does nigeria have cartoon? i didn't know that

its simple , cuz they r crap all u see is some human being in a smelly turtle outfit@!@!!!

Kadey, seun, grafikdon and gbade have spoken the best.

the market for cartoons, animation and comics is large in nigeria. we are talking about it arent we? and if every nairaland member buys a comic book made in naija regularly i can make a career with it.

you will be amazed at the number of people who watched and still watch pinky and the brain.

My studio has been in the creativity business for a while and we've produce a comic book in the period and found the number one problem - marketing and distribution ( the people who like comic and animation are not accessed)
that and the following:

in Nigeria, everybody wants to do their own thing (it took Disney - with their $50million plus budget and over 200 animators) to do lion king, how long do you think it will take 1 person on no budget to do one?

We have the skills and structures, we dont have the direction, we dont have the team spirit.

For comics, people think its all about the colours or the action or even the art. comics is about all of this and more. most existing comic concepts we have are developed with just the creator in mind.

there's more but, in time.

in the mean time, anybody seriuosly interested in making Nigerian comics for home and abroad can call me. lets build the industry that's ripe to blow.

ICStudios - 08023515239 (ibrahim)

creativity is life

@Sirgai, you are right. There's the big problem of marketing and distribution. I still remember that NEARLY EVERYONE in my neighbourhood big and small was hooked on that old Saturday morning Spiderman cartoon. The audince is there, the market is there but there seem to be a dearth of skilled people to get the job done, even when you get the capable ones, they'd rather work on their own stuff, or worse still,they'd make it known they're masters of the game when they can barely create a decent model. In addition, they don't even consider lighting as an integral part of the whole animation business, hence the murky gloomy lighting you see on most Naija animation. I can't begin to narrate my frustration when I tried to put together a team. . . everyone thinks they got it going when in reality they need to get down from their high horse and take a few hints from people who are ahead of the game. It was very frustrating and agonizing. I see that problem fading pretty soon, the signs are there.

To those who said Nigerians suck at those things, I'd like to inform you there are Nigerians who have worked on published Game boy/Xbox/PS2 titles and some Hollywood block busters. You can't tell me a company like Electronic Art or Konami will hire somebody who sucks.

We go get there, na small small.

[EDIT: WHoa, Gdon! EOTRS is looking good! However some of the voice acting still needs work- I'm sure you'll find talent once someone bankrolls the project. The audio/mixing also needs work- I'm sure you'll find tutorials on the net, etc. I hope the screenplay and dialogue is good! The idea to use igbo accents is excellent! Static backgrounds should be a distraction, but you seem to do a good job of keeping them in the background. Great work!]



The problem is simple.

In Nigeria, no-one pays for intellectual property

even the rich will consider anyone that pays for music or video as stupid or wasteful

when people see my original dvds, they give me a look that says 'whats your problem, is your money weighing you down?'

They will brandish a  dvd with 24 episodes of overcompressed, fourth-stage transcoding that they bought for N100 at Opebi with pride and relish, believing that they got a good deal, even though the discs are full of misssing episodes and poorly synchronized audio.

They will claim to 'love' a particular series or to be the series' 'biggest fan' but will NEVER spend any money on the original.

Even if it is presented to them at half price, or a quarter of the price, as long as a N50 pirated copy exists, they will rather get that even if the quality is terrrible.

I have friends who have sworn never to watch a movie at silverbird cinemas until the price becomes the same as the pirasted copies that flood the streets prior to theatrical releases. People who are deadly serious.

This is why I am pessimistic about the success of any creative endeavour that does not fall into the categories below:

Printed works - Novels, comic books. Pirated copies are not so widespread, and copying for friends is nontrivial.
Music - Downloading and copying is widespread, but radio licensing fees and live performances are where the money is made.
Television - Advertising revenue from TV is the only way you can make money from video.

As you can see, since radio and TV are basically controlled by the govt and corporations, your only real options for 'revolutionary' entertainment are Novels,comic books and live music. Since live music is basically useless without advance 'marketing' via radio, it leaves us with just novels and comic books. Since Nigerians do not have a culture of comic reading, the barrier to entry is higher so,

, write a novel.

The landscape is indeed bleak. Until someone convinces NTA that a cartoon will be watched by people that attract high-cost advertising, no cartoons for y'all.

