Sikhi Art - The Blog

AOE3 Mod - Nihangs and Tabinan Lancers

2011-12-25T15:00:00.017-05:00

I ended up finishing the Nihang textures for all upgrades, Nihang, Veteran Nihang, Honored Nihang (the game is American, we decided to keep the Honored spelling as they were) and Legendary Nihang. Nihangs are still the only Sikh unit in the mod. After studying Sikh armies I found out they were always a mix of various ethnicity and religions e.g. Muslims dominated in the Sikh artillery. Only the Nihangs were completely Sikh in their make-up. Hence there will be two Nihang unit, the Chakram and this mod's Nihang. The latter is available for recruitment in the barracks, the former is only available through shipments as Chakram belongs to the Udasi sub-civ.
There have been changes from the last update on Nihang textures. For one their clothes will change colour according to the team colours. So if the team colour is blue their clothes will be blue but if the team colour is red their clothes will be red. I also gave them chain mail to wear underneath the Char Aina armour. And I re-textured the shield to look like an Indian Dhal.
From Left to right, 3 Nihangs, 3 Veteran Nihangs (gained chainmail and a shield) and 3 Honored Nihangs (gained char aina and a katar). In history most Nihangs would have been without much armour but what the heck they look awesome! Legendary Nihangs have the same textures as Honored Nihangs.

I began working on Mughals yesterday and ended up completing their Tabinan Lancer unit for all upgrades Veteran TL, Honored TL and Legendary TL. Mughals also had awesome cavalry archers. I have begun texturing their Tabinan Archers. Currently looking for ways to show their upgrades to Veteran and Honored. Mughals will retain India's elephants and Zamburak so I don't need to texture anything else for the Mughals. I am reworking their Bhumi militiamen unit, as the previous model did not allow for team colours to appear on the unit. This is important since their Dhal will not look like a blue bulls-eye as it did previously but more like the Nihang shield shown above, and so it will not have team colours. That means the team colours must appear on the unit somewhere.
I have asked my team partner to do a mod write-up, which will be a proper overview of the mod. it will present all Civilizations, their units, specialties, explorer units, etc. When it is ready I will publish it.

From left to right, Tabinan lancer, Disciplined tabinan Lancer and Honored Tabinan Lancer.

Oh and a Merry Christmas and Happy Gurpurab to all!

Legendary Nihangs invade enemy colony and are immediately met with resistance.

Legendary Tabinan Lancers destroy invading European artillery.

ROM 2: European and Indian Firearms

2011-10-28T17:31:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we paid ROM a visit yet again. This time with a smaller sketch group we put our attention to the European firearms section.

I left this section after drawing several pistols and revolvers to draw Indian medieval guns: Toradar and the Afghani gun: Jezail. Let me tell you, looking at photos online and looking at actual guns in front of you are two totally different experiences. The latter is much more rich and vivid. "You had to be there" sort of thing. All the details on the guns are visible from the designs and embellishment to the marks and scratches that it accumulated over the years.

By the way, Toradar will be seen in my Hari Singh Nalwa painting, and Jezail appears with the Afghan musketeers in the Age of Empire 3 Mod I am working on.

There are always lots of children in the ROM. At one point, while I was studying the bedsheet/curtain motifs, a whole bunch of kids gathered around me to look at the designs I was studying. But never have I had a child look at my work so closely. While I was studying firearms in the European section, one Asian kid came up and literally hovered over my sketchbook to see what I was doing. He was so intrigued and fascinated by it! We also talked a little bit before I went back to my meditation.

We are filled with so much curiosity when we are children. We look at things and enjoy them simply through our senses without thinking about events from the past or worries of the future. We simply look and are satisfied by the act of looking. Fulfilled with any sense experience that comes our way.

Sheridan, ROM and Birds

2011-10-16T21:21:00.008-04:00

Sheridan's been awesome so far. I am enjoying the experience of drawing for hours and hours everyday. I have been drawing from life, still life and boxes mostly.

The first week I just happened to stumble into like-minded people who (with intensity) wanted to get better at making art. We were sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch talking about art and artists mostly. We somehow got into a discussion of making a sketchgroup that would go around sketching things, people, environment, etc. While we were still discussing the details, I suggested that we get started without wasting precious time discussing it. Usually when you want to do something, you end up talking about it for hours and hours and when the time comes to actually do it, you are too tired to actually do it. If you still have the energy to do it sometimes you feel gratification for just having discussed it. You feel satisfied that you discussed the idea and think you can get away with delaying action. I was not going to let that happen to us.

So I said "Let's do it!" and we began sketching people in the cafeteria. I discovered that I really enjoyed doing this. Not only because some people are really cool and you get into interesting conversations with them while you sketch them but also because in the caf, people are talking, gesturing, going through series of facial expressions, eating lunch and moving around. These moving faces and hands are very difficult to draw... and I found I really enjoyed this challenge.

Yesterday, we took our sketchgroup to the Royal Ontario Museum to study things like dinosaurs, animals, birds and carpet motifs. Yes carpet motifs. For my Hari Singh Nalwa piece, I wanted to study Indian carpet, bedsheet and curtain motifs so I can make the painting look authentic. I want to have the painting look historically accurate and have a royal feel to it. After my study, I will paint similar designs onto the carpet and walls, which right now are the only major things that are left in the painting.

I studied the hanging bedsheet/curtain thing for an hour or so before moving on to birds and animals. People were walking by complimenting us and asking us question about our program and why we were drawing etc. Sometimes hovering too closely to look at the work... which sometimes got awkward... Good times. :)

Akali: Warrior Monk

2011-10-02T20:15:00.005-04:00

I'll keep this one short since I want to keep a balanced post length on this blog.

I always wanted to do a female warrior inspired by Sikh aesthetics. I have painted several Akali-inspired males in a fantasy setting so I thought my next one should be a female. Luckily everything here just fell into place, the colours, pose, armour and everything. The male ones did not turn out as well as this one, which is why I did not upload them. However, they became a source of ideas and inspiration for me.

Inspired by Akali Snake Charmer piece, the idea came from a painting of one of those male Akalis, in whose background I had drawn a silhouette of an Akali with a really tall turban and armour spikes. So I cropped out the silhouette, enlarged it and started working on it.

This piece was obviously inspired by Akalis but Akali women never dress like this nor are they ever monks. This made it really exciting for me to work on it. I intended to push the fantasy style and context of this piece by adding armour pieces that are clearly unreal. It is not possible to fight in such large turbans either. (Hint: This is a fantasy piece NOT a historical one.)

This was a nice break from my Hari Singh Nalwa painting.

Click on the image to see the full version.

Painting Hari Singh Nalwa

2011-08-29T00:01:00.002-04:00

Last month, I spent my time mostly working on Baba Deep Singh and all other works in progress. This month I did not work on other paintings, rather I studied Art (yes, it is something you have to study) and focused my attention completely towards Hari Singh Nalwa.

I have been making some changes to Hari Singh Nalwa. This painting just keeps getting better and more challenging. One could say it is growing up like a human child. It is currently a teenager, very difficult... at a stage where I must have a lot of patience with it.
For one I added some more canvas at the bottom, expanding the piece to show Hari Singh Nalwa's feet and the carpet below his feet, like in Ingres's Napoleon. That not only opened up the space, gave this teen some room to breathe but provided some opportunities to add in Indian carpets and other props like a shield and a musket.
Paintings start to "plateau off" (like a square-root graph, yay math!) after a while. The progress on them starts to slow down as more research is done and when more items and photographs are collected. This process itself makes the painting very valuable but this is where patience and persistence is necessary to keep the artist going. At this stage, the painting gets quite frustrating. Not only because of the additional research on small details but because the artist himself grows and his vision expands, at every new stage he has a better vision than he had before. So he continuously strives to turn the painting into his vision, and every time he thinks he's captured it, it escapes right before his eyes and becomes more magnificent. It is a never ending battle that I am also "fighting" with Baba Deep Singh Ji's painting.

I had stumbled across this video last year "In Praise of Steel". It was a recording of a presentation by historian Davinder Singh Toor. I thought it was very informative and quite entertaining to watch. I recommend it to anyone who does not know about Sikh history and also to those who think they know about Sikh history... to everyone really. In the video, he presented quite a lot of photos and paintings of Sikh related artifacts. And so when it came time to detail Hari Singh Nalwa, to work on the very minute but important bits, I felt I did not have enough resources, I contacted him and he was very generous to help me out with lots of references - these mind blowing close-up images of ancient Sikh weapons, helmets, armour and battle standards! I cannot thank him enough.

AWESOME!

Going back to Ingres's Napoleon. I think it is an awesome painting, the design decisions he made, truly add a majestic touch to Napoleon as he sits on the throne. Napoleon is made to look like an emperor. Indeed it was painted when Napoleon rose to the throne. With Hari Singh Nalwa, 'majestic' is good but he is a general and not at Maharaja Ranjit Singh's level. So I removed the throne I previously had. Also because I did not find a single image with Sikh thrones looking like that.

I also found an old painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on his throne (though not the throne most of us might be familiar with). Now what was special about this painting was that wall behind him, had a design painted on it. I am experimenting to see whether it will sit well behind Hari Singh Nalwa. Also there are some tricky shadows and lighting in Hari Singh Nalwa that I am constantly dealing with. The shadows overlap some complex structures. Another issue is painting accurate carpet designs and the other designs and patterns.

Hari Singh Nalwa's going to have some designer clothing. ;) I noticed a lot of rich, high status men did not wear bland single-colour clothes, rather they wore clothes with patterns. They wore rings, plumes, with ornate armour. Not to mention, ear-rings... Yes, high-status men of this era are seen to wear big loopy earrings. Not sure if this trend started from or before the Gurus times, it certainly seems that way from the artwork I am looking at from the 1800s.

Some people pointed out how Hari Singh Nalwa looked very old in the speed painting. They are in fact, correct. Hari Singh Nalwa was 46 when he died, around Guru Gobind Singh ji's age, who was 42. In Hari Singh Nalwa's paintings, his beard is shown to be very grey at 46, and I suspect that even Guru Gobind Singh ji's beard would be very grey... if it was, it is a major flaw in previous paintings of Guru Gobind Singh ji. Even in my own Machhiwara scene, he should really have a more grey beard. Another small bit of info I picked up along the way.

Anyways, here's a nice big sneak peek at Hari Singh Nalwa. A lot of the engravings on armour and other designs e.g. on the battle standard, are still incomplete. The kara, ear-rings and musket are also incomplete. I end up going through many shabads, songs, videos, breaks, going-out-and-never-coming-back-to-it-for-several-days... while I work on these things. It can pretty tricky trying to curve the pattern around the gauntlet, for instance.

Painting Baba Deep Singh ji's Face

2011-07-11T04:51:00.001-04:00

Well I have been meditating for a while now. And that's probably affecting my brain structure... well it IS affecting my brain structure. It's changing and so... stuff happens. *thumbs up*

*grins*

(Lol, well I studied how the brain changes after many years of meditation for my class assignments. Maybe I will share some of that later.)

Anyways, been working on Baba Deep Singh ji at turtle's pace. I actually haven't worked on it in the past few days... That's because I have been feeling quite confused. The words "I don't know." are quite frequent in my head. (Though I still talk as if I know) Just a general feeling of confusion, combined with inactivity. There is peacefulness. Fulfillment. The confusion and inactivity is not something I detest. It's weird...

So as I worked on his face, my family members and other individuals commented on it, and gave some advice. Which I then tried out while painting. Basically, most people said he's gotta be looking angry, and some said he would be peaceful.

Enter in confusion et al. I believe (I think I believe this) that one would be very angry in a battlefield because well it's a battlefield. But after meditating and looking at people like Bhai Ghanaiya ji (who fed water to fallen soldiers because he saw the Waheguru in all of them... in the midst of a war, Battle of Anandpur, I think) I think maybe it's possible to be calm in a battlefield. And that maybe it's the hallmark of the elite soldiers... that they are calm in battlefields. They have gotten used to the conditions so it's nothing new for them. At which point, their emotions do not get into the way and so they can display maximum levels of skill and experience.

Now with that said, Bhai Ghanaiya ji wasn't getting charged at by 10 enemy soldiers. And he wasn't about to breathe his last breath. He was not scarred or with fresh wounds everywhere. He was not fighting. He was not in a war. He did not perceive war as we see war... I am not going to go that route, it's too hard to describe.

