Astro Ruby and His Artistic Experimentation
Nibras, a young illustrator hailing from Bandung better known as Astro Ruby, drew attention with his unique illustrations—female characters with an explorative yet grounded color palette. In the last few years, Astro Ruby has gained recognition, whether it be through collaborations with big brands or his ever-growing social media presence. Astro Ruby’s journey in the world of illustration is a long tale full of experimentation. Sitting down with Grafis Masa Kini, Nibras shared with us his artistic odyssey.
Art has long been in Nibras’s blood. His interest in drawing was formed early in life. Nibras’s mother, who has a background in art education, was the first figure to introduce the visual arts and design to him. “I’ve been drawing since I was little. My mother majored in Visual Communication Design in university, so she’s taught me to draw since a very young age,” Nibras reminisced. Although he had long been accustomed to drawing, he only began taking steps to pursue illustration as a career when he was homeschooled in high school. “I used to be homeschooled so I didn’t have many friends and my activities were pretty boring. So, I drew to pass the time in those boring days,” Nibras said. His process of self-study at home actually deepened his love of the arts. With so much time to himself, Nibras began to explore his drawing capabilities and began to hone his skills intensely.
The first opportunity that opened the door for his professional career came with his first commission. “I got my first commission in high school, a family friend gave me the opportunity to make their book cover,” Nibras explained. Since then, he began receiving many opportunities as an illustrator and got involved with the comic community in Bandung while developing his visual identity which is recognized today as that of Astro Ruby. Funnily, the name Astro Ruby has its own unique tale. As someone who was interested in science, specifically in astronomy, Nibras was inspired by the names of astronauts that he often came across on the internet. “I love math, physics, astronomy, so that was my obsession. The name Astro Ruby followed in the footsteps of astronaut names, specifically those from America who would add ‘astro’ in front of their names,” he explained. Meanwhile “Ruby” was taken from the birth gemstone associated with the month of July, the month when Astro Ruby was first created.
The artistic style of this Yogyakarta Institute of the Arts alumni was not something conceived out of thin air—it was all born from Nibras’s question: “Can you create a fictional character that people perceive as real?”. This question triggered the creation of the female characters unique to Astro Ruby. Initially, Astro Ruby drew male characters, but as time passed, Nibras felt that female characters better suited the visual narrative he wished to develop. “I started creating simple comics on Instagram,” Nibras said. Nibras’s experiment achieved considerable success as Astro Ruby’s female character began to be perceived as real by his followers on social media. People believed that Astro Ruby is a female illustrator whose works reflected the identity of said illustrator to the point where people would send in private messages, ask to meet up, and even develop a relationship.
At one point, Nibras had to reveal the true identity behind Astro Ruby. That moment occurred when he was given the opportunity to work on the Google Doodle project that celebrated Indonesian music legend Chrisye. This project resulted in huge publicity for Nibras, who eventually revealed his identity as a male illustrator. A significant number of his followers felt disappointment that Astro Ruby was not in fact a female illustrator. “I made an identity reveal post and around four to five thousand users unfollowed me,” NIbras said. Regardless, that moment proved pivotal in his career, where he began more dedicatedly carrying Astro Ruby as a larger entity beyond fiction.
Admirers of Astro Ruby’s work often reveal that one of the things that stand out the most in Nibras’s artwork is his characteristic color palette. However, when asked how he found this visual identity, Nibras claimed that it was a very natural process. In many things, Nibras is inspired by the artworks he sees and likes, then he adopts those particular elements that then forms his personal visual style.
In his journey as a professional illustrator, Astro Ruby has collaborated with many brands and big projects including Wardah, Marie Regal Biscuits, and even the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta. As Nibras describes it, one collaboration that left quite an impression was when he was entrusted to work on the Google Doodle in celebration of legendary singer Chrisye’s birthday. “That opportunity came to me because I actively upload my work on Behance. An editor at Google Doodle came across my work, immediately reached out to me and I accepted the offer,” Nibras revealed. Although the project was initially slated in celebration of Indonesia’s independence day, an editor at Google Doodle felt that Astro Ruby’s art style, with its focus on human figures, was better suited to depict Chrisye. Another equally impressive project is his collaboration with Netflix for the original film Dear David (2023). In this project, Astro Ruby along with several other illustrators were invited to respond to the film’s core themes for an art exhibition.
Astro Ruby was also enlisted once again by the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta to take part in their art exhibition this coming October after participating in the same event last year. Nibras’s work for the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta which is rich in culture brought him to collaborating with ENDE, a fashion brand inspired by tradition. Nibras’s illustrations were embroidered on ENDE’s bags which took on the theme of two influential women in Indonesian history: Fatmawati and Keumalahayati. “The exhibition process was relatively fast, it only took under a month. Initially I was invited because they saw my work at the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta exhibition. They were interested because of the cultural elements and their brand is closely related to culture,” Nibras explained. This Project presented its own challenge for NIbras in the research process and the search for visual references.
Nibras’s journey with Astro Ruby is far from ending. For him, Astro Ruby is not just an illustration project. He has a vision to develop Astro Ruby into a bigger brand, a separate entity from him as an illustrator. “I want to take Astro Ruby into its own brand. Not just illustration, I want to create other works like toys,” he revealed. Taking the first step to achieve this vision, Nibras has experimented with paper toys as well as creating 3D toys. In fact, his final university project focused on toys , showcasing that his fictional characters are not limited to the second dimension. Astro Ruby is proof that young illustrators are capable of creating acknowledged unique artwork while simultaneously continuing to develop towards bigger dreams.
