The Wheat Cartoonist

I once had a glance at the name kartunis gandum and mistook it as an artist that drew Gundam, but then I realized I never saw him drawing that Japanese mecha. That prompted me to take a look again one day. As I'm an Indonesian, I am able to translate those words. The meaning is the wheat cartoonist, which I find it very intriguing. I had a chat with him earlier today and here's the story of a talented illustrator with a very odd moniker.

His name is Ariff Ahmad. A colleague of mine, we normally call him Ariff in office. He is known for his rather unusual but commendable hobby (it's amusing that one would go all the way to build the Wolverine claws or parts of Iron-Man costume). He was also the guy that the previous CIO approached for the Family Day event poster last year. Ariff clearly loves his craft and is good at what he's doing.

The talent manifested at very young age. Born to a mother who was a voice actress and a father who could draw, here was a five years old boy who would draw on the corner of the whiteboard in his mother's office every time he tagged along to pick up his Mum. The raw skill was then influenced by those comic strips he read at his aunt's house, from the drawing style to the brief storytelling in just few panels. With the support and encouragement from the parents, the young boy figured out that he could do a cartoon, so perhaps he could be a cartoonist someday.

Ariff and the first magazine that he contributed.
Photo owned by Ariff.

As the young boy turned into young man, an opportunity knocked. It started with a Hari Raya greeting card that he received. It came from a place not very far from where he stayed, so he thought of paying the sender a visit to say thanks. Much to his surprise (and delight), the office he visited turned out to be a publishing company of a cartoon magazine. The moment the publisher granted him a so-called interview session, without further ado, he ran back home to grab the stuff he'd been doing so far and the rest is history. He was a published cartoonist since then and, thanks to his habit of referring himself and others in English (I reckon it would be something like this: "I nak pergi dulu."), he was soon to be known as Ariff Eye Ahmad, with Eye being a word play from I.

And you may wonder why he hadn't become kartunis gandum. That is because it was his second pseudonym, adopted only after he moved onto another magazine called Ujang. The publisher was fond of naming his artists padi, jagung and our man here was nicknamed as gandum, hence he was the wheat cartoonist from that moment on.

Image credit: Kartunis Gandum
(If you are on a mobile browser, click the image for high resolution)

The art of making people laugh with only few panels of drawing looks deceptively simple for those who read it, but it can be a tricky business for the one who does it. Ariff makes it look easy, but he had paid his dues long before this. It's years of hard work exchanged with experience. After the learning curve, he understands that the inspiration comes from whatever that is going on around him. Once decided, he'll convey his message within few panels. It has to be concise, with the last panel delivering the ultimate punchline. The one above, for example, is easily an instant classic.

All good things must come to an end, though. Those days as a published cartoonist are now behind him. He still has some fun with his weapons of choice (the markers, brushes and water colors), but that's either as a freelance or just to get it off his chest (that's what artists do when they have ideas). Does he miss his heyday? Perhaps, but then again, now he got his biggest fans at home following his footsteps: his two children. Well done, kartunis gandum!

The man and the art.
Photo owned by Ariff.

Kartunis Gandum

Ketika saya pertama kali membaca nama kartunis gandum, saya sempat keliru dan mengira bahwa ini adalah seniman yang suka menggambar Gundam. Kendati begitu, saya tidak pernah melihat gambar robot Jepang darinya. Saya lantas perhatikan lebih lanjut lagi dan barulah saya sadari bahwa yang tertulis itu gandum, bukan Gundam. Karena heran, saya pun berbincang dengannya. Berikut ini adalah cerita tentang seorang seniman berbakat dengan julukan yang tidak lazim. 

Namanya adalah Ariff Ahmad, seorang rekan kerja saya. Dia dikenal dengan hobinya yang unik, misalnya membuat cakar Wolverine atau bagian dari kostum Iron-Man. Karena kreativitasnya, dia juga diajak kepala departemen kita untuk merancang poster acara kantor tahun lalu. Ariff jelas menyukai seni dan berbakat dalam bidang yang ia geluti ini. 

Talenta Ariff sudah terlihat sejak dini. Lahir dari seorang ibu yang mengisi suara lakon dan ayah yang bisa menggambar, Ariff kecil senang melukis di papan tulis kantor ibunya saat ia main ke sana. Karunia yang ada pada dirinya ini lantas dipengaruhi lagi oleh komik-komik yang ia baca di rumah bibinya. Berkat dukungan orang tuanya, bocah ini lambat-laun menyadari bahwa dia mungkin saja bisa menjadi seorang kartunis suatu hari nanti.

Ariff di ruang kerjanya. 

Saat beranjak dewasa, kesempatan pun tiba. Semuanya bermula dengan sebuah kartu ucapan Lebaran yang ia terima. Karena kartu tersebut berasal dari alamat yang tidak jauh dari rumahnya, ia pun berpikir untuk menyambangi pengirim kartu dan mengucapkan terima kasih. Ternyata tempat yang dikunjunginya itu adalah kantor majalah bergambar. Ketika penerbit bercakap-cakap dengannya, dia pun berlari pulang ke rumah untuk mengambil dan menunjukkan karyanya. Singkat cerita, dia menjadi seorang kartunis majalah sejak itu. Karena kebiasaannya dalam menggunakan bahasa Inggris saat mengacu pada dirinya (seperti I nak pergi dulu), akhirnya dia pun dikenal sebagai Ariff Eye Ahmad, dimana Eye merupakan kata yang sama bunyinya dengan kata  I.

Dan anda mungkin membayangkan kenapa dia belum menjadi kartunis gandum. Ini karena julukan yang kedua ini baru dipakai ketika dia pindah ke majalah lain yang bernama Ujang. Penerbit majalah ini senang memberikan nama tumbuhan pada para kartunisnya seperti padi, jagung dan Ariff pun mendapat nama gandum, maka jadilah dia kartunis gandum.

Seni membuat orang tertawa dengan hanya sedikit panel bergambar dalam satu halaman kesannya mudah, tapi dibutuhkan kreativitas yang luar biasa dari penciptanya. Ariff bisa mengerjakannya dengan gampang karena dia sudah berkecimpung di dalam bidang ini bertahun-tahun lamanya. Berbekal pengalaman yang telah dijalaninya, dia paham bahwa inspirasi datang dari sekitarnya. Setelah tahu apa yang ia ingin tuangkan, dia pun mulai menggambar. Kartun seperti ini bukan saja harus singkat, jelas dan padat, tetapi juga harus dituntaskan lewat gambar terakhir, seperti cerita di bawah ini: 

Jika anda ikut apa yang terjadi di Malaysia, anda akan paham satirnya.
Karya Kartunis Gandum.
(Klik gambarnya bila kurang jelas)

Akan tetapi semuanya mesti berakhir. Hari-harinya sebagai kartunis majalah sudah berlalu. Meski begitu, dia masih tetap menggambar, baik sebagai seniman bayaran atau hanya sekedar iseng dan ingin berkarya. Apakah dia merasa rindu dengan kehidupannya sebagai kartunis gandum? Ya, ada kalanya dia terkenang masa lalu, namun yang terpenting sekarang adalah dua anaknya pun mulai mengikuti jejaknya. Semoga sukses, Ariff! 

Senantiasa melangkah maju menuju sukses.