(You realise I didnt mention Nollywood. I'm sure someone will bring that up in defense. Well, do so, I am interested in hearing things from that angle)

@ D'zero, good points as usual, with heavy reference to the purchase of original content. I am afraid Nigerians (sadly, most of us) have a penchant for 'stealing' original content. It is so bad with us that people who actually spend their hard earned money on contents they love are regarded as 'mugus' ,'ewu' or whatever we call fools' in Naija. Come to New York and see how Nigerians are peddling pirated Nolly movies (ridiculous dubbed to death with quality so bad you'd wonder if the viewers are under the influence of marijuana). I have a friend who has only bootleg DVDs in his 'collection' and refused to see anything wrong with that when I challenged him. I am very strict and sensitive about pirated contents and will ever remain that way!

On EOTRS, it's done and I won't really spend another moment fixing anything there. I'd rather shift that energy to a new production and make the improvements there. That's my best way of getting 'up there'. EOTRS was a learning experience. Figured out a lot of stuff along the line and even saw a lot the moment I stepped back and looked the the work. Armed with thee 'discoveries' I moved to a new project (to be announced later) which is better than EOTRS in every sense of the word.

Is it finished, then? full length? How do I get it?

Yup, Approximately 21 minutes. Was made primarily for ipod/psp so there isn't really any plan for DVD release.

ummm. . .at the risk of sounding ignorant, what's EOTRS??

lol @ gbade it is my animated short film; ''Enemy of the Rising Sun''

@gdon, How do I get a copy?

dakmanzero:

@gdon, How do I get a copy?

It's available on Hungryflix but unfortunately, there's a little issue at the moment, hopefully, it will be resolved asap.

Thanks for the info, grafik.

That would be Hungryflix.com, shey? Say, did you do it by yourself or there were other various artists?

gbade. x:

Thanks for the info, grafik.

That would be Hungryflix.com, shey? Say, did you do it by yourself or there were other various artists?

Yup. Hungryflix.com. With the exception of voice over, I did everything on my own. If you know any naija guy/girl good in animation pls. let em get in touch with me, my new feature (approx 75 minutes) is going to take off by the end of the month or middle of July. Gonna need at least 15 good animators irrespective of the package they use, Max, XSI, Lightwave, Maya. . . (Though I'd prefer Lightwave/XSI users).

If they have issues, is there any way I can just wire the cash straight to you and have you send me the file via the web?

Also are you in Lagos? If so, could u IM me on yahoo- I may have 1 or 2 people to recommend to you

dakmanzero:

If they have issues, is there any way I can just wire the cash straight to you and have you send me the file via the web?

Also are you in Lagos? If so, could u IM me on yahoo- I may have 1 or 2 people to recommend to you

The amount involved is too little for you to go through the wire hassle. My bros will be in Lagos pretty soon, I guess I should work out something. I am not in Lagos but that shouldn't be a problem, if they have access to the internet, that should be enough. They will be dealing only with raw animation files which are usually not in anyway as huge as rendered files. I'll hit ya up asap.

question: was eotrs profitable?

dakmanzero:

question: was eotrs profitable?

Answer: Nope,not at all.

Reason 1. Shoddy distribution
Reason 2. Zero promotion
Reason 3. Non Existent Distribution
Reason 4. Concept: They prefer animated 'village' stories with no western influence ( and I was trying very hard to side track such concept)
Reason 5. Lack of the drive to push it.
Reason 6. Swamped by other projects so eotrs was pushed to the background.

who is it that prefers those animated village stories.

pretty much everyone in my little survey as well as some people I approached to fund my feature. No body will touch it unless it has that stereotypical African ''village'' setting. These people include Africans and non Africans. I have no beef with the concept but I thought it shouldn't be a problem to try something outside the 'ordinary'. Their argument is since we do not have such things coming from our neck of the woods, it wouldn't be wise to do something that's been there, the concept is unique and when packaged in a very polished and convincing manner should stand out from the rest, in a world of its own. Those were their words. I see their views and I believe they made valid points but I am trying very hard to avoid a formula where a concept is milked until it becomes very irritating, for instance, the talking animal fiasco that Hollywood is too adamant to change.

