Tokyo Sound

In AQUARE ENIX, Master Yin, who is regarded as the fire-fighting captain by producer Yoshida, is an old hand who can even transform Yoshitaka Amano's concept drawings that are inconsistent with the original and have a strong personal style into project drawings. He has demonstrated excellent design and sketching skills.

Drawing a specific image based on a piece of text is a process that is simply a daily routine for game art workers.

As an outsourced party, what kind of strange descriptions and requirements have I not seen? ? ?

He even thought about philosophy in the small icon requirements.

For example, this hero's skill is called "I wish to win the heart of one person", and the ultimate skill is called "To you who will be faithful until death". Someone who was just a low-level original artist at the time opened the document with hope, hoping that there would be light. Then he found that the client did not provide any reference. After receiving feedback such as "too mediocre", "a bit greasy", and "I didn't ask you to really draw a heart" on the first draft, the man fell into a long contemplation, wandering in the world of love, hoping to use his rubbish painting skills to show this topic of high depth from ancient times to the present.

There were also insect illustrations. This time, the client was particularly rigorous, and even every insect in the document had a sophisticated scientific name, not just "dragonfly" and "grasshopper", but "blue-fronted sparse-veined dragonfly" and "long-winged long-backed grasshopper". But the college student was not happy for long, and when he saw the word "realistic" in the requirements, he fell silent again. He began to enter the scientific names one by one to search for specific insects for reference.

But some are really unpopular, and most of them can only be imagined by looking at their close relatives. There is a scorpion that is still fresh in my memory, not because it is ugly and cruel, but because it is too rare. In the only picture I can find, it is dancing with maggots... The man sat in front of the reference picture of the worms wriggling for a whole morning, dreaming of his childhood when he was clearing land and making wailing caves. He had no appetite at noon. When he turned to the more heavyweight oil thief, his eyes rolled up, and he almost lost his soul and asked for leave on the spot.

Compared to these, other feedback like "the lighting is not good, so let's change the light source" are just commonplace and second to none.

Outsourcing to the third party has no dignity.

And now.

A group of animation people actually asked him to draw cute and comfortable paper-like beautiful girls? !

The only requirement is to make it more lovely and attractive based on the original work. Not to mention that these people are experienced and will lend a hand.

Is this the life of those Taoist friends who are working on 2D-type and R&D projects?

You really are making me cry... The man cried in his heart.

Is this the teacher "Yin Ze" who made a name for himself in the industry with just one miracle... People around him sighed in their hearts.

The lightning speed of his writing and the huge and amazing brain stock are really terrifying. No matter what kind of description you use, you can always come up with a good design plan. If the description is too vague, just give a similar example, and the other party will always understand.

Not only the characters, but also the props and monsters are quite accomplished.

In short, it is incredible that his skills and sense of smell are inconsistent with his age and current occupation.

It was a joy and a great pleasure to communicate with a group of people who were simple-minded and devoted to animation creation. The meeting room was filled with enthusiasm.

……

Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

Kashiwa Ippei slowly placed a piece, with a slight smile on his face. He was certain that in three steps, he would win.

"I won." Matsuoka Yoshitsugu suddenly said, and then he made a move, and five black pieces were strung together in a line.

"..." Kashiwa Ippei's smile disappeared.

"It seemed like you were absent-minded, but you missed this. I thought you had some other conspiracy or plan." Matsuoka Yoshitsugu was still adding fuel to the fire.

"Oh, a true wise man's plans and calculations are definitely not just about a small plastic paper plate." Kashiwa Ippei said calmly, his intriguing smile reappeared, his eyes wandering, "The game I'm really playing is farther away."

"So, where exactly is it?" Matsuoka Yoshitsugu couldn't help but ask.

"Kyoto!" the agent said firmly.

"Oh, right, didn't Takizawa say he went on a business trip to Kyoto? It's been three or four days, and I don't know when he will be back." Matsuoka Yoshitsugu said.

"Humph, he won't be back for at least ten days or half a month." Kashiwa Ippei showed the expected disdain on his face, "I don't know if he has finished his business trip, but I can be sure that after he finishes his work, he will definitely hang out outside, and he will most likely go to another place."

"Where?" Matsuoka Yoshitsugu asked again.

"Kyoto Animation!" The agent narrowed his eyes.

"…Is this true?" Matsuoka Yoshitsugu said casually.

"I have been scheming against him and have played chess against him dozens of times."

Kashiwa Ippei sighed, and dark clouds began to fill his eyes.

"But this time, I am sure to win this round. Because in this round, I calculated his greed, and it is best to attack his heart. If he comes back directly, then the backhand will be useless. If he wants to give himself leave, hehe, he will naturally fall into my ambush. Hahahahaha - he is not the only one who can calculate, Xiaobailong, this time, it is God who wants me to achieve success!"

The agent showed an evil and arrogant expression. He was clearly the loser, but he was as proud as if he had won all the celebrity matches.

Matsuoka Yoshitsugu felt from the bottom of his heart that these people were too complicated...

