Where is the Sri Lankan cartoon and animation industry heading to?

From Dr. Dolittle to Tintin, ThunderCats to He-Man, and the Ninja Turtles to Scooby-Doo, Sri Lankans of all ages would recall fondly how these cartoons with a global following have entertained us in our childhood and beyond. Animations are no longer only enjoyed by children. While animated films appear to be geared toward young children, many of them employ their lighthearted approach to convey deeper meanings that are more likely to be appreciated by an adult audience. Worldwide, animated films are gaining more recognition by both adults and children alike.   

 

Yet in Sri Lanka, we never had a proper locally created cartoon series or animated movie that received the attention and following that foreign animations did. Most local cartoons we see on Sri Lankan television being aired for children nowadays are Sinhala or English dubbed cartoons from not just the West but also our neighbouring country India. Despite having talented animators and cartoonists in Sri Lanka, what is it that’s holding us back in the development of this field? We interviewed a few professional animators and students to shed some light on this issue from their perspectives.  

 

 

 

 

Harith Kumarasinghe, an animator who owns a studio in Colombo explained that despite having talented animators here, the market in Sri Lanka is extremely low. He added that Sri Lanka hasn’t yet identified the value of this field. “Animators here create content for the international crowd. Most places that offer educational courses on animation don’t have proper coordination or effective completion,” he said. 

 

Harith pointed out that television channels in Sri Lanka don’t give much opportunities to these talented animators and that they don’t give a proper budget to work with. In order to make quality cartoons and animations, he says, a good budget is needed. When they offer a low budget, naturally only low quality content gets produced. Harith highlighted that they can’t sustain themselves by creating content for Sri Lanka. “If we get the necessary support to produce quality animations, then our animation field will rapidly develop, together with the talented creators in our country.” 

 

 

 

 

Prabodha Elangasinha, an animator and director who had been working in this field since 1995 said that many people who do animation aren’t properly educated. He explained that animators and cartoonists shouldn’t just be computer operators but also artists. He mentioned that there are several skilled artists in Sri Lanka but there aren’t any places that teach animation to students to a top quality standard and only the basic skills are given. Prabodha noted that they haven’t received a deep understanding, especially when it comes to 3D animation such as 3D modelling, character modelling, character animation, rigging and body movements. 

 

 

He continued to say that they can’t find much work in this field. “The clients in our country don’t know that it takes time to do this work. They want overnight services and aren’t aware that it is impossible. And if they can’t do it quickly, they withdraw or turn to simpler projects.” He explained that it’s rather difficult for artists to maintain staff because of the scarcity of local work. “There aren’t many discounted prices for certain software in our region and much of them aren’t affordable.” Prabodha also mentioned that they don’t have many agents in Sri Lanka and that they would like to have the knowledge on the guidelines that foreign animators use and how they utilise their infrastructure, stressing that it would help them to proceed to the next level.  

 

 

 

 

 

Firoze Farook, animator and business owner, observed that the biggest challenge he sees is hiring new talent. Most educational institutions for animation are not giving the necessary industrial experience, Farook said. He believes the solution for this is to hire a few people from the industry to give these students proper lectures and training, or else put those people as interns to work. He requested proper scholarships for animation students in our country, for them to go abroad, study animation and come back here, to develop this field and widen the opportunities and their scope of skills. “We can stop this brain drain or at least give a scholarship with conditions where one has to work here for a certain period of time before migrating. If we do so this field in our country will improve very quickly,” Farook said. He pointed out that most of the skilled animators who do freelance work online for international services, don’t want to work for local clients mainly because they don’t pay on time. Firoze also stressed on the importance of exposure and collective unity in this industry being other vital reasons behind the growth of this field.  

 

 

Several art students and digital designers who are hoping to enter the animation field talked to us and described this career path as a risky choice. One of the students stated that even though they are passionate about it, the field is very narrow and they lack proper guidance. They fear that they might just end up creating advertisements and nothing else.   

 

 

“Many of the skilled animators are Asian but we don’t have opportunities here locally,” one student told us. They also explained that even the few private institutions in Sri Lanka that offer animation courses are too expensive and they can’t afford them. They believe that these fields, when developed, can become huge profit earning industries and also increase much needed job opportunities. “But our talent and skills are simply overlooked and disregarded”.  

 

Their collective comment is that they can’t do it single-handedly. With the right support and guidance, the Sri Lankan cartoon and animation field would stop stagnating in the primitive stages. It can become successful and an extremely profitable career path, as it holds massive potential and development, for both the creators and our local industry.