Attention: Abuja Animators/graphic Artists (2d & 3d)

I salute you guys in Lagos and PH. You guys are really making me proud as a Nigerian.

I believe there is a good number of both aspiring and practicing 2D & 3D Animators/Graphic Artists in Abuja.

Lets put heads together and improve ourselves. Lets exchange ideas, materials and Softwares.

Drop your contacts here

What say you?

Graphic Artists; Cartoonists; Animators

I thought I would resurrect this topic. I have recently set a small CGI consultancy in Abuja. We are yet to start fully operating but I'm looking for 3D animators/Modellers, photoshop operators etc. If things pick up we will be looking for such people to use on a freelance/permanent basis. At the moment the type of work we specialise in is high quality 3Darchitectural visualisation. Main software pipeline is AutoCAD, 3D studio MAX, Photoshop. Obviously your skill level has to be decent.I have attached some images of recent projects we have worked on.

All the best.

Always interested in meeting people in the field 'ninelives'. Could you you post up some of your works so I can get an idea of which area of graphics you are in? If client confidentiality is an issue that is no problem. I will contact you by email anyway. Thank you very much for replying. I forgot to leave my contact email last time round.  Here it is  'Adamu.W@e-black.net '

I'm more into 2D Animation. I'll definitely enter 3D modelling and animation with time.  Anyone wanting to learn 2D? Or already into 2D?

Cheers guys!

Any lady graphix pips in abj?

'Sup bro. I'm a 2D animator myself, PURE/Traditional 2D as a matter of fact; that's how devoted I am to the genre. I have all the books you listed above and out of the pack, Richard William's Animator's Tookit and Illusion of Life standout, as they give the reader a background into how traditional animation was pioneered and refined as a mainstream artform. However, there's another author whose books prolly dwarfs the aforementioned titles in its nitty gritty detailing of the animation process, and that is Academy Award winner Brian Lemay's books (www.brianlemay.com/index.html). His books are the most detailed and comprehensive sources of animation info there is out there, infact I understand many animation schools the world over have adopted them as part of their curricula for teaching animation. Only Williams' Animator's Toolkit comes a close second for it's equally rich and comprehensive treatment of the subject. Speaking of Williams, he happens to be one of my favourite all-time animators, in the same league as Milt Kahl [the Disney animator reputed to be the Greatest and most technically proficient Animator of our time], Ken Harris [another proficient master animator from Warner Bros.], Art Babbit, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Glen Keane [animator of Disney's "Tarzan"], Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston [Disney's two most famous great animators], James Baxter [relatively younger, but a great animator, he animated Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Damme, Tulio of "Road to Eldorado", Rafiki of "the Lion King"], e.t.c. Williams' "Thief and the Cobbler" animated feature [which unfortunately he never got to complete], is reputed to be one of the greatest animation feats ever attempted. It's got some of the SMOOTHEST animation I've seen to date! A hastily put together version of the flick can be viewed online in its entirety at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2263043366719734101&q=animator+richard+williams. His son, Alex Williams, also an animator, was responsible for animating Lion King's villain 'Scar'. Another book that you might want to look at is one about storyboarding, titled "From Word to Image, Storyboarding and the filmaking process", by Marcie Begleiter. It teaches a comprehensive and detailed approach to making storyboards and planning shots, composition, staging, e.t.c. for both live-action and animation and I think it's one of the better books out there on the subject. I believe it's available on amazon.com.

In my opinion and experience, the best way to learn 2D animation is by reading the aforementioned books, STUDYING animated films [i.e shorts and features alike], and PRACTISING what you're learning. The best animated works were made during the 'Golden Age', by Disney, Warner Bros. and the Fleischer studios from between the late '30s and the early/late '50s. Animated works of great quality do exist today as well, but for a solid grasp of the techniques that pioneered the artform, the earlier works are best suited for any student or enthusiast. If you can get your hands on the dvds of classic disney/warner bros. shorts and features, watch them in slow-motion while observing the animators apply the principles you've read about in books, AND then try to apply them yourself. Get you a light-table -- you can build a customized version -- a decent p.c or laptop with a chunky disk space, a 2d animation pencil test software like Digicel's "Flipbook" [my personal favourite] or the free shareware available online for download, called Monkey Jam, a scanner or digital camera, and start PRACTISING what you're learning! Draw! Draw! and Draw!! Exercise patience as you go along [because you won't get it all nailed down at once], and watch your skillz improve! I learned all these by experience. You gotta be patient and determined, if you're going to become a good/proficient animator.

The mentoring aspect just cannot be overemphazed. To become the best you gotta learn from the best, hence why I recommended that you cop the Disney, Fliescher and Warner Bros. studios works. Dub them from cartoon network if you must, but try and get your hands on 'em. Personally, I own dvd copies of MOST of Milt Kahl's [the reputed greatest animator] works, and STUDY them to learn what made his animation standout technically from the rest, and to train my eyes on how to recognize GOOD/QUALITY animation from one of lesser quatity. I also study Ken Harris's works, Glen Keane, and even James Baxter's. I recently bought a copy of Richard William's critically acclaimed feature, reputed to be responsible for reviving 2D animation during the late '80s and early '90s, "Who framed Roger Rabbit", and found the featurette section to be packed with a gold-mine of knowledge about the animation process. Watch as many "making-of" documentaries of animated works as you can find. A lot of dvd's come with special featurette sections where you can access and watch documentaries of how animated features are made. I cannot overestimate the educational value of such documentaries. They show you HOW the movies were made, the budget and number of artists involved. 

I currently have two almost completed animation shorts on my laptop [just need to digitally paint 'em], each 2 mins. in length. Took me two weeks to time-out the dialogue, and almost a month to animate each short -- each gulping about 1,500 individual drawings, all on ONES! One's titled 'Candid Politriks' -- about a nigerian politician, addressing an audience of supporters and candidly intimating them of his intention to loot the treasury upon getting elected into office. It's done in FULL ANIMATION style [at a high frame rate of 24 frames per second]; it came out so smooth that even I was wowed! I haven't come up with a satisfactory title for the second, but it's about two friends, Jamiu and Ike, two police officers at an illegal police checkpoint rationalizing and justifying why they collect bribe from motorists. I'll find time to upload both on youtube, as soon as I get a chance.

Cheers.

@all u guys

Here's my e-mail add: whamatix@yahoo.com

'Dje' I took a look at your website. Good quality work. I especially liked the indoor renderings done for Alphines and Cardinni. Thanks for getting in touch via email. It would be good to arrange a meeting.

'Damseremie' I checked out the '3d modelling & Animation' topic to see your work. Do you have any more recent examples you can show? I couldn't get access to the 3Dnigeria website and the examples you posted are more than a year old. I am asking because, judging it on a professional level, I think the images I saw need more work. However 1 year is a long time in computer graphics so I am sure your skills have now improved. That is why I am asking if you have any more recent work to show. I will drop you an email.

 Finally, a group of four of us in Abuja got to schedule a meeting and it worked out.

This is a calling out to other interested graphics people (Both Professional and aspiring)

Drop a line here. lets hook up.

 
Yep!  It needed to breath again more than ever