Barnali Debnath, a name you may not have heard yet but soon you will as she is undoubtedly one of the most talented artists in the country at the moment. This is the reason why she is currently working on two different comic/manga projects for Deshi Geek. A bit rough around the edges as she has limited experience in the industry, but with her talent and dedication Barnali is sure to go places. I mean just look at the artwork she has produced so far in Barnali Debnath’s ArtHouse, and you will surely be mesmerized.
It has been a long time since I last featured an artist on the website. As my readers may know, I have been focusing on featuring cosplayers from home and abroad – Edriko Rickson, Lotuss Cosplay, and Eriza Cosplay are a few of them. After writing about so many cosplayers (maybe I’m biased as a cosplayer myself) I thought to myself, “Maybe it’s time to shift my focus to artists!”. And, so here is the feature of Barnali Debnath to kick off the proceedings.
Many of you may be guessing since Barnali Debnath appeared recently on the Deshi Geek Podcast and hence, she was selected for the first feature. However, the fact of the matter is, that I landed the interview with her first since we are working on a manga project together (talk about convenient XD). Barnali is a CSE student and hails from the Savar area of Dhaka. She is not part of any pop-culture communities yet but so what! She joined Deshi Geek the very first pop-culture platform in Bangladesh as an artist and that is enough for now.
The Artistic Journey
It is time to dive into the actual interview with Barnali Debnath and as usual, I started with the age-old question, “How it all started?!!”. “I always loved art. Even though I started drawing at a young age, I stopped in middle school. But I started again after watching anime. That made me want to start my art journey once again.”, Barnali reminisced about her beginning and journey and then continued, “I started it when I was very little. There wasn’t any motivation behind it, just loved looking at art and enjoyed drawing.”
“Who is your inspiration? And how did you start working on comic projects?”, I enquired further. “Various artists are my inspiration such as Quinniart, Rinotuna, Shal.e, Huta chan, Wolp, and Samyang.”, she replied with enthusiasm and then went on to explain her decision to work on comic projects, “I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone and learn new things in art. I also felt like it was a wonderful opportunity for me.”. That there is the line folks. When someone wants to go out of their comfort zone for passion it bears greatness.
After the initial thought tussle, we talked a bit about the art competitions Barnali Debnath participated in, her accolades, and her efforts for art. “I have participated in almost 7-8 art competitions. Won art supplies as prizes in five of them. So, it is not a decorative accolades collection!”, she said with a sigh and I chuckled followed by a thought, “They don’t really matter that much!” Apparently, Barnali spends 7-8 hours on artwork almost every day and that there is pure dedication.
Barnali Debnath & Art
It was time for me to drag out Barnali Debnath’s inner essence of art and understand her emotional connection to drawing. So, I probed, “What art means to you?”, “Honestly, it means everything to me. It helps me to relax, helps me to convey my feelings.”, she replied. “What are your thoughts on digital and traditional drawing?”, I continued my probe. “Both are great. Both take time and effort to create beautiful art. I prefer digital format because it has many features that make it easy for artists to draw.”, Barnali remarked.
“Now, let’s talk about your original character designs.”, I asked for information. “I was very happy and loved the character after developing it. I felt proud and wanted to develop her story and her design more and more. And it is important to emotionally connect with the character. I think if I can relate then I can create something beautiful, something great. I struggle when there is no story behind the character I’m creating. A character without a background story is hard to create because I struggle with what kind of personality should I give and I can’t feel satisfied with anything.”, Barnali explained.
“Believing in themselves. Many artists back down from art for some comments but they should keep on going, one day their art will be appreciated.”, Barnali Debnath made her stance clear on the question of the most important trait of an artist. “I always keep a pencil and eraser with me and if I see any art competition occurring, I would join without a second thought (those didn’t need pre-registration to apply). After the results, parents of other competitors would always say “She came out of nowhere, why did she win?” I used to find it funny.”, she shared the funny yet condescending experience.
Barnali Debnath Creating Comics
“So how did the comic/manga projects come to be? How did it all start? And what are you working on at present?”, I threw a bunch of interconnected questions at Barnali. “In the past, I worked on a personal one-shot comic, it was based on my childhood. It was about a girl remembering her childhood friend and her precious memory with her friend.”, she declared and continued, “Currently, I am working on two comic projects named Opekkha and General.”, “Tell me about them.”, she chuckled and said, “You already know about General since you’re the author!”
Well, she started describing it anyway, “Opekkha is a romance tragedy one-shot comic which follows the story of a boy who lost his parents at a very early age and gets adopted by one of his father’s close friends. The story of General follows a young boy named Aditya who used to live with his family in a small village of the Pala (Paal) Empire of Ancient Bengal.” Barnali Debnath actually divulged a lot more since I was the interviewer but readers, I’m not letting you know all of it and edited a lot of plot points out.
“It’s my first time working on two projects at once. It can be hard but I’m happy because, thanks to this, I’m learning more about human anatomy, backgrounds, perspective and more. During character creation, I faced a few difficulties but I have overcome them by learning it and it’s great. I always worked alone so working with someone feels overwhelming yet fruitful because I can learn new things from them too. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. The stories are great and really heart-touching, I can’t wait to bring them to life.”, Barnali described her experience and expectation.
Finale
We were having a great time in this interview but it was time to close the curtain. So, I started asking the closing questions. Barnali Debnath was happy to answer all of them one by one starting with, “I want to reach to the point where I can draw anything that comes to my mind because now, I’m not that skilled enough to bring my imagination to life. I also want to see my art in big art galleries, stand there and look at my art.”, she continued, “They are very supportive. I’m very blessed to have them, I can still continue thanks to my family and my friends.”.
“Don’t think, just do it! Obstacles will come but if you’re determined then nothing can stop you from being a great artist, it doesn’t matter if it takes a lot of time because it’s worth it. It’s alright to use reference but don’t copy and call it yours. It’s alright if you don’t win competitions, note your mistakes and improve on them. If you have a weak point, practice that. It will be your strength.”, was her advice to aspiring artists.
Finally, I asked her to say a few words about Deshi Geek and she showered the platform with praises, “Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to work with Deshi Geek. I wish the best for Deshi Geek to be a successful platform in Bangladesh and showcase amazing aspiring artists’ works to the world.” And that was it for this interview, My dear readers, show your support for the very talented artist Barnali Debnath and for Deshi Geek!
