Targeting the NRI market, interactive CDROMs were produced to teach basic spoken Hindi to people visiting India and to the second-generation Indian origin community. Through a story of second-generation Indians visiting India and coming across many situations that need them to use Hindi. The animations were drawn directly onto the computer with a mouse and were designed to run smoothly given the very limited capability of computers in those times.
After completing his master at NID, Sanjay started his first job as a 2D animator. Macro Graphics were producing CD-ROMs on ancient folklore of Panchatantra. Based on the available story and picture book on folk tales of Panchatantra, in consultation with historians and storytellers and keeping in mind children’s psyche, Sanjay drew characters in his style on the computer for a happy and colorful animations. In first-of-its-kind techniques, animation was directly drawn onto the computer screen to enable speedy display.
In these times, teaching and learning using digital media was slowly taking roots in India. At the end of master’s degree, for the final project named diploma project, Sanjay worked to animate and produce part of an interactive digital English learning CDROM with Silver Leaf Software in Delhi. The story-woven software uses various situations to challenge, teach and examine the users’ spoken English skills through animated sequences, high-quality infographics, tests, and fun games.
A Professor is kidnapped by a pirate group and taken to a secluded island. A group of professional bounty hunters from different parts of the world are assembled and dropped on to the island. The group is further divided into pairs and is to make individual efforts to locate and find the professor. Various situations are presented to the bounty hunters to solve riddles using their spoken English skills and eventually finding the professor.
This project introduces Sanjay to computer based 2D animation for the first time. Computer technology was at its primitive state in India, thus a pioneering method of drawing with mouse straight on to the computer was adopted to minimize the weight of data that was to be screened with high speed. Sanjay made all the animations using Adobe animator pro. Later, Sanjay went on to teach computer based 2D animation at NID.
This project was a part of an elective course where students worked with the industry at NID campus. The creative team of Channel [V] had a briefing session about the channel and assigned students to produce ten promotional videos for the Channel [V]. Two of Sanjay’s concepts were amongst the ten selected out of fifty such concepts. Sanjay produced one of the two selected concepts and used cel animation to create the promo.
The film starts with a cave painting. One of the stick figures comes alive and shoots its spear at the animal. At the collision, the animal’s bone makes a [V] shape with the spear.
Character Design was one of the major courses in the second year at NID. Three different ways- from real life, from description of a character in a book, and from a description imagined by self; were to be adopted to build highly animatable, and believable characters. The bone structure, the placement and contour of flesh, the attire, the facial expressions, mannerisms, and postures were to be imagined and be brought down to the paper.
Each student was to imagine a character, preferably with non-human characteristics, imagine its posture, its locomotion, its habitat, its bodily mechanisms, and its surroundings. Sanjay imagined an insect, Grapho.
Grapho is a fantasied insect character which lives inside an animator’s Lightbox. Grapho draws its energy from the bulb which is usually lit all the time. Grapho feeds on the graphite left by the pencil’s scratch on the surface of the paper. In times of desperation, Grapho sits atop the pencil and scratches the graphite off with its hook-type beak. The reversed horn-shaped, harmonica ears help it to hear the pencil’s scratching sound made on the paper surface, informing Grapho of a fresh meal.
Character Design was one of the major courses in the second year at NID. Three different ways- from real life, from description of a character in a book, and from a description imagined by self; were to be adopted to build highly animatable, and believable characters. The bone structure, the placement and contour of flesh, the attire, the facial expressions, mannerisms, and postures were to be imagined and be brought down to the paper.
The class gathered to list down the names of the characters that one encounters in their daily life. By the way of picking a lottery, a character is assigned to each of the students. Sanjay picked the butcher.
Ahmedabad has a sizable meat-consuming community and big butchery markets. Sanjay went around these markets to sketch and interview butchers to get the feel of their looks, habits, and lifestyle. Sanjay then visualized the butchers’ various facial expressions, gestures, postures, and the butcher in various situations. Sanjay came up with a character that had the most common characteristics of a butcher.
Character Design was one of the major courses in the second year at NID. Three different ways- from real life, from description of a character in a book, and from a description imagined by self; were to be adopted to build highly animatable, and believable characters. The bone structure, the placement and contour of flesh, the attire, the facial expressions, mannerisms, and postures were to be imagined and be brought down to the paper.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale -based on the description in a book, ‘Amritsar: Mrs. Gandhi’s Last Battle’ by Mark Tully and Satish Jacob.
The leader of the Damdami Taksal (a Sikh religious group) and political revolutionary/terrorist is notable for his support of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. To impose a return to the ‘pure’ roots of Sikhism, he took up arms against the state and took the Golden Temple under his control. Operation Bluestar was launched by the government, and Bhindranwale, with hundreds of his supporters, was killed. Sanjay imbibed details of this described character, food habits, postures, attire, and his political patronage to come up with these imaginary visual depictions.
To make ends meet and to afford the increasing cost of stationery, Sanjay also started to take up part-time freelance professional work while studying at NID. He worked for Mahila Samakhya Gujarat, a women’s group working to improve livelihood of women in Gujrat by providing different livelihood training such as weaving, handicraft products, etc. He went around the villages of Gujarat with the women’s group team in his spare time to observe and photograph the activities at the actual sites. Based on the images, he came up with an earthy brochure and a logo for this organization.
At his second attempt, Sanjay got as far as an interview for admission at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad for the ‘school-leavers’ (five years) program despite holding graduation in commerce. Seeing his creative work and academics the institute offered him a ‘Post Graduate Diploma’ (a 2.5-year program) course interview as well. He was interviewed for the PGD in a week and offered both seats to choose from. “What if we gave you admission in School Leavers and not in the Post Graduate course? You’d lose 2.5 years.” asked the interviewer. “I can live those extra years later,” said Sanjay. This led everyone to stand up and applaud Sanjay, who, before leaving the interview room, knew he was getting to do Post Graduate Diploma, specializing in Animation Film Design. (This was soon changed into a master’s degree.)
Sanjay joined PDG and the journey put him in transition from a cartoonist, and known political influencer to a design student, and a designer later. A completely new world fell open to Sanjay at NID for his intellectual being and for his professional skill. Due to financial pressures, Sanjay couldn’t have spent any additional semester’s fee. He worked diligently to finish the course in two years and two months. (Four months prior)
Courses taken: Sketching, drawing for animation, Basic animation, Character Design, Storytelling, storyboarding, sound design, animation to sound, Design Process, History of Design, Elective course with Channel V, Industrial training, pre diploma project, Diploma Project.
After publishing his daily pocket cartoon column for two years, Sanjay went to meet the then Railways Minister of Govt. of India, Shri Madhavrao Scindia, to request him to inaugurate a cartoon exhibition. The minister said “Sure, next week?” which set an ultimate deadline for Sanjay to draw and paint about 50 of his cartoons in calendar size, find a sponsor and venue, make, and send out invitations. A crazy week of preparation ensued.
All was done in a week’s time as the cabinet minister reached the gallery’s door. Sanjay stumbled and ran to stand next to the minister in his dirty denim and originally white shirt. However, Sanjay had forgotten to arrange for a pair of scissors for the minister to cut the ribbon. He ran to the gallery’s garden to fetch a large pair of Gardening Scissors, which invited a burst of laughter from the assembled crowd. The exhibition ran for four days at Kala Vithika, Gwalior.
(Sadly, no pictures of those events are available except scans of some of those cartoons)
