Interview · By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin
Quick answer: Bub is the artist name and character created by an artist from New Delhi, India. Be a Bub is her art practice: a playful, questioning universe built around a grey character, an eye with a plus sign, and a refusal to let adulthood erase curiosity. In this Bub artist interview, she talks about drawing, friendship, optimism and taking her character beyond the screen — including onto skateboard decks.
“I’m an artist from New Delhi, India, and Bub is my alter ego — or maybe Bub is more me than me, haha.”
“Be a Bub is my art practice, and Bub is my artist name.”
A face repeated in a sketchbook became an entire universe. Bub describes a childhood of cartoons and doodling, followed by a degree in Knitwear Design and a growing attachment to the character she kept drawing. These questions explore why Bub is grey, why its eye carries a plus sign, and why making it has become a daily need.
Her answers below are kept in her own words, with light typo corrections. Follow @be.a.bub for her most up-to-date work, or visit her character-design portfolio. She notes that a new Bub website is under construction.
Who is Bub? Curiosity, grey characters and the absurd
If we’d just met and I asked you who Bub is, what would you tell me?
Bub stands for the fun in fundamental and the fun in dysfunction for me. If I had to put it in one line. Bub is a little bit of critical paranoia, a little bit of delusion, and a whole lot of curiosity.
Salvador Dalí believed in critical paranoia — a way of seeing the world through irrational associations, allowing the mind to find connections where none were meant to exist. I think Bub lives somewhere in that territory, questioning what is real, what is constructed, and what happens when we begin to look at things a little too closely. As I say, it’s here to question all your answers.
Bub is grey. Not because the world lacks colour, but because it refuses to be black and white. The world I knew as a child was a simple ball of blue and green. Growing up meant zooming in, only to discover the complex structures, systems, hierarchies, patterns, and beliefs holding it together. The closer you look, the stranger it gets. Bad news travels faster, catastrophes grow larger, and somewhere along the way, we learn to look at the world through the weight of everything we know.
Bub is my way of questioning the being and becoming of the world I live in. Of looking at it without always needing to understand it, explain it, or make peace with it.
When I create Bub, I get to be that kid again. The kid who wants to say, “A for Bat, B for Cat and C for Apple!” Haha. The one who creates without permission, without a plan, without knowing what something is supposed to become. There is a particular pleasure in that moment — in the possibility of something existing simply because it could. Before judgement, before reason, before the world has a chance to tell me what it means.
Perhaps Bub is an inquiry disguised as a character. An acceptance of the absurdity of being here, alongside a refusal to stop asking questions.
A little noise. A little silence. A little delusion, and optimism to keep the world interesting.
So who is Bub? Is it me? Is it you? Is it them? And I think that’s the point.
A decade of doodles and the plus-sign eye
Do you still have that very first drawing? I’d love to see it alongside Bub today. What has stayed the same over those ten years?
I have some sketches from my 2019 doodle diary! Well, in terms of the character’s form, yes! The world of Bubs, the Bubble, has grown (blown!) quite a bit. But the philosophy behind it? Maybe not so much. It’s just expanded and become deeper. When I first started making Bubs, it wasn’t about asking, “Why am I doing this?” I wish I could say the same about it today, but that wouldn’t be honest.
When I first made Bubs unintentionally, I wasn’t going through a particularly good time in my life. And the stubborn person that I am needed an escape. Maybe that’s why I kept making this character, with a goofy face and an odd personality, but always bubbly, even when existential. “To kill the dull in adulting & find the fun in dysfunction”
A face I’ve been sketching for almost a decade has, of course, become the centre of my analysis paralysis many a time. The more I attempt to make sense of the world around me, my own existence, and the life I’ve lived, the more some chapters of the WHY behind Bubs begin to unfold.
Take one of Bub’s most defining features: the eye, with a plus sign inside it. I remember when I first started drawing it that way. Back then, it stood for optimism and delusion, and it stands for the same things today.
That eye is an imperative part of Bub’s story. It’s a promise to myself about how I want to see the world, no matter what. After all, as Bub would say, it’s all in the living memory of all things dead, like joy!
Bub sketches 2019
When play became seriously playful
When did you realise Bub was more than a character you kept doodling, and something you wanted to take seriously?
Well, it took its time to come to this decision. When I graduated with a degree in Knitwear Design, I felt quite useless, to be honest. After all, I had a degree in something I had absolutely zero interest in pursuing. Doodling and making art weren’t even options I considered seriously because, growing up in India, I was taught that art was a hobby, not a career. So, Bub wasn’t even an option.
I taught myself the skills I needed through YouTube, did a few internships, built a graphic design portfolio, and eventually applied to SCAD Atlanta for an MA in Graphic Design and Visual Experience. It was there that I started realising I was sitting on something beautiful. My professors at SCAD pushed me to take Bubs seriously. They loved Bubs and the way I merged the character with graphic design.
I fondly remember my professor, Melissa Kuperminc, who is no longer with us. I would give her so much of the credit for helping me believe in myself and what I was capable of. She was truly like a mother to me. She shaped who I am today as a creative and my love for art and design. She encouraged me to merge the art of Bubs with design. It was an AHA moment for me.
Later, after graduating, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with some brilliant people in design who encouraged me to enter art competitions with Bub. They loved Bub as if it were their own child. I could genuinely feel their appreciation for this kooky character, and more importantly, their belief in what it could become.
