Fascination To Fixation - Animation Becomes Harmeet Kaur Saini’s North Star

Like many kids, Mumbai based Harmeet Kaur Saini was mesmerized by the fictional worlds and quirky characters that played out on the TV screen. But while her peers just viewed cartoons as a fun pastime, she saw it as something more. The more animated content she consumed, the deeper her urge grew to someday make her own. By her early teens, she was certain that animation was her calling. But daydreaming about conjuring cartoons wasn’t enough, she needed to acquire the skills too. Her first move was enrolling herself into an Arena Animation course under Aptech Limited while still in high school. This intensive program exposed her to industry standard software like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk Maya, VFX, Sound Forge and many more over 800+ hours.

While honing her technical skills, Harmeet also worked on several animated shorts and motion design projects. Many won accolades in inter-school competitions, providing her a timely boost. “While completing my Arena certification, I opted for a bachelor’s degree in Mass Media and Communication from the University of Mumbai as I felt formal design education would only strengthen my design toolkit. Coupled with my Arena learnings, the degree helped me tighten my grasp over principles of image composition, videography, editing - all crucial for crafting impactful animations,” informs Harmeet.

The comprehensive media exposure also catalyzed Harmeet to expand her creative horizons beyond just animation. She dabbled in celebrity interviews, show production, and even organized college festivals. However, while she enjoyed these detours, animation remained her compass guiding future decisions. A defining insight emerged for Harmeet during her media degree when she realized that animated content offers immense scope to enhance education. Acting upon this idea, she pursued a second bachelor’s degree focused on teaching methodologies alongside her existing design role. The knowledge powered her to devise novel concepts leveraging animation to explain academic concepts better. “The dual exposure to design and instruction unlocked a gratifying way for me to utilize my animation skills,” says Harmeet.

Armed with expansive knowhow she began collaborating with creators from Mumbai’s entertainment world. Her animated explainers helped Indian viral content creators like Angry Prash (7.32M subscribers), Be YouNick (4.46M subscribers), Ashish Chanchlani (30.2M subscribers), and international artists like Soulja Boy (3.42M subscribers) including Grammy- nominated artist Tyla Yaweh. Such opportunities to partner with popular artists gave Harmeet’s portfolio much-needed visibility, and as her work reached bigger audiences, evenglobal names took notice. In 2021, Harmeet enrolled for a Master’s program at the acclaimed University of Michigan School of Education.