Point is a warrior is going to be in a battle. He is going to experience war. A battlefield is a very different environment than our normal lives. In our normal lives it's easy to be quite peaceful with calm faces (hint: meditate more often). A battlefield is a death bed. Emotions often provide great fuel for activity, for charging into battle, for hacking, slashing, and killing people. Chopping off limbs, smashing skulls... Now it seems a highly skilled meditator would be in control during his own emotional outburst that results in this gruesome scene. He may well be very angry but he is steady... and he may not be angry (that's allowed as well).

But would a skilled meditator, a wise being, have an emotional outburst? I don't know. I don't think one can know. We can only try to imagine what it's like.

So I am just going with it... whatever gets painted, gets painted. Not giving a hoot about diddly squat.

The first image is the very first ever. (Quick fact: There is only one print with this face out there. Someone from Dubai purchased a Large canvas print. At that time, I did not personally handle orders so if that was you and you are reading this, get in touch.)

I then added more beard because at this point in time, I felt his face needed more beard, and I was quite satisfied with this.

Recently I felt that the image can be significantly improved. I mean I have gotten better at painting, more skilled, more experienced (if that's what you call it). So I worked on it. Some input came in from people, my mind, etc. The number 3 is what I painted. Some more input came in from people, my mind, etc. and number 4 was the result.

At this point, my sister comes in and comments. So I sit down with her and I try a few things out to see if I could bring back some of the elements from #2 and all that battlefield stuff I was talking about. She adds in what she thinks would help. The result was #5. That's where it's currently at (I am still trying to figure out how that blood that is pouring out of the wound... how that will flow down his face. Will it flow towards the side? straight down? into his right eye? all of the above?)

At this point, you have the opportunity to give your own feedback. Which image? Is it working? Is it good? bad? Why? Just say whatever comes to mind.

I will meditate on it, and see how the face turns out when I paint it. Also I think I could benefit from all your perceptions of Baba Deep Singh ji. Everyone's got their own image, and although we cannot know what we are all thinking when we are thinking, we can get some hint of those thoughts and images. The more knowledge the better. Also, tell me what you like about Baba Deep Singh ji.

Ok almost 5 am. Going to go to bed. Goodnight

Monkey mind monkeying maround

2011-06-24T17:39:00.007-04:00

Yep I am inventing a new word... I think, let me check...

*googles the word*

Never mind, there is already a word called 'monkeying'. What? You thought I was going to google 'maround'?... No! Obviously that's not a word, everybody knows that... I uh... googled that too...

'Monkeying' means to
1. Behave in a silly or playful way.
2. Tamper with.

Ok then... I will add my own personal number three to that.

3. Working on 5 or more paintings simultaneously, and not getting any of them finished for another couple of decades. *sigh*

That's pretty much what I have been doing for the past month or so. I have been working on Hari Singh Nalwa a little bit. I gathered more resources from people for that painting then began to make changes to things that were not accurately done. But more than that I have been working on 5 other projects, simultaneously. Paintings of the Gurus, Bhai Bachittar Singh(!), and Baba Deep Singh. You guys
already know about Bhai Ghanaiya and Vaisakhi speed paintings.

Baba Deep Singh?

Yes, been making lots of changes to it. By changes I mean painting over everything. I also tried several other compositions for Baba Deep Singh. Sticking to the basic idea and narrative, and Baba ji's pose (I love his pose as it is, it's got that leadership feel to it). I ended up with this crazyass, complicated painting, with lots of horses and horse archers. But I figured that is probably changing it too much, to the point where it will be like working on a whole new painting, which in turn will require a lot more time to finish.

So I went back to the original and just sat there and let the brush (pen on tablet... -_-) do it's thing. This is hardly different to what normally happens. I just sit there and the brush just goes on doing stuff. As it is doing it's thing, there would be moments where I would think - that's working! keep it going! Other at other times - meh... that's not... stop, stop... STOP! delete that layer, now. At the end of it all, usually 3-4 hours later, I feel exhausted.

How was summer Bhagat? Great! I just sat there staring at the monitor, watching a painting (or 5) being made...

Well, not really.

(First image: Guru Amardas ji in his old age. Second image: Detail from Baba Deep Singh. Third Image: Detail from Bhai Bachittar Singh.)

How do you kill that thing with a sword, seriously?

2011-05-07T18:18:00.002-04:00

I had been spending some time playing video games. I had been taking breaks in between painting of Hari Singh Nalwa and replayed Prince of Persia... so this was inevitable... just like when I took breaks in between painting Guru Nanak and ended up with this.
I always wondered what would happen to a character if he/she was a Sikh. How might they develop? So I thought to myself, what if Prince of Persia was a Sikh? But with any character, I don't just end it there, I mean I don't just picture Prince with a turban and beard. What I picture is unique to me. Even though it is based on an existing character. It's not exactly that character if you know what I mean. The representation in my mind is what I see in that character. They say that there is a style inherent in everything, and that an artist merely seeks to capture this style onto the canvas. It is said that Renoir, a French Artist, stared out into the open sea, just gazing deeply into its waves. However, what came about on his canvas was not the sea... click here to see that painting (Viewers discretion is advised)
So I got to work, and did some concept art for the character. 'Patialvi Yuvraj' has this ethereal arm, a sort of celestial, magical arm that he receives once he is loses his own, in battle. It connects him to this other dimension from which the "material" of the new arm comes from. So not only can he travel between our dimension and this other dimension, his arm itself provides him with many skills and tools that he uses on his adventures... So although, the Patialvi Prince was inspired by the Persian one, he is somewhat of a different character... And although, the current name "Prince of Patiala" is a sort of an amusing, satirical name, the character definitely isn't. His story, personality and powers - available only to me currently - often revolve around in a fine mist in my mind. They are there as small floating water droplets that must be collected to get a glass of water because I am very thirsty right now. I will have a glass or two after I publish this post.
Aside from everything - this kind of thing simply gives me inspiration for my art. It gives me more reasons to draw. It gives me more to draw. It may not be novel but it stimulates my artistic juices. It grows within me. It (will) eventually lead me to create completely novel characters, inspired more deeply from Sikh religion, culture and aesthetics. Sikh religion, culture and aesthetics themselves have yet to bloom from the strife, disinterest and fanaticism that cloud them...

In this particular piece, I was studying anatomy when I drew the Prince. I took that anatomy and attempted to distort it with the Jinn. Ya I know Prince is running away. He's running away only to find platforms (in an arena?) to climb, walls to run, metallic hole things (that have been strategically placed there by the developers) to stick his dagger in ... he can make a dagger out of his ethereal hand, let's go with that... continuing on, poles to swing and columns to leap to, to finally get on top of the dude (Press X/ Swing Wiimote at the right moment) latch on with the weapon, climb up to the skull and grab his eyelid (God of War style) and spill the contents of the eyes in the arena. He will try and grab you, you gotta Press X/ Swing Wiimote again right when he does so... ... screw this here's the painting.

Going Deeper into Art

2011-04-30T17:12:00.008-04:00

It is spring time and my university is all done. This summer I am planning on releasing Hari Singh Nalwa. I have been working on Hari Singh Nalwa quite a bit. Since a lot of the progress was lost, I have had to go back and really work at it. Also I realized it was a little mundane with him just sitting there, so I added some very relevant "props" to enhance his painting. So at this stage, I am ready to enlarge the entire image to about 7000 pixels and start detailing it out. Right now it can be printed at Large but when printed on 60" MASSIVE Canvas this will be a life sized portrait of him! It's going be awesome!

Now when I say university is done, I mean it's ALL done. I am going to graduate this year and earn my Biology degree. I guess that officially makes me a Biologist. But my mind is completely focused on art now. For three years I went through university thinking I would continue in the field and do art on the side. I was so focused on getting into medical school to become a Doctor. However, this last year of study, my mind did a complete turn, and I started thinking about doing art full time. That's right. Becoming an artist for a living! Now I don't know if I could do Sikh art alone. I would love to do Sikh paintings all my life but I think I might have a better chance doing other art. I love video games and working on them. one of my dreams is to create some of my own. Part of this dream involves me working with several major video games companies, and getting the experience I need for Sikh video games.
So last year of university I decided to go into art full time. There were several things that lead me to this change. One was simply because I was pretty good at it and very passionate about doing it. I have been painting all my life, and the more I painted that more deeply I got into painting.
The second reason came to me in philosophy class where we studied this philosopher Merleau Ponty. In a nutshell, his position was that art puts us into touch with the world. It expresses a truth about our perception. Our perception being a dialogue that takes place between us, the "observer" and our "environment". I think Ponty would say something akin to Indian Gurus, that there is no observer and environment, just the dialogue, just the perception. His main point was that art expresses truths about that perception, real truths. Whereas, science lays out a skeleton of the world, art lays out its flesh. So I thought that was kind of cool.
Along with that I realized that by shifting my attention between two or more things, it will become difficult to master either. I want to master art, become a master like Caravaggio or Rembrandt or Rubens, etc. I want to really get better at it. Art is one of those things that I would do even if I didn't get paid for it. Now of course, I still need money for sustenance and so I sell my work. But art is something that I can do without reasons. For me it just happens.
With all that in my mind, I decided to go to art school. I applied to Sheridan and got accepted into their Bachelor of Arts program.

Updates and Sikh Mod

2011-01-27T16:15:00.011-05:00

Hi guys, yes, I could have blogged more but didn't feel motivated enough. I have been working on several paintings, both historical and fantastical one. (I actually started many more pieces but some were lost due hard drive failure. I have been much more careful about backing up my work since then.) I also started laying out some ideas for future games I might do. One of my dreams is to create some video games of my own, with characters that are designed by me, with Sikh characters, and so I regularly remember that dream and design characters and gameplay around it.

As I was in the process of doing this, I felt very motivated to work on a mod that I have been involved in. I started this back in 2009 when I felt like I had nothing to do. I always feel like that for some reason, even though I have a lot on my plate... it's full! When I first announced it, I made a new friend in the process and he got me started. I did not know squat about programming so I left that job to him. I would take care of the art, while he (enjoys math) would take care of the programming. He was actually thinking of a similar mod, and so was very quick to join me. With Sarbloh Warriors down, I saw this filling its spot.

We planned to mod the Sikh Empire for Age of Empires 3. Age of Empires is a real time strategy game where you choose one of many civilizations and take on the other civilizations in battle. The Age of Empires series is one of my favs and so this was very exciting.
Its second expansion has India already but a modern India. It has one Sikh unit to begin with, Chakram, a hoop thrower. That's right its main attack, it's only attack is to throw a Chakar (and to hit someone with it if they come close). Ridiculous, I thought to my self. The game was awesome, and Chakram was even cooler but it did not feel right when I played it. Udasi, a sub-civilization can train Chakram, a Nihang... a Nihang who does not use swords... you get the point...

So this winter, feeling very motivated, I got back to that mod, got back to playing Chakram, got back to altering the game files so that I could train more than 23 Chakrams! This winter, I took a deep breath and thought "This is it! If I can't give this guy swords..." I never finished the sentence, I don't think negative. "I can give this guy swords!" I thought positive and it paid off, Nihang was born. Though, this was just a Chakram with a sword. I later went back and 'modded' meaning modified the textures to make them look different.

This was a new step for me and I realized how easy programming this game was. Well, this was not REAL programming. This was modifying existing code (computer language that is translated into the game), well-written, easy to understand code.
So the next week, I was found living on my computer, except for maybe sleeping and bathroom breaks. I really got into it! I managed to create several units (the playable soldiers of a civilization) before that friend and I got back and shared code. (I still have to work with what he has already done, which was most units of the Sikh Empire). As an immediate reaction to his input, I started creating Maratha, Mughal and Afghan units. All of a sudden a rush in my energy levels and motivation made me very confident. I decided we will split the Indian civilization into Afghans, Marathas, Mughals and Sikhs. More units, more playing styles and more research that needs to be done... It is only now that I realize how big of a task it is to create even one civilization let alone four! However difficult it might be, my plan is to finish at least two. I am hoping we get a few other like-minded people to help us. If this ever gets finished it will be the coolest mod ever! Right now I am back at university and getting back to studying science but hopefully I will come back to the mod this summer.

