Fortunate and brave: Mayank Baranwal
1. Your name and title/business name? City, Country location?
This is Mayank Baranwal and my business name is "typebymayank". Currently, I live in Mumbai, India.
2. What's your educational and professional background, i.e., college, professional school, high school, apprenticeship, etc.?
I completed my graduation in Electrical Engineering. However, the subject couldn't keep me engrossed so we broke-up after around 3 years after I had completed my course (I know I took a long time in doing so). Presently, I work as an Inspector in the Central Tax under Revenue Department of the country. You need to make a living out of something, right? And so I am doing it...
As far as calligraphy is concerned, I can relate to it a little, this little is however, far more than the lines that had been written in the text-books in the college.
3. Preferred tool(s) and medium?
For fraktur, pilot parallel pens (3.8 &6 mm) are my favorite. Also, I like a few flat-tip, [which are] locally manufactured tools. For italics, I like to use pilot parallel pens again (1.5 & 2.4 mm). Tape nibs also work well. Crayola markers are the wonderful tools for the brush-script. [I try my hand] at copperplate with crown nib, shorthand nib, EF principal nib (in the order how i began using them) with sumi ink. At times, I also prefer working [with] fonts with pencil and then giving them the color. The lettering is also ornamented with certain designs, when the pencil [plays a] role again. [Dimensional] lettering is also something that I like to try [occasionally].
4. Where or how do you "recharge your creative battery," i.e., books, blogs, music, art, exercise, meditation, prayer, hobbies, interests, etc.?
Recharging my battery comes from the creative [stuff] that Instagram is flooded with. Also, certain books and spiritual videos help me think straight. Also, one should have a reason for doing something. This keeps you rejuvenated and inspired and thereby you're committed.
5. Tell us something about you that might surprise or delight us.
I have spent a very important time of my life doing and learning things that I almost abhorred, except a few parts of it . Also, I couldn't make a career in that field. Further, what I'm doing today is a result of my obligations. But, I'm be grateful that i am also trying to do things that I feel good and I know fortune favors the brave :)