Meet Sri Priyatham, the only Indian Shortlisted by Netflix to Illustrate Stranger Things
Sri Priyatham called it a chance, Netflix (and us) call it his talent!
It was a regular night for Sri Priyatham – a freelance illustrator from Hyderabad when he found a mail from Netflix in his inbox. At first, he thought it was an update about the new shows streaming on the media-service giant but soon, he knew it was an opportunity of a lifetime!
The 27-year-old artist was shortlisted as one of the 16 illustrators to be a part of Netflix’s Global Artist Outreach Program. The program invited Sri to illustrate an episode of its popular show Stranger Things.
Sri told a source about his experience, “It was an exclusive project for Netflix. They hired 16 artists to create recap illustrations from season 2. I have been a fan of Stranger Things but wouldn’t have thought of creating an illustration until Netflix approached me. I had to watch each episode a couple of times and create a gist to identify what could be the crucial elements in my drawing.”
If you are a fan of Stranger Things, then you must have seen Hopper struggling to free himself from the vines as he gets trapped in the in ‘upside down.’ The scene was a part of the fifth episode of season two. The episode of was named Dig Dug. Sri was allotted to capture the gist of the same.
His illustration was titled ‘Freezing Reality in a Frame.’
Illustration - ‘Freezing Reality in a Frame’
His illustration was shared on the official Twitter handle of Stranger Things. It received more than 11k likes and around 1200 retweets on the first day.
As modest as he is, Sri shared how it was a matter of chance that Netflix came across his page and liked his art. Like millions of artist, he believed in the power of social media to take his art to the world, and now he is grateful for working ridiculously hard on his social media handles.
He explains, “When you see the distance between really big clients and artists reduce, you realize it’s not as tough as it may seem. Prior to this, I could never think of Netflix approaching me for anything.”
Even though he is a professional artist/illustrator now, Sri’s love for art goes back to his childhood. He loved watching Cartoon Network in the 90s and became quite clear with his career. He knew he wanted to become an illustrator and draw art. He says, “I knew what I did not want to do and wanted to be better at what I was good at.” Well, now that’s some approach to a well-lived life.
After graduating in Fine Arts from Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Sri turned his talent into a business. He has also worked with giants such as Wizcraft International and Microsoft-Redmond.
Seldom seen without his iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Stylus, Sri is a self-taught artist and juggles in traditional work! With a following of more than 6k on his Instagram handle, Sri is heading towards a future only looks bright.
You can visit his work here.
