Sandeep Verma, a 1993 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre studied engineering at IIT, learnt law at George Washington University. He is also alumnus and trainer at world's top notch institutes including London School of Economics and Political Science. Verma had his education at world's best institutes. But when it comes to pencil portrait, he learnt the art by himself.
A bureaucrat for more than three decades, Verma is quite new to the art of pencil portrait practising by himself in his spare time, mostly by using photographs of his friends and colleagues for reference.
Those who are unaware of his innate talent with pencil, can visit HCM RIPA, Jaipur on April 21, 2025 to see the exhibition of his pencil strokes. Verma has put up on show select pencil portraits of civil servants to commemorate the Civil Services Day.
Verma, currently serving as chairman and managing director of Rajasthan State Warehousing Corporation, delivers bold statement with soft strokes of pencil. He captures the expression on faces and emotions in eyes with lot of detailing. Every stroke reflects finer points of personality of the portrait.
Right from making pencil portraits of his batchmates Akhil Arora, JP Gupta and Aparna Arora, he has drawn portraits of his seniors including RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra and chief secretary Sudhansh Pant.
He has also tried his hands at making portrait of chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and officers junior to him like Praveen Gupta, Bhaskar Sawant, Alok Gupta and Kanishak Kataria.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence, pure artistry of Sandeep Verma is a real treat to watch.
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
