adminThe award came after a long affair with digital media for William who had always used computers to express his artistic talent.
He says: “I was first exposed to computers when I went to junior school and just got hooked. There are so many things you can do with a computer and that fascination has never left me.”
He decided to take his love one step further and make artistic creation using computers in his career:
“After studying Computers, Physics and Maths at A-Level, I decided to take up animation seriously after doing it as hobby through my high school.
“Creating digital imagery has always been a great interest to me and so I took the gap year course last year to see if I could make it a career path. I would make digital models of the characters like from Transformers, post them online and get feedback.
“I was greatly encouraged by the response and I decided to do the certificate course.”
It was the lack of fear of trying new boundaries that set William on the path to make his first mark in the world of animation.
“Recently I responded to a call for Blenderguru.com, a site for free tutorials using Blender App. It is a popular and premium site in the industry and offers great insights. The lead period was only four weeks to produce a one-minute-long clip.
“I started off by thinking of ideas which meant research and collection of references in order to come up with a concept that is fresh and different.
“Once I had that, the next step was the modelling or creation of the scene. I created a futuristic alleyway and I put crates, rubbish and other stuff you may expect to find there. I textured, lit then animated.”
The right education has helped William turn his natural aptitude for computers into real skills. He credits his lecturers especially Mr Makoni for going all the way in making sure that he achieves his dream.
“Getting a scene animated is now much easier than in the past for me because of the coursework that I have covered so far. Some aspects are still a challenge, like the rendering which is conversion of the image to actual footage as it is appears on screen. I was unable to finish this before deadline but the animation was complete with sound and that was what I submitted.”
There were over 190 submissions of which 27 where in the Animation category. The artists were from all over the world including places like USA, Canada, Brazil and Netherlands.
From here on William can only go to the top and he is determined to explore his capacity.
“From this experience I am determined to continue pushing myself and develop my skills. I also got networked to other emerging digital artists.
“I am hoping to start my own media company with my friends concentrating on animation and design.
“The challenge is that most of our work in this country has not made international impact and it is up to new faces like me and other start-ups to change that.
“Animation is good because you are in control and it is more cost effective as you do not need expensive props, locations. You also reduce labour costs.”
His words of encouragement to other youths who may be considering what to do with their future is to go for it. “To other young people in the country, if they are creative, they should explore that side of their talent while they are still young because it is an industry that needs a lot of energy and passion and you may never do it if you wait until you are old.”
Cool Lifestyle wishes William the best and will be keeping an eye out for his progress.
Online Reporter