Animation Education in India.

[HelterSkelter]

Hi!
I happened to be involved with animation education in India. There is growing awareness about animation in India, and people from different walks of life would like to learn animation because of the excellent prospects. Now when I say animation I mean 'Character Animation' because the word animation is often used by institutions which give education in multi media softwares.
I feel to learn Character Animation a person should have a certain drawing aptitude.If it is not already there, then it has to be cultivated. My question is:

How Do you teach Character Animation to a person who doesn't know How to draw nor does he want to learn drawing?

Another scenario is where most people don't want to spend a long period of their time learning animation, so my next question is:

What is the minimum time needed to teach the basics of Character Animation to a person.

I'd be grateful if some of you guys can discuss these issues with me.

[ScatteredLogical]

Think about all the non-traditional forms of animation, like clay. I should say though, that investing time in life drawing is invaluable when attempting to visualize things like body attitudes, which is very important in -character- animation (if you're isolating the label for a reason), regardless of the medium used.

Secondly, I don't think you can really say "Oh, character animation? That's like 6...7 weeks, tops. Usually. Some guys it takes 8, some guys 4 even." Long or short, there's no set time. It's going to be different for everyone because so are everyone's paces.

I gotta ask though, with all these undertones of rushing and impatience, why are these people interested in -animation?-

[HelterSkelter]

Thanks, ScatteredLogical,
People are interested in learning animation because of the job prospects it holds for them. It's not that they are fascinated by the art-form or something, but the fact that India has one of the lowest production costs; is bringing a lot of outsourced animation work to India and creating lot of well paying jobs. Therefore the interest in learning animation. Five years ago the rage was 'Traditional Animation' today it's 'Computer Animation'. It's difficult to believe but many of the animators who are sucessfully animating international animation projects in India using 3D softwares have perhaps never attended any life drawing classes. A whole new breed of 'Character Animators' is taking shape in India who can perhaps not do Traditional animation because of their limitations in drawing, but they are experts in animating a CG character.
But the fact that they are interested only in learning animation and getting jobs, means they are impatient and would like to get over with the learning part soon. Animation education in India is mostly unorganised, and it's the technological aspect which is emphasised in the institutes and the artistic side is ignored completely. As a result we are not seeing that many powerful, original works of animation from India.
I am thinking of catching them when they r young. One strategy is to go to schools and teach animation to kids through easy to do and fun exercises. Imagine the excitement they will have when they get to know the technique used behind making their favourite cartoons and they can even make their own simple flip books etc. And when they grow up they have a choice to learn animation patiently like they would study any other subject in Universities.
Thanks for your suggestions and response 'SL'. Let me know what are your comments about what I have written above.

Regards,
HelterSkelter.

[Chetan]

The biggest sore spot in teh Animation industry like all say is lack of skilled manpower.I have been learning animation at ANTS -Animation Training School out in bangalore,South of India.They seem to have the stuff we all need and understand every single requirement of not only the clients but us students as well.

Do drop in any of you interested or even visit www.antsindia.com

[Samuel Sathler]

I saw the ANTS page entirely and I was interested in that. Is it costly to study there in ANTS?

[Chetan]

Its not at all expensive at ANTS especially considering the career they can offer.Do visit them and you will see the difference.

[gokuleena]

hi,

in india people they are not giving impotance to 2d.but before five years not like that.all studios are working only 2d.now all are in 3d,but if u want to become good 3d animator u should know 2d basic drawing first.

please learn basic drawing,basic animation in 2d,then go for 3d .this the better learning.otherwise without 2d knowledge u cant become good animator.this is my personal experience also.

this is the thinks i wanted to discus u.good.best of luck.

www.afaanimationindia.com

[virtualciti]

You can also check out the DAE program of Arena at http://www.arena-multimedia.com and
You can check out this link http://www.virtualciti.com/arena/dae.htm

This program takes an artist thoroughly through traditional 2D cell upto advanced 3D and you end up making 2 Animation Films of your own (one 2D and one 3D). Takes you through the importance of scripting writing, acting, and other associated activites as well besides sketching for animation and the animation software

A small warning for lazy people - if you can't slog it out go elsewhere! It's going to be a hard 20 months ahead!