Here's a screenshot of the mod, of Sikhs and Mughals in action. Click on it to see the full image. (We can only modify existing units, so I cannot make the different turbans more accurate than this)

Guru Nanak - Shabad Vichar

2010-09-06T22:31:00.008-04:00

So I decided to release the painting. I worked on the critiques this morning to the point of satisfaction. I also detailed the piece, fixing small errors here and there. I also did things a bit differently this time. I added an introduction explaining the underlying reasons for meditating on which all the Eastern Traditions place great stress! It is based on the words of Sam Harris, who is a neurologist and has made efforts in the field of meditation.

"Men (and women) from all over the world and throughout history have been in search of pleasant sites and sounds, tastes and sensations, and attitudes. They noticed that even in the best of times, without sickness, death and horrors of old age, happiness and pleasure could only be felt temporarily by having to repeat things like eating delicious food, having professional success and celebrating festivals. Many over the ages accepted this as a fact of life, and lived their lives around reiterating this temporary relief.

However, some began to wonder whether there was a form of happiness that was not dependent on having one’s family and friends within arm’s reach, or taking all kinds of drugs. They began to train their attention from moment to moment experience to see whether there was a greater happiness to be discovered at all, one that was independent of sensory experience.

This lead many to believe that if there was such an experience to be had, it should be available in places where delicious food, friends and family, and such were nowhere to be found. This rationale led many to give up their family life, and led many to further renounce the world, isolating themselves in a cave or a desert or mountains, places no different to solitary confinement, where they began to take notice of their experience and of subjectivity itself. Over the ages, these people claimed to have found an alternative to the contingent experiences of happiness and well-being. Many introspective techniques were developed by these people, who came to be known as ascetics, mystics, saints and bhagats..." Continue reading...

Delay

2010-09-06T02:12:00.005-04:00

There will be some delay with the release of the painting on Guru Nanak Dev ji. I have been receiving critiques to this day, and still see some scope for improvement. In the meanwhile, I ended up working on Guru Nanak Dev Ji's information page. I did it a little differently from the others. I thought Guru Nanak is very well known so instead of giving a historical description, I added an introduction, an understanding, a western perspective which attempts to capture the interest of young people. My attempt is to provide an introduction that even a Non-religious person will understand and hopefully, admire. The introduction was based on the words of Sam Harris, who is non-religious himself but has studied Eastern Traditions in depth. I found that it shed some light on all Eastern Traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

So yes, there will be a delay but hopefully for the better!

Weekly Sketch #18: Nihang Photorealism

2010-09-01T18:44:00.005-04:00

Another Weekly Sketch, feels more like monthly sketch though. But anyway, I was just working on my photorealism skills. Although, I am not a fan of having everything photorealistic, it certainly helps to attempt photorealism to study the subject, in this case faces, in depth. Laying down all the details, and studying every nook and cranny. Every wrinkle, every mark on the face...
I used a photograph by Charles Meacham.

In other news, be sure to check out Important Updates - August, if you haven't already, and prepare yourself for the release of the painting on Guru Nanak. I am going to release is in a day or two, if all goes well.

Stuff

2010-08-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

I was not completely absent from this blog during the past month. I wrote up some posts but never ended up developing them to completion. Some were about specific details of my paintings, and other were thoughts on emotions such as anger and happiness. So, yeah I never finished them so they were never published.

I have to say though, I have been pretty busy with stuff. This summer I ended up taking two philosophy courses, which took up the time I usually spend on sketching and those Weeky Sketches/Paintings I would normally do. I think philosophy is just awesome, it opens up the mind, unclogs its gear, and sets it into motion. I ended up learning about western and eastern philosophies, and it gave me a whole new perspective on life, a new perspective on world religions and non-religions. We also looked at some of the famous philosophers of the west and the east, including Kant, Neitzche and Radhakrishnan. It was just wonderful!

While, I studied philosophy at university, I worked on the Guru Nanak painting at home. It's coming out nicely. In fact, its in its final stages now, and I will (most probably) be releasing it at the end of this month. Right now, I am finishing up the details and working on the critiques I got for it. Needless to say, it's not my usual style of work. It's not as dynamic and dark as my other paintings. It's more calm and cheerful. I am also going to use a wider palette, reds,greens, oranges, blues, yellows and violets. That I think raises the difficulty of any piece - having a wider palette. You have more things to manage and so it takes some experience to be able to do that. That is why my earlier work was monochromatic or used a narrow range of colours. An artist has to be able to think holistically about the parts of the painting in relation to each other, and that includes colour. The more parts there are, the harder the painting becomes. Sound like we are managing visual information... it is just that.

Art in the Making - Old Art, New Art and Tons of Sketches!

2010-06-23T10:21:00.006-04:00

Having my other projects locked away in my older hard drive gave me a chance to start up some new ones and work on the really old ones. Its because I hadn't backed up the middle ones... oh well. Let's start with the really old ones. I am talking about Mai Bhago, Banda Singh Bahadur and Udasis of Guru Nanak. I was quite certain then that I was going to complete them by now but I haven't. I once spoke about how the painting on Hari Singh Nalwa, lacked that extra punch. Well, these ones are in that position currently.
Mai Bhago one just looks mundane really. I recall Kanwar Singh from Art of Punjab making the same comment about his Mai Bhago charge. I thought I could make one that wasn't. I did several versions of Mai Bhago's cavalry charge last summer, as well as, other generic cavalry charge scenes from interesting angles. Let me know what you think of all these, leave a comment below.

With Banda Singh Bahadur, he is approaching oncoming infantry and cavalry, and that puts him into a better position. Still I thought it could use some work.

Last summer, I gave the painting that 300-style, dark and gritty look to see if it could be improved. It certainly looks interesting! But as I worked on the painting this year, I tried several things one of which was to change the perspective so more of the background warfare could be seen. This will allow me to add more depth to the painting. Also, dynamic clouds in war paintings complement the action so I'll be developing those as I work on this next year. If you're wondering why I changed his khanda to a tulwar, its because khandas don't do very well on horseback.

Speaking of war paintings, a frown is rarely seen in Sikh paintings. Even on the battlefield, one finds no frowns. I always found that strange and also this, which is even more strange: dark skin is never seen unless its to represent Mughals or Afghans, both of which are descendants of Mongols who are as pale as the Chinese! Anyhow, I intend to annihilate both norms! I'll post more about them later.

Battle of Chamkaur - Sahibzada Jujhar Singh was a sketch I did back in early 2008. As you can see, the horse is just ghastly. Essentially, what I had in mind was Jujhar Singh overwhelmed by Mughal Cavalry. I couldn't draw horses so I ended up doing Sahibzada Ajit Singh instead, and decided I would come back to this.

With Mai Bhago, Banda Singh Bahadur and now Udasis of Guru Nanak that was three paintings with side view of the main characters. I don't know why my paintings usually ended up like that. However, I ditched the side view with a rough layout of Udasis (again last summer). After laying out the side view, it became much easier to portray from a different angle.

I came up with these last summer as well, portrait shots of Guru Nanak and Mardana. After laying out the compositions, I put them aside to work on a different painting on Guru Nanak, which kind of built up on previous sketches. As I did that I thought to myself, its good that I am painting spiritually uplifting paintings now because that's an even bigger part of our history. However, I did not spend much time on them because I had a lot of other paintings ahead.

I'll end with three paintings I am working on right now. Everything except Banda Singh Bahadur was done last summer or the year before. These projects I began just a while ago. One is about Guru Amardas ji, one about Guru Gobind Singh ji and one about Guru Nanak Dev Ji. I am going to put aside Udasis for a moment, and get this painting of Guru Nanak out first. There were several scenes I went through (above), before I captured the right moment. Expressions are always important to me in a painting so let me know if you have an idea of what expressions they have, leave a comment below. Also, see if you can judge the content of the full painting from the expression alone!

Akali Phula Singh and More Updates!

2010-06-12T20:19:00.009-04:00

I released Akali Phula Singh ji's painting today (after midnight yesterday), along with a few other things. I would have blogged then but was too tired.

Akali Phula Singh was pretty big a project but not as big as Battle of Chamkaur. It was also much simpler to work with so it took less than 4 months to complete. For Akali Phula Singh, I went with a wider colour pallet than my other work. Since the subject was Nihangs (again), I decided to do a blue-orange harmony (once again). I wanted a different look from Akali Nihang General so I went with more saturated colours and lower contrast. Though, in no way should you think that I am going to ditch that 300-style, dark, gritty, rugged look that you see in Akali Nihang General. No way! I love that look but you could say I am experimenting a bit.

I think its time now for a proper non-war painting. Although I still have to decide which sketches I want to start working with, I will reveal some Works in Progress later this month, including an updated Banda Singh Bahadur.

I also gave my website a new look. This was a plan from August 2009 but wasn't required because I didn't have many paintings in August 2009. I am preparing for more paintings to pile up on that "For Sale" page. The drop down menu should make it a lot easier to navigate through them once they do. Also added a Facebook link to my website, for those who prefer one-liners over essays lol!
There are still some things to be done like the background. I will get to those later.

Lastly, I reduced the price of my paintings to make them more available for brothers and sisters outside of US. I live in Canada so I understand how costly shipping can be. There are ways around some shipping charges that occur at borders but I am not sure if they are legal so I won't go into that!

Bhagat Siya over and out! ...lol cheesy...

Really Excited!

2010-06-10T03:04:00.003-04:00

It's 3 AM in the morning and I just painted the final touches on Akali Phula Singh! But I am not going to put it out just yet. Instead, I am going to release it this Saturday. That'll give me sometime to go over it, fix anything that needs fixing and allow me to finish Akali Phula Singh ji's info page on my website.

Weekly Sketch #17: Pargat Singh

2010-06-03T02:42:00.006-04:00

Who?! Just some random person from a village. Original photo is by Gurbir Singh Brar, who is another addition to my "Awesome Photographers" list along with Charles Meacham. Its really good practice for painting. For sketching, I actually look at real people, in somewhat crowded (and recently sweaty) locations...

There are other photographers whom I admire but I haven't gotten around to studying stuff from their photographs yet (Nick Fleming and Nihang Teja Singh, for example). My reason for using the photographs from Flickr (other than it being a famous photo sharing system) is that when I first started painting Sikh history on the computer (Mata Bhag Kaur), I got an amazing response from the community there. Their comments were very encouraging and pushed me until I built up some momentum (leading eventually to Battle of Chamkaur). It's sort of my way of giving back, by promoting the community a bit. Big thanks goes to Photo08 (first comment), Avnit Kaur, Laadli Fauj and Simmal Tree for their constant enthusiasm about my paintings. There were many others (including Kanwar Singh and Jathedar), as well.

I was supposed to be working on Akali Phula Singh lately, hoping that I would finish by... well, today! But by the end of last week I found myself, working on Banda Singh Bahadur. After several different thumbnails and sketches, I decided to keep the painting I had developed. I found a way to improve the battle scene by reworking some stuff (everything). The painting was all on one layer, so I separated each figure into its own layer. I find this saves a lot of time when working with complex paintings with a lot of pieces... like a puzzle only in 2.5-dimensions (overlappping pieces!).
Battle of Chamkaur had about 100 different layers (no I did not count them). One for each figure (sometimes their weapons/shield/clothes were on separate layers), several layers for the armies in the back, and several layers for just Sahibzada Ajit Singh alone. This significantly helped me keep the whole thing organized for one, and two, I could mess with different figures without screwing up the rest! Now there's a tip for photoshop students... and here's a tip for traditional students... plan the painting, before you start painting! ...which reminds me, I should get to my traditional works sometime this summer...

Weekly Sketch #16: Baba Jagir Singh

2010-05-15T16:06:00.006-04:00

I don't know who he is but I know he showed up in the "Knight of God" documentary with Baba Hari Singh ji. If anyone knows about him, feel free to leave a comment. :)
Original photo is my Charles Meacham, who has worked a lot with Sikhs. He has a huge gallery of photos.

Its summer time and I am back to working on my paintings again. I am currently working on Akali Phula Singh, and hoping to finish by the end of this month.

