Today we’d like to introduce you to Akshara Mallan.
Hi Akshara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi, my name is Akshara Mallan. I am from Bangalore, India. Wrapping up my MFA in Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design this June. Looking back on it, I was always into arts and crafts. Being able to make tiny figurines or objects from scrap material was how I would pass the time as a child. If you would walk into my room back then and even now, it’s always surrounded with crafty scraps and objects that I usually end up using for my projects in some way or the other.
In high school, I went to a boarding school- The Lawrence School Lovedale, in Ooty. I was into sports then and slowly started getting into the media club at school. The year my batch was graduating, we made a documentary of our school to showcase during our “Founders Day” the same year. One of my teachers introduced me to his colleague from a news company called NDTV, which was based out of Delhi. That same summer, I got the opportunity to intern as an assistant to the camerawoman. That internship taught me I would want to get into the media someday.
In college, I chose the major in Digital Media Arts instead of Film, and I enjoyed animation. During my bachelor’s degree, I was still determining the area I would want to specialize in. In the last semester of my 3rd year, I had a stop-motion workshop where we made puppets, and that was followed by a 10-week class where we focused on creating a stop-motion film. That was when I fell in love with the medium. I started researching more about the art and its potential. The art of Stop Motion is an underrated and age-old art form. So naturally, as of today, only a few companies use this way of storytelling. Back in India, the art form has yet to be widely known. So when I was researching the art, I discovered its popularity in the States and England.
As for doing my Master’s, I always knew I wanted to come to the States. I learned about SCAD through one of my professors. Coincidentally, the college had come down to Bangalore to host a workshop every month. After attending that workshop, I knew that this college was where I wanted to come and study and learn more. I’ve been here in Savannah for 2 years now, and the amount of knowledge I’ve gained in animation is enormous. I want to focus on the art of Stop Motion and learn as much as I can within this art, and hopefully, someday in the future, I get to teach this art myself.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been the smoothest road. As I mentioned before, my specialty is not widely known back home. While pursuing my bachelor’s degree, I remember being one of the only three students from my class who wanted to focus on stop motion. Out of the ten classes offered, only one focused on this medium of art. Apart from this class, my research was to learn more about art. I remember sitting down and telling my family and friends about this, and I had so many questions to answer because not many knew about this art form back then. I got the opportunity to study at Savannah College of Art and Design to pursue my MFA in Animation in 2021. The course here focused on many areas under the umbrella of Animation. Coming to the States, I was still worried and scared if I would learn enough about this art and be able to go further in the industry with this knowledge. Today, apart from big companies like Disney and Pixar, companies like Laika, Stoopid Buddies, and many more, focusing on mediums like Stop Motion, have started getting recognition. Stop motion, as I have said before and continue to say, is an underrated art form. To be able to learn this medium and be able to express my work through it is amazing!
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I recently graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design and received my Master’s in Fine Arts for Animation. My area of focus and specialty is Stop Motion character animation. My two years at SCAD allowed me to step out of my comfort zone, experiment with many different mediums, and create some excellent work. I still have a long way to go before I can call myself an expert in this field, but regardless, I am incredibly proud of what I have accomplished and worked over these years. My professors supported me and pushed me to the limit to set my work apart from others. In my work, I usually pull in stories from back home, which makes my work even more special and close to me.
What does success mean to you?
It is one’s progress in their field of work. Success can be defined as many things, the level at which you work, the amount of money you make, and the recognition you get. For me, it’s about how proud and confident you are of your work. Success is possible with all the support and love you get. People think it is just a one-person job, but it is an accumulation of all the encouragement, support, and advice you get along the way. The day I am most successful at work is when I look back at how much I learned in the process and am confident enough to stand up in front of everyone without a doubt and speak about what I’ve created.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mallan.co/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshara-mallan-1b4190178/
