Born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh, the heart of India, in one of its culturally and artistically rich cities, Gwalior, Abhishek grew up in a city steeped with a living creative history.
The city that was taken as a strong hold of the Guptas, was earliest occupied by the Huans, then the Kachwaha Rajputs, that then saw it flourish under Raja Man Singh Tomar of the Tomar dynasty. The city is highly regarded for its Musical history, school and reputation.

Tansen, one of the greatest musicians ever to have been born is intimately associated with the City of Gwalior and Man Singh's court. As he not only trained there for a while in the 15th century but he also rests in the city that pays him and his music homage each year with the Tansen Sangeet Samaroh.

Gwalior provided an inspirational and fertile ground for Abhisheks's imagination to find expression.

From a young age, Abhishek was fascinated by and avidly collected and read the local comics available to him. From Anant Pai’s iconic Amar Chitra Katha series to the Indian super heroes created by Raj Comics such as Nagaraj and Super Commando Dhruva captivated and intrigued Abhishek.

From an early ageAbhishek's doodles on paper, his playfulness with line, colour and form- inspired by his comics, would lead him onto a unique and delightful path of creative expression and realization. Inspired by the works of Pratap Mulik and Ram Waikar, Abhishek began creating his very own comic books.Soon the first chapter in his artistic training would begin as Abhishek’s love for art and animation led him to enroll in The National Institute of Design with the desire to be an animator.

Whilst at N.I.D., he interned with the veteran animator Ram Mohan in Mumbai in the year 2003, whilst all the time working on his personal project, of creating a new visual language for the re-telling of the great Indian Epics.

This exploration took on a more detailed form, as post graduation Abhishek began working for Deepak Chopra, Shekhar Kapur and Richard Branson’s Virgin Comics in the capacity of an art director, story and concept designer.

Set in a futuristic world and time, Abhishek took the epic and ancient characters of the Ramayana and the past times of Kali and Shiva and re-designed their forms adding new dimensions to their interactions and personal battles and triumphs. This retelling of the Ramayana was based on Shekhar Kapur and Deepak Chopra’s reinvention and placement of the epic poem in a post-apocalyptic world, one which Abhishek created and realized by giving it new form through his artworks.

Not only did hedevelop a visual language, animation and story for the comic books and graphic novels but he also developed the visual language in such a way that it could be adapted into various entertainment mediums and spaces. The resulting comic books were a first step geared towards gaming and motion pictures.

Based on the Indian epics, Abhishek’s research for this project with Virgin Comics brought him into contact with text and image that took birth in ancient India. Bringing these philosophies to a new contemporary audience through the narrative in these comics was an aim of Abhishek’s.

The artwork created thus reflected Abhishek’s various influences, from ancient Indian Sculptures, temple paintings, the Kailasa Temple in particular, andThangka and Miniature Artwere very much responsible for inspiring and adding an indigenous style to Abhishek’s artworks.However, Abhishek’s work has a very modern sensibility appealing across age and cultures. This can be attributed to his ability to marry his traditional Vedic and Indian influences with his inspirations such Degas, Klimt and Klee to name a few, that are from a more recent era.

The cumulative result wasRamayana 3392 A.D. and, Kali and Shiva for Virgin Comic’s India Authentic Series.

His association with Virgin Comics on these projects lasted three years, from 2006 -2008.
Over the three years Abhishek's research brought him face to face with a variety of text and interpretations of both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and he began a second more personal project of developing a comic book for children based on the stories of Krishna. The project is close to his heart and he continues to work on it, to eventually develop it into an animated feature.

During and post working with Virgin Comics Abhishek also developed a number of animation projects for Cartoon Network and UTV, one of which was the short animation film ‘A Hunter’s Tale’. He also art directed an animated film for UTV called ‘Arjun the Warrior Prince’.

Amidst these changes and projects in his life, Abhishek began his friendship with Arjun Raj Nirula. A fellow artist and avid collector and lover of comic books, Arjun had first come across Abhishek's work in the pages of Ramayana 3392 AD and Kali.Arjun was always meditating on the genius of the person behind these modern creations of Devas and Demigods, Asuras and the Divine. Finally discovering the man behind these works in 2009, Arjun and Abhishek bonded over their common love-The Comic Book, Graphic Novel or as the French say Le Bande Dessinée, literally meaning the drawn strip. They spent many hours discussing the various schools of art within the comic book genre, from the fantasy art of Frank Frazetta to “The Father of Manga” Osamu Tezuka, as well as the cinema-like quality of graphic novels.

Arjun found Abhishek's work rather inspired and convinced him to explore his talent on a larger scale, thus resulting in the 10 feet by 5 feet works of photoink on paper-Rama and Krishna- for India: Imagined in the Present, in August 2010, New Delhi.

Earlier in the year, Abhishek’s work was showcased in The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, titled "Heroes and Villains: the Battle for Good in India's Comics", 7thFebruary,2010. His two new works for the India: Imagined in the PresentShow drew a huge positive response by audiences and critics.

This gave Abhishek the confidence to step into the art world with his first solo show: DHYANA ROOPA, December 2010, New Delhi, under the umbrella of The Nirula Family Company.