We recently connected with Akshara Mallan and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Akshara, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Learning the craft or learning how to make miniature models was something I have been doing since the age of 6 if I remember correctly. I would always collect scrap material from anywhere possible and then turn that into some sort of miniature model. As a kid, I would come home from school and watch this Art show called Art Attack on Disney. this guy had these interesting ways of making origami art or just any sort of art. That is where I first learned how to make stuff. As I grew up, and went into high school, somewhere along that road I forgot about this hobby. When I was in college I had a workshop where we built puppets for Stop Motion animation and the memories and knowledge and love for this art just came rushing back in and haven’t left since :)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi, my name is Akshara Mallan and I am from Bangalore, India. I am currently completing my Masters in Animation. I specialize in Stop Motion animation. I have always loved working with miniature models and being able to narrate a story through these has always fascinated me.
I usually try to add a little bit of my culture from back home into my stories or art.
The one thing I am most proud of is my journey of knowledge in this art form. I started out as little knoweldge and love for the art and now its all I think about. My journey in this art has made me realize just how much I love it and how we as artist could learn so much from this intricate work. I eventually want to get into teaching this art form years from now and so I plan on gaining as much knowlegde and skill in Stop motion.
I can go on and on but I think eventually it would still lead to one answer of just how much I want to learn the art.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to share your art with everyone out there. To be able to share your thoughts through this medium and let people see your art. I think as an artist we always want to be able to speak through art and not words and the minute we are able to do so, and people respond to our art is when we feel like we have gotten through and are able to communicate, not with words but just merely through some medium of art.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As a goal, over the years I have spent time learning the art of stop motion I learned that many people are not familiar with this medium or know very little. I want to be able to teach people this art form because it is one of its first in animation and a dying art form that needs to be taught to future generations. Stop Motion animation is underrated and an intricate and delicate yet so beautiful and complicated all at once. To be able to understand and practice this medium itself is one of the best skills an animator could have. You really learn a lot of patience, time management, and an eye for detail, which can indirectly help you in other aspects of animation too.     

Contact Info:

• Website: https://akshara1612.wixsite.com/my-site-1
• Instagram: mallan.co
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshara-mallan-1b4190178/

Image Credits
I would just like to credit SCAD ( Savannah college of Art and Design) as this College has helped me work on so many areas regarding stop motion. Especially my Professor, Nathan Ashquith.