Inktober of 2019 was all about DOGS for me. Mainly because I had just adopted one of my own - a naughty, little fellow named Roku. He is an Indie, or an Indian Pariah Dog. Indies get overlooked by potential pet parents who, more often than not, decide to buy breeds. One of the main reasons I have heard is that Indies are not cute-looking, seem dirty, won't settle in a home or respond to training. However, Indies are great with coping with our country's tropical climate, have fewer medical issues and have unending love to give their humans. They make excellent guard dogs and are very intelligent so, they can pick up commands very quickly! Just like any other dog with a nose you can boop.
I wanted to capture the unique and beautiful nature of these Indies in my drawings and hopefully inspire others to look at them in a different and more positive light. I am all in favour of adopting a dog. And if you can open your home to a wonderful creature, why not make it an Indie? #adoptdontshop
The entire series was later made into a poster which was sold to raise funds for BMAD, a local animal shelter that provides spaying and neutering surgeries for Indie dogs in Chennai.
For the last drawing, I decided to make my Indie a Halloween themed one. It was also the only one I decided to ink digitally.
Above: The Indie Inktober poster that was sold to raise funds for BMAD. The campaign was a successful one and we raised enough money raised to sponsor ten spaying/neutering surgeries for Indies in Chennai!