Marc Radle recently interviewed Southlands Kickstarter project illustrator Subroto Bhaumik so that you could see how this artist started a career in the industry and more! Read on to learn more…

When did you decide to become an illustrator, and why did you make this choice?

I used to love drawing as a kid, and I’d spend hours drawing animals and superheroes. However, as I continued school and college, the pressure to focus on academics was quite a lot from my folks and peers, and I found myself later in jobs I never thoroughly enjoyed.

After having been in a corporate job for 10 years, I was in my mid-thirties and I was really bored with my job so I took up photography as a hobby. One thing led to another, and I found myself again enrolled in some painting classes. The more I did it and improved my skills, the more I became serious about art.

After about 5 years of serious art studies, I left all my other jobs and dived in full-time as an illustrator.

Please tell us a little about your work style and technique.

Once I get the brief from a client, I spend a lot of time just thinking and visualizing an epic moment that encapsulates the brief. After I have a general idea on how it should be, I spend time doing some thumbnails that only I understand and that I never show to a client because they are usually some feverish scribbles. I take a scribble I like and refine it further and send this off to the client.

Once I get an approval, I start fleshing out the details—collecting specific reference images; fixing anatomy, lighting, and composition—all usually in gray scale. At some point along this process, I introduce color. After I’m kind of happy with the colors and lighting, then it’s just grunt work of rendering and polishing the piece up to a finish.

What is your favorite piece you have done for Kobold Press . . . and why is it your favorite?

My favorite one so far is the Hands of Nakresh. I like the drama of the piece—it’s as if something is about to happen.

Anything else of interest relating you want to add?

Many times when I’m stuck trying to think of something epic from the brief given, I spend time browsing through my library of favorite images of other artists. If that doesn’t work, I watch TV or just do nothing related to art for a while. Something usually triggers the creative process and then I’m back on track.

Where can people find more of your art?

You can visit my online portfolio.