Don’t you often marvel as to what is the one thing that makes people successful? There may be some stark changes that you might want to bring about in your life. Read on to find out how the very talented Yadvender Singh Rana, an illustrator from Punjab achieved success through his brilliant renditions of DC and Marvel characters. He has done it all, and whatever it takes.

What made you to start drawing superheroes?

When I was about five years old, Shaktimaan was aired on Doordarshan. My mother used to draw Shaktimaan in her own style and show them to me. I was fascinated by this and started tracing comics using carbon sheets.

DC and Marvel comics were not being sold in Punjab as they thought it had inappropriate content for kids. So, I used to save up money in order to google these images, in an internet café and draw them at home. This was the start and I haven’t stopped drawing ever since.

When did you get your first big break? How was the journey Until then?

In 2018, three days after ‘The Infinity War’ was released, the Spidey-Iron man scene was so heart touching that I posted an art work on it. This post broke the internet. That was my first big break!

“I was so overwhelmed by it that I could hardly feel my body”.

JOSH BROLIN (Thanos) shared your art work. What was your reaction to that?

On the night of May 26th, I was sleeplessly working to complete an art work.  I posted it at 2 am and went to sleep. I woke up, disturbed by the incessant buzzing of my phone. I had over a hundred messages and notifications on Instagram, congratulating me.Coincidentally, it was my birthday and I thought that my inbox was being flooded with wishes.

I opened Instagram and saw that Josh had shared my post. I was so overwhelmed by it that I could hardly feel my body. Anyway, I didn’t let success get into my head because the show must go on. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

Coincidence or spoilers?

I hadn’t watched the Endgame until a week after it released. I started to gain a lot of followers suddenly, and many started accused me of posting the spoilers. I had no idea what they were talking about.

After I watched the movie, I realized that three of the drawings that I had done over a year ago came to life in the movie. 

I had made paintings of hypothetical situations, like – Thor holding pieces of Thanos’ head; Cap holding Thor’s Hammer, and Iron man wearing the Infinity Gauntlet. It’s so astonishing that these actually came true.

Marvel or DC?

I’m a fan of both. I started off by drawing DC characters. I was so excited for “Justice League”, but when the movie came out, it broke my heart. As an artist, I should be unbiased and work on whatever is trending. Marvel has been in the trend lately, that’s why I post about them.

 DC movies are for a much more mature audience, but the current generation is young, they want optimism, punch lines and sarcasm. Marvel has all of these and they have executed their universe so well. I could say that when it comes to comics, DC is better and when it comes to movies, Marvel is better.

If you could be a superhero for one day, who would you be?

Superman, anyday! That guy has got it all- speed, flight and he’s not vulnerable to anything.

 Do you wish to diversify your artwork?

I want to work on whatever is trending in the pop culture. I plan on getting into games, TV shows and music bands.

Is there any dream project that you’d like to talk about?

I want to officially work for Marvel. Currently, the same pattern is being used for all Marvel posters. I wish to break that rhythm and make interesting posters.

Do you have any advice for budding artists?

I have one advice – PLEASE SKETCH EVERYDAY.  I think it is extremely important for an artist to sketch everyday. It need not be perfect, it can be a rough outline. One must practise sketching the complete human anatomy, I cannot stress enough on this point. You should give your brain a rough idea before starting any drawing.

Famous artists like M F Hussain, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci made abstract paintings. Many of them take that as an inspiration and forget that they need to master shapes and patterns before getting to the stage where you’ve moved past them.

Nobody is born with talent. No one is born with anything except flesh and blood. We are what we choose to do, and do repeatedly. Or, as Bruce Wayne says, “It’s not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us”.