Case Study

Wacom for digital art

Whistling Woods International (WWIL) is using Wacom pen tablets for animation, which has resulted in easier teaching, cost-effectiveness and faster production. By Nikita Upadhyay

Whistling Woods International Limited (WWIL) in January 2007 deployed Wacom products to be abreast with the latest technology, efficiency and reduction in time. Promoted by Subhash Ghai’s, Mukta Arts and Filmcity Mumbai, WWIL is a film, television, animation and media arts institute.

Film and other creative industries are undergoing a revolution in India. While the tertiary institutions conduct courses which help in content creation in movies and animation studios in academic style, many commercial training institutions and centers are being established to impart knowledge to working adults and private students. However, the lack of qualified lecturers, proper curriculums and quality assurance of these private institutions has churned out students of vastly different qualities and skill sets.

WWIL has a tie-up with Wacom. So any new product launched is given to the institute for review. Training the students on the new equipments is not difficult as the staff is well-equipped and up-to-date with the latest technology.

The switchover

The curriculum at WWIL is divided into three semesters. The first includes live sketching, which is done only with pen and paper. Students learn complete traditional animation only with paper and pencil and those skills are migrated to digital form from the second term onwards. In the second term, students learn to re-create in digital form what they had learnt in the first term.

Wacom products come into the picture in the second semester. They use softwares like Photoshop and Toonboom for learning high-end matte painting, digital animation, digital storyboarding techniques, etc. 

Earlier, sketching a character was time consuming and a tedious act. Minute details had to be dealt with care. If any correction occurred like color match or character match, then the entire work had to be started from the very beginning. Students fighting against time to complete assignments were left with little room for error or experiment. And, they were not gaining real-world experience for an industry that has made the digital workflow the norm to reduce costs and improve efficiency. But due to Wacom products, each and every step was saved simultaneously so changes or corrections were relatively easy to make.

In the third term, the students are taught 3D software, which includes Maya and Photoshop. Emphasis is on storytelling skills. At the end of the third semester, students are supposed to utilize all the skills that they have learned and use it in a short film, which is a part of their last project.

Aim of implementation

Before the introduction of Wacom products, WWIL used pen and paper in all their classes. Working with pen and paper left little room for error as the cost of standard industry tracing paper used for animation can run remarkably high, especially with students in training.

The current generation is already exposed to computers in their secondary or higher secondary levels and many are aware of the latest tools and software. Another reason for the implementation is that WWIL wanted its students to learn the latest technology with aesthetics and how it is used in production studios. They get internship in different studios and by the end of every term, they have to be ready to work on the ongoing projects.

“All our faculties, including me, are working professionals for the past 12 years in top studios. Having experience in production environment and our syllabus being framed on the same basis, we wanted to share our production experience with students,” stated Gokul K, Head of Department–Animation, WWIL.

Graduates of WWIL are sought after by the film, broadcasting, media art and animation industries due to their training in WWIL’s practical and hands-on curriculum. The school is a process-driven institution where students have the opportunity to learn all the necessary processes and techniques necessary for careers in animation, art, film, cinematography, acting, directing and more, in the span of two years.

Powered pen

The faculty in the first term uses Cintiq 21UX (an interactive pen display) for teaching process. When students want to learn and get attention, it is really tough to teach them art while standing around faculties and observing the process. With Cintiq 21UX, connected to the projector, they can sit in their own 2D workstations and learn more efficiently watching on the screen. “Wacom has made our teaching and production environment much easier, faster and very cost-effective, and helped our students to deliver high quality works in less time in WWIL,” informed Gokul.

The character design, turnaround, attitude poses, facial expressions, and ex sheet amongst others are created much faster with the help of drawing directly in Toonboom with Wacom Intuos3 pen tablets and this digital process helps the students to minimize errors. Backgrounds and mattes are created with Photoshop and Wacom Intuos3, which helps students to create rich visuals in less time. Digital color storyboard and digital animation and final digital output are created with a combination of Photoshop and Toonboom with Wacom Intuos3 in less time.

Technology indeed!

Wacom caters to the institute’s need of hardware and software design, animation and other digital content creation. Wacom has turned the classroom into a commercial studio. “Accurate pen pressure, pen tilt sensitivity and high resolution are just the start; Intuos3 pens feel natural—the true measure of quality. Lecturers and students rely on the 1024 levels of pen pressure when painting and doing 3D sculpting, but the instrument’s high precision allows them to forget about the tool and concentrate on the artwork,” stated Gokul.

The school has more than 40 units of Intuos3 pen tablets, three units of Cintiq 21UX interactive pen displays, and 10 units of Graphire four pen tablets. The lecturers have their own Intuos3 for teaching and many students end up investing in their own Intuos3 pen tablets after they experience it. The Intuos3 pen tablets are used in editing artwork, compositing and animation, while Cintiq 21UX displays are used for detailed animation as well as lecturing.

Product benefits

Due to Wacom products, students were able to experiment with many ideas knowing that mistakes could be rectified instantly without starting all over again. Lecturers observed flow of new ideas and were able to assess the creative potential of the students. They have noted improvements in the works of students.

Guests and visitors were amazed at the equipment, particularly the Cintiq 21UX, and found that the technology has contributed to the institute’s reputation for providing facilities.

For employers, this was a sign of professionalism in the industry. As a result, students who showed good adaptability to these commercial environments received job offers from the studios at the end of their internship.

At WWIL, the Wacom brand is synonymous with performance, work quality and innovation. It also recommends Wacom products to students, creative enthusiasts and working professionals despite the big investments for those in India. Afterall, commercial studios choose Wacom’s professional-level Intuos3 and Cintiq 21UX as their de-facto tools and would accept nothing less.

nikita.upadhyay@expressindia.com