1. Animators across the world have been working against the odds and the same holds true for India. 2. They are underpaid, their work relegated to the sidelines, and so-called experts assuming that animators cannot be considered in the same pantheon as our greatest storytellers. 3. While Will Smith’s slapgate controversy overshadowed nearly every frame of the Oscars ceremony last year, for animators it was offensive for a wholly ignored reason. 4. Before presenting Encanto the award for Best Animated Feature, the presenters Lily James, Naomi Scott and Halle Bailey joked that animation was just for kids. 5. A similar sentiment is echoed by Puks, a 27-year-old animator based in Bengaluru, who blends 3D animation with hand drawn 2D illustrations, deriving inspiration from Studio Ghibli films.