Last month my Hardrive crashed with all my new work and photos inside, including Hari Singh Nalwa. I just recently got around to looking at companies who will recover my data. Let us wait and see how the data recovery process goes. If it fails I will have to work on Hari Singh Nalwa from a previous stage, and that'll delay its release date. Not to mention, I'll have to sketch out new pojects once again including Bota Singh and Garja Singh. I am now reworking Guru Nanak Dev ji, Banda Singh Bahadur and Mai Bhago until results arrive. I am reworking them because I wanted to portray a story in the painting rather than have generic charge/battle scene.
Click on the picutre to see a full view and different stages.

Late Gurupurab Celebrations at Sikhi Art

2010-01-20T23:23:00.005-05:00

Machhiwara was supposed to done by January, and was set to be released on Jan 5. At that point I had recieved the constructive criticism, I had asked for and I got back to work. Took a couple of weeks to straighten out the setting and composition, and so the painting was delayed.
But now that it is out... Happy late Guru purab to everyone!! :P

So, what's next? Well, I have no plans on working on any painting till summer. But when I do get started, Akali Phula Singh is next. It is a along awaited painting, and I have been aching to get to it!

So what is Machhiwara, what is it about?
Well, after being attacked several times by the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb's army, Guru Gobind Singh ji is forced to flee from the Anandpur fort to Chamkaur. During the escape, the weather was insane, and it flooded the river, Sirsa, that Guru Sahib had to cross. In the chaos, his mother and younger sahibzaadey's are separated from him, and are eventually doomed in the false courts of Sirhind.
As Guru Sahib takes shelter in a haveli in Chamkaur, he is again attacked by the Mughal forces. This time his older sons fall in the intense battle that takes place. Odds were stacked aagainst him, Guru Sahib had to flee once again. This time he had nothing left all his devotees had been martyred, and his family was lost. The great cause he was fighting for seemed to be slipping away from his grip. However, as Guru Gobind Singh ji meditates in Machhiwara, he keeps himself in the highest of spirits. Exhausted from warfare, he rests here overnight, and is eventually saved by his Muslim devotees in the morning.

Machhiwara, undoubtly, is a symbolic painting. Everything around Guru Sahib symbolizes his chardi kala attitude, and the rise of Khalsa.

Click on the image below to access close-ups, larger image, buying options, etc.

Weekly Sketch #15: Weapon X

2010-01-09T19:10:00.004-05:00

Machhiwara is almost done! I can't wait to get it out there.

One my previous sketches of wolverine just wasn't good enough, so I did another one. I am not a fan of bollywood movies but they have released two good movies this year - Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year and 3 Idiots. I totally loved 3 Idiots and its message. Although, 3 Idiots does not have any Sikh main characters, there was one thing I noticed. If you look at Sikhs in the background, and there are so many of them. The producers show them like normal people, in all sorts of professions. I thought that was awesome. This was the background though, in the foreground Aamir Khan and his co stars gave a wonderful performance!

Weekly Sketch #14: Rocket Singh

2010-01-05T20:30:00.005-05:00

First of all, Happy Gurpurab to all! I would have loved to have finished Machhiwara by today but it's going to need more time. For those of you who don't know about Machhiwara, the painting is about the time when Guru Gobind Singh ji had just escaped from Chamkaur after suffering defeat, he had lost his younger sons during a chaotic time period just before the battle, and his older sons were martyred during the battle. The legend goes to say that even after all this, Guru Gobind Singh ji did not let his spirits down, and stayed in Chardi Kala.

This is what Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year (this week's sketch) echoes all throughout. I totally loved the movie. After Singh is Kinng and Love Aaj Kal, which were alright... Rocket Singh is definitely another step towards getting positive Sikh models in the media.

Weekly Sketch #13: Sherlock Holmes

2009-12-25T13:30:00.003-05:00

Not a true Sherlock Holmes piece, this is one of th screens from the movie, starring Robert Downey as Sherlock holmes, which by the way comes out today. I'm not a fan of either; this is just for fun.

Still working on the three works in progress. I'm getting critiques for Machhiwara, detailing Hari Singh Nalwa and settled on a turban for Akali Phula Singh. They are going to be awesome!! Time to get back to work!

Weekly Sketch #12: Wolverine

2009-12-20T00:44:00.007-05:00

I'm done with exams, done with school for now... and winter break has begun, what does an artist do at this point? He does what he loves!

I am just getting down to business, drawing and painting! I have started working on my Works in Progress again, shuffling between three at the moment. The other ones I have put aside for later. I mentioned I was redoing the layout or redoing a certain, significant portion of it... that's why.

The sakhi of Guru Gobind Singh ji in Machhiwara has always touched me, and I am sure it has a place in the hearts of many other people. Although I was not particularly fond of my speedpainting of it, several close friends and family encouraged me to work on it, and so I did. It turns out that its almost complete. I am looking forward to sharing that with everyone soon. However, I won't be posting any updates of it instead I will continue with my weekly sketches.

Also, my Hari Singh Nalwa speedpainting has been getting quite a lot of attention. This was another piece that lacked that "bang" for me. Nalwa was a true Sardar, he had high moral character, and a commanding presence. He was a powerhouse, which is why he was given the title Nalwa. So while I was busy figuring out what I could do to create that impression. A buddy of mine from DeviantArt, Cap-art, almost in a casual manner, solved my problem. He's a great artist, with a special talent for speedpaintings in particular. He quite willingly painted over my picture and showed me how I could improve it. I feel quite grateful to him for his enthusiasm and help and also, because now Hari Singh Nalwa is starting to reach its full potential. One can see the sardar in a powerful, majestic posture with a hardened face of a warrior but with the calmness of an elite, with his hand resting on a long sabre, and his face lit with a soft candle light. It is looking finished now even though a lot of detailed work must still be done. Again, I won't be posting any updates for this painting because it looks quite finished already, and the final won't make as big an impact.
Those were two success stories; two paintings that worked out quite nicely. However, the third painting I am working on, I am having some trouble with. Akali Phula Singh's turban has been a handful. I have tried different Dastar Boonga styles but currently none of them seem work. I haven't been able to identify what's bugging me. Maybe I should just stick to what I have and refine it... I don't know, perhaps something will work out as I work on it.

Anyways, a very Merry Christmas to all. Celebrate it as you would do anything else.
Hmm other notes... I should be available now to answer any inquiries about my paintings. Use the FAQs page on my website to ask any questions. Also, you can either subscribe to my blog or my website to keep up with releases. The news updates on my website will then be emailed to you. Often my releases are in the middle of nowhere, disconnected from any gurpurbs or other events, so it's a good idea to sign up.

Old Sikh Warriors - Two New Art Pieces

2009-10-24T22:39:00.010-04:00

Hey guys, it's me - the science guy - who loves to paint! It's been heck of a month so far! So many tests and assignments - all at once... but this month's not over yet. The rest of the month, year even, will be just as busy so I'll still be absent from the blog for a while.
Many of you have probably seen my newly released painting, Akali Nihang General. I released it a while back but did not have any time to blog about it. I could either spend time painting or blogging, and I chose to paint. Not a bad idea considering I recently put together some concept art for a future piece, Hari Singh Nalwa. ;) The finalized painting will probably be a chaotic battle scene like Battle of Chamkaur! I have got some ideas for it but like always... "we'll see how it goes".
Anyway, It's on my website now, so be sure to check it out! And check out Akali Nihang General if you haven't done so.
Hmm... what else? Oh, yes the Diwali Sale went well! Not sure if I will have something like that again any time soon, though.
There was a poll up on my Works in Progress page. Many people have voted, and your votes have helped me take another look at my paintings. Mai Bhago one is doing just horrible at the moment. I will probably be scrapping that one and replacing it with a another composition. Udasis of Guru Nanak is on par with Banda Singh Bahadur at 25%, so that tells me that I must improve their compositions. I had already started doing that actually ;), they hadn't been updated as my skills became better. They are like windows to my past! ;)
The winner is Akali Phula Singh, and I have planned to release it next summer! Some of you are wondering, next summer??? DUDE, what about this Christmas?! ... hehe, I have another painting that's ahead of Akali Phula Singh, both in history and in completion...

I put up the poll because I didn't know which ones to work on, and spend more time on, and I have gotten my results, thanks to you guys!

Weekly Sketch #11: Dinosaurs and Sikh Toons

2009-09-24T21:34:00.007-04:00

What do Dinosaurs and Sikhs have in common?
Think about it... I'll give my answer later in the post.

University started a while ago, it's crazier than it has even been. But not the homework... not yet ... it's some of the other little projects, I am working on. Trying to shuffle between them and the school work is a daily chore. Not only that but I'm releasing yet another painting. Right now, I'm getting critiques, adding finishing touches and so on. It'll be a while before, I can put it up.

In the midst of all that, I do my usual "city-reading", whenever I would walk to Union Station from the core of downtown. City-reading is when you walk around the city by yourself, observe people and buildings... maybe even youself in the mirrors haha... observe the textures - of the roads, cracks, bricks..., the atmosphere, the breeze, the humidity, the temperature, the sky - if it's not too bright... the clouds, the reflections on the buildings, the smoke... and just take every sensation in. It's strange but entertaning when you have no company. It seems like a lot but it calms you down. Well, that's how it works for me. As an artist and even as a scientist, one must learn to observe, one must learn to look at things from a new angle, and one must keep an open mind.

Anyways, back to that question I asked at the beginning of the post. What do Sikhs and Dinosaurs have in common?
Well, ignoring the common ancestry and the similar molecular structures of the subjects, both have been the giants of my world - they have been of great interest to me. I used to go to the library and would pick up books just to look at paintings of the dinosaurs. I wondered how we had come to know such things, how did such big "lizards" came about... it went as far as wanting to be a paleontologist, at one point... My interest in Sikhism came 3 years later...

Sikhi Art: Diwali Sale

2009-09-20T16:19:00.001-04:00

Happy Diwali people! I know it's a bit early but I am having a Diwali Sale (20% OFF), so I thought I'd let everyone know. The sale includes Paper Prints (no posters) and Canvases. The prints currently available for sale include Battle of Chamkaur - Sahibzada Ajit Singh, Baba Deep Singh and Mata Bhag Kaur.

The sale ends on October 17. For any questions, you can comment here or use the website's (confidential) comment system to contact me. I'll make myself more available until the sale ends. i know I have been slow in replying to comments on this blog, and that's because I wouldn't know when someone commented. Now finally, blogger has done something about it, they have enabled notifications. This should make replies come much faster.

I know I haven't uploaded any weekly sketches lately, but I will be doing that soon, sketches from this week and from previous weeks. So keep an eye out this week...it's gona be a big one.
I have also been looking into T-shirt designs among various other things. One such design is available here. Check it out, buy the T-Shirt if you wish. It's going to be available for $25, at the moment. And please, make sure to leave feedback.

Weekly Sketch #10: Green-Eyes Nihang Singh

2009-08-25T12:00:00.006-04:00

It's that time again, summer break is about to come to an end. It's time to head back to university for another exciting but hectic year. When you really think about it, it creates a blend of feelings inside. You're nervous to enter the uni again but excited about doing so; happy to get back to science yet sad because you've got to leave most of your art behind... and there are other feelings, which beyond my vocabulary. No, really, my vocabulary is THAT small.
The summer was awesome though, I painted almost everyday! I didn't go out as much because I was really into it. The result of which is three finalized Sikh history paintings (BOC and
other two will be released soon), more progress in other projects, and a ton of acquired skill and experience!
For this week's sketch I again went back to Charles Meacham's photos. As a result of my previous sketches of his work, he contacted me and we met up over MSN. Check out his blog, he explains it well.

Weekly Sketch #9: Mutants

2009-08-16T12:11:00.006-04:00

Wow, I didn't realize that I hadn't updated in a long time. I was caught up in other work-related things, and when I did get a chance to blog, I became too lazy to do so. Yesterday, someone remided me of my duties so I just had to do it!

I've also been updating things on my website, adding info pages and stuff. I am also looking into giving it a new appearance. Maybe that should come with a new release (which I was hoping to finish a week ago but oher things sprang up).

Ok, I have also activated to allow for anonymous comments, so if you wanted to comment but you couldn't... well, now you can.

Weekly Sketch #8: Young Sarbloh

2009-07-29T02:03:00.004-04:00

Been busy the past few days with other projects. I spent most of today working on one of my Sikh history paintings. The plan is to finish it by the end of next week but we'll see how it goes.

