"An Artist, Animation film maker, and a graphic novelist, abhishek has keen interest in myths and cultures and loves to travel, everyday life inspires him to notice things a little more, draw like crazy and write at times! Beyond his short animation film “A Hunter's Tale", some of his projects include Deepak Chopra's n Shekhar Kapur's Ramayana 3392a.d. kali and shiva - the india authentic series. He has worked on feature animation projects for cartoon network and UTV. Currently he's writing and illustrating a graphic novel for Chandamama (publisher)
which is about to get out and is engaged in developing an feature animation project. He rarely exhibits his art and occasionally teaches to learn more.
Biju Dhanapalan : Fable Farm
Biju Dhanapalan or Biju D as he is popularly known is one of the pioneers of VFX in the Hindi film industry. Starting his career in the field of computer graphics & animation more than 15 years ago, Biju D has successfully executed visual effects in more than 75 full length features. TOday he leads a team of visualisers, animation & compositing artistes.
An Electronic Engineer by training, Biju D accidentallu stumbled upon the magic of graphic & animation while studying Product Design at IDC, IIT Powai. Biju D's engineering proficiency coupled with his formal training in Design makes an enviable concoction that lends an edge in this exhilarating & demanding deiscipline of film making.
Charu Clark : Lighting Technical Director
She joined Pixar Animation Studios in January 2005. She began as a rendering technical director on the Golden Globe-winning feature Cars and also worked on the short film, Mater and the Ghostlight. Clark then went on to serve as a lighting technical director on the Academy Award-winning feature films Ratatouille and WALL•E. Clark most recently completed work on Disney•Pixar’s Academy Award® nominated film Up.
As a lighting technical director Clark works with the film’s director of photography to help realize the visual goals of the director. Her work involves creating interest in a shot through lighting composition and the final looks of the characters and sets.
Prior to joining Pixar, Clark worked briefly at ESC Entertainment on The Matrix: Revolutions, while attending graduate school. After receiving a Masters degree in Visualization Sciences from Texas A&M University, Clark found herself at Pixar.
Born and raised in Simla, India, Clark now resides in Oakland, California. She enjoys painting, hiking, swimming and snorkeling in her free time.
Dhimant Vyas : Veteran Animation Film Designer
He is a veteran Animation Film Designer. currently worked on Shaun the sheep series two and Purple & Brown with multiple Academy Award winning Animation Studio - Aardaman Animation Ltd U.K. Dhimant Vyas is an alumnus of the National Institute of Design (NID) His previous work includes the title animation sequence for the highly acclaimed Hindi feature film 'Taare Zameen Par', which was directed by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan. During an earlier stint at Aardman Animation Ltd. Dhimant has worked as an animator on the Creature Comforts USA TV series. He has worked with brands like BBC, UNICEF, FCB ULKA, Zee TV, MTV, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, to name just a few. His work for Taare Zameen Par, Happy Planet, Cute Bunny, Y-snore, MTV promos and his photography have won him several national and international awards.
He has a vast experience in creating animation using various techniques like Stop Motion, 2D Classical, Cut Out, Material, Sand, Pixilation and Flash.
Mark Zaslove : Writer, Producer, Director, Content-Developer
Mark is an industry veteran, developing content for all the major studios including Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. A two-time Emmy Award winner for writing/producing and recipient of the Humanitas Prize (for writing uplifting human values in television and movies), he switches between live-action and animation, as well as novels and magazine work. At the moment he's developing a live-action feature he will be directing , as well as going into full partnership with an Australian company to bring content to Asia and the Pac-Rim.
Established the first 3D computer animation department for Disney Television Animation with their Australian Studio as a facilitator. Also served as producer and director within this department. He has been involved in various Live Action features like 'Dead kangaroo 2002', 'A simple Wish' , 'Lost Voyage of Sinbad' to name a few. Also he has been responsible for development, story editing, producing, directing and writing for varies projects like 'Mommy and the Headbangers(Disney)', 'Beverly Hills Beach Club(Synd/DID)', 'Super Human Samurai Syber Squad 1993' and many more, Animated features and Direct-to-video like 'Chetan(2D)', 'Son of Aladdin', 'Anastasia' etc and also some specials like 'Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too', 'Taz-Mania', 'Tale Spin' , 'Duck Tales' etc , also some Productions like 'Magic Kingdom' , 'Metal City', 'Jumanji', 'Calamity Jane' etc and the list is never ending.
Pavan Buragohain : Independent Animator and Illustrator
He graduated from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, with a specialization in Animation in 1994. His diploma film, Ae Bhai Jara Dekh ke Chalo a 3 ½ minute traditional cell animation film won the ‘Best Animation Film’ award at the Trivandrum International Video Festival, 1995. The film was also aired extensively on National Television channels like Star and Zee TV. Over the last 13 years, Pavan has worked as a freelance Animator and Illustrator on a wide range of projects.
He Illustrated and Animated a cd rom called India Mystica for Magic Software, a multimedia company, for the US market. This was an enclyopedia on the mythology of India featuring the Mahabharta, Ramayana, and Gita.
He also Designed and Animated an educational adventure game on English Phonetics for a US based client.
He has worked as a consultant designer and illustrator for the India Today group, and Illustrated several covers for Business Today over a 3 yr period.
He has also Illustrated book covers and articles for publishers and magazines such as Penguin, Dorling Kindersley, Business World and Mans World, Bombay.
Pavan has worked extensively with leading advertising agencies like HTA, Lowe, O&M, Leo Burnett, Satchi & Satchi, Capital, and has created several illustrations which have won both National and International Awards. He is currently working with UTV on the animated feature "Arjun" as creative director and character designer.
