Nina Look Development

Im going to post some look development work that I did on Nina before she got published on her first story.Sadly,I didnt get as much time to polish the drawings as much as I would have liked as we were involved in a massive video production at the time(ill post about that development later).
So here are some raw pics.....just ink pen and paper.

Suppandi and Shikari Shambu Reboot

We recently updated the look of Shikari Shambu and Suppandi for Tinkle, they are definitely one of the most loved characters in the Tinkle ouvre and we started by doing
a couple of 15 second interstitials in 3d using their new designs.Take a look...

Amar Chitra Katha Look Development

Old work getting a dusty airing out....this is a bunch of stuff we did for Amar Chitra Katha.
Little did I realize then, but this would be the last look development work that we would do as an indpendent studio,soon after this the buyout occurred and we became Amar Chitra Katha.

Some of these look dev. works actually made it as posters in Crosswords and Landmark, as well as bookmarks.Im hoping to get this look in the Mobile content that we are developing currently as well...take a look!

Nina:Lost and Found

Nina's adventures are set in 1950's India and she follows her Dad around on his job.
Her mother is missing, since she was a young child and a longer story arc that explores
her mother's mysterious disappearance will add a deeper sub-plot to her stories.

The first story is set in Nepal, where we join Nina and her Dad on a road tunnel survey.Before big engineering projects are started, Nina's dad is called upon to make geographical and geological survey maps of the area.On the way to the survey site, their jeep breaks down and a snowstorm descends.They discover a plane wreck which has been uncovered by an avalanche and go to investigate...

New Character Development: Nina

Nina is the first new IP that I created for ACK Media.She's really a composite hero of all the characters I wanted to create for a long time..Ill skip the long expositions and post some visuals of her development and let that speak for itself.Written and drawn by me and colored by the great team of Yat, Sud and Shanu who always make my work look mmmucch better than it really is...
Reena Puri , who joined on a ACK Editor also helped me through the layout stage by doing breakdowns and some great script suggestions.

Transition:Quiet Men Studios Owner to Amar Chitra Katha VP

Well,its been about 6 months since my take-over.

For people who dont know me..my name is Arjun Gupte.

I used to run a small gaming and animation design studio called Quiet Men Studios since 2004(self-funded) in Bangalore,India.

www.quietmen.net

We had a pretty good run for 4 years, working on game design and animation production for majors like Sony and Warner Bros. and (lots) of unnamed minors.We learnt a lot about animation,game design in general and clients(!) in particular.We broke even in our 2nd year and were a cash profitable company since 2006,so things were humming along.


Along the way, I built the team from 2 to 8 people and we started focusing more on game design and character IP.

Our one and only Indian client, Amar Chitra Katha(www.amarchitrakatha.com)came calling for some character redesigns in 2007 and liked our work.Before we knew it they were our only client and we pitched them a game concept, which was a MMO proposal using the IP that they had built over the last 30 years.

The founder of ACK Media, Samir Patil who had aqquired all of the older ACK catalogue proposed a buyout wherein I and my team could as a core for the new creative studio that they wanted to build out.

It seemed like a good fit, and we started talking seriously from Sept. 2007.They got a pretty good studio at a scale that they could satisfactorily manage and we got a great channel to push our ideas into the marketplace.


I am now the creative head of ACK Media Pvt. Ltd. and am directly responsible for creating and overseeing all the new IP and media production that ACK Media produces.Ill post on some of these new creations as we go along...including a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that goes on.