The Poisoned Rain of Agharti (Animation)

[shomazta]

Originally Posted by mimi_girl

Aww, T_T. But you should work at a anime studio in Japan. Maybe they'll like your work, or that promotion of you little movie, someone would hire you ^^.

why's he have to do it in Japan? ... I'll keep an eye out for this tho (if I can remember in a year haha)

[katakami]

Thanks. =)

Recent character guide for Karin:

[Honey_and_Cleaver]

Amazing!

If i may, can i ask you, how do you produce this animation? What tools did you used?

[Miko Miko]

wow those are amazing!

[SGT.Mitsuki]

lol are you going to draw the whole animation ?
if so your going to be working on this for a loooong loooooong time

tho i must say i realy like the drawings and am very curious towards how it will turn out.

im planing to make my own anime too someday n if i survive this year on school il be doing animation next year and il be a step closer to my dream ^^

tho if i dont make it into animation then that will be where everything ends... ^^

goodluck on yer project,
with your talent for drawing im sure you'l get there ^^

Mits

[katakami]

Originally Posted by Honey_and_Cleaver

Amazing!

If i may, can i ask you, how do you produce this animation? What tools did you used?

The animation is all hand drawn. So I'm using paper, HB pencil, animation disc & table (cheapy student version), animation peg bar with round hole registration ... you know what? here's a photo.





And to put it together, I photograph each frame using a semi-automatic SLR... then I use Adobe ImageReady. For colouring I use photoshop. For inking... I used Photoshop in last year's project. This year I'm using Painter.

Originally Posted by SGT.Mitsuki

lol are you going to draw the whole animation ?
if so your going to be working on this for a loooong loooooong time

im planing to make my own anime too someday n if i survive this year on school il be doing animation next year and il be a step closer to my dream ^^

tho if i dont make it into animation then that will be where everything ends... ^^

Yes, the animation methods are completely traditional. That is of course, not counting inking and colouring. It's a CRAZY amount of work but a good animator always has tricks up their sleeve. There's heaps of shortcuts. You just gotta know how to use them.

Good luck with making your own animation. Right now a student environment is the best environment to start animation. Everything is so much cheaper and no one really expects much from you (as in, you don't really need to try and impress any shareholders/sponsors.)

I've gotta warn you, it's really tough. You really gotta be passionate and persistent about it to make it through cuz there's no one there to really push you to the finish. I've been at this since the beginning of the year (I've got people helping me on sound, backgrounds, music, colouring...etc but I'm on my own in the animation, inking and directing part.) Sometimes it gets really daunting. But one thing that has really helped me to keep going was reading about other animators (from East and West) like Miyazaki, Disney, Ub Iwerks, Hanna-Barbera, Max Fleischer, Tex Avery... etc. How they started, why they do what they do, what makes them masters of the field... etc.

And don't think it's the end if you find animation isn't for you. I started doing my degree intending to make a career in 3D animation. (I was a big fan of Final Fantasy series and wanted to make such games.) But when I actually did 3D stuff I hated it. It was too technical for me. I gave up on a career in animation for a while. (As you might know, in the West, particularly in Australia, all animation jobs tend to be 3D animation and 2D is barely surviving.)

But then I proposed this really ambitious project in 2D animation and so many people helped me. A lot of things happened for me to be able to do this project. I knew I was supposed to make this animation. I'm hoping when I complete this project it will inspire a lot of people to take on 2D traditional animation projects in the West.

Sorry to get philosophical.

[Solace]

That is amazing work. I remember when you came the forums a few months ago and asked if anyone would be interested in voice acting. I'm glad to see it's working out so well for you. It certainly looks like a ton of effort!

Please keep us informed and it would be an honor to see your final result. I hope this passion continues into your future projects as well.

[ZeRoGravity]

Originally Posted by katakami

Hmm... I think Japan would be quite competitive.

I'm planning on going to America and hopefully eventually work on more productions like Avatar the Last Airbender. =) See, anime is already really developed in Japan but Western animation has heaps potential to grow since a lot of it is still targetted to a young audience. If someone started making animated films or series for older audiences (besides tv satires) - films like Miyazaki's that is - then there'd be a big potential for a new market. 3D animation is really dominant in the West but there's a lot of people who want to bring 2D back. I think with really good stories and new fancy techniques (or hybrid ones borrowed from Japanese anime) we could. =D

It may not look like it but the anime industry in Japan is not doing very well. China is the new big market. Their animation is in its infant stage - as in really bad. If you are planning to move, China seems more appropriate. Of course since you're talking about anime than America is still a good choice, and their consumers market is one the biggest in the world.

[katakami]

I've heard of a lot of outsourcing going to Korea. Lots of recent anime from Japan like... Romeo X Juliet, Death Note and xxxHolic (I thought Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles was as well... but I could be wrong... )

Even American animation projects like the Simpsons Movie, Avatar the Last Airbender, King of the Hill (a woman who I learned 2D animation from is in Korea directing some of the episodes)... etc. were outsourced to Korea.

Haven't heard of projects outsourcing to China yet. (know any examples? ... haha don't mind me, I'm just really curious about the animation industry and I like to keep tabs on these things. ^^) I am anticipating it. I'm predicting eventually the studios in Korea are going to demand higher pay and China will offer cheaper labour... so people will start to outsource to China a lot more. Anyhow, it would be nice to work as an animator but I think to make it in the West with all this outsourcing... you gotta be a bit more ambitious and aim to make your own projects. If there aren't any jobs, well I say make some!

[Ledgem]

That's really impressive. Is there no way to make it easier or speed it up by somehow using computer resources? I can't think of any ways to do it and still make it look good, myself. But jeez... 1000+ sheets, that's really amazing.

[katakami]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

That's really impressive. Is there no way to make it easier or speed it up by somehow using computer resources? I can't think of any ways to do it and still make it look good, myself. But jeez... 1000+ sheets, that's really amazing.

Hmm there are programs that do help speed up the process. From what I've seen, Toon Boom can do automatic lipsync. Basically you load the sound in and the program animates the mouth shapes for you. It'll work as long as your character is standing still. XD But ofcourse you have to go in and do a bit of editing cuz sometimes the software uses the wrong mouth shape.

And then there's Anime Studio Pro which you can rig objects (kinda like in 3d programs) and animate in that way... I haven't looked into it properly though. (No time!! So I'm doing it the long way. XD) I'll probably look into using Anime Studio Pro for simple background animation (like trees swaying in the wind.. etc.) The best bit is these programs are pretty cheap! ($200US... well... that's cheap compared to other GUI programs.)

But there's a simple joy in traditional animation. =) I could have chosen to do it in Flash or After Effects using vector objects but... that's a whole different method. I prefer using pencils and paper.

There is one program I've been TRYING to find the name of but I've been unsuccessful so far. If anyone knows the name I'd be soooo sooo grateful if you told me. I heard Miyazaki used it in Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I also heard it's quite expensive. Basically you colour in the first frame of a sequence and the program automatically colours in the rest for you. That's as much as I know.