While the pandemic casted a dry spell on various businesses, animated content was largely unaffected. As a matter of fact, the ecosystem witnessed a growing demand for animated content during the outbreak owing to the covid-friendly nature of this medium. With animated content on the rise, the demand for skilled artists has only spiked.
In association with Cosmos Maya Academy, AnimationXpress organised a virtual round table on “3D Animation Job Skills for Studio Careers” to understand the key challenges faced by fresh animation graduates, get a practical perspective on the 3D animation production process and the ways to pave the path to a successful career in animation.
Moderated by AnimationXpress Founder CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, the session was participated by Cosmos Maya creative director Abhay Waghmare and COO Adi Shayan.
Shayan informs that animation, unlike other industries, thrived during the outbreak. Speaking about their experience, he shares, “Surprisingly it has been super busy. While many industries unfortunately struggled during the covid period, we are one of the only few industries who have been going full throttle. For that we have a lot of gratitude.”
Animation industry, be it on the parameter of content consumption or content commission has seen a steep growth. However covid did throw a few hurdles in the initial phases of the lockdown. Highlighting the challenges they faced with regards to setting up work from home pipelines in order to keep the momentum going, Waghmare shares, “Bigger studios work in large pipelines and one day all of a sudden you discover that everything has to shifted to home, you can’t make it function the next day. It takes time but in that period of time, we geared up and the momentum started. In the initial two months, it slowed down because we had to set a work from home pipeline. It took some time to set up that pipeline and process and we were back on track once we figured it out.”
Apart from dishing out world-class animated content, Cosmos Maya has also been evolving a virtual training program for the aspiring animators. Having seen what the industry demands from artists, Cosmos Maya is poised to provide the right kind of education that can bridge the existing lacunas in the current education formats.
Waghmare shares that freshers are put on a six month to a year-long training program before they can even work in the production phase on projects due to sophisticated pipelines. Shayan shares, the intensive training program is akin to cricket. Explaining why despite getting a job, freshers have to be put through another training phase, he noted, “You can’t just go out of the blue and play IPL, you need net practice, you need to get that match confidence. Similarly, animators also need to be prepared before they can be a part of a project.”
Comos Maya’s ambitious training program, they inform, will shortly be available online where students will be able to not only learn the fundamentals of animation but their assignments will act as their showreels.
Detailing their plans as to what is in store for the students, Shayan shared, “We are starting with a 3D animation course as we prioritise 3D animation as a course. We are going to be skilling it out across the spectrum. It will be followed by concept design and storyboarding. With the IP boom in our country, we need people who can work on those IPS. We will also have asset build programs, simulation build programs, FX, CFX and then lighting etc.”
Shayan shares that their endeavour is that graduates of this program should not have any difficulty in getting a job. He shared, “Our vision is that there should be studios waiting to hire these guys from the get-go. Job is the eventuality that will happen once students have graduated.”
