Author Appupen’s take on comics, creativity and more

Author Appupen talks about his creative journey and the need to be sure of one’s content

“How do you separate George Mathen from Appupen?” was one of the questions from an engaged audience at Shanthi Road Studio Gallery recently, at an event organised by Toto Funds the Arts where the artist discussed his creative journey with stories from his past and comics that represented him at different points.

George or Appupen, as he is popularly known, is a graphic novelist based out of Bengaluru, and the author of Legends of Halahala, Moonward, Legends of Halahala, Aspyrus: A Dream of Halahala, and The Snake and The Lotus: A Halahala Adventure. The Dream Machine, his latest work, is a collaborative project with author Laurent Daudet.

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He says he took the pen name “Appupen,” which in Malyalam means grandfather, since he tells stories, but it is also a play on his nickname “Appu.”

Through a series of comics that he projected onto the screen, showing himself and his work at different times in his life, George demonstrated how he uses a modicum of words in his books. “I started making comics in 2005, which were scribbles at first,” he later said during an interview. “This started as storyboards for larger stories, but upon realising there was going to be no funding, I decided to switch to comics and put them up online. Blaft Publications noticed my work and contacted me to publish my first book.”

George works on silent comics, which stem from his knack of storytelling. “I believe it is a great medium to convey a story, because it is quite pliable, unlike animation or film, where a lot more resources are required. With a basic medium like a comic book, you can guage if you are capable enough to hold a reader’s interest while relating a story.”

“Storytelling is the most important thing for me,” he explained. “Even before I started making comics I was intent on storytelling. There is so much information out there now, and if we are adding to that, it should be curated well.”