Best wishes for animation production

After Gu Xue entered the company, she unexpectedly did not feel unfamiliar at all. Instead, she felt extremely friendly, whether it was the messy and familiar workbench or the fat right hands shaking rapidly with their heads lowered and wearing earplugs... the painters.

This is a normal animation company. There are no painters like Ema, no production managers like Aoi and Erica, and no general animation supervisor dressed in a gothic lolita style. This place is either a foot-picking guy or a burly guy. Shirobako, a big man with a tired face who picks his feet, go to hell, don’t even try to trick me into doing animation.

Gu Xue walked to the workbench according to her memory and looked around. Thinking of the white box animation of the earth, she couldn't help but complain a few words in her heart.

And subconsciously ignored herself, until several young original animators who stood up to take a rest glanced at her seemingly inadvertently, and then stared at her. This reminded her of her identity, and she quickened her pace slightly. , came to the workbench, quickly pulled out the chair and sat down.

It seems to be a sign of shyness, but it is actually a sign of shyness...

After sitting down, Gu Xue calmed down a little, and suddenly felt that her behavior just now was stupid, and she was also a little speechless. She really shouldn't join an animation company like this, go to university...

However, these messy thoughts soon disappeared, because Gu Xue found two cut bags on her desk, which contained the chapters of "My uncle's right leg is missing a big toe, but it's not a toe, but a holy sword". Six episodes of 221cut, 222cut (shots, cards).

In animation production, work is usually done in units of cards, which can be understood as a short section of the animation, with varying lengths of time. It will be divided when drawing the storyboard. The number of cards for a new show is about 300~350.

Just like movies, animation also needs to consider composition and camera positioning. Generally speaking, after the storyboarding of an episode is completed and approved by the supervisor, the show will distribute hundreds of cards of storyboards to the original animators, explain the relevant requirements, and then The original artist is about to start work.

For example, in the animation, there is a card of a female high school student waving. Then you must first determine what kind of shot it is, such as what the camera angle is, whether it is a telephoto lens or a close-up, what the perspective is like, and what is inside. People and scenery, etc.

To put it simply, it is composition, because the storyboard is very rough and the scene is not detailed. This step is to completely determine the content of the picture, so precise that every detail of the completed picture can be determined, and the output has professional terms. , called Layout, which roughly means design draft when translated, or L/O for short.

The original painting stage is to make the characters move and draw key frames, or the scene of the female high school student waving just mentioned. After the L/O determines what angle to use, what characters and scenery are in it, whether it is a telephoto lens or a close-up, etc., then The formal original painting work is about to begin.

The first original painting will depict a female high school student.

The second original painting will depict the movement of a female high school student's arm, raising her hand, for example, raising her arm to her chest.

The third original painting should depict a female high school student raising her hand, for example, raising her hand above her head.

The next picture shows a female high school student raising her arms and waving her hands from one side to the other, making a waving motion.

Of course, this is just a simplified and rough expression.

Anyway, these key frames that determine the character's movements, before raising the hand, raising the hand, and after raising the hand, from beginning to end, it is the original artist's job to select the accurate key frame position and draw the key frame.

This step requires very high control over time, character movements, and changes.

After the original painting completes all the key frames of this shot, it will enter the animation stage. The animation is responsible for drawing the original painting into lines that can be colored and cutting in the middle. Because the lines of the original painting are often not closed, coloring cannot be done in this way. It is necessary Trace it again. As for the mid-cut, the middle frame is added based on the original painting.

For example, if the arm is waving, there are two original paintings, one with the hand on the left and one with the right. When combined, it looks like the hands are moving, but if they are not cut, it will feel weird, like teleporting. At this time It is necessary to add the necessary intermediate painting between the two original paintings to make the action look more smooth and coherent.

Generally speaking, L/O (composition) - original painting (key frame drawing) - animation (line cutting) are the painting links in animation production and the basis for animation to 'move'.

And Gu Xue is the second original painting. The so-called second original painting is the clear draft, which refines the first original painting into an original painting that can be used for animation.

It sounds quite complicated, but it is actually a hard job. To put it simply, the first original painting only draws the outline and movements of the characters. Specific details such as clothes, faces, hair, etc. are not drawn. At this time, The second original painting needs to be refined based on character settings and other things. The technical content is not high, it is just picking out details.

Referred to as Qing Eryuan.

One troublesome one.

The original purpose of adopting the second original painting system was to allow "people who are good at drawing" to use "the least amount of effort" to make "characters move". Now...

Under normal circumstances, L/O, first original painting, and second original painting will be all handled by one original artist, but there are fewer and fewer such original artists.

The two cards Gu Xue received were the completed first original paintings. The outline movements had been completed. They seemed to be sports cards. They were the climax of the sixth episode of the animation. Because no one could draw them, they were specially painted by original artists outside the company. .

Gu Xue was quite looking forward to it at first, but after roughly flipping through the original paintings of 2 cards, she was shocked.

What the hell is this?

It's really eye-catching.

The drawing is careless, the action design is a mess, some human body outlines are out of shape, and the movements of wielding the holy sword are all distorted...

How did such an original painting get approved by the performance and animation supervisor...

Is it really a sacrificial work...

Gu Xue looked at the pile of original paintings on the table with a disgusted expression.

She was not interested in picking out details from such a shitty first draft of the original painting.

But her hands were itchy, because these two cards were very silly and fun. The two cards were close-ups of the protagonist. Her toes flew out and glowed in mid-air. The protagonist ran and jumped, holding her toes and turning her toes into a holy sword. The protagonist swooped down with the holy sword, and the holy sword hit the ground.

Stupid, right? But it feels like a cult movie.

Gu Xue likes Cult movies, or rather likes them on Earth.

She glanced at the ready-made first original painting, thought about it for only two seconds, and then happily decided to throw it aside and start over again by herself.

It doesn't matter whether she adopts it or not. She just wants to draw it anyway, so in the worst case, she will get out.

Pulling out the rhythm sheet (a schedule for painting, determining the time for each painting), taking out the original painting paper, fastening it on the positioning ruler, and putting on the headphones. When Gu Xue picked up the pen, she smiled happily and suddenly felt a lot of things. Actually it’s not that bad, at least girls have hands too...

But after painting for a while, she couldn't laugh anymore.

I feel so tired from sitting...

My breasts are so annoying, how can I fix them...