Karuvattu Mana Vasudevan Namboodiri, is an illustrator, artist and sculptor whose influence on Kerala’s popular visual culture is unmatched. Born in Kerala in 1925, he was a disciple of renowned artist K.C.S. Panicker and studied painting at the Madras School of Fine Arts. He is known for his own style of line sketches, called ‘Rekhachitrangal’, and has illustrated for many leading magazines as well as for significant writers of the twentieth century. He has served as Chairman of the Kerala Lalitkala Academy twice. Namboodiri has been the recipient of several awards and honours, including the 1974 Kerala State Film Award for Best Art Director, the 2003 Raja Ravi Varma Award and the 2004 Bala Sahitya Award.