Success Story : Girish Atuvalaipil (IDC - IITB VC)

Dear friends,
Girish Atuvalaipil made it to IDC-VC this year. We are thankful to him for sharing some of his work that will inspire the future aspirants. This work is part of his portfolio that he presented at IIT-B IDC interviews. It includes some hand-made paintings, few digital works, photographs and even products. Its a diverse portfolio and shows Girish's ability to work with a variety of media.

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Hey Everybody,

My name is Girish and I got into IDC, Visual Communication. My Journey began 2 years ago when I gave CEED without much of preparation and ended up not qualifying by 7 marks. This is when I knew with the right kinda work I would be able to crack it. This time around I started preparing since August.

As an engineering graduate it can be tough to go head to head with BFA guys but the good thing about CEED is that it’s not a drawing competition but an exam that evaluates your creative thinking process. 

Preparation

My preparation was based around the basics. I downloaded a lot of material on Perspective drawing and Anatomy studies. Perspective is extremely important as it is the differentiating factor when it comes to amateurs and people who take art seriously. I suggest you work on it. Anatomy was something I was always interested in and it helped loosen by hands. By practicing Anatomy I’m able to draw Organic shapes much more easily than before. I have also been training with a prominent Indian Artist named Bharati Sagar in Oils for the last two years. She has helped me understand colours in a way I could never have by myself. 

As for the general knowledge part of the exam, you just need to read. I enjoy knowing about great artists and their works so it was a fun process for me. This time around though they did ask math questions which had me perplexed but I guess my Engineering background kicked in and helped me cruise through them easily. I’m also interested in photography and they asked quite a few questions on Photography, again which I was able to tackle easily. So the trick is to know the basics of Art, Photography and little bit of math which your aptitude preparation books would cover. Apart from this solve all the older question papers and learn how to draw quickly. I guess the trick to draw quickly is to draw more. So pick subjects that you usually wouldn’t and draw them, this will get you out of your comfort zone. I used to ask my friends on Facebook to suggest stuff to draw. My closest friends took it a step further and got me a Pictionary set which we would invariably use at every weekend party. All in all keep drawing and be stream specific, that is if you like product design draw more products and so on.

Join the CEED forum on Facebook, connect with seniors and of course read the tea cup blog. This will keep you motivated till the exams.

Written Test and Interview

I went to Mumbai a day early and caught up with a senior who was a friend’s friend. I was pleasantly surprised to find everyone I meet willing to help me out. My new friend introduced me to other seniors and they gave me lot of pointers to crack the interview.

Written test was fun. It was divided into two parts. First part had two questions.

Question 1: What are the qualities a good designer should posses?

Question 2:   Write about a book or a movie that inspired you.

I’m good at writing. I have had a blog since 2003 so again I took full advantage of this. In the second part we had to design a visual identity for a Safari park in India where the animals roam free and you can take your vehicle inside. I kept it simple and created a logo using the most simplified forms.

The interview was very interesting for it lasted not more than 5 minutes. I explained my portfolio told them why I wanted to be there and that’s about it.

Portfolio

Portfolio is probably the most important part of this journey and it cannot be made in the last two months. If you looking to write CEED 2014 I suggest you start thinking about your portfolio. Please do not copy sketches, the panel is looking for originality. My Portfolio consisted of a Short Film, a Graphic Novel which I wrote the story for and illustrated, recreations of paintings from Renaissance Artists, my own oil creations, Photographs, Sketches and my written work. I took everything and they checked everything even the written stuff.

All the Best everyone for CEED 2014. The most important tip I got from seniors, be humble and be honest.