve what soaking would otherwise do.

Living in Southern India, one can't help but know what it's like to be soaked in sweat (and sometimes rain). The heat doesn't bother you as much (even though we didn't have air-conditioning) when you're a child because you found innovative ways to cool off. Like water sprinklers meant for the lawns or water guns or hoses or even a make-shift "pool" made out of whatever you found.

And finally, one that stays true to the theme of my comic.  Yeah, yeah poor bunny.
Well, my advice is that if you're going to get soaked, soak in humour and/or goodness.

This post is for the Surf #Soaknomore contest on Indiblogger.

Colourful Chennai Stories

I did these sketches for a friend to help with her non-profit project. I was asked to portray India (Chennai, in particular) in my own creative way. I had no idea where to start but luckily my friend mentioned the heat, the autorickshaws and the monsoon season. I'm not a particularly patriotic (I would rather not spit/piss on my country than protest evil culture-destroying things like coca-cola) person but I felt a tiny bit fonder of this city by the end of my post.

It is crazier than usual in Madras (that's how some still refer to Chennai) during the rains. I ventured out once on a particularly bad night praying I don't drive my car into one of our giant man-holes or open sewers. Turns out, I only do that when it isn't raining and everything is perfectly visible.

The Autorickshaw experience in Madras is not entirely fun because bargaining with the driver usually changes your mood from excited to foul. There's something that resembles a fare meter in all autos but don't be fooled - they're just ornamental. Most auto drivers drive like they're in "Whacky races". The day we watched "Herbie fully loaded", we suspected that our driver had watched it too because he was like Speed Racer on Redbull.

Then there's the summer heat. I spent every summer while growing up in Madras. It was never as bad as it is these past few years. The tall apartment buildings probably block the sea breeze and the excess use of air-conditioners & refrigerators probably add to the heat - it can only get worse. It doesn't stop anyone from being out and about - I'm starting to think nothing can stop people from being out and crowding up every single spot in the city.

Having said all that, Madras is my favourite city in India. Many will roll their eyes and be like "Chennai?? it's not as cool as Bombay or Bangalore! Nothing good ever comes to Chennai!". They should all just move to the above said cities, right? I think Madras has a great balance of tradition, modernity and uniqueness. It's safe (compared to most cities in North India or so I've heard) and I suppose we have many resources that we take for granted.
Despite my angst at autodrivers, I've come across my share of honest ones who drive back all the way to return forgotten mobile phones or laptops. The monsoon rains are awesome to watch while sitting in your veranda and drinking tea. And the heat...well, it just makes cool things a lot cooler.

Its shark is worse than its bite

The two panels were meant to be independent of each other. It makes sense either way, I guess... as far as sense goes.
It probably looks like The Shark ate the dog. But I assure you it didn't.
If I ever get my own dog, that's the kind of "beware" sign I'll put up.