EOTRS was screened alongside a sample 'village' movie I made back in 2004/2005, and the rating was as follows:


EOTRS:
(2006)Production quality: 3.5
Animation quality: 3.5
Concept 2.0 (I still disagree)
Final score:

VILLAGE MOVIE2004/2005):

Production quality: 2.0
Animation 2.0
Concept 4.5


Final conclusion/Comments; "Transfer production and animation qualities of EOTRS to ''Village'' Movie and you have a winner. We have to portray Africa in a positive light and EOTRS is not a perfect example".




Again since I cannot produce more than one feature in a year, it is important that I come up with something with wide appeal, so in as much as I want to be liberal, I do not have the time and the financial capacity to do just that (which is actually why I started learning this stuff back in 2003). Somebody suggested the talking animal African folk lore angle but I made it clear they have to shoot me first before I delve into that. At the end of the day, I am left with two options;



1. Cave in to their request (not bad but I shouldn't be goaded into doing that, I should do it because I want to)

2. Forget about them and do it the way I want (more headache with satisfaction in the end)


I have options but I find myself tilting towards option 1. since these guys have the cloud to push it up a little bit towards mainstream (not really my goal as an indie but hey, )

Talking animal folklore may be a disgraceful route to take, but you can bend it to your will.

People mingling with talking animals is a valid setting that comes to mind.

@ grafik:

yo, i'm not sure but there was an old friend of mine that approached me last year that he and a group of animators were tryin' ta do an animated series and an offer was made. I agreed, but shit got flunked for me 'cause of ma mom's demise. I haven't contacted the dude ever since then, don't even know how the animation's going along. I'ma see about contacting him though.

PS : you on Y!im?

PPS: did you exactly take a course or learn animating by yourself on those software packages (Lightwave, Maya e.t.c)? Cos i can sketch/draw on pad and shit, but using those software. . .nah

@Gbade,

My condolence to ya on your mom's demise. Hope you're handling it well.

Yup I am on Y!iM.

I did study animation (2D) at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. After the first year I chickened out for reasons I am not exactly willing to disclose. Don't get me wrong here, I didn't really get much from animation since the real McCoy was reserved for final year students. . . newbie first year dudes like me didn't get jack sh*t, they were teaching us archaic cel animation (Painting on transparent acetate. . . holy $#@!! in 2001!!) with a partial introduction to another archaic Walt Disney Era 'crankshaft' Oxeberry camera! Gadem! Everything single course was total crapitosis with the exception of Narrative Art (Storyboarding and co.). The only benefit IMHO, was getting your instruction from people who have worked on Hollywood projects and (Batman Beyond, Batman Forever. . . ETC) some reputable DC , Marvel, Dark Horse and Image Comics Artists and the current Archie Comics artist.

I pretty much lost bearing after the first year and did nothing but illustrations, painting and web design, but in 2003, I switched back to animation and this time, I had to make a move to computer animation since I discovered it was very vast and pretty much flexible. Lightwave was my first 3D app then. Started RTFM (Lol. . . [b]R[/b]eading [b]T[/b]he [b]F[/b]4king [b]M[/b]anual). Bought a couple of Lightwave books and training DVDs and knocked myself out. In 2004 I made a 'village' movie as a way of creating a 'production environment' experience for myself. After that na practice, practice, more practice, curses (when workstation ain't doing what it's supposed ta), more curses, sleepless nights, non existent social life, tried so hard to not to blur the line between geek/dweeb and Joe Coolguy. . . go back to practice, curses, sleepless night, epileptic or non existent social life. . . continue with the circle again until your eyes pop out. . .

Whew! I need a glass of Gasoline. . .

@ grafikdon,
i do some prose and very much in the writing-creative zone. Am interested in giving some storyline-conversatiomal build to any of ya projects.
If interested holla me @ chidi@369concepts.com

yeah well. . .i got me some packages on my PC (Macromedia Dreamweaver and the likes). i haven't gotten around to learning animation with the computer. still donn't feel comfortable with it. lol, i'm more of the pencil-pad kinda person. i still do it the traditional way y'nah what i mean?

@Gbade
Yup. . . I know exactly whatyamean. I have a Wacom tablet gathering dust since 2003, never really used it much because NOTHING can substitute the flexibility and freedom pencil/pen and paper.I've tried em all. . . tablet PC, Intuos. . . I draw the old fashioned way and scan, be it storyboards or illustrationn. . .

