Turning a cactus into a cake or a car into a robot is easy if animation expert Prakash Moorthy is there to help. From the expressions of children who were engaged in making their own flip books, one will have no doubts about Mr. Moorthy’s ability to keep the young minds hooked to the basics of animation.
That may seem like kids’ stuff, but Mr. Moorthy, who has been in the animation field from the early nineties, feels it is a mistaken perception.
Slow growth
“Animation is not restricted to the kids. Unfortunately in our country, this field has made a slow growth. There is no uniform curriculum or methodology for animation courses that are offered, and that too by limited number of institutes,” says Mr. Moorthy, who held a special session on animation at the ongoing vacation classes organised by the Goethe Zentrum here on Tuesday. An alumnus, and currently a visiting faculty, of the National School of Design, Mr. Moorthy feels the present generation has the aptitude towards such creative arts.
“During our time, animation was never heard of. We struggled to learn and understand how the art was looked upon as a new form with the advent of technology. But today the children are keen to learn new techniques.”
For those, who are aiming a career in this field, Mr. Moorthy puts out the thumb rule. “One must have a flair for drawing. Without a sense of drawing, one may join the bandwagon but will never grow in the industry.”
Artistic skills
But Mr. Moorthy says that most of the institutes are keen on teaching the students the latest software, rather than training them in nurturing their artistic skills.
“Though animation works with the help of software, they are just tools to perfect your creative work. But learning just the software without given a basic training in art is like teaching one to hold a pencil and forgetting to teach them how to draw,” Mr. Moorthy said.
The country has seen a few start-ups in the field of animation movies, but the industry is fragmented and is yet to grow.
Focus on a uniform methodology of teaching, setting up centres for advanced training and developing skilled force can put India in the forefront, feels Mr. Moorthy.
‘Not just for children’
But on the brighter side, animation offers a lot of opportunities across many fields.
“It is a matter of understanding that animation is not just for children. The industry can flourish only if critical amount of students come into this field,” adds Mr. Moorthy.