This week's sketch is Young Sarbloh in the Anti-Sikh Riots. It's actually last week's sketch but I got lazy and busy... ??? ... busy lazying... haha, and so never posted it.
It's just a quick speed painting of young Sarbloh. I was doing a face study while learning Painter, when I got the idea. I know I kinda rushed the background but...meh... my focus was the emotion anyway. haha

The 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms were triggered by the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards. The assassination itself was in retaliation for Operation Bluestar, in which the Indian Army attacked Sikh militants hiding in the Harmandir Sahib, the holiest Sikh shrine. Over the next four days, as many as 3100 Sikhs were killed in retaliatory attacks. The most affected regions were neighborhoods in Delhi.
from wikipedia, July 23,2009

His whole family gets killed in the riots. When Sarbloh finds out, he gets pissed, and goes on a bloody rampage...

At the time, he couldn't "turn into metal" but he could still gain the offensive capabilties, which he wouldn't normally get without his dense protein exoskeleton( AKA metal skin).
He does however, get this reddish colour and glow in his eyes (which is why everything around him is red). This partially obstructs his vision, making everything look greyish, reddish and blurry.

Other Sarbloh concepts:
http://prince911.deviantart.com/art/Sarbloh-Wallpaper-81988078
http://prince911.deviantart.com/art/Sarbloh-77927150

This is Khalsa! BoC - Sahibzada Ajit Singh

2009-07-12T04:11:00.015-04:00

This is blasphemy, this is madness!
Madness? This is KHALSA!

So I finished BoC, the day before yesterday. I got a few suggestions since then so I might work on it a bit more but then again I might not. I have been working on the critiques for 3 weeks so I am a bit burnt out by it, and besides there are always things you can improve. Especially, since my anatomy, clouds, etc. are quite weak. But I have been taking care of that with studies; I want my upcoming paintings to be even better.
Anyways, this was a huge project. From the size of the canvas down to the armies in the background to the amount of research that went in. I used a lot of references, pretty much for everything you see in the painting. This project was a massive learning experience as it created a lot of frustration but I kept at it and finished it. This is truly something for me to be proud of!
If you're wondering why I removed the poll, it was because the poll website is not working, and it was messing with my blog. I did not lose out on the results, however. I was keeping an eye on it. It was clear that Udasis of Guru Nanak and Banda Singh - Battle Charge were tied with the most votes then Machiwarra and Akali Phula Singh WIP, followed by Mai Bhago - The Brave Kaur and Akali Phula Singh SP. I think the poll really showed the split in my audience. Half of the people voted for a war painting and the other half voted for a non-war type. Either way, I will be doing both. In a couple days, I will do a major update on my website, which will include new versions of all WIPs, and sketches of new ideas.

Battle of Chamkaur - Sahibzada Ajit Singh
for prints visit: www.sikhiart.com
for a better experience play this track! 300 soundtrack

Background Storyline: Sahibzada Ajit Singh's horse has been seriously wounded, forcing Ajit Singh to fight on foot. The young Prince, after being wounded himself, notices a Mughal cannon being readied for teh seige. He charges the infantry that guard it. Some high ranking Bhumi militiamen and Cavalrymen see his strategy and rush to the spot...

The story of course is based on an actual event where Guru Gobind Singh's oldest son (Ajit Singh) volunteered to defend the small fortress they were in. The Mughal army had surrounded it, and there seemed to be no escape. Guru Sahib was sending Singhs in fives to keep up the defense. Inside the fortress, many Singhs prepared themselves for death, and many defended the fort with showers of arrows, along with the Guru.

This is one of Bhagat's more detailed paintings. There is a lot to look at, much to learn, and many things to discover. Once you receive the print (and make sure you get the biggest one you can), lookout for: Mughal cavalry archers, Chamkaur Di Garhi (It's there alright), the fortress with Khalsa forces, two Singhs who charged the forces along with Prince Ajit Singh, Mahouts (elephant riders) see how many you can find ... and there's much more... seriously!

Some details of the work here, 3 of them are updates of the WIP details I had in this post, the other 2 were randomly picked:

Weekly Sketch #7: Sikhs

2009-07-08T20:18:00.005-04:00

Just taking another break from Battle of Chamkaur. The whole critique process really slowed me down but I am going to keep at it until I finish. Expect some sneak peeks of the work real soon.

Anyways, this sketch I did really late at night when I couldn't fall as sleep. Again, I'm using Charles Meacham's photos of Sikhs. So it starts from the top left. Then I did the guy to the right. It got better but proportions were a bit off. Next was the smiling kid. Then scary man and finally the guy on the bottom right. At that point I signed it and dozed off.

Udasis of Guru Nanak update!

2009-06-28T05:52:00.007-04:00

Well, for having the highest vote so far I thought I should work on Udasis of Guru Nanak to keep my mind off of Battle of Chamkaur for a couple of days. I am trying to give form to something that is just a concept of the human mind, and at the same time show it in a familiar way. In this update, I have developed the concept further, and I plan to keep going.
And about Battle of Chamkaur, this coming Tuesday is looking good for now but I'll keep updating you guys on it.

Weekly Sketch #6: Yet Another Nihang

2009-06-25T18:16:00.006-04:00

It feels like I am majoring in Nihangs or something. haha

Anyways, in this painting I was just going for the right colours without cheating( where I would simply pick the colours off the photo). I think I did pretty well. Again, I am just using Charles Meacham's photos... Hope he doesn't mind...

This is good practice to take my mind off of Battle of Chamkaur for a couple of days. I am just not picking up on the crits so I thought perhaps when I look at it after a few days, I'll be able to see what I can improve. It's gotta be a masterpiece! I am in love with it!

Weekly Sketch #5: Happy Nihang

2009-06-24T14:56:00.004-04:00

It's time for a weekly sketch! It's a bit a cartoony and a bit out of proportions at places even for a cartoon but no worries.

Um... I reached my goal of completing Battle of Chamkaur - Sahibzada Ajit Singh. Now I am trying to get criticisms to improve this dynamic piece. I was so concentrated on the technical bits that I had forgot to consider how it was turning out overall. So the plan is to finish it by next week Tuesday. Hopefully it all works out by then.

Weekly Sketch #4: Biocyborg

2009-06-17T23:04:00.005-04:00

A bit early for a weekly sketch post, and that's because I didn't do much for Battle of Chamkaur. I set a deadline for myself for June 20th. So the plan is to finish BoC by 20ish then give myself 10 days to correct any mistakes, getting it ready by the end of the month.

I put up a poll for my next painting. So far Udasis of Guru Nanak has the lead. It turns out that its also the only painting up there that I have to study for. I mean I have to study clouds, mountains and landscapes before I do a decent job on it. I don't mean to discourage its supporters though. Banda Singh - Battle Charge is in second place. It has had more work put in to it than the other WIPs. If Udasis of Guru Nanak will take the longest to finish then Banda Singh - Battle Charge will take the shortest.

Anyways, enough updates.

Here's the sketch. It's a biocyborg. Read more about them here: Sikh Biocyborg

I didn't spend time refining it so some pointless things like the tube are still there. My main concern was to get a sci fi feel to it, and I think I did. Remember...

Weekly Sketch #3: Rocky Mountains

2009-06-11T18:26:00.011-04:00

First things first, make sure you guys vote in the poll. Check out the paintings on http://www.sikhiart.com/ before you do. WIP = works in progress and SP = speed paintings
This week's sketch is of the Rocky Mountains... more like a painting but a good start, I think, when doing landscapes. As you guys know, Udasis of Guru Nanak features a dark (will be darker when I am done! muhahaha) mountainscape in the back. So why not paint a few before jumping right into a powerful piece?

Um... not to try to offfend anyone but I think Rocky Mountains is the most uncreative, unimaginative name ever! haha WTF? Rocky Mountains who thought of such a name? It's like calling the Himalayan mountains, Large/Tall Mountains or Snowy Mountains or something. It's like naming an Indian guy, Brownie Sharma. Anyways, I have never been to the Rocky Mountains, maybe they are so rocky that no one could resist the temptation of naming them the Rockies. haha, and maybe a guy could be so brown that the name Brownie is suited...
One day I will find out...

So for the sketch I just took a random photo of the Rockies, off of Google images and copied it. The clouds need more work. Perhaps, that's something to consider for a weekly sketch.

I also grabbed another photo and copied it. It's supposed to be Lake Louise, and no I haven't been here either...
This time I didn't go straight to colour, I first did it in greyscale.

Then I overlayed some colour, and voila!

Original

Weekly Sketch #2: Nihang Singh - Greyscale

2009-06-05T22:22:00.006-04:00

It's more of a painting than a sketch. I recieved my new Pen Tablet a couple days ago, so I just wanted to paint something quick. I have some photographs by Charles Meacham, so I took one, and started to copy the values.

These past two weeks I devoted to the Battle of Chamkaur(BOC) - Sahibzada Ajit Aingh, finishing up the main sketch, adding new things, adding more detail. Once its complete, there will be plenty of things going on in the painting. Each section will have its own story to tell. Often what happens in Sikh war paintings is that the main focus is the only thing there to look at at. A second or third glance does not create further interest. My goal for BoC is to create that interest. Hopefully, I can achieve that goal. In the Works in Progress section on my website, I have taken down the previous update of BoC. Its now back to the old version. That was just supposed to be a glimpse at how its coming along. Anyways, so the plan now is to release that painting by the end of this month.

I am having difficulty deciding what I should paint next. So I'll be putting up a poll, where you can tell me which painting you would like to see completed next. To see what the paintings look like you might want to visit Gallery->Works in Progress (WIP) or Gallery-> Speed Paintings (SP) on http://www.sikhiart.com/.

Here's the list in no particular order:

>Udasis Of Guru Nanak (WIP)

>Banda Singh - Battle Charge (WIP)

>Mai Bhago - The Brave Kaur (WIP)

>Akali Phula Singh (WIP)

>Akali Phula Singh (SP)

>Machiwara (SP)

I have laid out some ideas for other paintings. Some of which will have nothing to do with war. However, I want to complete at least four of the above before I work on new ones.

Weekly Sketch #1: Birdman Tara

2009-05-31T19:46:00.011-04:00

"What should I name it?"
As I worked on this final sketch, I kept thinking about naming it! Thinking that weekly Sketch #1 isn't a good name, I activated my "name generator networks" in my brain, and in no time names started popping up in my head.

Bird Warrior
No, sounds like fantasy warrior that uses bird attacks or something...

Birdman Jones...
No

Birdman Jones
NO

Birdman Jones
WHY BIRDMAN JONES???

A friend comes on MSN ... ... Him: have you worked on the comic? ... Me: No, I am working on my weekly sketch... Him: Cool, what is it? Is it like top-secret?... Me: Bird Man Nihang... Him: lol!

So now I had a better name Birdman Nihang... (by Nihang I mean sikh warrior). Suddenly...
Birdman Jones
WTF??!?! and that's where it hit me, that name wasn't personal enough! hahaha

OK, enough with that. This is sketch is dedicated to my pet lovebird (there is a type of bird called lovebird). Cheers to his cute annoyingness! haha

Going Underground

2009-05-26T22:55:00.002-04:00

Don't take my infrequent posts as a sign of death, haha, which is probably what some old school Punjabis are wondering. Kite mar tan ni geya! I just got kind of lazy these past few days plus nothing's really going on with me. I haven't done any major Sikh history work but I am definitely in the game with a bunch of other things including a Sikh related mod and a graphic novel. Anyways, since I am not going to reveal anything about those two, I have decided to do weekly sketches the keep the blog running.

This week I am going to put up a speed painting depicting Guru Gobind Singh ji in Machiwara. I dug it out of my computer mess, after organizing all my files. I wasn't too fond of it so recently I randomly started to fix some things up. I called up my youngest sister to ask for her opinion and she totally loved it. I was kind of surprized. She suggested that I should continue to work on it and finish it! I don't think I'll be doing a good version anytime soon though. Anyways, here's the painting.

I await my order...

2009-05-09T09:25:00.006-04:00

Well, I said I would update frequently but nothing is happening over at this side of the computer. I mean I bought a new tablet, the thing I draw with, I love it so much I ripped out three nice pieces, worked on my comics and stuff. I totall fell in love with it. I started to build my dreams and hopes on this new found love. But then things changed... I found a better deal...

