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Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
Mr Tinodiwa Zambe Makoni’s long and fruitful hurtle as a comic animator has earned him recognition as the godfather of contemporary stop-frame cinematography in Zimbabwe.
Mr Makoni, as he is fondly referred to by his legions of local and international admirers, is an accomplished animator, illustrator, writer, publisher and founder of Comexposed (CCX) Comics.
The history of animation, comics and comic conventions pop-ups cannot be complete without mentioning his name.
Stop motion animation (also called stop-frame animation) is animation that is captured in one frame at time, with physical objects that are moved between frames.
When you play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement.
The basic process of animation involves taking a photograph of your objects or characters, moving them slightly, and then taking another photograph.
When you play back the images consecutively, the objects or characters appear to move on their own.
Mr Makoni was the first to test the sector’s unchartered waters before twinning forces with Mr Eugene Ramirez Mapondera — with who he created a platform for local creativity to flourish.
Through their Comexposed platform dabbling in events, publishing, training, promotion and building a community, rising stars like Bill Masuku have emerged into the spotlight.
Mr Makoni creates his own stories and art, but fills the shoes of a mentor, fostering growth and a united Zimbabwean digital art front.
Through Comexposed, Messrs Makoni and Mapondera have published three anthologies of Zimbabwean comics called Comic-Up.
Mr Makoni also has three comics to his name, namely “Mhare,” “Ganyamuto,” as well as “The Gift and Gundog,” Zimbabwe’s first nationally distributed action comic book.
However, his journey has not been intentional, it’s been entirely accidental.
Despite starting off the creativity journey at a tender age, Mr Makoni experienced both the joys and hardships of pioneering in Africa.
Chronicling his journey as guest speaker at the Africa University launch of the 15th edition of the Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property offered jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the African Regional Intellectual Property and Africa University, with the financial support of the Government of Japan, Mr Makoni said pioneering anything is not for the faint-hearted.
“The environment is unforgiving, especially to new ideas or unproven endeavors, but it also holds more promise than anywhere else I have been in the world.
“I have always loved animation and comic books, being heavily inspired by Western cartoons and Japanese Anime on ZTV.
“Shows like ‘X-men,’ ‘Robotech and Ghost’ in the Shell formed my love for storytelling. I started making my own comics when I was doing Grade Six and from then on, drawing became a part of my life.
“By the time I got to high school, my parents had no idea on what to do with me so they took the risk and let me lead the way. I was blessed because it is rare for African parents to let their children learn anything when they can’t see the money in it,” he said.
Mr Makoni acquired a Bachelor’s Degree in Animation in Australia and returned to Zimbabwe upon completion of his studies to put the acquired knowledge into practice.
“This was my first taste of the struggle of being first,” he said.
Back in Zimbabwe, Mr Makoni was in for a rude awakening as he could not apply his knowledge.
There was no one to hire him or sell his ideas and works to.
It was both energy draining and intellectually paralyzing.
Yet he did not give. Instead, he mastered the importance of sharpening the axe.
“I was the only qualified animator I knew in the whole country. Pressure pushed me into entrepreneurship and after several businesses in the creative field, I found myself teaching and mentoring young creatives part-time while I ran my creative studio and publishing company.
“It is there I met my good friend, Eugene, and we founded Comexposed, an organisation behind the Zimbabwean Digital Arts, Technology and Innovation Convention and Converge.
“During this time, my ethos on creativity and ownership in Africa was cemented. I had already published the first Zimbabwean action comic book nationwide and over the years, l recovered the financial investment.
“I was repeatedly presented with stories from artists from all walks of life, saying they were inspired by the book and that they were elated to see a comic book about a black Zimbabwean.
“It dawned on me that I had found a unique value proposition in what I was creating, and I had tasted the potential impact it could have,” he said.
Tino said the highest amount of money one of his 22-paged A4comic books was sold for was US$100.
It was bought by an American in California. It was a comic book about a young boy from Gweru.
“The value of my IP was beginning to dawn on me, but the community I was growing through Comexposed were still in the dark about leveraging IP. The artists creating Zimbabwean comic books, animations and games that I interacted with often had the same fearful statements: ‘what if someone steals my idea, how do I protect my concept, how do I benefit from the rights of my creations?’
“These concerns often lead to a paralysis of the creative where they release nothing into the world, scared they may lose it. They did this, all-the-while watching their peers in other regions thrive from their ideas.
“I found this to be true across all industries, be it service delivery, manufacturing, design or entertainment — they could see that world over, ideas had value but they could not get value for their ideas,” he said.
Mr Makoni said stories of companies like Lyft, which competed against Uber, motivated him.
“My journey in comic books is a small example of how the world wants what Africa has. You will become the gateway for many African innovations to see the light of day and impact the world. Innovations in service delivery, innovations in product design, innovations in knowledge sharing, innovation in communication, innovations in entertainment,” said Mr Makoni.
Locally, we have a plethora of shop shelves filled with unique products that are exported to other countries.
“Be mindful of the wealth of creativity and ideas surrounding you where you live, where you work and who you interact with. You have the opportunity to be part of building the wealth of our future from the heritage within and around you.
“You can do this while benefiting from strengthening, protecting and monetizing it,” said Mr Makoni.
He added: “I have had the privilege of meeting three Presidents so far, including the then US President, Mr Barrack Obama, in 2015. The reason that got me there was that I had started a little community called Comexposed to foster African ideas and teach creatives on how to make money from their stories.
“The world wants the very African ideas and solutions imbedded in us, you can make it happen,” said the artiste.
Online Reporter