Happy Birthday Dilip Saab!

The 11th of December was the Legendary Thespian's 'happy' birthday!! Just thought of these really old sketches of him done for an animation piece sometime in 2000.. almost 13 years ago! With the sudden realisation of the passage of time, also dawned the realisation of the timelessness of an artist's work... Dilip Kumar was at the forefront of creativity and success in Indian Cinema for many decades of its golden age and has inspired countless actors from Dharamendra to Amitabh Bachchan to Shahrukh et al.. and somewhere down there in that list of the inspired I find a very earnest myself... I have always loved Dilipji, with not a feeling of an actor but strangely as an elder to look upto.. a person from my own family.. that I feel very close to tho I dont know him at all..
Anyway an old sketch from 13 years ago with a lil touch up.. (this was a printout of an image in our files which used a ruff sketch in the original..) Hope you like it and remember that we become who we do on the shoulders of the ones who came before us.. in his case, its the shoulder of a giant!

Dilip Kumar in 2000 and a flashback from Naya Daur..one of my favorite moments in Hindi cinema

Getting excited..1st ever session on 'Swami Ayyappan'

"Work in Progress" Behind the scenes of 'Swami Ayyappan' & 'Return of the Jungle!'

This weekend its a date in Pune- the cultural capital of Maharashtra!
The Animation Society of India (TASI) has organised a session on the 30th to bring two directors to spill/spell out the ingredients of their recipes for making their latest animation projects which are still under-production!
Vaibhav Kumaresh (Vaibhav Studios) will present the WIP of his labour of Love "Return of the Jungle" (40mins, 3D animation) & Yours humbly will present the labours of the last one and half year behind Animagic's 2nd feature length film- a co-production with Toonz Animation India- "Swami Ayyappan" (90mins, 2D )

The presentations will include animatics, developmental sketches, character designs, layouts, Storyboards, as well as finished scenes!!

The intention behind the presentation is to share the inner workings of the movie making process.. to  debunk a few myths but also initiate the audience into the mysteries of animated filmmaking... an art that is only learnt thru persistent doing it.. doing it...and doing it some more! 
We will share our own paths that are different and yet have so much in common as well. . How we have translated our love and passion for animation will be easily understandable with the behind the scenes material.  We hope to transfer some of the joy we feel making animation films and maybe have an exchange of ideas with the audience about the shape of things to come.

 We are very excited!!! Please Gather all your friends for this special afternoon..we promise to make it worth your while!!!

ANIMAGIC at COMIC CON EXPRESS Mumbai!!!

For all of us comic book aficionados and pop culture watchers at large, the dream of a comic con (short for convention) seemed like just that... a dream.. but since this year India has its very own Comic con.. the 1st annual comic con happened in Delhi in feb and now a travelling version comes to our very own Mumbai!!!
COMIC CON EXPRESS, MUMBAI!!!

....And we are going to be there!!! 

It has been a matter of great excitement (and not to mention last minute preparations amid running projects) at the lil studio!! There is sooo much to say and do!!!
For starters and you are hearing of it first here, There is the Tripura graphic novel and DVD!!!!! Yes! It is happening! Both are currently looking at a January 2012 release.


We will be sharing a preview of selected pages of the graphic novel at the comic con!! + a galary of works relating to animation, visual development and pre-production, character design and illustration!!
And 'Raju & I' DVD will be on sale too!!

Oh did I mention... 22nd and 23rd Oct, World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, Stall 25C!!

See you there!!!
EXCITED!!!!!!!!

RASCALS releases today!!

Please catch David Dhawan's latest comedy  starring Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan... for our animation titles!!
Animagic has created a 3 1/2 min animation sequence which incorporates the opening credits with gags depicting the rascally duo's scams and cons..some starting from the time they were young! Watch baby Sanju and little Ajay begin their dubious careers in full 2d glory!! There's some more stuff in the intervals and the end so don't miss that either!
And maybe for the first time the hero of a movie is called Chetan!!!!! (for whatever reason..it still is chetan)
Here are some frames from this funky piece.

 the scamsters are always surrounded with babes!

 they steal with a smile!!

Starring the deadly dutt! Sanju Baba!! as Chetan!!

 starring Ajay Devg(a)n!! as Bhagat!!

 the main logo ..

 proudly proclaiming his distinction!

too cool..

Will post more stuff soon! Cheers!

TRIPURA: Character Designs 2: SHIVA & PASHUPATI

OM NAMAHA SHIVAYA!!

On the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri... want to put down my thoughts about the character design process relating to the great God. Actually the post has been in the works since the last one on Maya's design, but somehow it just hasn't got completed till now!

Designing Shiva was most of the most important things personally and we went thru Shiva as he had been depicted by practically everybody! We looked at everything we could find, from the bronze sculptures of South India, the reliefs at Ellora and Elephanta, to the comic book depictions of Waeerkar, Mulick and Kavadi and drew till what felt like Shiva to me, was on paper. Everybody responded to it favourably enough (above).
Getting the design correctly onto screen was the most unfortunate part of Tripura tho. For some reason the studio was not able to match design at all and even corrections sent didn't somehow get implemented. One of the mysteries of production dynamics to which I haven't received any answer yet.

Some of the rough sketches leading to the development of the final design

When Shiva went into destruction mode he would become Pashupati the primeval hunter.. the lord of destruction! In his terrifying aspect Shiva is often depicted as Gajantaka in the Ellora panels and elsewhere.
Since we felt there should be definite climb into the climax.. the buildup of the moment of Shiva becoming Pahupati would be fascinating to watch.. Even Vishnu and Brahma  contribute to the formation. (In the puranas, the gods are described as contributing to the process by providing various accessories)

Color key from the final storyboards:
Shiva turning in Pashupati!

Shiva in his violent aspect was to still be graceful, elegant.. when Shiva does it.. it is dance of destruction!! Maybe in  a future post,I will talk about this sequence in detail as many have expressed their satisfaction with this depiction of Shiva as the Destroyer!!

TRIPURA: Character Designs 1: Maya

the many moods of Maya- the Architect of Tripura

One of the most amazing stages of animation film making is character development!!

where personalities emerge where there were just names or concepts earlier... what does Maya look like..how old does he look.. his three wards.. what are they like...what is the appearance of Vishnu, Brahma and most importantly Shiva himself?

What about the world of the story..other supporting cast who will interact with these main characters and make the story real for the viewing audience? the refugee asura people who become prosperous only to become refugees again.. the deva council with Agni, Vayu the sages...the deva and the asura warriors who would fight the big battle..

Tripura was a truly ambitious film to design. Its scale and proportions were epic in the true sense of the world. We always designed acc to the needs of the story and characters and then if needed tailored them for the production format. Really no reason to think we couldn't have an epic for the small screen!...sigh..

Maya's design seemed to appear complete from the ether!! On left are the first scribbles, and then the third.. the final Design..

A turnaround of the character's final design is provided to the production company.

After Maya got designed, I finally realised who he reminded me of!!! I seemed to have subconsciously cast a dear friend's brother in the starring role!! Murli Menon (who has since become a dear friend himself!) was of course overjoyed!! And as we came to know him better, he turned out to be a major entertainer!! quite unlike our too serious Maya in the film.. He's too talented!! and great presence too! He should be in show business!!!

BTW his sister, our dear friend, her name... Maya!!!!!! Go figure!!