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JEYARAJ ( 'J...' ) THE MAN AND THE ARTIST

Any Tamilian worth his


name cannot feign
ignorance of Jeyaraj,
the prolific artist in the
domain of Tamil
periodicals and
magazines. His
versatility in the realm
of commercial
illustration is
unbounded and also
unprecedented. Be it
line-drawing, wash
drawing, colour
drawing, perspective drawing or cartoons, he excelled in everything .
After the popularity and fame, actors get in the cinema field, he
proved that the same popularity and fame can also be achieved by an
illustrator, which is all the more greater, because the readers of
magazines are literate people!
However the name and fame luckily did not go into his head that even
today he is a simple man and by his own admission stated that he
does not have any set goal in his life and takes life as it unfolds.

This much 'interviewed' man by almost all the satellite channels in the
south and Doordarshan, was manavai.com's target for a very special
reason that he belonged to the south-eastern seaboard near
Manapad. When contacted he gladly accepted for the 'Interview' in
spite of his tight schedule.
Fritz Miranda and Velgean, a new adherent to the web site were
assigned to do the job and between themselves they struck an
ingenious idea to interview Jeyaraj on two different facets of his life
with the view to bring out the artist and the man within the famed
artist. The interview is in two parts. First Fritz Miranda tries to bring
out the artist within the man and Velgean tries to bring out the man
within the artist!

OK, we don't want to test your patience, go ahead and enjoy the
outcome!

PART-I - The Artist within the Man

Interview by Fritz Miranda


F.M. You are a very busy artist.
What is your routine on an average
day? In fact when do you start
work every day?

J. Getting up in the morning is not


fixed! It depends upon the time I
go to sleep on the previous night,
which is usually very late. Some
times it will be morning 4.00 a.m.
No! My profession is riddled with
deadlines! A strict routine is not
possible- atleast for me.

F.M. Yes, deadlines! How do you manage to keep up the


deadlines?

J. Most of the magazines I contribute are weeklies, hence


deadlines are very important. Time management in a
commercial artist's profession is very difficult. At the same time
you cannot ignore the urgency. But over the years I have
developed a subconscious "routine" which will meet the
deadlines. Further a seventh sense that is my wife, will keep on
reminding me the priority, which had served the purpose!
F.M. Did this strategy worked well all these years to meet the
deadlines?

J. Certainly, otherwise I could not have kept pace with the


competition. Further, the speed with which I finish my drawings
was also another important factor.
F.M. When film stars are
interviewed, they usually ask 'How
you keep up your youth all these
years?' I want to ask the same
question in a different way. I have
been seeing your pictures right
from the age of 8 years to till date.
I wonder how you maintain this
youthfulness in your pictures!

J. I am able to do today, even


certain difficult physical acts like
climbing a tree, which I did in my
youth. Further I never got old in the
mind and never will! An old man
may regret that he had lost his youth, but he will never fail to
admire and like youthfulness. That is the secret.
F.M. You are sometimes 'mischievous' in your drawing,
particularly when girls are shown wearing T' shirts! Comment
please!

J. Of course! Yes. I revelled at one time when there came out


of my brush a spate of T' shirts ! The most popular one was a
buxom girl wearing a T'shirt with the words "The hills are alive"
which was the opening lines of the theme song of that famous
musical "The Sound of Music". It brought me both bouquets
and brickbats alike! But believe me, all the educated and
cultured people liked such mischievous musings of the brush. A
few could have objected, but I don't regret.
F.M. I have read that you did not
have any formal schooling in art
and drawing. One can draw
without proper art education, but
how it is possible for you to have
the "Colour sense", which I
understand needs certain
theoretical knowledge , which is
taught only at Art schools ?

J. A very good question! Only a


person who knows the intricacies
of art can ask this question. I never
thought that I am self sufficient in
my knowledge of art, I was always
willing to learn. Whenever I wanted
to know the nuances in a particular technique, I went to the
books. Learning is part of my life, it is a never ending process.
Further whatever you may learn in text books about colour
sense, but you learn the real colour consciousness only by
observation in true life situations. It is not forced, that quality
should come to you naturally. Sometime I even manipulate the
colours if they are not balanced in nature.
F.M. Do you have your first published drawings with you ?

J. The answer is Yes and No. Yes - in the sense I have a copy
of it. No-because I don't have the original! It was a picture I
drew for "Kumudam". An Indian ink line drawing in which a
professor gets it hot from the Principal, while his students, a
boy and girl peep through the door. In the next issue itself
some letters of appreciation for that picture was published. I
never looked back after that.
F.M. Do you preserve now your originals?

J. This needs some explanation. In the west an artist's pictures


are paid only for publication and the picture is returned to them
after the printing process is over. But here in India the picture
itself is deemed to have been bought by the publishers of the
magazines. Hence I do not have most of the originals. However
whenever I get the opportunity to exhibit my works, I manage to
get selected pictures from the publishers of the magazines.
Some of these had come to stay with me. These I have.
F.M. "J" - this famous signature
of yours is known to the Tamils all
over the world. Don't you think this
is the right time to publish a
collection of your drawings?

J. I would certainly love to do that.


But the reality of publishing a book
is very harsh. Publishing, that too
in colour is now very expensive.
Further it needs a lot of manual
work like sorting, selection etc.,
and preparation of a theme or
presentation technique for which
one has to burn a lot of midnight
oil. No - I don't have the time.
F.M. How about if some one sponsors the project?

J. Still I will have to work towards it. It needs very systematic


effort, which I do not have. May be when I am free from my
regular work, I may contemplate on your suggestion.
F.M. What support you get from your family members in your
career?

J. Right from the early period of my career, my wife had been


my Personal Secretary arranging my engagements, my
commitment to deadlines, distribution of the finished pictures to
the publishers etc., etc. She reads the stories sent to me for
illustrations and points out the situations fit for drawing. Without
her I would have been a complete wreck. Hats off to her! Apart
from her, everyone in the house contribute some help to me for
which I am grateful, however small it may be.
F.M. How do you manage social
functions amidst your tight
schedule?

J. Here also it is my wife who


keeps a schedule of important
functions we have to attend and
when I am bound to my work she
attends the functions herself and
finds suitable excuses for my
absence!

F.M. At the time of your marriage you could not have been the
famous artist as you are now. Then, how did your father-in-law
find a groom in you for his daughter, when people looked upon
the salaried young men as the most eligible bachelors!

J. What you say is very true. It is true that people saw material
well being as insurance for a good married life. But people in
those days were not money minded to the core, they also saw
the family background from which the boy came. I had this solid
qualification for me. My family was a much-respected one.
People from all walks of life including eminent lawyers in the
neighbourhood came to my father for advice on worldly
matters. Further inspite of myself being a freelance artist, even
in those days I earned more than what a Government Office
Superintendent was earning.
F.M. I am happy to
have met you - a
famous artist, in
person!

J. No- the pleasure is


mine, but for admirers
like you, one cannot
dream to be famous.
In fact I owe that to
you. God bless you!

Mr.Jeyaraj may be contacted at his email address :


jeyarajartist@hotmail.com

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