Dhimant Vyas - Clay Animator

Dhimant Vyas - Animation Film Designer and Clay Animator

Dhimant Vyas always knew he would have a career in the world of art. Even as a child he believed he was destined to bring the beautiful images in his mind to life. However, the piece in the puzzle he didn't see as a child was that he would make a living by making those images move. "Art was my favorite subject in school and I knew I would end up doing something art based.” He was just a school boy then, it all started with an animated short that He saw. He just got fascinated by this beautiful medium. And went on to do his fine arts at Vallabh Vidyanagar and, and his faculty who were aware of his interest in animation, informed him about the animation course at NID Ahemdabad

After completing his Five years Diploma in Applied Arts from Kala Kendra College of Fine Arts, he went for his Advance Diploma in Communication Design with specialization in Animation film Design from National Institute of Design. He feels lucky to have senior faculty people like Nina Binita, R L Mistry, Barry Parker, Joan Ashworth and Cathy as his guides and seniors.

Here he learned the traditional skills of an animator, working as he says, mainly with pencil and paper. He remembers those first years at the NID, learning and experimenting with the medium. It seemed weird that it took so much time to create animation. It's so labor intensive. But the quicker you worked, the quicker you could see your character move on the pencil test machine. And once you've seen something move, even though it flashes by quickly, you want to rush back and do all that again, simply because it is so amazing to give something life."

His journey in the field of stop motion started when Proff. Joan Ashworth (Head of The Animation Department, Royal college of Arts UK) And Catherine Greenhalgh conducted a stop motion workshop at NID (1988). He got a chance to attend the workshop. This was the beginning of stop motion in India. And he was on the right path, which he was in search of. Because of his love towards stop motion he got a chance to do projects in that medium wherever he worked.

Dhimant is an Animation Director and has vast experience in creating animation in various mediums and he has Recently Finished working on ‘Creature Comfort USA”, TV series for USA, (stop motion animation) Company- Aardman animation Ltd, UK Aardman Studios is an Academy Award winning animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. Before that he was involved in BBC’s Stop motion animation series called ‘On the Air’ with Joel Simon, Flicker pix animation studio, Belfast, UK.

Dhimant Vyas is a veteran Animation Film Designer. He is currently working with the leading 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.

Dhimant Filmography 2007 ‘Happy Planet’, Short film, (stop motion animation) Involved as a Director and Animator Company- Tata Interactive System, Mumbai 2006 ‘Creature Comfort USA”, TV series for USA, (stop motion animation) Involved as an Animator Company- Aardman animation Ltd, UK 2006 ‘On the Air”, TV series for BBC, (stop motion animation) Company- Flickerpix animation Ltd, UK Involved as an Animator 2005 ‘Coke Manno bhabhi”, opening title for TV commercial, (Clay-animation) Client- Black magic movies, India 2005 ‘Amul Chocozoo”, TV commercial, (2D animation) Client- FCB Ulka, India 2004 ‘Nick AH….HA….HA”, promos for Nickelodeon Channel (2D animation) Client- Nick, India 2003 ‘Stress Busters”, 2 promos for MTV (2D animation) Client- MTV, India 2003 ‘Cute Bunny”, 3 minutes short film (Stop motion) Client- Toonz Animation, India 2002 ‘Water pump project”, 5 minutes short film (Stopmotion, 3D and 2D Animation), Client- UNICEF, USA 2002 ‘The Week Magazine”, 4 TV Commercials (classical animation) Client- Malyalam Manorama, Cochin, India 2000 ‘WIPRO’, TV Commercial for FCB Ulka Advertising Agency, Bombay, India 1999 “FEBER CASTELL”, TV Commercial for FCB Ulka Advertising Agency, Bombay, India 1998 `Y- Snore’, TV Commercial for MUDRA Communication Ltd. Hyderabad, India 1997 `Rag Malhar’, Animated Promotional Film for Music Asia TV channel, Bombay, India

Making of Taare Zameen Par title animation

Taare Zameen Par (Translation: Star on Earth) is a 2007 award winning feature film Directed by Aamir Khan and produced by Aamir Khan Productions.It is the first time Clay animation was been used in Bollywood film industry. The film was great successes all around the globe.It won best title animation award from CNBC TV 18 in 2008
About title animation:- Dreams pave our way into the unknown world. It is this world that our children live in to understand their surroundings. Painting pictures, the children see the colours flowing generously, until they are told that the line's the limit. The Dream of Ishaan gives us a peek into the world of a child dreaming away without any bounds. It symbolises the freedom of thought that every child is entitled to, for all times.

Other Work Experiences

2006 Working for feature film `Cat Burglar' Director Steve Box, Aardman Animation studio UK. An activity involves concept art and storyboards for the film.
2005 Worked for film `Anji' Produce by Shyam prasad reddy, Hyderabad,India.
Activities involved Concept art for the feature film
Subsequently this film won the 52nd Indian National Film Award for Visual Effects.

2003 Worked for film `Arimpara' Directed by Murli Nair filmmaker, UK
Activities involved making Wart. (The story was based on Wart) Subsequently this film selected at Cans Film Festival.

1990 Titling and post-production for film ‘TOTANAMA’
Directed by Chandita Mukharjee, Film Maker.
Subsequently this film won prestigious `Presidents Award'.
National Institute of Design, India

Awards and other Achievements

Special Jury award for Children short film ”Cute Bunny”

Vatavaran Environment & Wildlife Film Festival (KAFI), 2005

• Gold Award for Children short film ”Cute Bunny”

Kalamazoo Animation Film Festival (KAFI), 2003

• Award for best Animated film for children to ”Cute Bunny”

Zevs Animation Film Festival-Bimini, Latvia 2003

• Pro-Max Award for MTV Spot ”HORROR”

Singapore, 2000

• Gold Award for BIONA-Y-SNORE, (TV commercial)

Regional Advertising Award, Bang lore, INDIA.
For Storyline and Technical excellence. Client-MUDRA COMUNICATIONS.LTD.1998

• Prize in ‘The Hindustan Times’ Caricature and Cartoon competition 1997,Delhi, India
  
  

• Gold medal in the 55th International Photographic Salon of Japan 1995-96

BLOG

http://www.dhimantvyas.com/blog/