Holi brings to life the vivid and bright colour palette of India every year with celebrations that could, at times, literally leave a mark. Known for its deep-rooted historical and cultural significance, the festival of colours represents the dawn of new beginnings, fresh perspectives, and manifesting a positive year ahead. Holi’s simplistic grandeur holds a special place in our hearts.
Over the last couple of years, however, the ongoing restrictions on social gatherings have muted celebrations and festivals across the globe. Faced with the adversity, most of us have found comfort in online festivities, virtual meet-ups and happy hours to meet our social needs. Technological tools and increasing digital adoption have unlocked unique solutions to foster socialization, help us learn, create and experience life together.
Thanks to technology, the festival of colours lives on through new means, embodying a key spirit that the occasion stands for: new beginnings. If you’re looking for creative ways to celebrate the bright and vibrant Holi while staying safe, explore and expand your artistic talents with Skillshare.
Let’s have a look at some of the leading Indian artists on Skillshare, the world’s largest skill learning platform. These artists have honed their skills and directed their efforts towards building their craft around their creativity, self-expression, experiences, and interests.
These highly skilled and experienced professionals can help you gain skills for a lifetime and brighten up your Holi celebrations for years to come.
1. Osheen Siva
Osheen is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, and her vibrant and surreal approach to art can add a fresh tint to your Holi celebrations.
Osheen takes inspiration from her interests and heritage to create murals, digital art and paintings. In her Skillshare class, she walks her students through building dreamscapes and new worlds, laden with narratives that are personal to them.
Her class will help you ideate, find your voice, create a unique colour palette and bring your art to life. Having worked with Meta, Gucci, Vans, Levis, Dr. Martens among others, Osheen’s expertise will set you on the path to exploring your life experiences through art.
2. Chaitanya Limaye
Chaitanya is an illustrator and visual storyteller based out of Pune. He has worked on films like ‘The Jungle Book’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ and several others.
Chaitanya’s artistic style, vivid animations and over eight years of expertise will help elevate your artistic capabilities. He provides industry-level insights to over 1,350 students on Skillshare, helping them navigate digital art through Procreate and illustrating dynamic characters and environments, with an emphasis on honing artistic observations.
Chaitanya has also worked with brands such as Amazon, Disney, Swiggy, Snickers and many others in the past. Despite being a veteran, his Skillshare class caters to both novices exploring their interests and professionals looking to upskill.
3. Smitesh Mistry
Smitesh is a multi-skilled creative graphic designer and illustrator offering animation and graphic designing classes on Skillshare. Covering fundamentals of orientation, balance, typography and colour, his classes could uncover your aesthetic talents or help you learn something new.
Guiding more than 5,000 students in acquiring a foundational knowledge of designing and animation, Smitesh delves into building skills from scratch, urging his students to take it slow and master the art one step at a time.
The Manchester-based artist believes anyone can uncover their creative skills by enjoying the process of learning.
4. Alicia Souza
If you’re looking to unlock your entrepreneurial potential and create art that sells, then the Bangalore based illustrative designer, Alicia Souza’s class on Skillshare, could provide you with useful tricks and hacks to get started.
Alicia’s unique artistic style and approach has enabled her to capitalize on her creative skills and sell artistic merchandise. In her class, she dives into finding the right inspiration, creating a vision, sketching and making art that appeals to people.
Having collaborated with Google, Adobe, Apple, Yahoo, and many other brands in the past, Alicia can help you develop a unique artistic approach, bringing you a step closer to becoming an independent artist.
5. Vijaya Aswani
Vijaya is an illustrator who specializes in creating sketches of people. Her classes range from the fundamentals like drawing expressions, inking strokes, to complex processes of adding a personal touch, creating a connection with your art and monetizing it.
Based in Bangalore, Vijaya has an online merchandise store, Spreefirit, and with her classes on Skillshare, she wishes to convey her journey as an artist. She walks more than 6,000 students through the depths of artistic expression, hacks to dig for inspiration, and explore their creative instincts.
Vijaya’s art reflects her observational skills and she can guide you to draw inspiration from various aspects of life.
6. Manushree Mishra
Manushree is a watercolour artist with over 5,000 students on Skillshare. She specializes in floral art with the purpose of instilling calmness and positivity. Her classes help you unwind and destress while learning a new skill.
Maushree provides her students with a roadmap to creating watercolour-based floral patterns, making gift cards, and adding character to the patterns. She creates artists out of novices and even guides experienced artists towards discovering the beauty of simplistic designs.
Manushree has over 70,000 followers on her social channels and she believes anyone can create art, learn and explore their abilities.