Every great comic begins with a spark, but turning that idea into a page-turner takes craft. The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) is bringing that craft into focus with its upcoming online session, Let’s Talk Comics!, featuring award-winning comic artist and colourist Harendra Singh Saini on 1 November.
Known for his work on Avik Amaira: The Paranormal Files – Nishi, Simha, Captain ISI, Detective Abhiraj and Ad Infinitum: Sisyphus, Saini will take participants through the journey from an initial idea to a finished visual narrative. The discussion will cover character development, illustration, panel composition, colouring and sequential storytelling, alongside insights from his experience in Indian comic publishing.
Saini recently won the Diamond Award for best comics colourist at the Creators Street AVGC Awards 2025 for Avik Amaira: The Paranormal Files – Nishi.
The session also puts the spotlight on IICT’s one-year Diploma in Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts, which focuses on visual storytelling, character design, comic creation and sequential narrative techniques. The programme prepares students for roles including comic artist, storyboard artist, character designer, concept artist, graphic novelist and visual development artist.
Established by the ministry of information and broadcasting in collaboration with the government of Maharashtra, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), IICT is India’s national centre of excellence for animation, visual effects, gaming, comics and extended reality (AVGC-XR). It currently operates from its phase one campus at the NFDC Complex in Mumbai, offering 18 programmes across gaming, post-production, animation, comics and XR. A permanent 10-acre campus is being developed at Film City, Goregaon.
The institute has also partnered with organisations including Netflix, Amazon, Google, YouTube, Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Adobe, Wacom, JioStar, the University of York and Deakin University for initiatives spanning curriculum development, scholarships, internships, faculty exchange, research and industry exposure.
“India has a large and growing base of comic readers and creators, but the bigger opportunity lies in building original Indian IP that can travel across formats and markets. Comics can be the starting point for characters and stories that move into animation, gaming, film and digital media. At IICT, we want to equip creators with the craft, technology and industry understanding needed to take an idea from the page to a scalable IP,” shared IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar.
Let’s Talk Comics! will take place online on Sunday, 1 November, from 10 am to 12 pm. The session is open to those interested in comics, illustration and visual storytelling, with registrations available through the IICT website.
From the first sketch to an IP with the potential to cross screens, IICT is making sure the next generation of Indian storytellers gets more than a blank page to work with.
