21 students graduate from animation course in Pasay City

Twenty-one students have finished the rigid three-month, thrice-a-week professional animation training held at the Pasay City library by Top Peg Animation and Creative Studio.

Eleven students finished the course last January while another 10 graduated last week. The first two batches of the professional animation training provided by the city government and Top Peg will be held soon.

Top Peg immediately hired the services of the graduates for animation work on "Jobert," a television series which will soon air in Hong Kong.

Grace Dimaranan, managing director of Top Peg, said the names of Filipino animation artists will be seen in the program credits.

During training, the young animators learned Western and Japanese animation styles, including pre-production, production and post-production techniques.

Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad extolled the graduates of the animation training and noted that Pasay’s dream of producing world-class animators is now becoming a reality.

Trinidad and officials of Top Peg had signed a memorandum of agreement for the holding of the professional animation training in Pasay City.

An independent animation studio, Top Peg gave assurances that their graduates can also find work in other local and international animation studios. This is on top of the jobs it can provide its graduates in its own productions.

Dimaranan pointed out the potential of the animation industry in providing jobs for Filipinos.

"The surge of Information Technology increased the demand for animation. Before, animation was purely for entertainment and used only in TV and movie producstions. In the digital era and in the age of online games, interactive CDs, audio-visual presentations and modern telecommunications, animation has become an important part of our everyday lives. In fact, the Philippines is one of the outsourcing destinations of animation studios in the United States, Canada, France, Singapore, Germany and Japan, " she said.