Botanical Artwork for Park Signage in Mumbai
Before beginning, I googled park signage to get an idea of how best to illustrate a particular species. I also tried to put myself in the shoes of a visitor and think about the details in the illustration that would be most useful in plant identification.
I began working with the species I was familiar with and had to look up reference photos on the internet. In each illustration, I tried to include all the relevant parts of the plant - leaf shapes, flowers, seeds, fruit etc. The picture above is of one of the 40 illustrations I completed for this project. And on the right is one of the artworks used on a park signage.
In June 2024, the RPG Group approached me for a commission. They were redeveloping some existing parks across Mumbai and wanted me to create botanical artworks for two such parks in particular: Captain Lotankar Udyan in Worli and the Rock Garden in Malabar Hill. These artworks would be used on signboards across the Parks to help guide visitors identify the varieties of plants growing in the Park.
Even though their timeline was short, I accepted the project as it was just the sort of thing I had wanted to do for some time. They gave me a list of 40 plants that they need illustrations for and also gave me a brief of the kind of artwork they needed.
