That is what is Mickey Patel’s style. Some dots, some dashes and spirals and suddenly you can see the magic unfolding. I would love to learn from him. I would love to see him sit before a blank sheet of paper and then draw. I would probably ask him to teach me how to draw using dots and dashes – quite a Morse code. While drawing these sketches I realized how patient I have to be to get all those dots uniform as if done on a machine.

I have never taken lessons in drawing and painting. Today while drawing the limitations of learning in a structured way from a master were apparent. When we watch a YouTube video and learn to draw, there is no one to fine tune and make those little corrections to improve your craft. Plus there are a zillion improvements I can think of doing. Without a master artist to show you the techniques, there is an invisible barrier that is hard to cross.

If any reader can share some more books which Mickey had illustrated I would love to have them. Do spread the word.

I found this book today. It is only one I can learn from. I love drawing horses. Here is one from the same book.

Mickey Patel’s style of drawing kids was so unique. Unlike most illustrators he does not draw humans with four fingers. Disney had this hack where they found that drawing characters with four fingers made it easies to draw. I too picked up this habit. Today while drawing the girl I drew her with four fingers on her feet and then quickly corrected it. The hand has four fingers in the original drawing too.

Books that were illustrated by Mickey Patel

• Culture Shock! India by Gitanjali Kolanad, illustrated by Mickey Patel
• Dhammak Dham – Bachchon ke Geet by Kamla Bhasin, illustrated by Mickey Patel (Jagori)
• Let’s Do a Play by Uma Anand, illustrated by Mickey Patel (National Book Trust)
• Mahatma Gandhi: A Story of Our Time and For All Time by Maurice David Japheth, illustrated by Mickey Patel. (Pearl Publications, 1968)
• Putki on Her Way to China by Sigrun Srivastava, illustrated by Mickey Patel
• Snake trouble by Ruskin Bond, illustrated by Mickey Patel (National Book Trust)
• Sona’s Adventures by Tara Tiwari, illustrated by Mickey Patel (National Book Trust)
• Stories from Bapu’s life by Uma Shankar Joshi, illustrated by Mickey Patel (National Book Trust, 1973)
• Story of the Road, by Poile Sengupta, illustrated by Mickey Patel
• The Best Thirteen, short story anthology, illustrated by Mickey Patel (National Book Trust)
• The Royal Journey to Heaven by Manoj Das, illustrated by Mickey Patel (Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO)
• The Secret of Sickle-Moon Mountain by Margaret R. Bhatty, illustrated by Mickey Patel
• The Ghost Rider of Darbhanga and Other Stories by Sigrun Srivastav, illustrated by Mickey Patel
• Titbits for Tiki by Pratibha Nath, illustrated by Mickey Patel (Children’s Book Trust)
• Ped by Safdar Hashmi, illustrated by Mickey Patel (Sahmat Prakashan, 1996)
• Nanhi pari ka janmdin, by Jayanti Adhikari, illustrated by Mickey Patel (Children’s Book Trust, 1994)

Read more about Mickey Patel <Click this>

See more of his art here