How Pingu’s death inspired artists’ animation niche

 

Artists Thome Mwaniki, Sheldon Mutei and Gift Kyansamire. (Courtesy)

When children’s comedy Pingu stopped airing on Kenyan television, many in the animation space forgot about its unique design. Pingu, played by a penguin character made out of plasticine clay, was a series made purely from physically creating and moving the character to create a sequence that looks like continuous motion. This gap in the animation scene sparked the interest of three young men who chose to start a career in stop motion.