Piyush Patel : Founder and CEO of Digital-Tutors
He is the founder and CEO of Digital-Tutors, a division of PL Studios, Inc. and leading provider of interactive training solutions that assist in the creation of feature films, video games, visual effects, and emerging media since 2001. Patel has contributed toward technical education and the advancement of professional lives for both new and experienced artists with the largest online computer graphics learning library and educational platform. This comprehensive training collection and ground-breaking system has allowed Patel to continue to provide artists around the world with high-quality educational experiences and maintain a client list of top companies, government agencies, academic institutions and studios. Over the past decade, Patel has had the opportunity to teach artists at EA, assist in product visualization at Motorola, develop educational curriculum for the University of Michigan, as well as work with strategic partners including Autodesk, Pixar, Microsoft, Adobe, Pixologic, Houdini, Luxology, MAXON, eyeon and Next Limit in the development of software and education materials. Patel holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Elementary Education and a Masters of Science in Adult Education with an emphasis on e-learning. In addition to his degrees, Patel is a 2008 Autodesk Maya Master and has received industry accolades such as two Telly Awards, Aegis Award, Omni Award, Horizon Interactive Award, Innovator of the Year Award, and is an Autodesk Authorized Publisher.
Prem Moraes : Solutions Engineer at Autodesk
With nearly 18 years of experience under his belt, Prem is known for his domain knowledge in Animation and Post production. His hands on approach, has kept him at the helm of technology right from the days of low band tape based editing to current days of digital acquisition. He has been nominated for various awards for editing, graphics and special effects. He is also Autodesk Certified Evaluator. As Solutions Engineer at Autodesk, he identifies passes on the latest information and trends on Computer Graphics and identifies potential issues and how to resolve them within the production pipeline. Before working at Autodesk Prem has worked as Manager Tech. Support at Tata Elxsi Ltd, Graphics Head at Digital Planet, Graphics Head at Credence, Technical Head of Graphics at Crest Communications, Editor at Gohil Video Communication. Prem enjoys Hiking club ,tennis, cricket, badminton, carom, hockey, football, F1, tennis as his favorite pass time. Getting community together and creating its awareness also interests Prem.
Rajat Ojha : PMI certified Project and Program Management Professional
He has around 14 years of experience in IT industry. Rajat started his career with a Top Down perspective game which he did in Pascal and released on BBS in early 1995.
Rajat has worked on engines like Infernal, Unreal 2.5/3, Gamebryo (1.2 to 2.6 and lightspeed), Cry Engine, Reality Engine, Unigine and some more. Rajat's forte is to oversee the entire game production and well verse with all nextgen art requirements and expectations.
Rajat is a PMI certified Project and Program Management Professional and a CMMi champion and currently working with Zen Technologies Ltd. Zen Technologies Ltd is India's #1 simulation development company and known for using game development tools in simulation products. Rajat has recently got Zen's maiden title SnS: Reprisal on PS3 through with Sony Europe.
He began dabbling with computer graphics back in 1992 on a Sinclair Spectrum computer. An intense and early fascination with computer graphics, Sachin ventured into active computer graphics production in 1996. After a brief stint on the Internet and Software development scene in 1999, where he designed software solutions for Corporates, Sachin ventured back into Computer Graphics and Animation in 2001 and has ever since contributed to the development of major and popular visual effects training curriculums, has trained hundreds of students, innovated teaching methodologies, has supervised award winning student animation films and shaped popular events. A programmer by passion, Sachin heads in the capacity of Vice President – New Media at Frameboxx Animation & Visual Effects where in addition to innovating services in the new media domain, he continues to work with students, supervising visual effects short films and training.
Sanjiv Waeerkar : CCO, MAAC
Sanjiv has grown on comics.His father use to gift him Asterix comics beautifully drawn by Uderzo and equally well written by Goscinny.He has the full collection now. Passion to draw for comics lead him to getting into animation.
He was moulded to an animator in RMB and later became a partner in a set up with highly talented animators. In his craving for challenges and growth, Sanjiv and Ram mohan joined hands with UTV and started the first ever outsourcing unit in animation in india. Then the roller coaster ride started to do animaton TV series content for the west and they were highly successful.After catering to outsourcing for half the world in all types of animation mediums.He decided to grow the education sector of animation in India. He is currently operating as the CCO of MAAC and Animation is his pride.
Steve Wright : Senior visual effects artist, public speaker, published author, writer
Steve Wright is a senior visual effects artist with over 20 years of production experience creating digital effects for over 60 feature films and 70 television commercials. His extensive film credits include "Ray", "Ali", "Traffic", "Air Force One", "Batman & Robin", and many, many more, all listed on IMDb. As a senior digital compositing artist and 2D technical director he has an unusual combination of both artistic and technical understanding of digital compositing. He is also a public speaker, published author, writer, and a widely recognized expert in the digital effects industry. Steve now devotes his time to teaching and training VFX compositing. As a master trainer, Steve conducts live classes, online workshops, video tutorials, and has traveled to VFX facilities around the world to conduct digital compositing training for their entire staff.
For the last few years Steve has focused on teaching and training VFX compositing. He has published two very successful books, the introductory “Compositing Visual Effects” and the more advanced “Digital Compositing for Film and Video.” He has traveled to VFX facilities around the world to teach digital compositing in India, Macedonia, the Czech Republic, Canada, and New York. Recently Steve was hired by Frameboxx Animation & Visual Effects, one of India's largest CGI Training brands for developing an exclusive production ready curriculum for The Foundry's Nuke digital compositing software.
