JAMAICANS interested in starting a career in the field of animation can now turn to the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (Carimac) for certification.

A partnership recently signed between Carimac and GSW Animation Limited with the support of the World Bank, Toon Boom Animation Inc, and JAMPRO, will see individuals interested in animation production doing the six-month course.

According to principal-elect of UWI, Professor Archibald McDonald, the university has decided to take the bold step of offering animation training,

because animation is a developed multimillion dollar industry which Caribbean nationals can now look to for employment opportunities.

“The specialised new animation training programme will initially benefit over 50 young Jamaicans who will be enabled within six months to obtain employment in the growing field of cartoon animation,” McDonald said.

“It is our hope that those students who are initially trained will be able to gain early and productive employment in what is emerging as a fast-growing and valuable new sector for Jamaica and the Caribbean.”

The programme will take place at Carimac’s multimedia labs on the Mona campus and the Western Jamaica campus.

Wayne Sinclair, executive director, GSW Animation Limited, said the new programme is a grand breakthrough for Jamaicans who wish to tap into the competitive global animation industry.

“What happens with animation is that most of the big producers at like Disney and Cartoon Network, create the assets, then they [would normally] outsource the production to other territories like India, Korea and so on,” Sinclair said.

“The opportunity that exists for us now is that outsourcing places like India are moving away from their outsourcing and focusing on their own, so

this is creating a wider and wider gap for us to move into that outsourcing space.”

The 50 trainees will be exposed to a range of professional animation skill sets including basic principles of animation, digital 2D animation, staging,

posing, composition, motion analysis, animation action, character creation and storytelling.

The training programme will utilise software provided by Toon Boom Animation Inc. The participating students will be given the opportunity to visit

international animation experts, funded by the World Bank, to get expertise in professional animation.

Meantime, Carimac has begun preparing an undergraduate degree programme in animation and broadcast graphics that will be presented for university review in a bid to expand their offerings of animation

certification.

-Ainsworth Morris

Professor Archibald McDonald (second left), principal elect, University of the West Indies, greets Karina Bessoudo, vice president, marketing and communication at Toon Boom Animation, while Professor Hopeton Dunn (left) director of Carimac, and Wayne Sinclair, executive director, GSW Animation Limited, look on. (PHOTO: Aston Spaulding)