Selebogo chooses animation over accounting and has no regrets

Selebogo Motsuminyana (23) writes:

My role is a compositor at Luma Animation in Ferndale but I border on 3D, compositing, animation, and other things Luma does.

I studied animation and have a diploma in digital animation and I got into compositing when I started working here. Compositing is essentially like polishing and building a perfect image from material, whether it be live-action or 3D.

It is taking bits of animation when they’ve lit it and sent it out to compositors – making it look pretty, essentially. In the live-action sense we will either splice live-action and 3D into footage or just clean-up like if someone is in a shot and she’s got dirt on her forehead or something, we’ll just clean that up.

I got into animation when I was really young. I just enjoyed watching cartoons a lot and I asked my self the question of whether I wanted to go into accounting in high school because that was my other option and I bit the bullet and chose to follow my passion and I feel like it is working out so far.

I love the way the work is structured. I am in a pipeline and no part of the pipeline isn’t important. Everyone has a job to do that is vital to the final product. Even just problem-solving in the creative process, like figuring out how to tackle a difficult shot.

There is always room for learning, you are never at the top of your game. There is always new technology being released, there’s always new ideas to be fleshed out and brought to life. I really like that about it.

The only thing about animation that is difficult is it is taxing on your health sometimes because a lot of artists are perfectionists so they will work overtime to make sure a shot is truly complete. You can lose sleep, you can miss out on gym doing that.

I think the animation industry is thriving in SA right now. It had a bit of a slump for a long time; it wasn’t taken seriously here. But with Disney and Netflix making deals with big animation studios in South Africa I feel like globally people are seeing it is an opportune moment to take advantage of the resources and the people here and make great stuff. The industry is steadily growing in SA.

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