So now I am just waiting for the new one to show up. I hope I do not get too lazy by then. Anwyays, I guess the "time-off" has given me a chance to do other things like looking for better deals on prints, playing video-games for hours on end, and looking into T-shirts. I started with Mata Bhag Kaur as a base for a small design. Here have a look, don't hesitate to leave comments for ideas, suggestions and critiques. This is my first go at the designs so I really need it...

I am going to do something similar with Baba Deep Singh ji. But before I do I will paint his left hand in.

I'm back! Yipee!

2009-05-02T15:23:00.000-04:00

This is probably the longest leave from my blog. Well, I didn't post for two reasons. One, I didn't know what to talk about lol, and two, I was concentrated on my exams. Yep! you heard it right. I was focused! No painting, no wasting time googling random things. It was just me and my books.
haha, no that's a lie, actually. I did fool around, I did paint here and there but not much, which is a big improvement, considering last semester...
http://sikhiart.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

Anyways, I'm back and running. I haven't began my work on Sikh History just yet. Right now, I am just painting anything that comes to mind.

Blue Jaye - my take on GWDill's character
Nihang Singh - the sketch but coloured in... for no apparent reason...
Demon King - Miri Piri: The Blades of the Guru

I had been working on Battle of Chamkaur and Mai Bhago over the school year. If you've been to www.sikhiart.com then you've seen the updated Battle of Chamkaur. I will soon be posting an update on Mai Bhago.

That's all for now, my summer break has begun so now I will have all the time I need, to paint. Keep an eye on the blog, I am going to be posting more frequently.

Both Blasphemy and Madness, This is LIFE!

2009-04-08T21:14:00.009-04:00

The title just came to me. Is it related to the post? I don't know... For those who are wondering why I keep using the words blasphemy and madnessin my posts, haha, it comes from 300, the movie. One of the most famous dialogues, "This is blasphemy, this is madness..."

For a while I have been feeling quite depressed or I tend to think I have been feeling that way. Its not a good feeling at all. It feels like the whole world hates you. but not only that, it feels like you hate yourself. It gets hard to meditate, to focus on school. I hope I can fight it off. Those who see me and chat with me, probably haven't noticed though, because I am always trying to have a good time, always laughing (sometimes at nothing, sometimes at my state).

However, depressed I maybe, I always have a part of me that is happy, always happy, overly exicited sometimes. I don't know why; maybe I am depressed because I don't know why. Maybe the word depressed is a big word, and sad is more like it. Perhaps, I am not depressed at all and it's just part of stress. Final exams are just around the corner...

Anyway, whatever happens it's all good! I gotta say though, that's a bad introduction to this post. I had recently developed a piece (still in progress) on Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. I had initially pictured it with a cheery feeling, you know, the kind of feeling you don't have when your sad! haha

But, before I started painting, I thought, "Let me try something."

So I painting this dark, hot sky, and continued from there. I was probably letting out my feelings but then I realized, "This is it!"

This is the setting Guru Nanak should be placed in! I mean he wasn't fighting against flowers and singing birds, he was fighting against oppression, prejudice, politics, and the corrupted ones. I believe the setting reflects that time perfectly. ... Even when I am not painting war, I am still talking about fighting stuff. Haha, this is the perfect transition from MAD war paintings to pretty, everything-is-so-nice paintings. About the Mad war paintings, I can't wait to finish those off in the summer! Talking about summer, I will probably be joining some feed-the-homeless (sikhcess?) events and stuff. I had been planning for a while, but was too lazy. That will end this summer because I really want to make a difference!

Slowly but surely..

2009-03-24T22:46:00.013-04:00

I was just looking through my last post when I realized something, the only difference between the words "tourist" and "terrorist", is "our" and "erro". Tourists are ours, and terrorists... err...O, you can keep them!

Final exams are just around the corner. I can't wait till I can start working on my paintings full time! After I finish three of my WIPs, I am planning on working on some "peaceful" types that show the humbleness, reasoning, guru ka langar, and many other non-violent aspects of Sikh history. I realized that my goal was (and still is) to create a positive image of Sikhs, but by showing all this violence, I create a negative effect on a neutral observer. I am thankful to God for making me realize this sooner. I bet most of you are like, " Why not start earlier? Why finish three before changing subject?" Well, the three paintings I mentioned are Mai Bhago - The Brave kaur, Battle of Chamkaur - Sahibzada Ajit Singh, and Banda Singh- Battle Charge (I guarantee if nothing else, that Singhnis are going to love Mai Bhago one). These paintings are 60-80% complete, and I am actually hoping to get them out by the end of this summer, leaving all of next year for what I call meditation through art. So far it has been intense gatka training and horse riding. Hehe
So slowly but surely, I will get those three paintings out. Slowly but surely, I will turn this negative effect into a positive one. Slowly but surely, I will learn to make better jokes, better than the one I started this post off with! HAHA

A strange thought

2009-03-16T14:58:00.010-04:00

Hey guys, I have been absent from this blog for quite a bit now. I have been bombarded with midterms and assignments! Over the past month, I started to work on this new amateur comic. Its about this angel dude... I really have no clue about the story. haha, I figured if I was going to make Mutants and Miri Piri, I was going to need some experience. For those that think it would be better to work on comics based on history, well, I admire the thinking. I have started work on one such graphic novel, with a long distance friend of mine. I am not going to reveal anything just yet, except that its from the Sarbloh Warriors time period.

So, why the strange title about strange thoughts? No, I am not trying to mislead anyone here, haha, I may have done that in the past...or I may have not... Anyway, after the midterm I had today, I was walking to Union station when I said to myself, "Hey, today would be a good day to take pictures of the city!" (so I can get more practice for cityscapes for the Mutants comic)

As soon as I pull out my camera, I was thining, "I will either look like a tourist or a terrorist. trying to take pictures to either show to family or to plan a bombing or something." I laughed, " Judging by my turban, I am probably going to come off as a terrorist, rather than a tourist."

haha

There was this one time when this old white guy was staring as I walked down the underground path. I couldn't help but gigle to myself as I passed him. Before that happened, I used to joke with friends about something like that...

BTW if you're wondering why Kes is saying "No!" in that picture... join the club...

Nocturnal Artist

2009-02-20T04:28:00.006-05:00

haha, I am loving that title. Even though, it barely has anything to do with the actual content of the post. I just couldn't go to sleep, I napped for 3 hours just before bedtime, this was bound to happen. If I can manage to get some sleep I might just go to the Langar event in Toronto.
So I went my sister's music class. It was great. There were like 15 students, very curious. Showed them the parts of the tabla (with a bit of history and explanation on the bol), played all the basic taals (6,7,8,10,12,14,16), played some beats, then played with them. It turned out as a learning experience for me as well. Now I know what a Djembe is. Its an african drum and... err... that's it. In the end, they played this really cool composition they had been practicing, few of the students got up and danced! It was wicked! BTW is it just me or does tabla sound very quiet? Compared to about 15 Djembes, I could hardly hear myself playing! and efore that one of the girls was like "Could you play louder?"
Anyway, it was cool except I didn't eat breakfast; which was not cool! At one point I was sure I was going to pass out! At other times, I would simply go blank. haha, that was high school all over again! The passing out bit, going blank and the fact that I went back.

Feedback please

2009-02-19T13:13:00.005-05:00

Come on, guys I've been blogging for quite a bit but I haven't gotten much feedback, their was a veer who pointed out that more non-war paintings should be done and some people are regularly checking the blog but other than that nothing! Comment on stuff, tell me what you think, what you like and what you don't like about what I write or paint. Only then I can figure out what people are looking for. If nothing else then just point out the speling mistaks and errors of gramatical, for God's sake. So c'mon people put your thinking caps and err... turbans? on and unleash the... err.. comments!

While your at it, check out this cartoon. The inspiration came from Chakram, a unit from Age of Empires. He is a nihang that always uses chakars. Kind of strange but I guess it does add variety. Anyway, here is Jathedar Cronk Singh. I've been thinking now and I think that I should star doing comics on him. Nothing major, just good old humour, Pagt(Bhagat) style!

Back to School with Akali Phula Singh ji, again...

2009-02-19T00:48:00.007-05:00

Well, technically I am decieving my readers with the title but I am going back to school, not my university though but my old high school. My sister invited me to introduce her music class to tabla. Her teacher loves tabla and probably had something to do with this as well. So here I am waking up the good old tabla muscles who were in hibernation for 2 years!

So what does Akali Phula Singh ji have to do with this? Well, it just so happens that I was painting another version of him. The old one reminded me too much of Baba Deep Singh, it did not have that nihang look, you know the one you'll see in wars, the one that says "Come any closer and chop I'll your God d*** head off!" hahaha. Well, I was able to show that look in this new piece. I used my Crysis Turbanhead to start me off on the basic pose, and then I worked from there. Maybe, I can continue to work o nthe old one as Baba Deep Singh ji...

Life with Mutants - Biocyborg

2009-02-14T02:08:00.002-05:00

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I've been busy with school work and comics, mainly schoolwork. Last week I was able to put together an idea for a "biocyborg". A cyborg that builds itself. What happens is that these members of the Homo mutatio species are able to mold their skin around machines. They have little collagen in their skin. Collagen is exactly why your skin doesn't come off when that aunty pinches your cheek. The collagen that they do have in their tissues is modified to adhere to metal surfaces. The neurons in their body are also modified and are able to recieve electrical impulses from external sources. Well, actually anyone's neurons can recieve external electrical impulses. However, the difference here is that biocyborgs when constantly stimutaled by electrical impulses, generate a variant of neurons that will try to control that impulse. These neurons may develop special dendrites (the part of the neuron that recieves the signal, branch like), which will wrap around the stimuli and generate extracellular environments to try to reduce or amplify the signal. Although, a large electrical impulse can still kill biocyborgs, they will eventually adapt to this stimuli if they survive.

I present to you a Sikh Biocyborg. His armour is loosely based o nthe look of the Crysis armour. So what's his story? This currrently nameless Singh moves to US to further his studies. BOOM! 9/11! He becomes the target of hate, eventually, he is beaten harshy and gets knocked out. Not knowing what to do with him, the ignorant fools dump his body in an abandoned junkyard nearby. For days this Singh lays unconscious, unaware of what he is turning into. His head brutally smashed starts to shed the hair, as the skin and bone look for a way to repair the skull. His left eye, which was seriously damaged in the attack, is degraded, in fact, most of his body fat and some muscles are degraded as well, to provide energy for the repairs. Over a another few days, his damaged left forearm starts to recover, it bonds to any nearby metal, strengthening the bone and sealing the wound. Surprisingly, the repairs create a sort of basic skeleton, over the damaged one, leaving sealed holes in the metal as if expecting more metal to bind into them. Ok, I am going to leave it here and just show the cyborg.

Here is a more enhanced version of him. On the leftside, he now has an additional lens, which he augmented with infrared technology. His appearance amazes his professors but what they don't know is that he is a mutant, a biocyborg. He is naturally intelligent, with a larger brain sitting comfortably in his semi-metal skull. He also gave himself a mechinal hand which he is able to remove from that metal core of his arm. Later, on he will be able to equip weapons on this core. His back is also partly metal, it has sockets for hooking up to his computer or to recharge the metal core.

Crysis Turbanhead

2009-01-31T21:44:00.007-05:00

I was bored over the weekend. I got midterms coming nextweek so I got tired from studying and decided to do paint. Then I got distracted from that and this dude was born. The original picture comes from Crysis Warhead, the video game. I just edited it, you know, put the turban and beard on.

I need to brush up on my sci fi Sikhs. The only sci fi looking art in my gallery is Ranjit Singh and he is far from looking like a high tech, sci fi character like you see above. In the near future, I plan on playing sci fi games and using those as inpiration.

In conclusion, sci fi Sikhs look badass and I must draw them!

Banda Singh? um...well...

2009-01-19T18:54:00.010-05:00

Um...he did stuff...YA! thats it! He fought, fought some more and ya...

Honestly, we need to teach our kids about our great history. They know nothing!

Haha, actually, I am out of words. Good thing I am not out of art! Seriously, this is my whole freakin' post; I got nothing! Everything is normal... too normal... Uni's going as usual... life is going as usual... even my paintings are going as usual... ooh, I did get sick over the weekend but other than that, normal.

It's a good thing I got a picture to back up my puny post with a 1000 words.

So here, Banda Singh - Battle Charge with updated colours. Its still a WIP, I think it will remain that way till summer because I am going to do some comic stuff before I get back to Sikh history paintings.ENJOY!

