banik Illustrator & ink artist
Drawing people, mostly

arka banik

Years of sketchbooks. Thousands of lines. Still drawing. These pages were never made for a feed — they exist because the hand kept moving. Pen, paper, people. The way a stranger holds a cup, the weight of a glance. Observed, never performed. Ink dries fast and forgives nothing — which is precisely the point. Everything here is the residue of a habit I never grew out of.

Vol. 01 — Ink & Observation
Est. 2009 · Still drawing

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↘  Selected Work

A few pages worth slowing down for.

All Illustrations ↗
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↘  Who Am I
Portrait — Self

I draw because I always have.

It started in the margins of school notebooks and never really stopped. Faces, hands, the people across the train carriage — drawn quickly, before they noticed, before they moved.

Most of it lives in sketchbooks nobody asked me to fill. I keep filling them anyway. The work is a record of paying attention — to gesture, to posture, to the small honest things a person does when they think no one is watching.

Black ink, mostly. It is unforgiving, and that keeps me honest. A line is committed the moment it lands. There is no undo on paper, only the next page.

A loose timeline

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Studio & process

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↘  Illustrations

The archive.

Years of pages, loosely sorted. Every piece below is a plate awaiting its drawing — click any one to view it large.

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↘  Commissions & collaborations

Let's make something together.

Portraits, editorial illustration, brand work, exhibitions, licensing. If it can be drawn, it's worth a conversation.

Get in touch
↘  Contact

Start a project.

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Thank you for reaching out — I read every note personally and usually reply within two or three days.

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A few common questions

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Custom artwork in progress
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