Ready for digital combat with local historical figures
Neranjan Chameera
Self-taught animator Neranjan Chameera talks of how a passion turned into a job and of his latest venture that combines Lankan legends with futuristic modernity
Neranjan Chameera remembers the excitement and wonder he felt when his father brought home a small Windows 95 computer when he was just 12 years old. It was the first time he had ever seen a computer let alone touched one.
“Back then, only VHS tapes were available and when my father brought home films like Jurassic Park, my first thought was how was it possible to create a movie like this with all the animations,” Neranjan recalls as he looks back on where his love for creating animations began.
On his own, he found the different software that could be used to create graphics and animations and taught himself the complex art. Then for his school’s Science Day ( St. Aloysius College), Neranjan submitted his first-ever animation despite the fact that there was great difficulty in getting a projector to show his work through (the school still doesn’t have such facilities, he notes.). “I was one of the first to create something like this especially in Ratnapura (his hometown) and I still am one of the few following a career in animation although the industry is slowly getting its deserved recognition in Sri Lanka,” he tells us.
After mostly studying online and following a multimedia course at Wijeya Graphics, Neranjan now 29, works as a lead 3D generalist at Arimac, which he joined almost six years ago when there was an opportunity to develop games.
Character on NERO
“I mainly design characters for the game NERO at Arimac, which is the first Sri Lankan digital combat encounter based on historical figures and events which will be launched soon. One of the villain characters that I created was featured by Adobe Substance Painter on their social media pages,” he proudly tells us.
It was not the first time Neranjan had been featured on an international stage. He has many accolades to his name having excelled at global competitions. A significant achievement was being placed first in the Gnomon VFX School global contest for his Hybrid Sea Monster (a blend of an elephant and a whale) which was also featured in the UK’s ‘3D Artist Magazine’ under ‘Artist of the Month’.
Asked about the work put in to create characters for games, videos and the like, Neranjan says that it takes someone to be an artist with technical knowledge to dedicate time and effort to make something great. After brainstorming between a concept, he has to think of how to make the character design seem realistic from the way it breathes (if it lived underwater like his hybrid sea monster), how weaponry is used, to how it would react to the world around it, etc.
“My passion has become my job and although my parents had their doubts when I first followed this pathway, they have begun to understand that this is not a fleeting hobby but something I can build a life with,” Neranjan says.
Hybrid sea monster
His current project that he works on during his spare time and which has already garnered a lot of interest on YouTube is his very own animated series ‘Thaproban’ -a world that intertwines the traditional myths and legends of Sri Lanka with sleek futuristic modernity. “Each episode will follow a different storyline set in the same world that I’ve built. I’m excited to introduce more characters and themes such as zombies, love and more,” Neranjan shares with us.
Thaproban: Into the future with local legends
Follow Neranjan’s work on ArtStation as well when you look up his name.
Like and subscribe to his YouTube channel – NerArt and check out the world of Thaproban on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k85Bo7pKFfw