Joy in Drawing

I was sorting out data in my HDD and found this old 2D assignment I worked on ages ago. It was work I did for the final exam of my 2D Animation course I had taken at Animaster.



We were given a character model sheet along with a storyboard and were asked to animate for it. It was a five day exam and a hell lot of drawings! It was fun to work on though. The drawings were then captured individually on a pencil test software which plays them together as a video. In places where I had to show the background, which is on a separate sheet, I have used a lightbox to show both layers overlap and make the character appear to be set in the back ground. This is a basic way of testing the animation in 2D.

Its amusing to go back and analyse my old work. Now, after learning from AnimationMentor.com, I can see all the mistakes I did back then. I also realize that having moved on to 3D, I have lost touch with sketching.

It’s time to get back to sketching!!!! There is so much joy in drawing!!

This year’s highlight - Short film I worked for

Yikes!! How time flies! Before I knew it, one year has gone by. But then, what a year!! Its been a happening one.

I came back to Bangalore, hoping to place a job besides doing my AnimationMentor course. As luck would have it, I got a job at Raydrops Animation Studio, to work as Character Animator on a Short film called ‘The Cat and the Juggler’.




I had a super-duper time working at Raydrops!! We were a small team of 16. The work culture there was very inspiring and growth oriented. I have made awesome friends from this place. In fact, we were more like a family. The outings and trips we made together were incredible fun.




The studio experience at Raydrops has helped me immensely in my studies. It has supplemented my learning through AM beautifully. My time at Raydrops has surely brought out the best in me!


The icing on the cake is that our short film has won an award at Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (ASIFA)!! Our short was selected amongst several other applicants across the nation. It has been making the rounds in various cities in India and will soon hit the International scenario. It’s a huge boost for all the team members. All the hard work finally paid off!!

Check out our award winning short film, 'The Cat and the Juggler'


At ASIFA meet, the Raydrops team receiving the award of excellence for short film under category for professionals.

Dusting off cobwebs!!

Dusting off cobwebs!!

I’m back after a year to revive my blog! Have been dormant for soooo long!!

Last year, this time, I was back in Madurai, my native place. I was staying with my dear old Granny, enjoying being pampered royally. Needless to say my affectionate Granny made sure I always had yummy food to munch on. I hit an all time in regard with my weight, thanks to her constant shower of attention J

I had a nice time there, spending quality time with my Grandparents. My Granny and I used to play scrabble and cards whenever I took a break from my studies. And ofcourse, the invigorating talks I had with my Grandpa flavoured my lazy days in Madurai. Memorable days…

Well, incase u read the previous entry, you would note that it was made exactly a year ago. The animation I did out of that video reference was a fun piece. I learnt a lot from animating this one. I managed to make the toy cart myself with crude modeling techniques and trial and error rigging(which were crude too!!)

My favorite shot so far at AM. Though it looks all floaty to me now, I sure had fun working on this one. Check it out!

Star in the making!!

This one is dedicated to my lil nephew Rohit who acted in my video reference for the next assignment. This is how he became popular among my AM friends!

The concept is kid Stewie pulling his toy cart, which gets stuck. He tries to dislodge it by tugging at it. His initial attempts don’t work and so he pulls really hard which pops the toy cart suddenly sending him off balance and crashing to the ground.

For the toy cart, we improvised with a hockey stick strapped to a bag with wheels. Having explained what has to be done, I set the camera rolling. It took us a few takes to get it right.

Take 1 – Camera Love!

Heh..heh..Our lil hero is simply drawn towards the camera! This is what I call camera love! :)

Take 2 – Technical problem..

Uh..oh.. we seem to have a technical problem here.. but that doesn’t deter our eager actor, he continues to play his role no matter what!

Take 3 – Ouch!!

That is Vishal, my director in charge, who was explaining the shot to his lil bro. I wanted to shoot till the toy cart pops up and was thinking of looking up reference on the net for falling down. I didn’t ask him to fake a falling, but Rohit actually lost balance and fell down. The way he fell was so cartoony that I have used it in my shot. Now, that’s dedication in acting!

Take 4 – Atta boy!!

Aahaa!! There you go! Perfect acting! We definitely have a star in the making here!!

Armless Stewie jumps

Uploaded assignment for armless Stewie… uuhh.. still needs polishing

James Baxter’s workshop!!!

I had a wonderful day yesterday attending the workshop conducted by ASIFA in Bangalore. The workshop’s main feature was James Baxter’s talk . I felt oh­-so lucky to have been able to make it to the workshop!!

It was a great learning experience for me as this is the very first animation workshop I have ever attended. It feels great to have been able to meet such an acclaimed animator and hear him talk about his passion for the art.

He talked to us a lil about how to approach character animation and also explained how he went about working on the KungFu Panda sequence. Later we had a QnA session which was very informative too.

Here are a few snaps taken yesterday.

That’s Vinod, Prashanth, James Baxter, Shiva and myself in this pic. In my nervousness I set the camera at a wrong setting and ended up with this blurred snap.

From left, Mohan, Vinod, James Baxter, Anand,myself and Shiva

With Tim, animator from Dreamworks who also worked on the KungFu Panda sequence under James.

Prashanth getting his copy of Survival kit autographed by James

After the workshop, we AMites and former AM student Anand Baid who now works for Dreamworks India, went out for dinner. Anand’s collegues at work and his mentor outside AM, Jeethu sir, joined us too. We had a good time talking about animation and hearing about their experiences in the field.

Cooking up a Stewie!! :P

Time to record video reference again!

The assignment this time is to animate a more complex character called Stewie. His arms are removed to make it easier for us to start with. He jumps from one post to the other. I was wondering what should be his motive to cross all those posts. That is where the comic book I found last week brought inspiration for me. I plan to include Ms.Stu from last term standing on the other end. When Stewie spots her, he is so fascinated by her! She drops her hanky intentionally for him to pick up. He eagerly crosses the posts in an unsteady gait. He manages to cross the posts and looks up eagerly at her. Well, quite an adventurous plan, considering I will have lots to work on, now that we have Stewie’s spine to play with. I hope to make the best of my time and work it out.

But I’m sure I would enjoy working on this. So here it goes!!!