Peek into an artist's abode
Ranjith Kumara completes 40 years in cover designs :
Sachitra MAHENDRA
A good cover design sends the first signal to the reader. A book
without a proper cover picture doesn't have a proper customer. Cover
designing, for that matter, is an art, only a few have mastered.
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A. D. Ranjith Kumara |
A. D. Ranjith Kumara is one, with over 300 covers designed to this
day.
"My uncle was a commercial artiste in my father's press. I used to
observe him, and gradually he became a hero to me.:"
But elders did not like the idea. They wanted Ranjith Kumara to take
up serious studying. They introduced him to S. P. Charles, a reputed art
master. Ranjith Kumara slowly grasped the difference, he was entering
the professionalism.
"I saw the efforts Charles master took to do finishing touches. If my
uncle finished a cover in an hour or two, Charles master took a week or
two. My uncle was a commercial artiste with deadlines. Charles master
had his own time and discipline. Even a thin small line would depict
something."
As a child Ranjith Kumara frequently window-shopped the Epa bookshop.
He would see book covers in different angles. They fascinated him no
end. He comes home and would paint the same book cover by memory.
Every single thing had to be learnt: the way a pencil should be
sharpened, the way a line should be drawn and so on.
"Karunaratne Saputantri used to frequent my father's press. My uncle
drew his book covers. Saputantri spotted my talents too. So he entrusted
his Pav Panduru with me. That became my first book cover. That was
1964."
Even at Ananda College he was needed for covers. His teacher, Berty
Wijesinghe, assigned him to design the cover of Anandaya Magazine.
Ranjith's 'Anandaya' logo is used even to this day.
"We had a small clique at Ananda. Ranjith Lal, Bandula Padmakumara
and I thought of making a film. It was the first feature film made by a
group of schoolchildren. I was art director of Nim Walalla.
These friends apart, Premakeerthi Alwis, Sunil Madhawa Prematilaka,
Kularatne Ariyawansa, Keerthi Balasuriya and Ratnasiri Rajapaksa at the
school.
Ranjith joined Lake House in 1969. There he met Newton Gunasekara. He
designed a cover for Newton in a new style. Inch by inch Ranjith's fame
spread along. It reached the climax when Martin Wickramasinghe tested
his capacity.
Bava Taranaya is Martin Wickramasinghe's last book, but strangely it
was Ranjith's first cover design for Wickramasinghe. It was a hard deal,
since it was about the Buddha's life. But finally Ranjith Kumara arrived
at a conclusion, and this, he thought, would be a summary picture of
what the book has to say. To cap it all, Wickramasinghe was very happy
with the idea, only that he wanted minor changes done in the finish.
"Then I did designs for his books such as Jataka Kata Vimasuma,
Gamperaliya, Yuganthaya and Madol Duwa."
Siri Gunasinghe and Mahagamasekara belong to the generation before
that of Ranjith. They are the pioneers of abstract art. Artistes such G.
L. Gauthamadasa banked heavily on realistic art. If you paint someone
just like a photograph, then that's no painting, Ranjith says.
"May be because I belong to the older generation, I don't feel
comfortable with the computer. It doesn't show enough blotting for me. I
am more creative in free hand. You can draw a several times. And you can
see what went wrong and compare your previous ones."
Ranjith Kumara's happiest day in life should have been in 1975, when
he had his cover designs exhibition.
"Leel Gunasekara suggested that. He was the President of Sinhala
Writers' Association. So it was so easy to have the exhibition."
Notably almost all authors had graced the event. Quite natural, since
there was hardly any author who did not have his cover designed by
Ranjith Kumara. |
