YAHOOOOO !!! ANIFEST TASI 2010

This is my fourth month, in Mumbai. I am slightly settled in the city. A number of projects, are on. My stereo short "RAMATIYA", was a winner at ANIFEST 2010 and a still of it luckily made it to the cover of the Animation Reporter Magazine.

Last two, months have been a marathon of POMPLAMOOSE music. These guys do brilliant covers and originals. Recently, i was glued to Vh1 and HBO. Got to have a look, at some brilliant shows and saw some old movies again. This was a brilliant, Diwali treat. Below are some more fortunate interviews and articles on my short film. 

Finalist for The Art of the Comic !!

Got some great news from ART & THE CITY, online art journal. I was one of the finalist, for a COMIC STRIP competition. They, publish my work on their site and commission me for more five strips, which will follow up on their site. The theme, was city life. I enjoyed, working on them and am looking forward to the other strips coming online. Below is the link to the site.

http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/lp/prj/kus/bil/en6557638.htm

RAMATIYA

The unbelievable has happened!! Though i am still to finalize the sound, but the FILM IS OVER!! It was screened in the Design Vision Centre (NID), with fancy LCD 3D Glasses. I can't find words how to thank Mr. Pradyumna Vyas for sanctioning this research project. Sekhar Mukherjee and Praveen Nahar for their patience, guidance,support and bearing the delays. Naeem Sheikh for always being updated with his stereo equipments and getting the projector for the final screening, which made the colors more beautiful then i had imagined. Raval Chandresh and Franklin Kristi, for their ever readiness to help me with software and equipment.Paresh Soni for the DVC keys. Kaushik Chakravarty, Atul Bhai, Sanjeev Bhai for their encouragement. My friends at NID, Pradeep Patil, Nitin Patel, Anuj Sharma, Peter Alwyn, Dawa Imchen, Sanjay Jangir,Abhijit, Chiranjeet, Mochu, Navleen, Shweta, Avinash, Aishwarya, Charles, Manish, Gautam, Amber, Gagan, Rohit, Smit, Longbir, Ranveer,Hemant,Yash and many more who pulled me up when i thought it was an impossible task.

RAMATIYA from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

RAMATIYA 3D from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

RAMATIYA * end stage

It's a holiday evening and i am listening to my all time favorite song, "All Star" by Smash Mouth. I was in love with it all over again when heard it as the OST for SHREK. It is an apt song to go with Shrek's character. Another one of my favorite song in the movie is "I 'm believer", originally by the Monkees in the mid 60's, later a cover my Smash Mouth. What a treat! Well, the main chunk of the animated film has finally been sent for sound. Here are some designs for the FLASH animated dream sequence and translation of the 3D characters to "Rivetted Puppets". Doing this was a good break from the never ending work in MAYA. Can't wait to texture them and be done with their animation. Looking forward to being done with the film by the coming week (fingres crossed).

RAMATIYA * work in progress

Ramatiya is a short Stereo 3D Animation Film i am currently working on. It is a love triangle drama of wind up toys.I have worked for years to materialize this project. I was fascinated with what i could achieve with MAYA and over a dedicated period of time learned the technicalities of Modelling, Texturing, Rigging, Lighting, Animation etc. It has been a mammoth size task to learn these techniques and complete this project all by my self. The film is also being rendered for stereo viewing so i have learnt immensely about the language of stereo during this project.

This is a film still from the dream sequence of the movie.

The expressions of one of the characters of the pet.

These are some mock posters i made for my film.

Still shots and characters of the movie.

These are the initial sketches and designs for the movie. I took photographs of my home town which is in Rajasthan to derive the aesthetics for the film. I studied Rajasthan's paintings, motifs textiles, and architecture. Simplified them to adopt for my designs.

BACK TO AHMEDABAD!!!

As a part of certain commitment with the National Institute of Design. I had to be back to Ahmadabad. Here are certain illustrations and short films which i worked upon during that period.

Illustrations and Cover Designs done for Ability Magazine.

Illustrations done for Read India Project. Pratham NGO Organisation

This was an illustration i made for a magazine. Pencil sketch and Photoshop

An illustration i made for my friends marriage. Pencil, sketch and Photoshop.

This one was for his Anniversary. Pencil sketch and Photoshop.

Pencil sketch and Photoshop

Pencil Sketch and Photoshop. The illustration on right was made for the National Institute of Design Facebook Group.

CHITRAKATHA 07 from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

An Flash Animated Promo for Chitrakatha Animation Film Festival 2007

FIT TOGETHER from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

An experimental animation short film. This film was made in Maya. It was finalist for the "Ability Film festival".

CHITRAKATHA 09 from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

Another Promo for Chitrakatha 2009. I made this promo with the help of some NID animation students. I gave life to a little girls drawings.

FREELANCER IN MUMBAI!!!

I finally had enough of being at "JOBS" for a while. I became a freelancer and started working from home. I got projects from Television Channels, Publishing houses, Advertising agencies and sometimes collaborated with friends on their ongoing projects. Working as freelancer can be tricky. Once you have taken the responsibility to deliver a finished project, you have to live up to that commitment no matter what. Excuses like, hardware malfunction, unexpected creative challenges, health issues go to deaf ears.I learnt this by burning my fingers a few times. But once it rolls it rolls well.

These two are amongst the few fillers i worked on for VH1.

Francois VH1 from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

Francois VH1 from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

This was one of the short i made for a certain client. All in FLASH and

certain compositing on After Effects

DON from PRADEEP SONI on Vimeo.

These were some illustrations i worked on as a freelance illustrator.

THE TIMES OF INDIA

For awhile i worked at "THE TIMES OF INDIA" as an "Illustrator". I got to meet some passionate journalists and we often touched upon a variety of subjects. I was dealing with the student section and i got some intriguing stories to illustrate. The job was a little stress full, as it was far from where i was putting up. I had to commute for two hours every day. But that had it's own perks. I would often get a comfortable seat in the crowded Mumbai locals and dedicated the time to do some live sketching and reading. Well that was not the only thing i had to deal with. I was given sixty minutes, ninety to the upper limit for each illustration. In that time frame i had to conceptualize, get approval, sketch, ink, scan, color and deliver. But soon i became comfortable with this routine. Apart from this, everyday i tried to experiment within the areas of my constraints. I was trying different illustration styles, formats, mediums. I cherish the memories of working at that place. It helped me discover my idiosyncratic way of visual expression.