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Nov 2022

I’ve been reading this comic strip series by an Indian author and have been following artists from India recently. I think it will help me understand their culture and history if I got to know some. It’s just out of pure curiosity and my appreciation for many cultures. It’s just India has been the country I’ve been hyper fixated on for a few months now.

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    Nov '22
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    Dec '22
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Well, I am an Indian. I am not exactly an artist but I more of a writer here and honestly, I would say that you won't find many people from India here on tapas but anyway. Can I help you in any way??

Oh! Cool! I’m not really sure. Maybe just some help with understanding Indian culture and stuff.

I know a number of South Asian/Desi creators on here, not all necessarily Indian (some Pakistani and Bangladeshi), but not too many actually from India, most are based in the UK or US. You might still like their work though, because they touch on themes and aesthetics of South Asian culture.

First, obviously I have to plug the work of my lovely fiance, who is British Pakistani and writes the Romance novel "Bard Romance" about a Bard in a South-Asian inspired Fantasy setting having lots of romantic exploits. It's a novel, but they do draw too, so there are illustrations they drew now and then:

You might also really like the work of Shazleen Khan, a Bangladeshi creator based in the UK who lets those influences shine though in Buuza!!

And of course, there's Sera Swati, a US based Indian creator of some very popular Tapas comics:

Err... not exactly? My partner is British Pakistani (born in UK), Shazleen Khan is Bangladeshi and lives in the UK (but I believe was born in Bangladesh) and Sera Swati is based in the US and Indian (but I don't know place of birth). So none of them are British Indian. They are all Desi/South Asians who live in English Speaking countries though.

It's important to differentiate, because Pakistani and Indian people in particular might get pretty pissed off if you call them the wrong one. If you're looking for a collective term for those cultures, they tend to refer to themselves as "desi", but generally prefer others to call them "South Asian". It's a huge landmass, so some South Asians may feel more attached to their region than country in terms of identity (ie. Punjabi, Gujerati etc.).

I'm mixed Indian artist (technically Indian-Caribbean and African American) and I live in the US. I make a comic1 on here but it doesn't have anything to do with India. I do have a short fantasy comic that I sell called Charu that is more of a fantasy set in an ancient historical setting. I've been wanting to do some more comics centered around desi fantasy and adjacent to Hindu theology/cosmology, but it's all in the works so nothing huge yet! Other than that, I don't have a whole lot of content to share that could probably help you understand Indian culture, which in my opinion, is SO vast and really depends on someone's region, language, religion, etc. (But I guess if you wanted to know about Indians in the Caribbean, you could always hit me up haha :joy:) I think some great sources if you want to look specifically in entertainment are through Indian cinema, (I am a big fan of 60s-90s Bollywood movies) or if you like reading, there are some great illustrated stories in a series called "Chandamama1" that were serialized in a magazine for kids, and you can read some in English on their website.

Oh! I read your instagram and one of you guys are a composer? I was just actually talking with my voice cast I would potentially use music for the comic dub I’m going to do!

He he​:sweat_smile:, well it's only edited composition. I don't have any skills, or the technical knowhow/tools, to make actual music , unless it's simple melodies or drums. I can send you a sample of something I did with a VA tho. (I'm more of an editor, so if you want me to review some things, or already have some clips you want to use as a base, then I can do that.)

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closed Dec 28, '22

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