Mutants: Balbir Kaur

2009-01-18T13:51:00.012-05:00

If you thought all my mutants were male then meet Balbir Kaur, a devout Sikh, the manipulator of one of the most abundant substance on the planet. The substance which made life possible. The substance with the formula H2O. I cannot continue to grind this anymore, its water!

Balbir can manipulate water at will, controlling the individual molecules as if playing with marbles. It is not quite understood how she can do this but it was theorized that these types of abilities result as an interaction of brain waves with the environment and self. The fact, that she can control water makes her deadly but the fact that she can (with a limit) get past the brain waves of other people and mutants, makes her one of the few mutants who are able to achieve an instant kill. How? She can crush the brain of her opponent with the blink of an eye. *300 music playing* She looks very innocent though, and she is. She would never do such a thing, would she?

Other than destroying brain cells, she commonly uses her "talwar-e-pani" or water swords to cut through the most toughest materials. She is a skilled martial artist, and teaches gatka later on in life. She derives the technique for manipulating water greatly from this martial arts and strict meditation. Lastly, the air surrounding Balbir, becomes very humid. She currently has no control over this "automatic" side effect, other than "manually" dispelling the water molecules in the air.

Miri Piri - The Blades of the Guru

2009-01-09T23:03:00.008-05:00

Well, I had mentioned that I was planning a comic called Miri Piri. A fantasy world devastated by all sorts of corruption and "evil" where two Sikhs are born. They literally join forces and take on the main antagonist. I don't want to reveal too much yet. We are still working on the story but the main framework has been laid out. Miri Piri were the swords of Guru Hargobind Sahib ji, the sixth guru of the Sikhs and the story revolves around obtaining his long lost swords to save the world.

I had been thinking about Miri Piri for a few years now. I wanted to team up with writers and artists who are willing to put some effort to turn this fantasy world into reality. A while back I had an old friend join my team which intially consisted of me and my sister. And just recently I had another fella offering his services. I will introduce them with another update, later on.

Currently, I am looking for someone who can work with me to create the images in the comic. I am looking for someone with an artistic ability. I don't really care about what style you draw in, as long as you have a clear understanding of the human figure and are able to lay down environments including forts, mountains and many other kinds of terrains and architecture. Other than that you must keep in touch with the team and be able to spend some time each week on the project.

Here is a Sikh Shield Warrior and a Sikh Swordsmaster concept. These were developed quite a while ago. The shield warrior has been up on my Deviantart gallery for ages.

I think now would also be good time to post the Khalistani Warrior concept I had been reworking. I think the red armour looks totally awesome! I gave him a saif (two handed sword) instead of that small military pickaxe. overall, I must say I did a good job. Its still a WIP but I doubt I'll work on it any further, any time soon. Here's how the original looked like.

Back to school with Akali Phula Singh

2009-01-04T21:37:00.010-05:00

So its time to head back to university. GOOD! I was getting - as a friend of mine puts it - MAD LAZY! I mean I wasn't as productive as I thought I would be. I didn't even want to leave the house! I sat on my couch and watched TV most of the time. I didn't work on my other paintings enough to present an update. I got so lazy! I can't believe it!

However, today, like 20 minutes ago... I did do a speed painting of a Sikh general who I am going to call Akali Phula Singh ji. I think it took about an hour. I used the Prince of Persia concept art and my own Baba Deep Singh for reference. I wanted to loosen up a bit. I have been doing a lot of technical work lately, you know, trying to make everything accurate and all. This time I wanted to sit back and paint whatever!

I might make a good copy of this but right now I want to get back into my university mindset. Haha, I say that like it's any different from my current mindset! No seriously, I am determined to concentrate on my studies! I am going to try really hard to manage my time better. That is my goal, otherwise I put away the paintings for summer.

New Year: SALE and updates

2008-12-30T18:38:00.005-05:00

I know it's a day early BUT HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! I decided to put everything on sale at 15% off for the new year!
Prints: http://bhagatsingh.imagekind.com
Posters: www.cafepress.com/bhagatsingh/

This is going to be one heck of a fun year! I got my new computer, which means I'll start working on the my old Ajit Singh piece. Like I've mentioned before, it's going to be HUGE! It requires a lot of detail work! I have layed out the everything and now its just a matter of patience. I'll be posting on that as soon as the new year begins. Right now, I am just trying to figure out how to calibrate my new monitor... ;-)

Sikhi Art Website

2008-12-28T18:25:00.006-05:00

My own Sikhi Art website has been launched! Check it out at www.sikhiart.net!

Mai Bhago - The Brave Kaur

2008-12-26T21:05:00.012-05:00

Mai Bhago, whose full name was actually Bhag Kaur or Mata (mother) Bhag Kaur, with respect, was one of the most revered warriors of Sikh history. The title "Mai Bhago - The Brave Kaur" of my next WIP {BTW, this means Work In Progress(and BTW, BTW means By The Way)}, is meant to connect Mai Bhago with Kaur. I think the second name, Kaur, is very important when saying her name, Mata Bhag Kaur. Why? Well, its an important part of our history. The names Kaur, and Singh (as well), tore us away from the castes and lineages we were stuck with! The fact that we fell in the same hole we were saved out of, is a whole different story.

Anyway, why should Mai Bhago be called Mata Bhag Kaur? Well, we have Baba Deep Singh, Banda Singh Bahadur, Sahibzada Ajit Singh, and so many other Singhs but we have a Kaur of that time, who, we do not call by the name, Kaur. Why? Weird, isn't it? I think so...

My next WIP is actually my first digital painting on Sikh history that I began at the beginning... of the year. I had done many paintings on Sikh history before this, but those were on bristol boards and canvases. Many were imitations of Sobha Singh's, Kirpal Singh's and Mehar Singh's works. I used to add in my own elements for fun! That was a good learning experience for me. It got me started on Sikh history, however, I didn't have the same feel for Sikh history as I do now! Then I did not research beyond the small, thin paperbacks I found in gurudwaras. It was Sarbloh Warriors, which required me to research for concepts. I didn't take it seriously then, but I really dug into it when I worked on Sahibzada Ajit Singh.

This WIP of mine started with a really good concept, with good composition and with a nice setup. However, as I worked on it, it started to become into something completely different. In fact, it didn't have the same emotion as the first one. Whereas, the first one was a woman charging, the newly developed piece was literally a stroll through the park... err... without the park. Here, see for yourself.
This is Stage Four of the WIP...

...and this is Stage Nine! (I decided to finish this painting, as well as going back to the Stage Four and working on that as Mai Bhago - The Brave Kaur.)This is Stage Five of Mai Bhago - The Brave Kaur. For some reason it reminds me of Batman - The Dark Knight...

Sikhi Art on SALE! Baba Deep Singh

2008-12-17T20:05:00.011-05:00

To buy Canvas and Fine Arts prints click on the image above or visit: http://bhagatsingh.imagekind.com
To buy posters of the image, click on the image below or visit: http://www.cafepress.com/bhagatsingh

Mutants - Outcast

2008-12-14T12:29:00.009-05:00

While "Mutants - Born to Stand Out" was planned to be an intro to the Mutants universe, "Mutants - Outcast" will contain more conflict. It will be darker, grittier. Our heroes would be older by now, probably finishing up their college.
Coincidentally, (I call it the Wireless Network Effect lol) a Singh said the exact same words, as I thought a Sikh in the Mutants storyline would say! This Singh was joking around when he said (on msn):
"that is why all of the images we are getting for the auction are of Singhs and Kaurs"
"Singhs and Kaurs that [typo] are not MUTANT!" (should be: Singhs are Kaurs are not Mutants!)
"that [they] are HUMAN"

What he said as a joke, is the reality of Mutants. Sikh Mutants feel like they are outcasts! They don't belong in any community, and their own Mutant community is too small and dispersed throughout the world. On top of that, Mutants have a bad reputation. It is not their fault though, most of the cases of deaths involving a Mutant, were when the Mutant had no control. This can result from several factors. Would you really blame someone for killing thousands of innocent people when they really had no control over what they were doing? One moment everyone is doing their business, next moment the whole town blows up! ... I bet you would...

But this feeling of being an outcast ticks most Mutants off! One example would be Zora Singh, he is the rival of the main character. This feeling fuels his anger, his rage. On top of that most poeple will look at him and judge by what he looks like. The same Singh says (on msn):
"zora sing[h]"
"look at where his hand is"
"he looks like a gangster wanta be"
See what I mean? I bet that's the first thing you thought about him as well.

Today I present to you another Zora Singh artwork. (It was the first thing you saw up there)
To buy 250 pieces puzzle sets, etc visit DeviantArt and to buy canvas prints and other prints visit Imagekind.

To see other characters and paintings/concepts, please visit the Mutants gallery or click on the banner at the very bottom of the page, sit back and relax!
If you are interested in working with me on this project, please email me: bhagatbedi@gmail.com

Mutants - Born to Stand Out

2008-12-13T12:56:00.012-05:00

Mutants, sometimes I feel like I am one. As a turbaned Sikh you stick out like a lighthouse from the shore. As a Sikh, you are pretty much BORN to stand out. Nowhere you can hide, nowhere you can run! That is the theme of Mutants. For some reason only the Sikh mutants survive; the others seem to die as their mutations surface! Sikhs after being labeled terrorists are now labeled mutants! In this world, that is NOT a good thing. Mutants are often chased down the streets, burned, shot, beaten... The police should help right? They often join this madness! Without giving this change a second chance, the entire country is against it with the exception of a few! So as I was saying, most of the mutants die with the exception of some Sikhs, Rastas and some lucky individuals. Why is it that natural selection is weeding out mostly non-Sikhs? Why do the others die while the Sikhs, Rastafarians and a few survive? What do they have that the others don't? It seems like whatever they have, is what allows the mutations to survive inside them. It is as if nature had a plan, to weed out anyone that goes against it... There was research being done on this. Those that would normally die of mutations had been enclosed in capsules to keep them alive. Some of them had been successfully saved. But was that a good idea? Those that had been saved are changed... their personality... their powers... In a good way? Only time will tell.

There is major conflict between the human species and this new "species" that has emerged. It has become impossible to live without fear of a mutant or two raiding your house. Do they raid houses? There hasn't been a case yet but does that stop people from being afraid? Afterall, they could do anything! The laws of physics barely hold in place, before them. They create fire at will, turn their skin into some kind of metal and blow things up with their minds. Is this a curse or a gift? Is this revolution or destruction?

Well, I don't know I am still figuring this out! Let me introduce some of my Mutant friends! You can see my full Mutants gallery at the very bottom. Here I introduce only a few:

Sarbloh - seems like Colossus, looks like Colossus but is he another Colossus?
Sarbloh was one of the first mutants I created.
"As his turban was knocked off, his hair opened. But Sarbloh stood there, silent. Behind his hair, I could see his expression change from serious to that of an angry bull. He clenched his fists as he charged towards his attacker!" - Tej Singh, Mutants

"I have been through the anti-Sikh riots in India! I have survived a plane crash even when everyone on the plane died! Even the fall of the mighty Twin Towers could not crush me! By the grace of Waheguru, I, Kartar Singh, AM SARBLOH!" - Kartar Singh, Mutants

Zora Singh - Seems like the Iceman but is he really the iceman?

All I can say at the moment about him is, "A sixteen year old Sikh gangster!"
Well, he was 16 then. Now is probably three years older, anyway, you can probably picture a Sikh gangster. If you can't then you will have to wait till the next update on this.

Zora Singh is able to slow down the movement of atoms at will. He is particularly able to do this with compounds containing the elements hydrogen and oxygen.
He is able to create liquid oxygen (LOx), liquid hydrogen (LH2) and ice out of thin air. LOx is a VERY strong oxidizer. Organic materials burn very rapidly and energetically in its presence. Some like asphalt can even detonate when soaked in LOx! LH2 is used as rocket fuel! Although, Zora Singh is able to liquefy both hydrogen and oxygen, he cannot continuously do so, as it requires a ton of energy;it puts great strain on him. However, creating ice is his second nature.

Zora Singh is not an iceman... By manipulating oxygen and hydrogen, he is able to create MASSIVE explosions! He is a definitely a dangerous force to be reckoned with!

