meets Andreas Deja !!

So I finally got to meet THE person who is responsible for all this.. Andreas Deja.. a true inspiration and one of THE best animators out there, who has such a deep passion for his craft like noone else, that anyone working in Engineering can just throw away their jobs and walk blindly into animation.. It was amazing to see him in person..and I hope I didn't overwhelm him with my excitement. I am sure that at some points, he was a bit nervous if I might just put him in a sack and take him home :D haha but hopefully he realized I just love characters and performance so much.. I wanted to talk in my Scar voice and freak him out but I decided not to.. Next time ;) ;) Here he is talking about Mike Gabriel's Lorenzo and tons of other things to my never-ending questions!!

John Tucker @ CTNX 2014

Now this is the FAMOUS model John Tucker. Almost every artist in LA or Burbank must have drawn him atleast once, and a personal favourite for all the professionals including Mike Mattesi, Mark McDonnell, David Pimentel, David Colman and so many others. When I told him he has fans in India and that we all have heard about him or read about him in atleast one book,  the man cried and hugged me 10 times. :D Fantastic model I must say!!

Getting a little teeny bit faster..inclass paintings..

Fun experiments !!! :D

Two minute Life Drawings Nov 2014

30 secs to 2-min drawings. Most of them are a minute.

Learning how to paint..

Painting from LIFE !! Finally getting my hands dirty!

So I've been upto a couple of things lately; mainly working on my painting skills..

All of them are oil on canvas.

   

...couldn't really finish the pepper on the first one..
..and ofcourse...can't live without some quickies..

Prem moves to California!

Dear People..
Yesterday, 2nd September 2014, was my last day in Canada. It has been a life-changing year for me. I learned a lot in the past twelve months, about animation and myself. Most importantly, I learned how to animate..and how to cook. I loved the cold and the snow so much that I used to walk 50 minutes to work and back again when it was snowing crazy. I will miss it.. a lot..Worked over 7 different jobs in the past ten months (which is probably not a good thing) but each of them taught me something different. Then I started teaching Gesture Drawing in the summer which opened a whole new world for me. Thanks to all of my friends, classmates, students, relatives, teachers and all the wonderful artists I got to meet in the past one year, who were so genuine and supported me with so many things that made my experience such a unique and memorable one. I love you guys.. I can't express how much I will miss you all. And I will miss Sheridan..

For now, I got accepted into the Masters Program for Visual Development and Animation at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. Moving to California had always been a childhood dream for me since I was ten. Really looking forward to some new adventures..
I hope to see most of my classmates somewhere along the line someday.. Till then, Good Luck with everything..
Cheers n Hugs..
PGS

Got featured in Creative 'GAGA' Magazine

Thanks to Creative GAGA Magazine for featuring my work in their July-Aug 2014 Edition. Special Thanks to the awesome Ruturaj Arolkar and his amazing house of talent - Animation and Art School Goa!

                                    I'm posting the rest of the interview here below:

Q. Your designs have a raw texture. Is it mainly your hands? How do you use technology/software to enhance the look of your character sketches, if at all you do?

Ans. I love paper and pencil. Nothing beats the experience of getting my fingers dirty on graphite or conte. I do draw digitally on a Cintiq if a project needs to be cleaned up, mainly on Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. It is easier to make changes digitally, but for me, it takes away the satisfaction of making something that I can actually feel and touch.

Q. You define form and shape using lines and shade. How do you arrive at a subject? From what angles do you look at it to arrive at the final outcome?

Ans. Before starting to draw, I note down the design requirements that I can refer to throughout the design process. I start with an idea in my head and for the first couple of minutes (or sometimes hours) I keep drawing anything that comes into my head. Usually this is the time when I exhaust my habitual shapes and patterns. Once I start seeing fresh designs, I start cross-checking with the requirements to slowly drift into that direction making sure I hit all of them. I'm constantly looking for strong silhouette value and making sure there are no tangents or twinning.

Q. You design characters. What sparks your imagination? How do you exaggerate certain features?

Ans. My inspiration for designing characters comes mainly from studying animals and the people I know. I spend a lot of time watching how my friends react to different situations. It is very interesting to study how people's actions differ from their thoughts. Cafe sketching is also a great way to find unique personalities. Once I truly understand the personality, I play around with shapes to enhance the visual statement, always keeping the story in mind.

Q. Any reason, why you choose not to use colors and work in grey scale?

Ans. I usually work with pencils, ink or brushpens. They allow me to do rapid drawings that I do one after the other in succession to keep myself focussed on what I'm after. Usually I'm too excited during this stage to pause sketching and color them, but I try to keep the values working. I go into color only after the design has been finalized.

Sketchbook July 2014

How to get into Sheridan Animation : Mentor for Portfolio Preparation

PS: Updated March 2017. 
I'm still teaching this course. Contact me online at premsaigs@gmail.com.

So currently I have six students taking my 'Story and Design in Life Drawing' classes and I have noticed half of them are 2nd years and 4th years at Sheridan and the other half are students from Art Fundamentals trying to get into animation. Since I take my classes for no more than two students at a time, I have been able to manage that quite well, starting from the very basics for the latter and going advanced for the second and fourth years who have spent enough time drawing to understand design. I remember many years back, how I myself had a hard time finding a teacher or a mentor to help me prepare my portfolio.

So I decided to make the two courses separate:
1. Portfolio Preparation for Animation - Focuses on the fundamentals required to have a successful entry into animation/illustration and help students get into their dream animation programs. Since different students have different abilities, I try to give more private lessons at/near Sheridan (also online).

2. Story and Design in Life Drawing:

This is more for students already in animation who want to bridge the gap between life drawing and animation. I started this class mainly because during my time here, I noticed a lot of students who were really good in life drawing, were unable to use their skills to be more creative in their design process or in animation; and a whole lot of others who could animate really well but couldn't life draw. To me both life drawing and animation are essentially the same, the latter just gets put on a time chart. One aids the other, and vice versa.

So far, it has received some great reviews from students.

Testimonials:
"As a Life Drawing tutor, Prem has a solid knowledge of the human anatomy as well as strong drawing skills. Prem's teaching style is very clear and organized, also distinguished from what I've learned at school. Because of his excellent drawing, he did many amazing demos in his class to analyze every crucial part in the drawing process. " - Lucy Feng , a very talented Second Yr Animation Student @Sheridan 2014


3. Sheridan Animation Portfolio Reviewing/Tutoring/Mentoring - I also do weekly portfolio mentoring and reviewing where I go through student work and mentor students as to what they should work on. So far, I have mentored quite a number of students successfully and I'm very glad with the results!

PS: Edit - March 2017. 
I'm still teaching this course. Contact me online at premsaigs@gmail.com.
My phone number has changed. Thank you!
 Cheers!

with Vilppu!!

So I finally got to meet one of the greatest teachers in the industry - Glenn Vilppu..and spent 3 days with him drawing and painting..

So I started teaching again!

Zoo Trip + Quick Sketches

So I went to the zoo again last week. It was great !! I love the Toronto Zoo :D (but not as good as the Trivandrum Zoo back in my hometown) but still ! Had a great time away from my desk with the wild where I truly belong.

                                                      some beautiful new giraffes

                                                  and some "Dad" pushing his baby

                                                            and I love the bears !!!

 

Toronto Zoo .. presenting the Bear and the Ball..

                                            and now.. Watch the Bear and the Ball