That’s me in the picture. I was a mining engineer then. I used to spend my time deep underground in some dark corner of a remote coalmine sketching under the light of my helmet!! Until one day I decided that I wanted to become a full time cartoonist and animator. I packed my bags and left into the darkness leaving behind a note for my boss that I would not be coming back!! I had dreams to chase!! That was a cold winter night in 1988.

I went on to study visual communication design. And now, for the past 18 years, it has been great fun with cartoons, animation and computer graphics, and I don’t regret this one bit!!

Over the years, I have illustrated for Children’s books, drawn numerous cartoons, completed cartoon animation serials, produced video games, done special effects for feature films and worked on TV commercials.

Phani Tetali’s Profile:

Phani is an animation consultant, animation educator, designer, cartoonist and illustrator with more than 18 years of experience in the animation/design/multimedia/ world.

Until recently, as Vice President he was responsible for Business Development, Production and the overall activities at FXLabs Studios Private Limited, Hyderabad, India. He also worked as Producer on a PC game which is due for an international release.

Prior to that, as VP and CTO, he was responsible for the start up of Dataquest (presently DQ Entertainment Ltd), the largest animation company in India. Later he worked as VP and CTO at Danlaw Technologies India Limited, Hyderabad, heading their animation division, AMM Studio.

His experience includes running his own animation studio (Animatix) in Chennai, India (1994 to 1999) during which time he completed a 13X22 min (first of its kind) cartoon animation serial in Hindi called “Tara ki Duniya” which was later telecast on the National Television Network in India.

Apart from this, he worked on several commercials, children’s programs and feature film special effects. Phani has also conducted seminars, taught animation and delivered lectures in schools, colleges and clubs He has a keen interest in photography and making video documentaries.

Phani has a B.Tech from the Institute of Technology, BHU (1988) and a Masters in Design in Visual Communication from the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay (1991) with animation, computer graphics and video as his chosen areas of specialization