……

"Hello, this is Kyoto Animation. What can I do for you?"

Ishihara Rikiya answered the phone with no energy, like a left-behind father.

"Oh, it's a special feature of the Chuunibyou anime. The voice actors want to go to Studio One to hang out and film some content. No problem, we can do it now. It's available. Huh? The male lead can't come, well, of course he can't come, because he..."

Ishihara Rikiya paused for a moment.

Slowly look towards the third floor where preparations are in full swing.

Chapter 141 Win-Win

The staff carrying the camera was ahead of the voice actors and stood in front of the Xiaohuang Building in advance.

"We're finally here." Uchida Maaya walked over from the street with her realistic acting skills, and then said in surprise, "Huh? Could it be that the person standing there is... Director Rikiya Ishihara?!"

The Four Heavenly Kings, who had just experienced a night of drunkenness and defeat, stood at the corner of the building with their hands folded, affectionately. With a few tufts of slightly curled hair, they exuded the melancholy temperament of an uncle artist.

"As you can see, today we are here to visit Kyoto Animation!" Maaya Uchida introduced towards the camera with a sweet, businesslike smile.

"Welcome everyone, welcome everyone." Ishihara Rikiya waved his hand in a self-assured and cool manner.

"Then I'll trouble you, Supervisor." Uchida Maaya bowed, "Please give me your guidance!"

"Oh, it must be tiring to travel such a long distance." Ishihara Riki asked with his hands behind his back.

"This is work, and I can also go out on business and visit the animation studio. It's very interesting." Uchida Maaya waved her hands repeatedly.

"...Another voice actor on a business trip." Ishihara Rikiya sighed.

"Again?" Uchida Marei was confused.

"Haha, don't worry, please come in!" Ishihara Rikiya smiled brightly, turned around and made an attacking gesture to touch the seal of the barrier. The automatic glass door slowly opened, and he said, "The first floor is the reception and rest area. Go up this spiral staircase and you will reach the second floor, which is the main working area."

"So this is what the interior looks like, with the same yellow decoration style." Uchida Maaya nodded.

"The coffee and snacks here are free to take," added Ishihara Rikiya.

“Hey, are all of these free?”

"Yes, it's similar to your office, but there are fewer Calbee products when purchasing." Ishihara Riki also casually pointed out.

"?"

I'll leave Uchida Maaya with a question for now - why does she know that it's similar to IM, and even go into detail about the product styles.

Ishihara Riki was also very gentle. He was not in a hurry to record the special features. Instead, he let them rest for a while, drink tea, eat some cakes, and chat for a while - as if he was calculating the timing, and then went up to the second floor again.

"We usually call this floor the 'performance and painting room.' This is my seat, and over there are the seats for the original artist and director." Seeing the camera start working, Ishihara Tsuki also straightened his chest and raised his head, looking like he had some burden of being a cadre.

"What does the position of supervisor do?" asked Maaya Uchida.

"Generally speaking, you have to be involved in all the work of the entire episode, which is a very heavy responsibility and requires a high level of ability. It also requires considerable team leadership skills. Not everyone can take on this role easily." Ishihara Rikiya sighed, "So it's not something that can be explained in a few words."

"So what exactly do you do..." Uchida Maaya maintained her smile.

"The most basic thing is storyboards. I lead the camera language and rhythm of the entire work. Although there are people responsible for other aspects, I play a decision-making role. I often participate in various processes, reviewing or making decisions." Ishihara Rikiya took out several thick stacks of information, "These are storyboards. Audiences who have watched the entire animation should have an impression of this and know which segment it is."

"Although it's sloppy, when you look at it in a table like this, you can feel the design of the 'picture'," said Maaya Uchida.

"This kind of behind-the-scenes information is usually rare." Ishihara Rikiya nodded, "--But don't worry, because the information booklet carefully selected by me will be sold together with this special offer! Then you will be able to see the clear manuscript!"

"This advertisement should be said at the end..." Maaya Uchida whispered.

"Oh, I don't appear on camera often, so please cut it out." Ishihara Rikiya scratched his head.

The guy holding up the camera gestured to show his understanding.

"This is where the original paintings are basically made. It can be said that this is the place where the masters of our first studio gather. Most of the other team leaders besides me also work here." Ishihara Rikiya and others moved to the other side of the same floor. "Of course, there are no people here now, because they are having a meeting in the conference room on the third floor."

"Here you can see the setting drawings, such as three-view drawings of characters, a list of commonly used expressions, and the specific expressions of distant, medium and near scenes. There are detailed references for them." Ishihara Rikiya pointed to a wall with a lot of information on it.

"Even eyes can be divided into so many categories?" Uchida Maaya expressed her feelings faithfully on behalf of the audience.

"Yes, considering the distance between the screen and the lens, especially in close-ups, the eyes of the characters are particularly important, so the details should be more than in normal shots, so the renderings are given in advance, so that there will be standards in the subsequent production. After all, animation is a team work, and it is also affected by factors such as schedules and force majeure. Therefore, complete production specifications are quite necessary, even for a 'small workshop' like ours." Ishihara Rikiya said in a serious attitude.

