My name is Tumelo Matabola, and I am a 22 year old student about to graduate from the Animation school in Johanesburg South Africa.  Ever since I was a child I've been enamored by the world of art and creative fields and nothing has held me back from pursuing my passions with the goal of making them a career. I attended my 5 years of highschool at The National School of the Arts. There I was taught tradtional art and design and explored many traditional mediums such as water and oil painting, monoprinting and sculping. In my 4th year of highschool I created a short 2D animated film for our School festival which was a great success. At that point I realised my true passion was creating Animation. In persuit of my studies I applied to the Animation School in Johannesburg and I was also awarded a scholarship by Triggerfish Animation Studios to study through the three year animation course taught at The Animation School. Over my three years of study at the Animation School I have been taught all areas of the Animation pipeline and therefore I am a confident 3D generalist. However my greatest strengths are in 2D animation, 2D VFX Animation, storyboarding and 3D Lighting. My goal is to work on long form animation projects such as TV serise and Films. I love story development and have great ability to work in a team to further develop and flesh out a project from concept and over see it through to final render. In our Third and final year at the Animationschool we are tasked with creating a short animated film in groups with our peers. In my team I have been designated as the production designer, storyboard artist, 2D animator and 3D Lighting Artist. 

My personal motive as an artist is to collaborate on projects that inspire communities of people that are under represented in society and bring to life stories that have been unheard but deserve to see the light of day. I believe that animation is a powerful medium to educate and inspire people from all walks of life and hopefully bring them together. That is my greatest hope as an artist, to use my skills and abilities to help shift collective consciousness whilst also entertaining and inspiring audiences with the beauty of animation.