We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anju Sabu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Anju thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I’m quite a sentimental person and to me the most meaningful project would be the first one I did because someone took a chance and gave me that task. It wasn’t a big project but it was the first time I discovered that there was a need to protect sharks and why it was important to create an awareness about them. In 2012, a non-profit from Taiwan asked me to design a simple wedding card with a message about finning. I don’t know if it made much of an impact at that time but it taught me a lot. I’ve grown in terms of my work, skills, awareness and wanting to know more about sharks and meet fellow shark lovers.
My most recent meaningful project was the #MakeTime4Makos drawings I made for Shark League. It was to build support for Mako sharks and urge the EU commission to support the ICCAT retention ban on north Atlantic shortfin makos.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m from Tamil Nadu in southern India. I grew up enjoying drawing, especially cartoons and comic art. My art influences were almost every major cartoon or comic in pop culture such as Disney, Cartoon Network originals, Archie and Calvin & Hobbes were probably the top few.
I was fascinated with sharks since very early in life thanks to Nat Geo documentaries my dad and I used to watch together, a book on “Sharks” by Ron & Valerie Taylor published by Reader’s Digest, and of course, “Jaws”. I doodled sharks as early as the 90s but it was around 2005 or 2006 when I had a personal blog and made some comics to illustrate certain stories or points. I used this shark character to bring in a perspective that was outside the realm of humans. The title of the comics is “Oh, Dakuwaqa!” – inspired by the Fijian shark god, but my character is not based on him.
My initial comics showed more of human/shark interaction while my later ones focused more on shark awareness. I was contacted by some shark conservationists from other countries who came across my comics and they asked me to do some cartoons for their cause. That was when I learnt a lot more about sharks and wanted to do more. I use my comics to spread more facts and awareness about sharks – to inform people about the reality that very few shark species are dangerous and even those species don’t have a murderous agenda.
I tend to work on them a bit sporadically because I am not a full-time artist – my regular job involves IT at a hospital. Art was always a passion and I’m glad I have the opportunity and time to work on it part-time.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I draw mainly with a Wacom intuos pro at the moment but worked with just pencil when I first started. I wish I’d developed better traditional skills before switching to digital – or at least learned specific and more techniques in the medium I use. It’s while looking back that I wish I’d gone to art school and received more feedback and guidance.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I admit that I didn’t know much about them at first and the people who were telling me about them were pro-NFTs. But I saw that they could never really replace original and authentic art – being able to see it tangibly. With a price of digital art, it’s hard to see the difference between actually owning a work and having the illusion that you own it. I also learnt from my peers and those who are in my art world why NFTs are not endorsed by artists who draw wildlife or work to conserve them. I respect their views and wanted them to continue to respect my work. So I will not yet be converting my digital art to NFTs or creating any new NFTs for sale.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ohdakuwaqa.com
- Instagram: ohdakuwaqa
- Facebook: ohdakuwaqa
- Twitter: ohdakuwaqa