just a thot guys.

fact: there is a talented bunch visiting this forum
fact: most of us are self taught and highly motivated
fact: most of us recognize, and in most cases, pursue excellence individually
but,
fact: an individual can only go so far, battling the mammoth of challenges existing in Nigeria
fact: if we don't somehow merge our creative energies, we will probably not make a significant impact globally.

Question: wot is the constructive way forward?
would appreciate y'alls reaction.

the logical answer to your question would be to pool our resources together and work in unison. i.e synergy.
but factoring the physical distances and different locations in which we work and reside into the equation, then working together would require some sort of correspondence between the participating parties

true.
communication would be critical-thus making the task difficult, but not impossible.
have worked on projects where i received the brief on-line, and a team of artists worked together each from their different stations.
in fact, major production houses do it all the time.
i do think tho,if the local talent organise themselves- we might find we are not so scattered afterall.eg- all those in the lagos area,abuja etc could form a collective unit, those abroad (with better communication) can hook up online.
i dont know the exacts, but if we are willing to draw up something- it may work.

i believe 'person-to-person' is a better creative influence, and promotes a more rapid learning curve.
just my thots.

still welcome other reactions- i believe we have ALL the talent we need to be awesome scattered in here!

I agree with what every one has said, but there's one take i'd like to bring out.
Designers, generally are bi-polar people. Always wanting to dominate and impose their presence whereever they go. If a designer senses another designer nearby, it'd be natural for him to mark his domains as if saying "i'm this good, how good are you?"

I think we need a platform whereby all designers can go to, a form of base point to help newbies and share ideas amongs the Juggernauts

true wat you said but i believe that was the reason behind the creation of the graphics forum

I agree that anyone with any sense knows that if the Nigerian visual creative industry is to stand any chance of progressing then companies and individuals have to join forces in order to handle higher end and more specialised jobs. I feel from my limited research, those in the web development and software arena are already starting to do form alliances. But the 3D animation/visualisation field, which is my core area, is not even close to doing this yet. But looking at the forum there have been some notable lights who have being doing their best by giving 200% to push things forward. No need to mention them as they, and we all know who they are.We all know the Nigerian terrain is not the best for our various industries but that is changing fast.

What I would like to do is to offer some practicioners in the various fields the opportunity to meet up in one place in a professional setting, free of charge. It will be a chance to have a face to face meeting where people can introduce themselves,show their work and discuss. Let's call it a small real world version of this forum. My office is based in Abuja so that is where the meeting will take place. We have facilities to host around 10-15 if there is that much interest. Those into these fields should attend:
[list]
[li]3D Animation
Visual Post Production
Editing
Web Design
Web Development
Graphic Design
Digital Photo Manipulation (Photoshop etc)[/li]
[li][/li]
[/list]

One key thing to stress is that I see a lot of egos flying around on the forum. That is NOT what this is about and you better leave that at the door if you want to attend this. This is about a cooperative effort to push things forward so our various industries can be taken seriously and develop properly.

I am also a realist. Nothing might come of this and there might be no interest whatsoever. But we have to move beyond just talking about things.

I am very busy so I might not reply to posts on time but I always make it a point to check in at least twice a week.

So the ball is your court guys, Let's see how serious some of you out there.

All the best,

Adamu

the logical answer to your question would be to pool our resources together and work in unison. i.e synergy.
but factoring the physical distances and different locations in which we work and reside into the equation, then working together would require some sort of correspondence between the participating parties

I agree with my guy.

by the way, justbones, u left skool without giving me anything abi??

guy sorry jare
my dad's driver came to school very early and i had to catch a flight

i agree with u guys, we gfx-artists need to pull resources to gether to make the much desired impact.tis a cool idea,we just need pple to spearhead it.u'll be suprised at the AMT of talent we have.anyhow it turn i'm in.
HOLA to justbones and Zpixel(mentors)

Nice initiative.Before i joined the graphics section,i knew next to nothing about computer graphics(i'm a good artist though}the little i know now,i learnt from this forum.I believe with some push and collabos,newbies like me can go places.GREAT THINGS START WITH SIMPLE IDEAS

Interesting response.

From what I can work out, 2 people seem interested.

