Landmark buildings, roads and bridges, statues and towers, bordered with blue seas and greenery became a single picture of Kerala, all 14 districts tucked into pockets of white space. The artist Noufal S, aged 20, is surprised that his little gift to Malayalis got shared so much on Kerala Piravi Day, November 1.
"The first picture I sketch is of Poovar, my homeland in Thiruvananthapuram. After this I thought I could paint a picture of Kerala, with all 14 districts," Noufal says of his digital art work.
He doodled landmark images from the internet and then stretched them out on his digital canvas. Thiruvananthapuram, his homeland, he knew had to come with the Secretariat, the Padmanabha Swamy Temple, the Museum, the hills of Ponmudi and the famous dialect. So he has scribbled 'Vo thanne' - a slang that means Oh yes.
Kochi, the next city he has most visited, is all colourful, with the sea and the metro and the church and of course, there is the dialect - "Teame, Scene".
Kottayam has its rubber trees and the famous Statue Park of a woman with two children around her lap and a boy resting on the ground with a book.
Thrissur has the Thrissur pooram festival, Alappuzha the backwaters and houseboats, Kozhikode its beach, Malappuram its mosque and football, Kannur its airport, Wayanad the churam, Palakkad its greenery, Pathanamthitta has Sabarimala, Kasargod has Bekal Fort, Kollam the Jatayu Rock and Idukki its hillsides.
“These are just the first images that come to your mind when you think of each of these places. I have visited only Kollam, Kochi and Thrissur among them, and I live in Thiruvananthapuram. The other places I sketched with what I have heard and read and known about them,” Noufal says.
He hasn’t learnt to draw as a child, but took after his elder sisters Sajeena and Afana who were good in art. Inspired, Noufal bought drawing book after drawing book and doodled on the walls of the house, and promptly got told off. But teachers and parents noticed his growth as an artist after class X when he began to do well in many district level competitions.
“I loved creating cartoons most of all. That’s how I later began a page called Kuttipencil – you need your pencil and eraser to draw, that’s where it all starts from,” says the young artist.
He drew a number of cartoons for COVID-19 awareness during the pandemic and got appreciated by followers of the page. He got more work through them. At 20, Noufal is already employed as a part-time designer at two firms in Thiruvananthapuram and also does freelancing. He got trained in designing the last two years, he adds.