Animation industry in Nepal getting bigger and better

Nepali animation industry is getting better—and busier—as it gets commissions for more and more national and international projects. Not many are aware that Nepali firms are creating animated sequences and doing creatve stuff for popular international movies, animation works and television dramas. As it involves a lot of experimentation and innovation, the attraction of the Nepali youth towards animation is growing. “With the participation of more and more youths, animation in Nepal has taken off,” says veteran animator Suyogya Man Tuladhar.

 

He left his lucrative job in Silicon Valley to groom up-and-coming animators in Nepal in early 2000s and currently divides his time between Nepal and the US. Most notably, Suyogya co-founded Incessant Rain Animation Studio in 2008 and Black Box Animation Academy in 2010. Nepali animation is getting global recognition for its quality that is now on par with international standards. Our animators have come a long way from merely copying and modifying the works of foreign animators to creating their original masterpieces. Besides their work with entertainment outlets, they also produce works on social themes like health, environment, politics, election, pre-natal and post-natal care, trauma, education, and child psychology.

 

The birth of animation in Nepal can be traced back to late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1987, UNICEF had organized an animation workshop in Nepal, in collaboration with World View International. In the workshop, some Nepali animators were trained on creating simple animation with a Nepali character named ‘Shyam’. The animation feature was about dealing with common diseases and keeping the environment free of disease-carrying virus. In 2016, a studio named Yantrakala made a huge leap when it produced Nepal’s first stand-alone animated feature film ‘The Legend of Shankhadhar’ (Shankhadharko Katha). Later in the same year, the same firm began working on animating historian Satya Mohan Joshi’s work into an animation film titled as Majipa Lakhay.

 

Booming business

 

 Animation industry has seen a boom in Nepal with growing number of advertising agencies, film development firms, broadcasting channels, and VFX outlets. Nepali animators these days not only produce animation sequences for Hollywood blockbusters (‘Kung Fu Panda’, ‘The Lego Batman’, ‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’), they also cater to the needs of their domestic clients like banks, apps developers, Youtube channel owners, social media pages and reputed broadcasters.

 

“There has been good return on investment for producers of quality content. Another expansion of Nepali animation industry can be seen in collaborative creation of sequences in projects for global entities such as Disney, Amazon, Fox, Netflix, and NBC,” says Kiran Bhakta Joshi, another veteran animator who had worked for Disney for 17 years.

 

According to Tuladhar, on an average, an animator earns around US $1,000 to $5,000 for a minute-long animation video. Depending on client requirements and production aspects, the price can vary. For instance, around $8 million per minute was invested in animating sequence for the movie ‘Life of Pi’. “The price varies based on the expectations of clients and can go far up to $80 million to $100 million for a movie,” says Tuladhar.

 

Nepal is also getting good exposure in animation thanks to the start of animation courses in institutions such as Maya Animation Academy, iDream Animation, Incessant Rain, and Blackbox Animation Academy. Incessant Rain is considered the first full-fledged animation studio and academy in Nepal specializing in visual effects and 3D animation.

 

“I see a bright future for Nepali animation. I hope that in a not too distant future Nepal will be able to cater to each and every need of its prospective international clients,” says Joshi, the ex-Disney animator.