Visual Impact

A common love for storytelling led Pratheek Thomas and Tina Thomas to the sometimes uncertain but always fulfilling comic business

What drew you to designing comics?

PT: We’ve always loved to write and create stories and that love continues to this day. We’re both engineering graduates – Tina worked as an Electronics Engineer in an IT company in Bangalore for five years before we co-founded Kokaachi. After studying engineering, I pursued Product Design from National Institute of Design.

Describe the creation process.

TT: At Kokaachi, we publish stories that we like to read. So, when one of us gets a story idea, we narrate it to the other person and if the other person also thinks that it can make an interesting story, we go ahead and develop the story further. We then share this story with our brain trust – a small group of friends whose sensibilities we trust. Based on their feedback, we refine these stories, and then find an artist whose style matches the story,
and one we would like to work with. And finally, the story goes out into the world.

How do you overcome a creative block?

TT: Like all creators, we have our share of creative blocks; we do get stuck on the stories we are working on. When we hit roadblocks, we spend hours (sometimes, even days or weeks) wondering where to take characters from there. Creative blocks are tough periods to get through. Pratheek usually steps out for a walk – long walks help him clear his brain and make space for new ideas to come in. I take a break and play with our four doggie darlings. Sometimes I go into the kitchen and try out some new recipe as the story simmers on the back burner of my brain. I like to distance myself from the story for some time and not get pressurized to find an immediate solution.