"It's really impressive..." Uchida Maaya nodded vigorously.

"Next, this is where we make the intermediate frames of the animation. The original drawings only have the key points of the action. If there are only the original drawings, there will be no connecting pictures in the middle, and the playback will feel jumpy, so we need to add frames. This should be the most labor-intensive process. Depending on the level and precision of the project, the workload will also increase." Ishihara Rikiya introduced, "There have been cases in the past where the intermediate frames were damaged and unusable. There was no particularly good way, so we ended up redrawing them all. Creation is like this. The interesting conception stage only accounts for a small part, and the rest is hard work that takes time to accumulate."

"Every desk is piled with pens and books. Every beautiful scene was carefully drawn in this way." Uchida Mare agreed, and then tilted her head slightly, "...Hey, this desk looks so empty in comparison. There are not many things, did you resign?"

"On the contrary." Ishihara Rikiya flashed to the left of the camera screen. His sensitivity to the camera was worthy of his position as a supervisor. He smiled mysteriously and said, "This is the workstation of a certain animation supervisor."

"Is that really the case?"

"Yes. It's just that due to personal reasons, he is active in Tokyo, so he can't stay in the first studio permanently, but this workstation is exclusively for him." Ishihara Rikiya blinked his eyes and said calmly, "He is also willing to serve as a lecturer at Kyoto Animation's specialized training school."

"Does the company have an educational institution?" Maaya Uchida was stunned.

"Yes, it's quite similar to the training schools under the voice actor agencies." Ishihara Rikiya then emphasized, "...but the lecturers in our training school are all Kyoto Animation staff. The school is also a private school."

"I'd really like to go and see it if I have the chance, because I came from a training school for voice actors, so I'm very interested in what a private school that trains animators is like," said Maaya Uchida.

"We have two subjects: animation production and art background. The owner of this workstation should be giving lectures in the art background department. You can come and listen if you have time." Ishihara Rikiya continued to emphasize.

"May I?"

"Hahaha, of course. Because this lecturer is very kind and friendly."

Ishihara Riki also looked up at the ceiling, at the third floor.

Who says that only those who stand in the spotlight are heroes? He is now the protagonist of the shadow, working hard behind everyone's back to contribute to the company!

Let me make the strongest move in this war!

The supervisor tried his best to suppress the curve of his lips.

……

Master Yin is still participating in discussions on new works.

Brainstorming in the draft stage is the most interesting because there are no rules, everything is free, and everything has the potential to spark sparks.

In terms of vitality and energy, Kigami Yoshiharu still cannot compare with the young prodigy at hand. In addition, the other party's sketches are indeed top-notch. With bolder imagination, he might even be able to compete with the young professor of Tokyo University of the Arts who suppressed an era... Although the professor has long been known as a master, he has abandoned the mechanical and inhuman painting skills and started to study the essence of aesthetics. This is similar to the stage when Picasso regained his childishness in his middle and late period.

Yoshiharu Kigami thought a little too far ahead, so he just started to slack off and let the other party release as much as he wanted.

Although voice actors do their job very well, sitting here should be the happiest thing for them.

It only takes a few minutes for like-minded creative people to understand each other. Race, language, gender and age are not important. It may sound strange, but it doesn't feel like meeting for the first time. It's like meeting old friends from childhood. There is mutual respect for each other's creations. It's an incredible feeling.

It's not that they have the same ideas, but that they have the same creative passion and troubles.

Sure enough, the feeling I had when we first met was correct - "Yin Ze", you are a creator in the vortex, an artist, just like us.

The discussion of "The Other Side of the Realm" went quite smoothly and the preliminary work was completed quickly.

Everyone went out happily to prepare for the next stage, and those who took on important positions for the first time were determined to show their talents.

"How do you feel?" Yoshiharu Kigami patted the young man's shoulder.

"Compared with game development, it's a different atmosphere." Yin Ze said truthfully.

"Which one is more interesting?"

"It's hard to say. I've done a lot of game art, so animation creation will be fresh in comparison."

"The complete answer will be given to me after you have completed a complete creation." Kigami Yoshiji smiled, "Okay, it's time to go back and revise the manuscript."

The director and the voice actor walked side by side down from the third floor.

Ishihara Rikiya's eyes suddenly flashed with a gleam of brilliance while he was still talking nonstop. He said in a deep voice, "It just so happens that the guy is back from the meeting. Why don't we let him replace me and explain the next color process?"

Yin Ze stopped at a distance. He looked at Uchida Maaya and the camera crew in confusion, and the other party was almost as confused.

"?"

"?"

The man was such a man that he reacted almost instantly. He suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of Tokyo. He seemed to see a figure in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses, with his back to the world, at the end of the long river of time. The man was still slowly placing pieces on the chessboard.

……

Win. Kashiwa Ippei saw that his white pieces had successfully formed a line and smiled sinisterly.

Win. Ishihara Riki also saw that the camera was working faithfully and recording this scene perfectly. He smiled secretly, hiding his achievement and fame.