Mumbai duo launch art page featuring Instagram tools

The illustrations, made using the appu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s in-built marker, pen and eraser tools, range from landscapes, food and cultural elements like the Gudi Padwa kalash. Each post takes around 15 to 20 minutes to create

A Canvas, no matter how big or small, can be overwhelming. "Whether you see people doing art commercially or as a hobby, it can get stressful. There's always this pressure to be good," Tanishka D'lyma, 24, tells us.

Realising the paucity of avenues that let you create art for fun, D'lyma and her former colleague Komal More, 27, decided to embark on an experiment. "I used to work as a graphic designer in an ad agency while Tanishka was a copywriter, and we were called the dream team. One day, I just drew something on my Instagram (IG) story using my fingers and the tools the app provides, sent her a picture and suggested that we start a page on this," More recalls. D'lyma, who also indulges in painting birds using watercolours, instantly agreed and TaKo (an acronym of their first names) Insta art was born. With over 20 posts so far, they've maintained the agenda of only using IG tools to make artwork that includes landscapes, typography and food.

According to More, each post takes about 15 to 20 minutes to create. "The first step is to not say that you can't do it. The main thought is to just have fun," suggests D'lyma, adding that IG, when compared to other apps, offers a wholesome range of tools that include a marker, a normal pen, crayon, a neon pen, and an eraser. But the same technique can be replicated on other social media like WhatsApp as well. One of the page's highlighted stories is called 'crowdsourced' that features public submissions.

So, will they be expanding their idea in the near future? D'lyma doesn't think so. "As of now we're just going with the flow as we don't have a client sitting on our heads."

Komal More and Tanishka D'lyma

A quick guide to finger-painting

'Open the app and swipe left to the stories section.
'Click or upload an image, and you'll notice four tool icons pop up. Choose the pen icon that is next to the sticker tool.
'You can adjust the size of the marker, pens, and eraser by swiping up or down in a sidebar to the left. Use a marker for sketches that require a degree of transparency, like drawing curtains. The crayon gives a spray paint effect and you could use it to make clouds while the neon pen can be used to illustrate the stars and moon.
' If you want to refine the edges of your drawing, save an image of your piece. Then re-upload it on stories and use the eraser tool around the edges to make the outline finer.

Log on to: instagram.com/tako_instaart

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