We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Param Bhattacharyya. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Param below.

Alright, Param thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I’m actually really happy to be working on the project that I’m currently undertaking. I’ve been putting out an independent graphic novel called “Looking for the Ramones. ” Its the story of how I started a punk band during a dark period of my life. Its been a lot of work but I find it deeply fulfilling. Prior to this I used to work in video games and animation. Ultimately, if I can be honest, they ultimately began to feel like jobs where I did my best to make something visually interesting. But working on my own book has been much more deeply satisfying. I’m working on both artwork, and a story that I lived and that I believe in.

Param, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

So I used to work in video games and animation, and I worked in that industry for roughly five years. Eventually, I made the move to Los Angeles with just my suitcase hoping that things would pan out and my career would shoot to the next level.

As it turned out, that didn’t happen at all. It was a very difficult time for me but I watched my career stall and most of my life fall apart. I lost my fiance, my career stalled, I experienced the death of someone I was very close to, and I realized that my motivations for moving to Los Angeles were to impress people who didn’t really care about me. While all of this was incredibly painful, I did realize a lot of things about myself.

The real motivations for me weren’t necessarily fame or fortune but the chance for me to focus on my own stories and be true to myself. I had already spent so much of my life working for others, and putting my creative talents towards projects and artwork that I didn’t really believe in. If I didn’t start working on my artwork now, I was never going to start. The truth was that I wanted to be making independent comics, and that had always been a huge motivator for me for most of my life.

So it was pretty tough, but at 40 years old, I realized that it was critical for me to change and evolve. I got my license to teach public school, and I started teaching so that I could cover my income costs, and I then started working on my comic.

Just this month in March, I just published my first book independently and that was something that I’m really proud of. Granted, there are things that I always wish could be better, but its been satisfying to know that something that just started out as an idea in my head actually turned into something that I can hold in my hands.

A lot of people are into brands and branding, but to be honest, I prefer to bypass a lot of that because I think it becomes really disingenuous. I’ve always been inspired by a punk rock mindset, and doing it yourself. I’m not into some beautiful glittery image of luxury. I prefer to try and look honestly at the things that are both good and bad and hopefully do so with a sense of humor. As far as publishing, that has translated into starting a self publishing business that’s fair to its employees, environmental and makes independent personal art.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Personally, I think it’s biologically impossible for someone to be non-creative. We make creative choices all of the time, it can be as simple as choosing what video to watch on your phone.

On a deeper level though, many years ago I worked as a telemarketer and sold newspapers over the phone. One coworker made a judgement on me because of the clothes that I wore. His judgements weren’t anything particularly harsh, but I remember him telling me that he thought I was more “established.” At that time, I remember getting really angry about it.

Later that day, I went home and hung out with a friend, and I told him what happened. He couldn’t really understand why I felt that way. I explained that I had made a choice to live my life in a way that allowed me to be creative. This individual had seemed to only understand me and my life purely through money.

My friend then explained something to me. If that person had everything that I had, and was able to achieve the goals that I was working toward, it wouldn’t bring him the same fulfillment that it brought me. Conversely, if I had everything that person had, and achieved everything he wanted, I still wouldn’t be fulfilled. People have different wants and needs.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I was born in India and I was raised in America with two immigrant parents. My formative learning years were about accomplishing tasks without any errors. I had to get the right grades, for the right school, to have the right career. I had lived much of my life in this results oriented mindset. Then something changed.

A few years ago, I had started to learn martial arts. It was really humbling because I had been coming from a mental place and space of knocking out goals and making things happen. I wasn’t afraid to work hard to get what I wanted, and I always got what I wanted.

But with martial arts it was different. I kept getting my butt kicked! I would come into class and just feel like the punching bag for the class. I remember getting really insecure and talking to some of my training partners and telling them how awful I felt.

They told me not to worry, just to keep coming back, and that learning was about baby steps. What I didn’t realize or acknowledge was that there were people there who had been training for much longer than I had been. I was coming into something new with very little background and no experience. I had to have the humility to be a beginner. That meant being willing to go through the process and accepting its ups and downs. It also meant I had to let go of egotistical drives. For the first time in my life, I learned how to learn.

I had to throw away so much of my previous results oriented way of achieving. I wasn’t learning, I was just rushing to a finish line without considering what I had learned and why it was imortant. It’s nice to get to the finish line, but the truth is, sometimes we get there and sometimes we don’t. The real reward is the fact that you get to be here and do it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @winter___studio

Image Credits
Looking for the Ramones Issue 02 – Artwork by Param Bhattacharyya Lettering by Ting Lee