Animation industry is seriously short of people. This is an industry that requires talented people. It takes years to groom such talent. Is the claim for high growth in animation just a pipe dream? Will this industry find a good solution in time?

Big yes, say some experts.

Shrirang Sathaye, Animation Director of Visual Computing Labs (VCL), Tata Elxsi, himself an Art Graduate has no doubts in his mind that the Art graduates will form a significant part of the creative group in animation.  Sanjiv Waeerkar, Creative Head and Chief Mentor of UTV Toons, also representing animation industry, agrees with him completely.

Sanjay Khare of Euro RSCG representing Advertising industry says Art Graduates were traditionally employed by the Advertising industry. But it is a mature industry now and will not show any major growth in its needs. Ninad Chaya of Jump Games, representing Gaming, which is another booming industry, says gaming is still behind the animation industry which has an insatiable need for creative talent and is sure that the Art colleges need to meet this need aggressively.

These industry leaders were all together in a panel session organized by Graphiti School of Animation. Moderating this panel, Munjal Shroff, COO, Graphiti took the panel through a conversation getting each panelist to explain how they find Art Graduates and their relevance in their respective domains.  The panel brought out how the conventional model of Art graduates looking for employment in Advertising has become dated. Huge opportunities in animation and closely related gaming show the way. 

When animation started becoming an industry, those who were keen, learnt the skills on their own initiative, supported by their perseverance. For most of the seniors in the industry, Ram Mohan, father of Indian animation, was the guru.
Waeerkar shared how he started his childhood surrounded by comics and moved on to studying art at JJ School. He learnt animation, on the job, working with Ram Mohan.  So did Shrirang start his career with Ram Mohan after JJ School.

The panelists emphasized that the situation has gone through a sea change and now there is opportunity for the art graduates to learn animation and enter the industry with some specialized skills.  Ninad projected that there are currently no specialized training organizations addressing the needs of gaming.

Munjal has compiled some comparative information on the salaries and growth in demand for professionals in advertising, animation and gaming.

He emphasized on the how art graduates with their formal training in art can perform better than any other student.

Ram Mohan, father of Indian animation with 51 years spent in creating a huge repertoire of animation films, exhorted the gathering to take animation and art into mainstream. He compared its current status to a “Trishanku”. Artists treat animation as a film making process and the filmmakers see it as an art form. Both groups are not doing justice to the opportunity. 

Invited to share his perspective, Rajiv Vaishnav, Regional Director, NASSCOM advocated the concept of working from within the system to bring about changes needed for progress. In an eloquent style he treated the gathering to a bouquet of “shayari” which not only lightened the mood but also brought out the need for collaboration among all the participants.  He also extended NASSCOM’s full support to the animation industry and the art fraternity to take this initiative further.

All this was discussed in the MAHA ART ANIMATION SAMMELAN organized by Graphiti School of Animation, to bring together Deans and Principals of Art Colleges from all over Maharashtra and Animation industry professionals for a one day Sammelan held in Mumbai on Saturday 19th April ‘08 .  This Sammelan was meant to explore the opportunities in animation and its relevance to the Art education fraternity and the Art graduates.  The Sammelan was well attended and the most heard comment was that this effort should be sustained on a regular basis so everyone connected with Art and Animation will gain.

At the close of the day’s proceedings, many in the audience felt that there is a need for such interaction on a regular basis since there is a large community of art fraternity that would gain by understanding such new opportunities. They emphasized the need for companies like Graphiti coming forward and working with schools, art colleges and other colleges in propagating animation education. Kanakasabapathy Pandyan, director of Graphiti, and host of the Sammelan, announced that Graphiti’s answer is a strong yes to these ideas and Graphiti would like to work with this fraternity closely. He also mentioned this is not a onetime effort and he and his team will organize such gatherings on a regular basis, with collaboration from industry in various ways.

Host Pandyan made two announcements: First: Graphiti setting up a special “help desk” on animation for Art Faculty and others referred by the Art College faculty.  Second:  Launch of G-CAT Master, the first post graduate level program in animation specifically designed for Art Graduates.

Graphiti School of Animation offers professional courses providing the industry with ready-to-work animation professionals. 

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