Totally2d - A True Reflection of Tafadzwa's Heart
An early interest in cartooning and animation led Tafadzwa
Tarumbwa to explore cartooning on his own. As he grew older and began to see
more cartoon films, he developed an interest in the special effects that made
them seem realistic. A self-taught animator, without anybody to ask for
guidance, Tarumbwa had to put in the hours needed to learn. Hours that ended up
growing into weeks, weeks into years.
In his early attempts to draw, his mother gave him VHS tape
of First Lion King that he played pausing to count the number of people it took
to make it. From that age of five, he knew he wanted to be a cartoonist (animator).He
taught himself to draw declaring that a day wouldn’t end without
him drawing something. Eventually he started drawing his own comic books at school
during break time and in-between classes. Other children used to accuse him of
tracing, until he drew live in front of them.
In high school, he continued drawing, attended a school that didn't have
art as a subject, disappointed but he soldiered on. He took things to the next
level by enrolling himself into computers lessons. Due to shortage of computers
at the school, students would start learning computers at a later stage of form
3 and only a few elite allowed. It was unfortunate for Tarumbwa; he was
rejected in the computer class. Without a computer of his own and laptops were
not common back then, his dream seemed to have been shattered. With the help of
his friend Nelson, who allowed him to sneak in the computer lab and do what he
wanted, he finally learned to draw in Paint Brush (Microsoft Paint).
From then, Tarumbwa embarked on learning the computer basic
skills using scrap computers his parents brought home. He believed that to achieve
his goal as an animator, computer skills were necessary. In 2006, he found software
that was designed for animation having been using Paintbrush and Movie Maker to
"animate" since 2004, later on discovered ToonBoom in the year 2006.
It was still very basic and rigid but he was over the moon.
His first properly polished animation called Salad
Chick was released in 2009.The 4 minute long film took 3 months to
make, 4 300 drawings(/frames in animation).In order to reach 4 minutes and
reduce the length of completing the film, he had creative skills to reuse some
of the frames previously used without
audience noticing. The cartoon ran on 15 frames per second and came out a
success. The cartoon won 2 awards namely the 2009 Zimbabwe International Film
Festival (ZIFF)-Best Animated Film and The Most Promising Film Director of the
year. It was selected together with Mbira
Dzakondo and Stunt Goat for
screening in Germany at the largest animation film festival in the world –
Stuttgart Festival in 2012.
His animated projects include the award winning Salad Chick (I Know You, Dating MaCelebrities and Cents less), Stunt Goat, The God Feather (yes it's
feather) and Just Garbage. His film Mbira
Dzakondo premiered on Zimbabwe International Film Festival in 2010.He has also
worked on several adverts and music videos most notably an animated National
Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) nominated music video titled Mirira performed by Dizzy
Don
Currently Tarumbwa latest project is a series of comic books
and comic strips for a local children's book. On top of the list is Ngoda Chronicles, printed by
Comexposed, the second issue, will be out this month of August (2016). In
addition, he is creating another international comic called Smile Sumo, sponsored by his client
from the United Kingdom. However, the biggest venture he is working on is a
series of PC/ Mobile games expected to be out before December 2016.
Tarumbwa explained his love for animation as his inspiration
and animation as a gift from God. He loves comics, art, making games and
opening the minds of people, especially the young ones. Color theory makes his
artworks unique, he described saying, ‘I just love colors, the richer the
colors the happier I am, mixing different skin tones and ethnics that gives
sharp contrasts. Fueled by emotions within his heart, his art is a true
reflection of him following his heart. Apart from animation, Tarumbwa loves
chopper motorcycles and vintage cars. He is also a Sunday school teacher at his
local church; he creates and draws up all the class materials children use.
In future Totally2d is to grow into a major player in the African
and International market. Tarumbwa plans to publish numerous printed comic book
titles at affordable pricing, and have an animated film that is long enough for
cinema distribution. Nevertheless, before Totally2d invades cinemas he’s
working on animated viral-videos and short films that will be screened at film
festivals all over the world. However, he has focused on the near future, which
is the August comic book and the PC + mobile games that should be out before
December 2016.
All of his works and activities can be viewed on his
facebook page www.facebook.com/Totally2danimations and YouTube platform https://www.youtube.com/user/Totally2d,
website: www.totally2d.com Twitter (@totally2d)
To get in touch with him via email email@totally2d.com
he is currently based at the Moto Republik Creative Hub, Allan Wilson Harare.
To other new animators out there Tarumbwa advices that they
finish their projects, since most upcoming animators never publish their films.
He added that to become a better animator or game developer one needs to
publish his/her work. He goes on to say that, we need more animators despite
how short and simple your work is. ‘’Do
not be discouraged! Before Salad Chick
won its awards I was told by some people that 2d animation is too old, I should
stop the film and learn to do it on 3d instead but I kept pushing’’.
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