* Click on images for pop-ups

Jalil Sadool spent his first eighteen years on the small island of Mauritius (off the eastern coast of Madagascar). Life with an Artist mom and Mathematician Dad, proved to be quite an interesting mélange. Definitely a true battle between the left and right side of the cranium. Jalil loved the sciences and the arts equally but he was no genius, and there was space for only one to fully evolve.

After graduating high school in 1997 he left for Singapore in search of a degree in Mechanical Engineering (Yep, he had made a choice….Dad was so proud and mom was happy). Naturally, he did not abandon the arts but had a well laid plan: He would acquire a degree in Engineering, work somewhere as an engineer (wherever that would be) while still doing paintings and comics on the side. Great plan you might say but intensive Physics and Mathematics courses proved to be the wrong battle…it was a nightmare. A year and a half through it, Jalil had a talk with Dad.

Jalil: “Dad, this sucks.”
Dad: “Well, let’s see how you do on your next finals.”

Jalil made sure to miss all his classes and drew short comics dedicated to the examiners during finals. Out of 8 courses, he got seven “F”s and one “A” (Engineering Computer Graphics). He hoped to at least get a passing grade in Thermodynamics since he drew such a bad ass comic with awesome line quality, but no, the dude failed him.

Jalil: “So?”
Dad: “Bring your ass back home.”
Jalil: “Yeah!!!”

Jalil then decided to change his career to something better for him and less sucky. A degree in Illustration was what he had in mind and France would have been his next destination. Unfortunately, living in Paris required more money than Jalil could afford, especially after the Singapore disaster and even the USA was too expensive. Sadly, great illustration schools had to be taken off his list. After three months of thorough research, a tiny chance floated to the surface of his despair. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania seamed to be an appropriate choice. To his dismay, they did not offer an Illustration degree but an Animation degree. Jalil figured that if illustration is not available, then animation would have to be his only choice.

Uncles, aunts and cousins chipped in and Jalil joined the animation program at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2000 (Mom was proud and Dad …well…was happy). The load of drawing and painting classes was just a dream come true, and his true love for animation exploded during his beginning animation class. Seeing his drawings coming to life was just too fascinating and from then on, his goal was no secret. He was hooked!

With constant help from his professors James Dunlap and Michael Genz, Jalil was crafted into a fine animator. He graduated from Edinboro University in May 2004 taking with him the “George Nicholas Award” for best animator.

These days, out of college with a degree in strictly traditional animation can be regarded as a story with a sad ending. Computer animation is what most studios are looking for, which meant Jalil had to already consider a switch from 2D to 3D. With a crash introduction course in computer animation from his college seniors (Alex Fleisig and Brian Menz) from “DNA Productions”, he was able to make the move from paper and pencil to Maya. In October 2004, 72 animation reels were sent to animation studios all over the country and in February 2005, he Joined Rhythm and Hues as an apprentice animator. After a month of training Jalil is now an animator on the upcoming Disney feature “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”

Mom is so proud and Dad is very confused.

Dad: “So, how do you draw those 3D monsters on the computer?”

Jalil will also be an artist participating in the “Chubby Bunny Show” next spring (2006)
Check out the link and make sure you find your way there because there’ll be tons of awesome artists showing their work.

Jalil's thoughts on production:
Well, my only experience on production comes from working on “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” and it gave me a good taste of what this whole shebang was about.
You have to really love animating if you want to stay sane. Redoing the same little thing over and over becomes very natural. What takes the most time to craft is not the core of the animation but all the little bells and whistles that the Director wants to see and change. Believe it or not, 95% of the animation on a shot is done during the first two weeks, and that’s when you feel accomplished and happy that your stuff is going so well and fast. The last 5% will take two months or more to get done and it’ll make you feel like crap.

Change this a little, move this a little, speed this a little, no…let’s go back to what we had before – are things you’ll be getting all day long. As long as none of this is taken personally and as long as you keep a good attitude about it, production will be tons of fun.
If you’re married, you’ll know what I mean :P

Like the Feature?