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Stamps designed using AI issued to mark 10th National Scout Jamboree
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Isuru Pothpitiya holds up the stamps. Pix by Indika Handuwala
February 21 will go into the record books of the Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau as stamps designed with the use of AI were issued to commemorate the 10th National Scout Jamboree.
The bureau’s publicity officer, Uthpala Vithanage, said: “Most collectors usually prefer to collect under specific themes. Scouting is a world-wide theme, and most importantly, a requirement for scouts and guides in Sri Lanka is to collect stamps.”
Uthpala Vithanage
“Considering all this, we designed our first guiding stamp in 2012,” he said, emphasising the importance of stamps for the guiding and scouting communities.
The collection consists of ten individual stamps (five scouting and five guiding). The Braille wording on the stamp translates to “Be prepared”.
“We printed 300,000 individual stamps, 20,000 souvenir sheets, and 2000 folds,” said Mr. Vithanage.
The stamps are of significance because of the design by Isuru Pothpitiya utilising AI, as well as being the second and third braille stamps of Sri Lanka.
“Asoka Weerawardena of the support centre for students with disabilities at the University of Colombo assisted with the braille stamps,” said Mr. Vithanage expressing his gratitude to Mr. Weerawardena.
The first braille stamp
The scouting collection consists of the stamps named ‘Caring for the Differently abled’ (Braille stamp), ‘Caring for the Environment’, ‘Adventure’, ‘Camp Fire’, and ‘Camping’, and the Guiding stamp consists of ‘Differently Abled’ (Braille stamp), ‘Ranges’, ‘Guides’, ‘Butterflies’, and ‘Little Friends’.
Commenting on the first braille stamp of Sri Lanka, Mr. Vithanage said it was issued in 2012 to mark 100 years of the Ratmalana School for the deaf and blind. The Braille wording on that stamp translated to “I love you.”
That stamp, too, was designed by Mr. Pothpitiya.
Mr. Pothpitiya has been a part of the Bureau since 2011. He specialises in painting and designing stamps. He is also into printing and graphics. Commenting on the these stamps, he said: “To design this stamp, I sketched my ideas, painted them before converting them into the digital style, and used AI to enhance the stamps.
“It took more than two months to design the entire collection,” he said.
Mr. Pothpitiya has drawn over 200 stamps based on various themes. From his childhood days, drawing has been a passion, he said, adding that his brother is his mentor and inspiration.
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