Mayank Dutt, 21, a former non-medical student of St John’s School, Chandigarh, had a good hand at drawing but he never thought of himself as an artist. All set to be an engineer, he devoted time to studies and at 21, he is doing CSE from Chennai. However, in the past three years, along with academics, he honed his other talent and made sketches of celebrities which brought him recognition and fame.
Looking back, Mayank says, “I started sketching after completing Class 12 in 2017 to keep myself occupied in the break that followed. I didn’t know that these sketches will bring me appreciation as well as commissioned work. I was doing this just as a hobby.”
He says that his parents stood by him but it was his elder sister, Saniya Dutt, who encouraged him to start an Instagram page and share his work there. His work is attracting attention and his Lockdown sketches of fashion designers Dolly Singh and Komal Pandey, and singers Maninder Bhuttar, Neha Kakkar and Tony Kakkar were appreciated. The celebrities shared the sketches on their Instagram thus bringing attention to Mayank’s work.
“However, the game-changer was my sketch of Kangana Ranaut. She shared it and I had people wanting me to sketch them professionally. This was followed by Ayushmann Khurrana sharing my sketch of him and I was suddenly in demand as an artist.”
{{/usCountry}}“However, the game-changer was my sketch of Kangana Ranaut. She shared it and I had people wanting me to sketch them professionally. This was followed by Ayushmann Khurrana sharing my sketch of him and I was suddenly in demand as an artist.”
{{/usCountry}}He says that a friend of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput had asked him to make the actor’s sketch. “I completed the sketch but sadly Sushant passed away before it was shared,” Mayank says, hoping to keep up with his studies as well as this brush with the stars.