In celebration of the month running up to International Animation Day on 28 October, we will be posting daily interviews with colleagues and friends from the South African animation community.

5 MINUTES
WITH...PEARL MTHEMBU

I'm 29 years old and from Soweto. I did my matric at Jabulani Technical High School,
then went to VACA and Funda Community College to Study Fine Arts. Later on I studied Creative Multimedia and majored in Animation at NEMISA. I was then chosen to be one of the 6 students to Intern at UTV in India by Animazing during their making of their 3D Animation Tv series The Magic Cellar. During this
time we were also trained in-depth about what 3D Animation was all about and
what kind of industry we were getting ourselves into. It was then that I
discovered my undying love for 3D, the rigging side of it in particular, given
that I had a technical background from high school.

When I returned I carried on Interning and eventually got hired by Depth VFX as a 3D
generalist artist and mostly doing rigging. Sadly Depth VFX got liquidated
during the recession, It was difficult for me to find any work because Jo’burg
was mostly about commercials and there wasn't much work for TD/ Riggers.
Luckily I came upon an advert in Animation SA website, that Triggerfish was
looking for riggers for their feature film Zambezia. I am now proud and honored to be working in feature films for Triggerfish Animations in Cape Town
as a TD/ Rigging Artist.

1.  Tell us about yourself – who are you and what do you do? 

I am an extreme believer in myself and very passionate about anything I do, I love
life, love to smile but am very serious when I do my work. I am a Technical
Director/ Rigging Artist for Triggerfish Animations in Cape Town.

2.  What are you currently up to? Are there any exciting projects ongoing? 

To be honest the most exciting thing that's happening in my life at the moment is the
opportunity to work on South Africa's two 3D feature films. Zambezia and Khumba. It's what I have always wished for.

3.  Who or what inspires you? 

Life in general, my family, my community - be it from home or the Animation community
at large - the awesome team at Triggerfish, my friends and mostly my Dad.

4.  What’s your best project/work to date? 

Working in feature films is the best thing that's happened to me thus far, so at the
moment I have to say it's Zambezia.

5.  Anything new going on? Or in the pipeline? 

I am quite fortunate to be working on another Triggerfish's production, Khumba

6.  When you’re not working, what do you like to do? 

If I was asked this question a year ago, even my friends know this, I would say partying
and clubbing (lol) . But now I love doing my own music; I'm learning how to
play a penny whistle which I enjoy so much. Hopefully I'll eventually learn how
to play Special Star by Mango Groove (lol).

7.  Finally, what tips or advice could you give to other creatives, just starting out or to the more experienced creatives needing a bit of encouragement? 

The advice I would give to creatives starting out is always be eager to learn new things
and do not forget the basics you've learnt. And to the more experienced, I'd
say things are getting better for all of us and the other way that we can help
fate is to be more open with what we've learnt so far and be able to teach and
share it with other artists coming after us.