Kala Keerthi The Kala Keerthi ( si, කලා කීර්ති) is a Sri Lankan Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded "''for extraordinary achievements and contributions in arts, culture and drama''". It is the highest national honour for arts, cu ...

Camillus Perera is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. His cartoon characters like

Gajaman ''Gajaman'' ( si, ගජමෑන්), sometimes referred to as '' Camillus' Gajaman 3D'', is a 2023 Sri Lankan Sinhala 3D animation comedy film directed by Chanaka Perera and co-produced by John Fonseka and Chamika Jinadasa for Studio 101. The fi ...

and Siribiris have been published in various Sinhala newspapers ranging from the Sunday Observer to Sivdesa. Perera was invited to join the advisory board of John Lent's Cartoon Journal in 2002.

Life and career

Early life

Perera was born in

Negombo Negombo (, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in Western Province, from Colombo via Colombo - Katunayake Expressway. Negombo is one of the major commercial hubs in the country and ...

and was the eldest son in a family of four. He was educated at the Roman Catholic Sinhala School, Maris Stella and St. Mary's College, Negombo. Perera first dabbled in

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

in the lower grades. He also briefly pursued a career as a sportsman in his teens leading the Jupiter Football Association in Negombo.

Cartoonist

Perera began work as a cartoonist in 1966 developing characters for the Observer and "Dekkoth Pathmawathi" for Lake House's film magazine. In 1972 he created Gajaman, his most popular character. Gajaman first appeared on Sathuta, a Lake House comic art publication and from 1975 to 1984 occupied a spot on the comic publication Sittara. In April 1984 Perera produced a magazine devoted to his work titled ''Camillusge Gajaman''. Its success, with over 200,000 copies sold, prompted the followups ''Camillusge Samayan'' in December and ''Camillusge Gajaman #2'' the next year. Both sold between 200,000–300,000 copies and resulted in the formation of Camillus Publications. Perera cited copyright issues as a primary reason for the creation of his new company. He subsequently registered his 15 characters with the Department of Registry and Patents. ''Camillusge Gajaman Samaga Sathsiri'' (later shortened to ''Sathsiri'') released in 1986 was the first comic magazine by Camillus Publications and immediately sold over 150,000 copies eventually achieving a circulation of 200,000. Their second magazine ''Camillusge Don Sethan Samaga Rasika'' (shortened to ''Rasika'') followed the misadventures of Don Sethan, Perera's oldest creation. Don Sethan first appeared in the daily ''Janath'' on May 1, 1966. In the 1990s Perera worked on several periodicals including a weekly comic magazine.

Legacy

Several exhibitions of Perera work have been held. In 2002 Perera celebrated Gajaman's 36th birthday at

BMICH The Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), ( si, බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යාන්තර සම්මන්ත්‍රණ ශාලාව ta, பண்டாரநாயக்க சர்வத� ...

, Colombo 7 with chief guest Power and Energy Minister

Karu Jayasuriya Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya, MP ( si, කරු ජයසුරිය, ta, கரு ஜயசூரிய; born 29 September 1940) is a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Previously he was Mayor of Colom ...

. In 2004 Alliance Francaise de Kandy sponsored an exhibition which was opened by Professor Kapila Goonasekere, Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya. A CGI animated film based on the comic strip

was produced by Studio 101 and released on 27th January 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perera, Camillus Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Sri Lankan cartoonists Sri Lankan Roman Catholics Kala Keerthi