And then, as my professional life began to take shape, I started thinking about my career differently. I’m someone for whom the lines between the personal and the professional life have always been quite blurry. I thought to myself: if there’s one thing that could make life feel joyous in its eternity, it would be having Bub with me forever. The thought of eternity without Bubs feels rather frightening. But knowing that I could spend my life creating Bubs? I’d even opt for living forever.
And that’s how the play became seriously playful. Haha
Making Bubs after a day of design
After a full day designing for brands, did you still have the energy to make your own work? What did those evenings actually look like?
After a full day of designing for brands, I feel exhausted! No kidding. I head to the gym, though, and post-workout, I feel as fresh as ever. I come back, eat dinner, and get to Bubs! One thing remains constant, I make sure to start my day with reading, and then 30 mins of sketching.
Of course, there are days when work gets so hectic that I don’t get
any time to make Bubs. Those days feel extra heavy, almost like a day less lived. And there are days when Bubs doesn’t quite save the day either, but it always manages to save at least a part of it.
At this point, creating Bubs has become a need. If I go more than two or three days without making Bubs, I start to feel irritable. I once went a whole week without sketching Bubs, and I could feel all this anxiety building up inside me, a heaviness that felt like it was drowning me.
Making Bubs is the highlight of my day. It feels like a smooth surf into a state of flow, where everything else fades away.
Bubs is truly a piece of my mind for the peace of my mind.
Studio photos
The friendship behind Bub’s name and words
Where did “In the living memory of all things dead! Like joy!” come from? I’d love to hear the story behind that line
The credit for this line goes entirely to my best bub, my best friend Mallika Singh. She is a genius.
Bub was born in front of her. She’s witnessed everything from the very first sketch on paper to its first digital footprint. Haha She’s been my best friend for more than two decades, and the way she gets me, nobody does. We volley ideas off each other, and we just know what the other person is thinking. It’s quite a surreal friendship.
Even the name Bubs was coined during a conversation with her. She’s been the backbone of Bub from the very beginning. Every initial discussion, every dialogue, every little existential crisis about Bub has been shared with her. She is my best bub! And to this day, she’s still my go-to for all things Bub.
Ron English and the dream of a Bub toy
I loved the Ron English story. What did you say when he asked whether you had a Bub toy? Have you tried making one since?
The Ron English experience still feels unreal to me! I told him that I did plan to make a Bub toy and that I would be moving back to India from NYC in a few months. He told me he’d never visited India but would love to. And what happened next was even more surreal: he gave me his phone number and email address and told me to get in touch once I had the toy ready!
It still gives me chills to this day. I’m sitting on Ron English’s phone number and email address on the other side of the globe. Haha. When I have the Bub toy ready, I’d love to show it to him.
Beyond the screen: skate decks and a Bub-verse
If you could put budgets and production worries aside for a moment, what’s the one thing you’d most like to make with Bub?
This is a question that makes me feel so greedy! How could you? Haha
Picking just one thing is so hard! I’d love to make sculptures as gigantic as KAWS and as experimental as Jeff Koons. And why stop there?
The ultimate dream would be to build an entire Bub-verse, a Bubble of its own, perhaps even a Bub museum! A world where Bub sculptures, experimental installations, SKATE DECKS *WINK WINK*, objects, paintings, ceramics, and all sorts of unexpected things could live together. A space where Bub could exist beyond the screen and take on a life of its own in the physical world.
Artworks
Character art skateboard decks: taking Bub beyond the screen
The four supplied deck designs show a haloed grey character wrapped by a green serpent on purple; a standing grey figure with rings on blue bubbles; stacked heads with a horn on light blue; and a tall grey figure with holes on teal and red. These are descriptions of visible designs, not titles or claims about their meaning.
The long, narrow surface gives each figure a vertical space of its own. Together, the designs show how one character can recur without every composition being the same. Bub’s wish for a physical world of objects, installations and skate decks gives that repetition a wider context: she wants the character to exist beyond a screen. Her ambitions for toys and a museum are dreams described in this interview, not confirmed releases.
At deckarts, decks are printed by hand in Berlin by Stanislav on 7-ply Canadian maple pressed in Butzbach, Germany, and ship from Berlin. Decks are not ready to hang: a wall mount is sold separately, one per deck.
Artworks
FAQ
Who is Bub?
Bub is the artist name and alter ego of an artist from New Delhi, India. Be a Bub is her art practice, built around the character she began doodling more than a decade ago.
Why is Bub grey?
In her words, Bub is grey not because the world lacks colour, but because it refuses to be black and white.
What does the plus sign in Bub’s eye mean?
Bub says it stood for optimism and delusion when she first drew it, and still does. She calls it a promise to herself about how she wants to see the world.
Who helped create Bub’s name and signature line?
Bub credits her best friend Mallika Singh with the line “In the living memory of all things dead! Like joy!” The name Bubs was also coined during a conversation with her.
Does Bub want to make skateboard art and sculptures?
Yes. Her dream includes skate decks, sculptures, installations, objects, paintings and ceramics in a physical Bub-verse. These are ambitions, not announcements that every object is already available.
Where can I follow Be a Bub?
Her most up-to-date space is Instagram, @be.a.bub. Her character-design portfolio is linked above.
Are deckarts decks ready to hang?
No. A wall mount is sold separately, and you need one per deck.
More artist interviews
- Ziva Hardaway: expressive portraits and a narrative universe
- Delletuefiammeavide: India ink bestiaries and surreal hybrids
- Justas Jurkevičius: minimalist folklore on a skateboard deck
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