India sees a boom in animation

Over the past century, animation has been a mainstay of the film industry. From hand-drawn methods one frame at a time, to cutting-edge computer-generated imagery (CGI), animation has undergone massive development and is constantly evolving. The top 10 grossing movies of all time have abundant animation/VFX (Visual Effects) work that beautifully complement the movie. It is impossible to imagine movies like Avatar, Titanic, Frozen, or any of the Marvel movies, without the magic of Animation and VFX. These movies alone have racked up a humongous $15 billion in box office collections worldwide. In a Bollywood-obsessed country like India, Hollywood distributors have found a big appetite for animated movies and with increased revenue collections from CGI movies in India.
The rise in subscribers to online streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc. and with the animation giants offering their own streaming platforms such as Disney+ (The Walt Disney Company) and Peacock (DreamWorks Animation) there is a steady increase in content to cater the appetite of kids and adults alike. The popularity of shows such as Love, Death and Robots, Arcane, Japanese Anime for mature audiences has given studios the confidence to experiment with more adult-themed content and to explore styles and concepts that have never been tested before. This has resulted in a wider audience reach, making it a win-win for audiences and animators.
Jungle Book, Lion King, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Moana and the more recently announced DreamWorks Animation’s How to train your dragon have lent themselves as successful live action movie concepts adapted from animation. These characters and franchises that have been or are being remade into live action movies have netted a more mature audience, which ultimately is driving the box office figures much higher for CGI content movies.
Another behemoth of an industry where animation is extensively used is the gaming industry. Both gameplay animation and cutscenes cinematics animation in games require skilled artists to bring captivating characters to life. The beautiful world building and animations in more popular games such as Diablo, World of Warcraft, Last of Us, Horizon Dawn have taken gamers by storm for their cinematic storytelling created by talented artists. The recent growth in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and VR (Virtual Reality) technology, further cement the fact that animation as a medium of storytelling is here to stay and continue to make bigger waves in the industry as an immersive source of entertainment.
This surge in animation content in theatrical films, streaming platforms and games, have thus created a gap to be filled by skilled artists in India. Gen-Z today can choose many other disciplines apart from animating a character. One can be in the asset department that builds characters for the movies in 3D, or the lighting department which is responsible for creating all lights and mood in a scene, or even the cloth and fur department which is responsible for all artistic cloth and hair simulation in a scene. These are just a few key departments that need artists for making a successful craft. I also believe that we have just scratched the surface of storytelling with modern technology. It will be interesting to watch the animation space and see how the upcoming CGI artists in India make use of this current boom and how much they push the envelope. The future is very bright.

The author is a senior animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios, California.