NEWS & EVENTS

GURUGRAM, HARYANA — The inaugural edition of Social Con, a premier youth-driven festival celebrating anime, manga, and gen-z pop culture, successfully debuted on April 4 and 5, 2026, at the Global Foyer Mall. Following the success of the "Inkmation" event held earlier this year in Saket, Delhi, the organizing team expanded their vision to create a multi-layered convention experience in the heart of Gurugram.

While the festival featured a vibrant array of cosplay, gaming, and Japanese food experiences, for the creative community there was this specialized art workshop, "Drawing from Imagination and Live Art Troubleshoot and Q&A Session" conducted by comics creator and illustrator Shambhu Nath Mahto, on 5th april 2026.

Addressing the Creative "Mental Block" & troubles in "Draw from Imagination"

The ability to translate abstract ideas into tangible visuals remains a primary challenge for aspiring concept artists, manga illustrators, comics artists and graphic designers. Shambhu Nath Mahto, an experienced visual storyteller, independent researcher and Creative Head at Comix Theory, designed this session to bridge the gap between technical skill and imaginative execution.

Unlike traditional lectures, the workshop was highly participatory. Mahto introduced strategic methods and conceptual frameworks into his "2 session worksheet" to help artists overcome the common "blank page" syndrome and troubles faced to draw from imagination that plagues beginners, as well as professionals in the comics, manga and animation industries.

Hands-on Mastery and Practical Innovation

To ensure active engagement, Mahto utilized custom-designed interactive worksheets. These worksheet tools allowed over a dozen participants to gain first-hand experience in:

• Basic drawing.

• Drawing without reference photos.

• conceptualization.

The session peaked during the second phase of the workshop with session 2 worksheet.

A New Approach for Future

The success of the "Draw from Imagination" session underscores a move beyond passive consumption and into active creation and engagement with Mahto’s pedagogical approach and engagement based interactive art workshop sure to leaves a lasting impression on the participants. 

Shambhu Nath Mahto is planning to deliver his next workshops very soon.

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Date: 10 april 2026