Let me try and focus minds a little by setting a deadline. Those interested in the meeting in Abuja that I described in my earlier post, make your interest clear by typing 'Yes to Abuja Meeting'. I will need all replies in by the 14th of July.

Let's see if we can get this idea of synergy and collectives really going.

By the way, this is based in Abuja purely for logistical reasons. If I had an office in Lagos, I would do the same there.

yes to abuja meeting

The whole idea in here is not bad.
But the question is what is going to be the outcome aside from meeting & xchanging ideas

isn't that the intial idea?

Hey, wot happens for we guys NOT in Abuja.Like say Lagos.
Wots up with that now.
no fair.

Ok, today is the 14th. If I am correct, Justbones is the only one interested in the meeting in Abuja.

Codename47. The only reason that I suggested a meeting in Abuja is purely logistical as I mentioned before. Lagos I'm sure has a higher concentration of practicioners, so there must be people/companies there who can or have already done the same thing.

Justbones, leave your email address so I can contact you regarding the meeting

good good good

Keep it up guyz

Like i alwys say "The Animation revolution has begun in Nigeria"

hey AdamuW

I'm just getting to see this thread.

I'm in Abuja and I'm ready to zoom down to the venue from wia I am now.

I hope I'm not too late. i don't mind even just to meet u guys physically even if I am late

contact me at ***********@yahoo.com

Thanks for your details guys. Wham, don't worry, the date of the 14th was just a dealine to focus minds and get a list of those interested. It would be useful to know if you are both able to meet during the working week (mon-fri). That will help me arrange a date to meet.

What will happen to those of us in lagos??

LAGOS CREW CAN ALSO ORGANISE THEMSELVES, IF THEY NEED TO, THEY CAN LIAISE WITH THE ABJ FOLKS . I THINK ITS STILL OK IF THE PROJECT WORKS AT A ZONAL LEVEL

Week days shouldnt be a problem for me.

I just need to know the time and date well b4 hand.

You can reach me on whamatix@yahoo.com

hey guys, dont do this without me. i'm so much interested in meeting other people in this field.

whalewale, how far. i hope u will be around. we need to talk.

I'm glad to announce that the first Abuja 'meeting' took place today. I would call it more of a small informal chat as there were only four of us. In my opinion it was a good meeting and we started to have discussions about what we do, the state of the 'creative' industry in Nigeria, artistic influences etc. It was just a good discussion that worked because we were discussing things in person so it was more fluid. The idea now is to see how far we can take this. There is no agenda as of now because we are freestyling it.

But a few ideas we had was to invite more people we know to the next meeting and the possibility of a screening of selected animations and films. Because the common thread amongst us was the love of animations 2D,3D old school / new school. And I think between Justbones and Speedy there's over 1TB's worth of animation.

We will talk amongst ourselves and lock down specifics. So all of you in Abuja who are interested in the next one, watch this space.

For the record the official roll call of attendees (in order of height) was
Justbones
Speedy(who had never heard of Nairaland and will probably join asap)
Wham
Adamu

Hopefully they themselves will say how they found the meeting. I for one enjoyed meeting like minds.

yeah
i was the tallest

Sure, he was.

I believe we are getting somewhere in the quest for focus.

We'd like to have more people on board (Abuja).

Animators, Graphic Artists, Video Editing folks, Script writers, etc

Just drop a line here if you are interested.

thats cool, really glad that you abj guys could come together. Thats real tight, i wonder when we in lagos will organise something of sort.Anyhows kudos.
Hola tto bones and the rest of y'all

I think the time has come for the second Abuja meeting of those in the creative design fields. Let's see if we can get more than four people turning up this time. It will be at the same venue in the Oakland center in Maitama. I am thinking Friday or Saturday next week.

I found that the last meeting was good but was cut short because we all had to shoot off back to work etc. that is why i suggested a Saturday. I believe that would give us about 3-4 hours clear. That might sound a lot but I know the last meeting went on for at least 2 hours and we had enough steam to carry on.

Anyway, whether it is for 1 or 6 hours, we need to do it soon so we don't loose momentum. All those interested just write 'yes to Abuja meeting' and reply by 27/08/08 latest.