In the 1960s and 1970s, political cartooning held the sway in the media. R. K. Laxman’s You Said It for the Times of India lampooned the events of the day. Political cartoons no longer remain prominent in the content of a newspaper or a magazine. Modern editors are reluctant to spare space for the cartoons. Even political leaders are averse to cartoons. There are fewer artists who make impactful cartoons. Internet has enabled the creation of memes and its dissemination. Even a person with no ability to draw can make a cartoon. Malayalam press of Kerala is an exception which has patronised many promising young cartoonists. Cho Ramaswamy’s Tughlak was famous for its political cartoons.Cartoons supplemented the editorial coverage visually from 1960s to 1980s. As we get newsfeeds from TV and the Internet, cartoons have lost their primacy. Cartoons now compete with other visual media for attention.

Cartoons may find new formats, e.g. web space. Cartoons can be used by newspapers for graphic reportage. As political aversion grows, the anonymity in the web space is welcome for the cartoonists.

Some prominent political cartoonists are K. Shankar Pillai known as Shankar of Shankar’s Weekly fame (which shut down during Emergency ), Abu Abraham, Mario Miranda, Vijay Narain Seth khown as Vins who worked for Reader’s Digest, Paresh Nath of National Herald.

ACK sees the children publishing space getting bigger and better. The average ticket size has increased from Rs 200 five years back to Rs. 500 today. ACK publishes animation series in print. They bring animated series on TV. It has entered into a parallel stream of digital space. In digital space, the reader can access both new as well as old content. They have so far introduced three characters on YouTube — Supandi, Shambu and Defective Detectives. ACK has its own web site that attracts consumer interest. It has tied up with e-commerce  publishing platforms. ACK has developed a mobile  app. It also distributers digital content on digital platforms including digital magazines. It has published Indic-oriented story that is not illustrated. They also have a foothold in regional language publishing. Manas Mohan is CEO, publishing, ACK Media.

It is also called table-top animation. Here people and objects are sculpted out of soft clay and put into motion,  one ‘frame’ or movement at a time. The clay figures are positioned to show movement, expression, metamorphosis, character and life-like similarities. Clay animation is a kind of stop motion animation wherein the artist does not draw physically to animate an object but clicks photographs of the object and places them in sequential manner and then plays them. In clay animation, models are created out of malleable substances like plasticine or any oil-based clay. The picture of this model is photographed and the position of the model is changed to click another photograph and this is continued. Usually, clay animation runs about 10 to 12 frames per second, instead of the usual 24 frames per second used in films. Clay animation has a unique texture and organic feel to it which cannot be achieved through computer generated animation. It has a certain tactile quality.

it is also called stop-frame animation. The first step is to create a support framework ( alumimum wire skeleton ). It is then strengthened by using coloured clay ( plasticine ) for the body. Then each movement is shot to generate a film. It is a lengthy process because unlike 2-D and 3-D, models are sculpted out of plasticine-coloured clay. Then technicians change the position of the figure and shoot frame to frame. It is suitable to render humour in the script. It is also useful to show cute-looking characters or for idea exaggeration. Claymation also arrests attention. Here the message stands out. Claymation is close to Indian pupperty. Claymation can be used across product categories.

Pran was born in Kasur now in Pakistan. The family shifted to India at the time of partition. His eldest brother Kanwarnath was an artist who graduated from Jaipur School of Art. He influenced Pran.Pran sent his cartoons to the periodicals and they were published. This motivated him. Initially, he drew pocket cartoons, most of which were political. Then he explored cartooning around a theme and discussed this with Dharmveer Bharati, the then editor of Dharmyug.Thus he drew cartoons using line from the famous poets such as Dinkar, Pant and Nirala. The series was called Kavita Cartoon. In order to counter the foreign cartoon syndication agencies, Pran started his own Pran Features Syndicate, and started drawing comic strips under his own banner. He wrote and drew his comics, and then made copies.He posted them to publications. Slowly, the publications started accepting.

He wanted to create a cartoon character as against the superheroes of the West. He wanted to deviate from the stereotype. He thought of an old man — short, not very good-looking and frail too. Pran based him on Chanakya and gave him the power of wit. This is how Chacha Chowdhary was conceived.

Chacha started as a village simpleton with a turban and dhoti-kurta. he was given a laathi too. Over a period of time, he was made modern — wearing a vest, a tie, sports shoes and carrying a walking stick. But his two prominent features still remain — totally desi — his moustache and his turban. His stories changed too.He was formerly fighting petty criminals. In the 1970s, he started fighting dacoits. Later, the stories incorporated plane hijacking, terrorism and cricket matches.

Chacha and Saboo are fond of food just as Pran himself was. Chacha’s pet dog was Rocket. Cartoonist Pran Sharma expired in August, 2014.

Graphic India is a comic book and animation company. They requested Stan Lee to create a superhero. Stan Lee first started work in Timely Comics (1939) as an ink-well filler. He co-created Spiderman, Daredevil, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and X-men. He is creating Chakra, the first superhero for the Indian market. Chakra will be featured in a tele-movie The Invincible. Chakra is a Mumbai boy Raju Rai who gets superpowers with the use of a magic suit that unlocks his yogic chakras. Lee did the conceptual work for the story and the characters. Sharad built the edifice on this foundation. Jeevan developed the designs and costumes of the characters. Lee gave the feedback on the art and scripts. Lee feels that the superheroes must be interesting characters. The audience should care for what they do and how they feel and should appreciate their personal problems. The audience should be involved in the solutions to these problems. These problems actually make superheroes real. Chakra is also a compelling story. There are personal challenges and struggles for Raju Rai.That makes him relatable.

This cartoon strip is popular amongst Marathi speaking population for the past 25 years. It is the brain child of Charuhas Pandit and Prabhakar Wadekar. It has been featured in over 5000 strips. The reason behind its popularity is the humour and its real life characters which common people relate to. So far 30 volumes of books on the character have been published. Besides, two films have been released in the last five years. Pribhakar wadekar, the co-creator of Chintoo died of brain hemorrhage on June 15, 2013 at the age of 56.

The kingfisher bird was the brand mascot of Kingfisher Airlines. The company proposed branded content featuring their animated mascot. Advertisers rely on visuals, colours, mnemonics, sounds and symbols to connect. That helps even the consumer who is not literate. Sunny is animated mascot for  Sunfeast biscuits of ITC. Cadbury promotes Bubba, the cat for its bubble gum brand Bubbaloo. Indian consumers associate animation and animated brand mascots with products aimed at children. Nonetheless, advertisers are optimistic, and try to communicate with young adult population through mascots, as this target audience is familiar with video gaming, playstations, x-boxes and the virtual world. They may not dismiss the animation content as something meant for kids.

Mocap is short for motion capture. It is a technique for digitally recording movement. It is originally used as an analysis tool for biomechanics. Movement is captured through the placement of sensors or markers near each joint of the body. As the joint moves, the positions or angles between the markers are recorded. Software records the angles, velocities, accelerations, impulses, thus providing an accurate digital representation of movement. It is used as an animation tool. It creates more life-like movements than manual animation. It has been applied to Gollum in Lord of the Rings, Polar Express and Happy Feet.

Animation is increasingly being used to create special effects. The breaking of the ship and people falling into water in the Titanic was done using animated special effects. The scene from Godzilla when the beast’s tail swings savagely, reducing New York’s skyscrapers to little mounds of rubble, was also animated. Ice Age, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films all used animated special effects.