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.

STAR NEWS

It's a Monday, and yes, a very much "MANIC" one. Lunch break is on and i am listening to, "coming back to life". The song still does not stop giving me goose bumps. Amongst all the other work i did for s here, the two video clips are from my first job at "STAR NEWS". There i was working as an Animation Designer.

This particular clip was a quick job in which i used paper texture and animated on flash.

This was a mix media "PROMO" using Flash, Live Action and Sketches. I worked on this promo along with a friend.

trip nostaligia continued.....

It's a Sunday today, anything but a lazy one. After animating a few shots, i am back on the blog. The "trip nostalgia is still on" and i am still listening to Norah Jones. The song is called, "Sinkin Soon". The video is an exciting one, "experimental stop motion". Getting back to the illustraiton. It was made when i was working on my Diploma Project. Diploma Project is supposed to be a client project, which has to meet certain strict academic criteria. Not the easiest one to get through. A perfect example of Murphy's law. Anyway, for this illustration i made a pencil sketch on news print and played around with "Photoshop". From here on i have started using Photoshop extensively.

These are the two render from "The Rose and the Gold Fish", 3D Project which couldn't really materialize. Though, i learnt immensely from this one.

This video is of one of the characters i made for Diploma. It is called MG 2000. Short for Mahagyani 2000. After the approval of the character design. Taking it from sketch to an 3D animate able character was one hell of a journey. I was severely guided by my seniors on this project.

Another hell of a task was making this character entirely on Maya. Modelling it, texturing it adding fur to it was one difficult task. Just thinking about the desperate hours i had put into this one scares me. But i lived through it and i am glad i did it. I was working on Maya extensively at this point of time and since then i always keep coming back to it.

This is the pilot for a short show called, "Akkar Bakkar Bambe Bhow". This was a part of my training, which along with a lot of work was hell of an adventure in Mumbai. This "Plilot Episode" was materialized using FLASH 5, Photoshop and sketch on paper. Me and two of my Animation batch mates were working on it.

trip nostalgia continued.....

The pencil color trip continued and i used the medium to illustrate my "Story Book"exercise, for an illustration course. By now i had acquired Derewent 72 Studio, which still is amongst my cherished possession. To add to that i was on an exchange in Paris, in the renowned school ENSAD. I was living in a student residence called Rollin Residence of Rue Rollin, Central Paris. We had a common kitchen on each floor and it was generally vacant on the weekend afternoons. On some of the weekends when it was raining out side, or exceptionally cold, or when i would have had enough of French, i would sit there and illustrate my story. On rare occasions , when someone would come to make a coffee or tea for themselves would make a spare cup for me. The story i was illustrating was written by me and it was meant for children. It was about a Rose and a Goldfish and how they become friends. A friend finally helped me make a book out if it.

Since i was in Paris for a couple of months i made it a point to see the entire of Louvre. I was really fascinated by the renaissance sculptures. They were made of all sorts of materials. Some times i would look at the marble sculptures, and wonder how the artists achieved the softness of the organic body in stone. These are the sketches of some of those sculptures.

For my final project i wanted to make a short film out of my Rose and The Goldfish story, using the Digital 3D but unfortunately it couldn't completely materialize. But , i haven't completely given up hope on this project. Maybe sometime in future. This sketch was done using Dry Pastels. After the tedious pencil strokes, dry pastels were a bliss. Till date i love using this medium, not that i hate pencil colors now.