“The image has to read on the first glance”

Interview with illustrator Mohith Mohano

Self portrait by Mohith Mohano

This is the first of a series of interviews with artists, illustrators and creatives. Mohith Mohano is an illustrator and designer based in Kochi. He’s had a fantastic year designing illustrations for movies and TV shows like Rocket Boys, Thallumala, Ankahi Kahaniya and Thurakmukham . In another life he was an architect who then quit to follow his passion for art and storytelling. The following is the transcript of a phone conversation. Edited for clarity

And now for something completely different

This art/freelance life can be a lonely one, there are few people who I can relate with and can talk at length and intelligently with me about the sort of things I’m going through on a regular basis. I haven’t found much community for art perhaps because I haven’t been going out much, because I’m in Chennai, or because art is a niche and it’s acolytes tend to be like cats- they’re shy, socially awkward and can only be found when they want to be found.

I’ve also noticed that it’s hard to find any in depth interviews with Indian creators. If you want to know what brush pen Kim Jung-Gi you’ll find no dearth of resources but for inspiration closer to home, the internet comes up with a giant blank.

My cousin gave me a suggestion a few weeks ago- if you can’t find community, build it yourself! So that’s what I’m going to try out. I want to do an interview series with artists as an excuse to meet and nerd out with these elusive figures. This wasn’t something I ever thought I’d be doing, and I’m figuring out as I go. I’d love some feedback- guests you’d like to see, thoughts about the format, etc. Much excite!

Published
Categorized as UpdateTagged

I’m still here

Minus the scruff

Err…it’s been a while since you last heard from me. Yes, I’m alive and well. I quit my corporate job in Austin, TX about this time last year and moved back to India for good shortly after. What have I been doing you ask? Prepare for an entirely more detailed answer than you were hoping for

  • Went on the Jayamoorthy Fam’s All American Summer Vacation of ’22. Austin, Colorado, New Mexico, New Orleans, New York and San Diego in 3 weeks!
  • Moved back to Chennai and stayed with my family
  • I travelled to Kochi and Bangalore for about a month and made some new artist friends
  • I was briefly in a relationship
  • I did a Vipassana 10 day silent meditation course.
  • Made friends with an outdoor cat called Ashi. Nursed her back from a nasty fracture and got her back into the wild
  • I moved into an apartment by the beach in Chennai and set up my art studio/office space
  • I’m done with the bum life and am now ready to work