Food illustrations bring so many emotions in our lives. It brings nostalgia, happiness, memories and so much more. Illustrating food has been one of the most favorite part of my career. It has given me a chance to relive my childhood and learn about different cultures from around the world. As a child I was never a food lover until I started working in my mid-20's. At that time, I was living in South India working my ass off at a 9-6 corporate job (usually over time) and never got a chance to cook for myself. The only choice I had was to eat the South Indian food served in our office canteen. But believe me I just loved it. The flavors, spices and the varieties in very single dish was so mouth watering.
But until that time I had never drawn food in my life, not even thought of doing such a thing. Long story short, after a few years when my son was born, I started dabbling with paints and started learning from so many amazing artists on Instagram, youtube and Skillshare. Every day I used to paint something as a practice and guess what always was there as reference for me? My kitchen.
Lay Chips Illustration
I used to pick one thing or two and start painting it. I had no basic goal of why I am painting a particular subject, it was just a way of relaxation for me at that time. Also I never tried to achieve any particular style in my artwork. But slowly I realized that my illustrations were turning out to be quite realistic which made them more popular on social media.
When people started featuring me on their accounts and companies started to reach me out on Instagram for small commissions, that was my calling. I started taking my skills very seriously and started learning even more. It took me a few years, but today here I am working as a freelance illustrator from my home studio. Now I get regular assignments from small publications in the USA for editorial illustrations and I also have been working with a few large clients from branding and packaging labels.
Painting food and botanical subjects is one of the most favorite part my routine. And trust me illustrating each subject is a learning experience because food in any form, whether cooked or raw has so many different textures, shades and shapes which makes it even more interesting. I can confidently say that illustrating food can never be a boring job and specially when one gets paid to do that :)
Never would I have ever thought about becoming a professional illustrator and doing what I love for a living. I hope, one day I will share the long story with you guys and how I landed some of my favorite jobs. Until then, keep creating and if you want to follow along my process, I do share some bits and behind the scenes in my Instagram stories.