@Initiator, I'll notify you if anything pops up.

but if you're gonna do animations as in cartoons, won't you need them high-tech gizmos? if it's comic-wise, hey i can't dig that, but with them 3D and shit. . .i'm a little bit curious here

@Gbade

Nah, those were stuff used before digital ink and paint. The new procedure now is to scan the drawing in a 2D animation program and finish the rest. You really need a fairly good computer, 2D program like Flipbook, pencil, lightbox (Drawing/tracing). . .not some archaic camera as big as a room and stacks upon stacks of see-through acetate. That's how the new Disney guys do it, That's how Miyazaki and his crew do it, Don Bluth, Mamoru Oshi. . . for 3D that's a different ball game because if you really don't want to fool yourself into believing you're doing something, you gotta have them high tech workstations with a crap load of RAM and pretty decent graphic card. . .

oi. thanks for the info, doe. Lol, seems learning 3D's out of the option -at least, for now. I'll have to settle for 2D n shit.

PS: #have you seen Dragonbooster? I like the animation-type. It looks like a hybrid between 2D and 3D. Does it fall in the 2D category? Let me know what you think.

PPS: was "Chika and the Warriors" 2D? (you're the one who did Chika, right?)

I don't think learning 3D will be much of a hassle considering you have illustration background. You just have to throw in the dedication. . . everything will become butter down the line. 2D ain't bad at all. I bought Flip Book Lite back in 2004 but never really used it. A very awesome 2D program and pretty much more user friendly that all those ridiculously priced apps (like the $11000.00 Softimage Toonz ). . . These people dey drink gas sef. Flip Book Lite is kinda crippled in the sense that you can't produce more than 10 seconds of animation in one shot (No biggie IMHO) and comes with two layers, foreground and background (Good enough if you work around it). . . shucks, it cost only $72.00 and you can make a complete 2D movie with that! You can't beat that! I will advice you to look into flipbook for your 2d animation needs . . . you can download the demo from their website.

Yup, Chika is that ''village movie'' I was talking about (Them magas changed the title to that btw,it was Originally ''Chika: The Rite of Perdition''. . . not my best work but considering it was done after 10 months of self training and actually my first animation project before Ijoya. . . I can't complain. Again, with the exception of the voice acting, I did everything. . . from Storyboard to post production on my own. . . I no go complain and honestly, it was a good learning experience.

Fiinally, don't forget to check out Flipbook . . . stuff is good sh*t.
http://www.digicelinc.com/index.htm

The Lite version is on sale for only $49.99!
http://www.digicelinc.com/special.htm

Anyway,lemme know how things pan out. If worse comes to worst I will try to dig up my own version and let ya have it. . . dunno where it is at the moment. . . perhaps I should contact them to resend. . . it's been how long. . .3 yrs?

thanks grafik, will most definitely look into it. I want ya opinion on this. Will macromedia (flash, freehand or one of the others) be a good starting point for an amateur at animation?

There was a book on cartooning and animation i saw at computer village. 't looked pretty expensive, i had ta chicken out since i was on a budget. Will prolly go see the mofo and strike some fair bargain.

Lmao @ "them magas" . eish, what can man do, especially when yuh gotta kiss ass to get publicity and shit. Can be really sad. My cuzzo once requested i sketched some set of superheroes for him. . .you know, the kinda family-type e.g Fantastic Four. The only thingy there was. . .they had ta be Christians. I was kinda in a mix. I love my drawings most times grim and gritty, u know. . .raw kinda ish. He wanted some sappy sunday morning lovey dovey mary-amaka type of sketch. Besides that, it was supposed to be Christian-- no grittiness, lol. Eventually, i had ta cave in, drew something in-btw. even sef, the sketch get small probs with am- the girl doesn't loo k much African ! Hehe, 5 years later, a character re-assemblying, all thanks to my nut of my younger brother, a re-modyfing here and there and i created something along my taste!!

Lol, just go to the "Do you Manga or Comics" thread by Gamine, last page - the work i pasted there was a re-modification of one of 'em characters!!

Macromedia Flash won't hurt. . . you can do a lot with it 'BUT'. . . lol there's a big ''BUT'' there o. I have seen loads of good flash stuff but there's no point arguing over the superiority and flexibility of good ol fashioned dedicated 2D apps. I think you can beat some sense outta Flash if you give it a good shot. . . folks have done it with stunning results.