Animator Dhrutika Khimani rejects digital tools and favours the tactility of hands on experimentation

“There is probably a digital way to recreate many of these textures, but having the pieces exist physically and have a life beyond the screen makes the work feel more real to me,” says Mumbai-based animator and illustrator Dhrutika Khimani. The textures in question are some of the most pleasant you’ll ever see – quaint short-form animations that centre the feeling and tactility of physical materials. Initially experimenting in 3D as a hobby, Dhrutika fell into 2D animation, immediately finding new ways to challenge the age-old medium by using embroidery, photography, wordplay and cut-outs. While her inter-material style brings unexpected elements together, her illustration style is often surprising too, using pointillist techniques through pin holes in paper to create figurative shapes, or using bodies of text to create the silhouette of a person.

“The analogue side of my work has grown from that same instinct to experiment, testing how paper folds, how thread moves, and how perforations, collages or found printed matter behave when brought into motion,” says Dhrutika. “Each material brings its own limitations and possibilities, and discovering those edges is what I enjoy the most.” Like Dhrutika says, maybe it’s possible through digital. But that would remove the unique physicality of these animations – the personality of print, the minuscule flaws in continuity and the fuzziness of paper textures would be totally lost. These elements are the equivalent of the human fingerprint, showing that it’s real, it’s laborious, it’s simply just cool! With these qualities becoming inseparable from Dhrutika’s work, she finds her practice has become grounded in personal experience and the nuances of everyday life, especially how we approach the world through touch and feel. Suddenly, these animations become more than just pretty, but autobiographical – and a metaphor for the shape and texture of our own experiences.