Traveling and serving Swamiji

Govinda Dasi : During 1967, that year of traveling and serving Swamiji, who came to be known as "Srila Prabhupada" in May of 1968, there was little time for artwork. While with him, however, I did at least do the cover for his Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and the several illustrations for Teachings of Lord Chaitanya. These drawings were directed by him quite specifically.  He would often stand behind me and look over my shoulder as I worked.

First he would describe how the picture should look, and give an example, sometimes even a sketch, of the composition.  I would take notes on his instructions, then I would make drawings and show them to him, and after that, he would make corrections and advise me on improvements, and then at last he would give his final stamp of approval. Then, while I was working, he would often come to see how the picture was developing. This was the common practice.

In this manner, during that same year of 1968, Srila Prabhupada guided me every step of the way in producing the line drawings for Teachings of Lord Chaitanya. He described the compositions, decided which figures would be present and what they would be doing in each drawing, and what backgrounds should be shown.