KC Sivasankar, artist of Vikram and Vetala series in 'Chandamama', passes away at 97

KC Sivasankar, one of first illustrators of Vikram Vetala cartoon series in Chandamama magazine, passed away at of 97 in Chennai. He was one of last original designers of Chandamama magazine. Read on to kw more details about story:

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Artist KC Sivasankar passes away at 97

KC Sivasankar was devoted to Chandamama magazine as an artist for over 5 decades. On Tuesday, September 29, 2020, in his residence at Chennai, Sivasankar passed away. He was only surviving member of original designing team of Chandamama Magazine and Vikram Vetala series. 

KC Sivasankar was born in a vill in Erode in 1924. Within a few years, he developed his passion for art and moved to Chennai with his mor and siblings to follow his passion. His talent was discovered by his art teacher in Chennai. KC Sivasankara n did a 5 year-long art course in a reputed college in Chennai and in 1946 joined Tamil magazine Kalaimagal. In 1952, owner of Chandamama Magazine B Nagi Reddi hired KC Sivsankar in 1952. 

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KC Sivsankara served company for 60 years. His artwork for Vikram Vetalaya earned him critical acclaim. He created sword-wielding King Vikram carrying  corpse called Vetala on his shoulder which became highly popular amongst children in 90s. KC Sivasankar's art was loved by children and he often spoke about characters Vikram and Vetala. Initially, Chandamama was a Telugu periodical. However, it later got published in 13 different langus after getting immensely popular amongst children as an Indian comic book. 

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In 2007, Chandamama magazine was acquired by Geodesic, a Mumbai-based software services provider company after 60 years of its run. parent company went in losses and stopped publishing magazine. y gave it away to Geodesic for digitizing magazines to revive and preserve magazine for future generations. KC Sivasankar left company and later joined Ramakrishna Vijayam magazine as an artist. 

A few years ago in an interview with  Hindu, KC Sivasankar remembered time when founder of Chandamama magazine B Nagi Reddi used to always say that Chithra, who was chief artist back n, and KC Sivasankar are 'two bullocks of Chandamama.' He mentioned that founder would say that without eir of m, 'bullock cart of Chandamama would t be able to reach vill'. 

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