Kes - he seems like... oh wait, this is a new one.
He was one of the Mutants placed in a capsule. He had his own unique hi-tech capsule at the underground lab, designed just for him. You don't even want to know how they caged him before! But he wasn't placed there so they could save him, he was imprisoned and was been researched on. His abilities allowed him to uses his kesh (also kes, meaning hair) to absorb ENORMOUS amounts of energy allowing him to do virtually ANYTHING with this. This version of Kes uses the energy to thicken his hair, growing them longer and shorter on will. He is able to do mechanical work with them e.g. grabbing onto opponents, hitting them... lifting GO trains...
... the longer the hair, the more dangerous he gets...
Of course, if you cut them and shave his beard, this man becomes like every other mutant, weak. So that's how they kept him imprisoned! They kept cutting his hair. Kes would try his hardest to grow them but the next day he would find himself helpless with just stubble.
He has been stuck down there for ages...

To see other characters and paintings/concepts, please visit the Mutants gallery or click on the banner at the very bottom of the page, sit back and relax!
If you are interested in working with me on this project, please email me: bhagatbedi@gmail.com

This is blasphemy! This is madness!

2008-12-08T13:39:00.022-05:00

I have no idea why I named the post " This is blasphemy! This is madness!". Perhaps, I was thinking of the movie 300, and somehow related that to my exams, which BTW will be over on Thursday! WOOT! I worked on my paintings a little, here and there. Its not much but I have exams going on, come on!I found some nice references for the horse for the Banda Singh - Battle Charge, so that worked out well. And for Baba Deep Singh one, I had Akaal_Singh from Flickr help me out with some shastar or weapons that Baba Deep Singh Ji might have carried. He also sent me pictures explaining how a farla is added to a dastaar and how a puratan Dhumalla might have looked like. BTW check out his photostream, he has some lots of pictures of amazing artifacts.

Another thing I wanted to share was some details from the Battle of Chamkaur WIP. The cool thing about this painting is that its one of my biggest, over 8000 by 5000 pixels, which is around 80" by 50" when printed on to canvas. However, this means that it will take longer to finish for two reasons. One, that my computer is ancient so it cannot take the stress, and two because Baba Ajit Singh turned out be so darn detailed and I feel compelled to carry out that detail on the Mughals, as well. Being an amateur artist, I crafted detail onto his armour like there was no end! I went overboard and added sweat on Baba Ajit Singh! His beard was styled and every hair was hand painted. It is quite frustrating to do that much but I think, the end product will show the true work of the labour. When this is done its going straight up on my bedroom wall!
I didn’t think that this painting process would require so much research but you know what? I learned a heck of a lot of things! Did you know Mughals specialized in cavalry and that their infantry were vilalgers? Mansabdars were the highest rank. Banduqchis were villagers but with a Bandook or a Matchlock. Did you know there were Hindus in the Mughal army? Mughals had Hindus in their armies called, Bhumi. These were Hindu infantry! I incorporated this into the Battle of Chamkaur. In the foreground, you will see two Bhumi soldiers. Ajit Singh is stepping on a Banduqchi while taking out another Banduqchi and a villager/infantry. In the far back, there is a Mansabdar, a detail of him is coming up.
Not only did I learn about the structure of Mughal army, but I also learned about how the armour and weapons looked like back then. My craze for this newfound knowledge was one of the things that led me to overdo the armour.

OK, enough typing, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I present to you, a few thousand more words! Oh, and YAY! I have followers, following my blog! Wicked!

(click on the images to see enlarged view)

Sikhi Art on SALE!

2008-12-04T15:38:00.007-05:00

Apparently, DeviantArt is having a sale! Everything is at least 20% off!
Take advantage of this! Sale ends December 15th.

For slightly more expensive but diverse framing options visit Imagekind.

Mata Bhag Kaur was my first piece of work on Sikh history. She lead an army of Sikhs in the Battle of Muktsar.

Balance

2008-11-30T11:25:00.008-05:00

I think balance in the key here to get some studying done, in my case. With a wicked painting developing so fast, who wants to study? Well, I DO but I can't. I am going through that "I want to paint! I want to study!" stage again. But this a bad time to be going through that, exams will begin in three days! Now I know why putting each foot in a different boat doesn't work out... I am going to try to do both studying and painting, back and forth. That way I'll get both done rather than nothing!
I have put more effort into developing the "Banda Singh - Battle Charge" painting; yes that's the name now. I didn't like his hellboy style beard, so I gave it some length. I wanted him to wear a helmet like both his paintings I drew inspiration from, so I added one in. I noticed the clouds were... terrible, so I fixed them; still working on that. I added a few more mughals in the back. Also, added some smoke (orignally a bad looking cloud) from explosions, perhaps.
These paintings aren't going to be black and white. I will be colouring them. I find I have more control over greyscale rather than colour. This stems from everything I did when I was younger. All my sketches were greyscale. When I made the mistake of colouring them, I would ruin the sketch! Anyway, I wanted to see this painting in colour so, I did a colour study, to see how the colours would workout, I think I like it. I am glad I didn't ruin the sketch!

Exams have arrived! WOOT!

2008-11-28T15:19:00.009-05:00

Yes that's right. It is the end of the semester, which means exams, which also means a break afterwards... which means more time to paint!! WOOT!!

So ya exams are here but does that stop me from painting even when I should be studying? Heck no! =D But I did stop painting. I am going to study as much as possible for the exams, next week. My plan to ace those exams (yeah right!), and finish Battle of Chamkaur and Baba Deep Singh during the Christmas break. I am thinking about getting the Print Account for DeviantArt. DeviantArt allows me to sell mugs, puzzles, postcards as well as the usual Photo Prints and Canvas Prints (but with little option for frames). I think puzzles would be really cool!! Anyway, if anyone knows of a better service, could you please let me know? I could sign up for that instead.

Banda Singh Bahadur, I think he's one of the most interesting people from Sikh history along with our Gurus. While being tortured,
"Mohammed Amin Khan, who was standing near, spoke as follows: "From your manner so far you appear to be a man of virtue, who believes in God, and in doing good deeds. You are also very intelligent. Can you tell me why you are having to suffer all this here ?" Banda's reply was, "When the tyrants oppress their subjects to the limit, then God sends men like me on this earth to mete out punishment to them. But being human, we sometimes overstep the laws of justice, and for that we are made to pay whilst we are still here. God is not being unjust to me in any way." (Wikipedia)

After reading about him, I immediately wanted to paint him again. The first time I painted him was like 4-6 years ago, where I had copied that famous painting of his (I think he is sitting in the Bir Asan in that one). If you don't know what I am talking about, here Banda Singh. So yeah, I wanted to paint him again but in my own way, in my own setting! I had done a few sketches before but didn't think they were good enough for him.

I sat down earlier this week and began to work. The funny thing is I sat down to paint another Battle of Chamkaur scene but with a Singhni. Was there a Singhni with the Singhs at that time? I don't know but that painting turned into Banda Singh Bahadur! Oddly, when I decided to forget Singhni admist of Singhs in Chamkuar, I switched to Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh. These two brave fellows took on 800 Mughals horsemen!!! Let me emphasize the taking on the 800 Mughals with taking them on with just lathis, which are wooden staffs!!! By now you probably know that, they will be next ;)!

So how Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh turned into Banda Singh Bahadur? Well, they didn't fight on horsebacks, they were on foot. What I had was two Singhs on horsebacks, wearing shawls and a kachere! Then out of nowhere Banda Singh appeared in my mind, the sitting pose and the one on the horse. I immediately started to make changes...

What is cool about this painting (it is still a WIP) is that I did most of it very quickly from the sketch. My brushstrokes are much more controlled now, and I am able to get much more done with fewer ones. I have also been blending quite a bit. My skies are also getting better. All in all, I can see my self improving. (This is all on the computer BTW)

The madness has ended!

2008-11-22T23:07:00.011-05:00

... The madness had ended... um... ya... that's pretty much it. By madness I mean constant heart attacks from all the work with more to come from exams in a couple weeks, and by ended, I mean, ended temporarily! University is a lot of work and I don't know why my brain is in constant denial of that; maybe I should ask Freud...

Ah, that's life though, you gotta love it! It would be quite boring without this overdrive! By the way, I am not much of a writer really (I try hard... lol). The only thing I can write is scientific papers and even those are a big pain in the... ... hand... But I am glad that I got sometime to paint this weekend. I started working on some of the old sketches. I will eventually finish the paintings below. I like to take things slow and steady (which partly explains the constant heart attacks). If you are in my labs you should know that already!

Anyway, I was working on the Battle of Chamkaur series. Here I am trying to depict Guru Gobind Singh ji leaving Anandpur and making his way to Chamkaur di garhi (I think I got that right, it's when he is tricked into leaving the castle). He pulls out a spear and nails down every mughal in his path! So here's the basic idea. I think it feels very chaotic, which is what I want. I hope this feeling stays till the finish, although in art there is no finish, only personal satisfaction.

Other Projects

2008-11-09T15:50:00.007-05:00

I pushed aside some projects to make time for painting Sikh history and because I get bored from working on one thing for two long. Here are two WIPs from my fictional fantasy world called Miri Piri. it's something I have been dreaming about ever since I played Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft. Note: These are NOT real! I just had to say that because I have had this guy... let's just say he got pissed off at Khalistani Warrior (scroll down the comments to see).

Anyway, I have to say Khalistani Warrior turned out to be one of my most famous pieces judging by the views it got. It was the first painting I did when I got my tablet. Before that I painted with a mouse and it was a huge pain in the... ... hand. My Sarbloh Warriors concept/game art was done completely with mouse. That was how I really got into this digital painting business.

Well, without further delay here is another Khalistani Warrior WIP:

So Khalistan consists of this huge castle surrounded by a few villages, in the middle in Dead Lands and west of the Himalayan mountain ranges. It is north of the Southern Dynasty.

Some background storyline I am working on:
"One night, when the Sikhs are celebrating Vaisakhi, the Southern Dynasty with their hordes of infantry, elephants, monkey warriors and Mountain Giants, attack the castle. The Southern Dynasty who was once their closest ally had chose to betray them and besiege their castle. They took over Khalistan, after putting up a small fight with the Sikhs, who had fled north in an attempt to save whatever that was left of their kind. They were met with the Dragons, who were being hunted down by the Undead and the Western Alliance.
The Dragons and Khalistanis joined forces and took back the great Dragon city of Dormgore...
He is now a warrior of the race known as the Dragon Riders."

Talking about Dragon Riders, here is a Dragon Rider WIP:

BTW his sword is the Khanda symbol, with Waheguru (wonderful teacher AKA God) imprinted in it.
Currently, I am working on a comic based on Miri Piri. Depending on how things go, my plan is to release the first issue by the end of August this year but I doubt I'll finish the issue by then since there are currently only two people working on it, including myself. I have pictured it being turned into a game as well, but we'll see how things go.

I want to paint! I want to study!

2008-11-09T00:28:00.007-05:00

I, seriously, want to paint but being a Biology student, I hardly get time. Over the last few years digital painting has become my passion. When I am not painting, I think about painting; and when I do get to it, I start worrying about uni. My mind jumps from art to uni and my thoughts become disorganized like my bedroom. I sit down to work and think, "Should I paint? or Should I work on assignments?". My mind then thinks, "I don't feel like studying, I think I'll paint." to then, "No. First, I must get something done for uni." I go down to the kitchen, grab a snack and have a drink of cool water, to try and set my mind straight. Next thing I know, I am in front of the television wondering, "What am I doing here?". I go back to my computer hoping that my mind will do something productive, and I sit there... waiting... writing stuff on my new blog just hoping for that electrochemical gradient in my neuron cells to signal some sort of motor movements involving the use of my hands, to exert an upward force the textbook and my eyes, to detect the electromagnetic spectrum reflected off the pages.

Sikhi Art

2008-11-08T17:33:00.010-05:00

Yay! I have a my own blog. Well, let's get started.

WIPs:

Battle of Chamkaur - depicting Baba Ajit Singh assaulting two Mughal infantry, three, if you count the guy who is being stepped on.

and

Baba Deep Singh - depicting... well, Baba Deep Singh, fighting the Afghans and defending the Golden Temple.

I just have to finish up a few things before these are coloured and finished.

References: God of War 2 wallpaper -for Battle of Chamkaur

Barbarian art from Diablo 3 - Baba Deep Singh