Layer 01 · character
Invent a hero
Students create characters and sets: cut-out figures, toys, city models.
Animation studio · Nine Senses art center · Sea Breeze
ANIMA
Here things are brought to life: a character is invented, a script is written, a cartoon is shot frame by frame and voiced. The studio has worked inside the Nine Senses art center since October 2023.
frame 001Contact sheet
Layer 00 · the truth
What ANIMA really is
It is not a separate studio with its own entrance but an animation workshop inside the Nine Senses art center. It was given the name “Anima” when it opened in 2023; today the center's website calls it simply “the Nine Senses animation studio.”
28.10.2023
The opening of “Anima”
On International Animation Day, Nine Senses opened the cut-out animation studio “Anima” under the direction of Emin Mirabdullayev. The same day there was an exhibition of animation miniatures.
Source: a Sea Breeze news item, Report.az
10.11.2024
The “Gobustan-3029” diorama
At the “Codes of Gobustan” exhibition at Nine Senses, an artistic diorama by Ilkin Zafarli was shown — the photographer and director who opened the neighboring photo studio in 2023.
Source: the Nine Senses website
now
The Nine Senses animation studio
The studio head is Ilkin Zafarli. The “Animation” program is listed on the center's official website. Sign-up is by phone through Nine Senses.
Source: the Nine Senses website (© 2025), checked on 18.09.2026
Layer 02 · process
How a cartoon is made here
The four layers a clip is built from. The order follows the description by the studio head on the Nine Senses website.
Layer 02 · script
Write a story
Before shooting, a script is written — a short story to be told through movement.
Layer 03 · camera
Shoot frame by frame
A phone on a tripod, the figure is moved a tiny bit — and another frame. Hundreds of shots add up to movement.
Layer 04 · voice
Voice the cartoon
The finished cartoon is voiced. The center also has a separate “Voice-over” program.
Layer 03 · head
Ilkin Zafarli
Head of the Nine Senses animation studio, artist, director, art photographer.
He has worked in art photography for more than 10 years; he has created more than 70 000 pieces of professional content for stock sites (Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStock, Depositphotos, Dreamstime, 123RF, BigStock, CanStock).
At the studio he teaches how to create characters, write a script, do frame-by-frame shooting and voice finished cartoons.
About the head →Layer 04 · works
The studio head's photographic works
Light miniatures, freezelight and old film projectors — photographs by Ilkin Zafarli from a page on the Nine Senses website. He sells many of them on photo stocks under his own name. Click a frame to open it and “play” them all in a row.
Layer 05 · place
Where it is
The round Nine Senses building
31 Dalan Street, Sea Breeze Resort, Nardaran, Baku — in the Nine Senses art center building.
The point on the map is approximate: the studio is inside the art center building.
Layer 06 · sound
Sign up through the art center
The studio has no phone of its own: sign-up, the schedule and class prices are confirmed with the Nine Senses administrators.
+994 55 255 54 12