Hi! I'm Soundarya

I help individuals and organizations to communicate their stories effectively by creating stunning and thoughtful illustrations.

My illustrations have found their way into children's picture books, personal memoirs, branding and stationery.

How does this work?

Discovery Call : We discuss your illustration requirements over a call.

Project Confirmation : Project timeline, scope, pricing are finalized.

Making : I draw and share the illustrations at key stages for your reviews and feedback.

Final Delivery : Finished illustrations are mailed in required formats.

Why Illustrations?

We are all made of stories and its human nature to express these stories to the world, be it in conversations, in writing, building brands or creating communities. Illustrations sit very closely with storytelling and help enrich the very experience of witnessing a story unfold.

Illustrations for content

If you have a story, a report, a book or a blog that needs illustrations to engage your readers then this service is for you.

Fashion Illustrations

For individuals and clothing brands working in sustainability, with handlooms and/or handicrafts. Services include process documentation, product illustrations, brand journey, look-books and collection line-ups.

Editorial Illustrations

Illustrations for magazines and newspaper articles on topics ranging across food, culture, environment, humanities, opinions, lifestyle and more.

Project Showcase

Currently..

For the past few months I've been working on self-initiated projects themed around

Textiles & Handicrafts, Environment and Humanities - with the intention of expanding my work into Editorial Illustration.

Do you look at animals and feel yourself calming down? Made this piece during a particularly anxious time, when a beautiful cat visited 😌

What a good fabric on your skin can feel like 😌
Dress reference from @bunastudio 🌸

All that goes behind making a handcrafted garment. All the skilled hands, attentive eyes, conversations and the collective joy of a piece coming together.
Clothing inspiration from @ohrnahandmade 🌸
End image credits @ohrnahandmade 💕

On most days I am disappointed with us humans but I feel this disappointment comes from a place of love in a way. Because I know we are capable of so much more! More love, more understanding and more creation.

I feel awkward drawing live sketches of people. So I click pictures sneakily or memorise them or make notes about notable features and draw them after coming home. This is one such sketch of a woman I saw at a temple.

Little companion ^•.•^

Drawn on Procreate

I still haven’t learnt out how to make a proper hair bun with a stick but figured I make an illustration first 😌

I bought this antique wooden doll a few years back at @byhandfromtheheart in Chennai. Since then it’s been a part of my work desk and now a part of my sketchbook.

I feel like I should name her now 😌

A little offering 🌺🌸
ft. The Banded wolf/racer snake (non venomous)

It’s been a crazy exhausting week but in a good, fulfilling way. Quite a bit of travelling, lots and lots of conversations and also much needed sleep! Back at my desk and solitude now 😌🌸

All eyes on humans and humans turn a blind eye - is what this zine is about.

What gets passed on from those who came before us? Do we want to keep those attributes? Do we get a say in it? And how much? This was both a pleasure and pain to put together (almost like our family dynamics🌚) but ✨WORTH✨ it.

Why do we bend ourselves backward to find a purpose? Why do we give this idea so much weight? I made this piece to navigate my own thoughts around it. It also invites the reader to question their perspective on their idea of purpose.

Will be bringing this to @bombayzinefest happening on October 10,11,12 at @nautilus_at_casacandies 🌸

People.
Made this one to reaffirm my (barely existing) hope in humanity than anything else. Work available as part of @bazinega ‘s Indie Ink festival happening today and tomorrow.
📍Attagallata, Bengaluru

Made this illustration back in March. I wanted to present it in a way other than a digital post. After much fiddling and experimenting with my small home printer, here it is in ✨print✨ This along with many other works of mine will be available at @bazinega ‘s Indie Ink festival, Bangalore from today till Sunday.

Russian matryoshka doll, editorial illustration, concept illustration, ink, riso effect

Seeing parts of ourselves in nature’s patterns is a wonderful thing to witness, especially the parts that are hard to love.

Shell cleaning ft. Indian star tortoise 🐢 🧼

Drew this last night, which is uncommon for me. I usually do all my illustration work during the day. But I got the urge to try colour pencils and it couldn’t wait till morning. So here we are, with a gentle giant 🐘

Met a dear friend yesterday and we spoke a lot about children’s books and stories and art 🩵✏️

I saw a little pig and a dog playing on a footpath yesterday. What a beautiful, unlikely friendship :’)
Have you witnessed any unlikely animal/bird friendships? 👀

“A school of fish”
I love, lovee collective nouns.

Have you ever hugged an animal before? 🩵

I saw a pomegranate flower for the first time 🌸

Went for a book launch and came back with heart full (and tummy full) of memories. Beautiful people and conversations through and through!
Thank You Bengaluru 🌸
Until next time @maithriarunkumar 🫂 You and your lovely family made this trip so damn wholesome 😭🩵

3 fledglings took off from the nest yesterday and it was the highlight of my weekend :’) Took all of my strength to not touch them 😬
Swipe to see the momma feeding one of the babies 😌

A little warm up before starting on my new project today 🌱
Swipe to see this bird fleeing from my presence 🥲

[Nature,bird,nesting,illustration]

Made this for Environment day but never shared 🌱

this delicate little life

[photo illustration, procreate drawing]

In May of 2021 I received a manuscript for a book about a lovely little girl named Putti who is told to wear glasses to see properly. Dr. Maithri @maithriarunkumar the writer is a Paediatric Ophthalmologist from Bengaluru who wanted to address the stigma and shame around having to wear glasses for life. As someone who got glasses prescribed at the age of 12 and was utterly ashamed of this fact throughout my school, college and adult life - wearing contacts all the time, this story felt like a warm hug.

