Sketch by sketch approach

Vishnu Sivanandan and his friends -Vivek and Vishnu -sat in their rented room in Thiruvananthapuram. The three had been given a 'year out' from their engineering college because of lack of attendance. They would have to stay off college for six months. Vishnu watched his friends take up musical instruments they were passionate about -Vivek, his violin and Vishnu, his mridangam.

While he took out his own tools, a set of graphite pencils, what he really wanted was a camera. But he had to earn money to buy one. He began drawing sketches. He would draw portr aits for 

Soon, there was a dedicated group of online students who wanted to know about his style and technique. He began a Facebook page called 'Sight Of Insight' for his students and admirers. And soon he made enough money for his camera.

“Six months later I went back to my engineering college and took my degree. But I am not going back to it, I am completely into art and photograph," he says.

It was seeing the work of artist 'Da Vinci Suresh' and foreign street artists that got Vishnu interested in 3D drawing. He began to frantically go through YouTube videos and every material he could gather from the internet to learn the technique.

“After completing the drawings, you have to photograph it from a particular angle to get the 3D effect," says Vishnu.

'Ball on paper', 'Standing frog', 'Glass of water' are some of his popular 3D works. He started taking part in photography contests and winning prizes.

“Once I took part in a contest where photographer Ajay Menon was one of the judges. The first prize was an opportunity to make a portfolio with Nivin Pauly," he says. That led to doing the portfolio of Rima Kallingal.

Vishnu Sivanandan hopes to be a fashion photographer one day. “I like taking pictures of art and culture, everything except news or wedding photography," he says and adds, “I am able to pursue my passion because of the support from my parents."