Go Green

When was the last time you spared a thought about global warming? Or poachers for that matter? While you were celebrating technological advancement, did you take some time out to mourn for environmental devastation? For those who do care about Mother Nature, Rohan Chakravarty’s webcomic, Green Humour is the perfect place to haunt. Featuring comics about all things related to the environment, this comic flaunts over “200 cartoons and counting”.

Created by wildlife enthusiast Rohan Chakravarty, this webcomic is much more than crude lines and scribbles held together with slapstick humour or deviations from 90s Bollywood. It does not talk about the trials and tribulations of a hungover cartoonist, neither does it rely on making fun of daily events to gather likes and followers. Instead, it talks about something rather serious and in ways, life itself. And along with delightful illustrations, there is humour in abundance.

And we caught up with him to know some more about this awesome webcomic!

ST: Why did you start Green Humour? 

RC (Rohan Chakravarty): The sight of a gorgeous tigress bathing in a waterhole in Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary lured me into it (not the waterhole! Into drawing cartoons on wildlife). I gave up my dentistry degree and took up animation design as my day job to fund myself while I drew Green Humour in my free hours. After three years and thirty odd animation assignments for IT firms, I gave that up too and started drawing Green Humour full time.

ST: Creative barricades- how do you deal with them?

RC: When the creative block puts his boxing gloves on, I pick up my favourite books in both my hands. One I use as a shield to block his blows, and the other as a slab to thrash him with. If I’m still knocked out, desperate defence measures may include switching the lights off and going to sleep. Nothing rejuvenates me like a winter morning bird walk.

ST: According to you, what five things add up to a great webcomic? 

RC: I have never approached my cartoons with the web in mind, so I may not be the right person to answer that. I personally don’t find any pleasure in reading comic strips on a computer screen. The rush I get on seeing my work in print is probably the best ‘high’ I’ve experienced as a cartoonist (and teetotaller).

Five, no; six things that make a great cartoon- Knowing about what you’re drawing (first and foremost), good art (no stick figures, please!), minding your grammar and punctuation, timing your punch lines aptly, simplicity, and the complete absence of Photoshop’s ‘drop shadow’.

ST: Your advice to the young and not so young ones who are shy to take the plunge and start a webcomic of their own.

RC: The best advice I can offer in this day and age to newbies is to turn to people like Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Williams, Noah Glass, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone. No, not for inspiration, but for the services they’ve created- social media. Get your work out, take your critics seriously and never EVER trust your mom’s review. Write every second day, draw every single day and day-dream every single minute. Bah! I’m no Reuben winner so don’t take me too seriously!