When I worked on this book, I didn’t have much experience with illustrating for books but the visuals came so naturally for me. Maithri’s writing, our conversations and my own life experiences came together beautifully as I worked on each scene and character. My yearly visits to the ophthalmologist, the Eye Chart (my childhood arch enemy), picking frames through the years - things I got so used to and never talked about to anyone found a way out through the sketches. On that note, I must mention that this book is meant for children and adults alike (I’d say this about most children’s books)

However, neither of us anticipated the wait for publishing that would come after finishing the book. Maithri was certain that she wanted the book in Kannada and English both so it can reach more people.
Finding the right publisher took 4 years and BIG thanks to @harivubooks that Putti is finally here and out in the world :) The Kannada version will be out very soon. The English version is available on Amazon!

Each year we would hope that maybe this year would be it. And for once it finally is 💚

This will remain a special project for me Maithri. And credit where its due, thanks to @mangopenciler2.0 for connecting us both :)

Earlier this year I created illustrations for a lovely book of Telugu poems written by Dr Jayashree Reddy @talagura_gampa I had the pleasure of working with @manya_cherabuddi for this project (finally!) :) It was a hectic one month but the good kind! Since we were short on time we went with black and white illustrations with just the cover being in colour. Everything turned out so good!

The book launched in March in a beautiful little garden and my whole family somehow being able to gather in time to make it to the event was the cherry on top 😭

@gottapudeepak Vandana @bhaskarmeher Sowjanya you 4 were missed ❤️

April in Jammu and a brief stop in Delhi at @jahnavi.sen ‘s 🩵

I used to despise drawing hair years ago. Now I adore it. Progress I guess 💁🏽‍♀️🎀
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[illustration,picture books,children’s book,character design]

What Pottery and Clay taught me :

•Pottery is NOT “therapeutic” when you’re a beginner.

•Learning becomes fun when you approach it with curiosity rather than control.

•Being FULLY present, mentally and physically.

•A little lump of clay can humble you in seconds 🥲

•Pottery is a full body workout 🙂‍↕️

•My lower back needs strengthening

•Mistakes are GOOD when learning a new skill

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few but more to come as I continue practising.

Thank you @slowpottery 💚

Probably the best gift I gave myself this year 💜

My favourite month is here 🤍 I don’t like the cold but I love everything else that comes with December ✨

This illustration is my attempt to say thank you to the wonderful people and animals I met at @velangaorchard @slowpottery

I took back so much more than just pottery skills 😌🤍
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#slowpottery #women #community #slowliving #pottery

PAUSE.
Most of 2024 felt like I was drained of energy. Creative energy to be precise. I tried to find out what was causing this and of all things it turned out to be illustration! Obviously I denied this revelation. How can something I love drain me when it was the one thing that usually keeps me going? Turns out somewhere between 2021 to 2024 I twisted my perception towards creativity and illustration. Maybe it was when I decided to turn it into a job or when I decided to build a business with it. Truth is I found myself distancing from drawing with each passing day. The worst part was I stopped being curious about it. Don’t get me wrong I still love illustration. When I see a beautiful illustration by other artists I feel immense joy! I realised I wasn’t ready to give up on illustration. So a few months ago I decided to stop fighting it and let myself take a proper break from drawing with a hope that I will miss it and want to come back to it with renewed energy.
But I’m also someone who can’t not do anything!

Hence I enrolled for a month long residential pottery course, packed my bags and left home. What followed was the most enriching and grounding month in a long time. It was the perfect reset I needed and I’m quite proud of myself for allowing myself to do this. More on my pottery experience in another post soon! All I can say for now is that clay - in a way forced me to be fully present, be curious and have fun while learning a new thing. It reminded me of how it felt years ago when I decided to become an illustrator and rediscover the joy in learning. I’m home now and I feel ready to draw once again, just for the love of it and nothing else :)

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#pause #pottery #creativeliving #inspiration #life #crisis #illustration #farmlife

Things I realised in our short trip to Coorg :

1) Some things are scarier in my head but FUN in reality - like zip lining!
2) My upper body needs some serious strength training
3) You don’t feel pain when a leech is biting you (took me about 6-7 hours to discover a leech feasting on my leg 🫠)
4) Dogs love Ravi more than me (I like it and don’t like it at the same time)
5) I want to unlearn about Civet cat coffee (Google it)
6) Black coffee tastes good if you do it right!
7) Duck feathers are waterproof 🪿

Almost abandoned this account for a while 😅
But things were happening - a wedding, travel, dinner dates, good old fashion illustrations, a viral fever, lazy days (a bit too many last month)..currently waiting for some hot sunny mornings. Enough rains now -.-

A lot of changes and decisions to be made for my business in the coming few months. That means a lot of mental load for me and being on Instagram is only making it worse. So this is just until things settle down a bit. I usually don’t “announce” going offline but with all the product launches planned and promises made for my new website, I feel like I owe you a heads up atleast. So bear with lack of updates and posts here for a while 🌻 I’ll be back 💚

Did a small pop-up at the lovely @katha.india café yesterday. Sweet crowd, good conversations and amaziiing food. Good day it was 😌

Thank you everyone who stopped by!
And @prernakolluri for making it happen 🌻

@kjah5862 @studio.mimosaa Lovely company these two 🩷

I miss the tiny little green windows of my grand parents house 🏠

An ode to all the homes I lived in 🏠🤍
(Repurposed illustrations from my old calendars)
Happy Weekend 🌻

Connecting some dots here..
Hope your Monday is going well 🌻

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