Liss

Liss - Portfolio Website Translator and Freelance Animator in the Japanese Anime Industry.

I officially have a website for my drawings and animations! Took a while to get things set up, but I’m happy with the look!

Feel free to check it out!!
lissbevs.com

In 2021, the Association of Japanese Animators published a free PDF called「アニメーターの課題集」(ENG: A Collection of Exercises for Animators) to help the development of aspiring animators.

I unofficially translated 3 of the pages, which you can see below!

Official Download Link: ▼
aja.gr.jp/jigyou/ikuse...

Thanks! 😊

If you’re a LO animator, you never animate a cut in the storyboard that says BANK. There’s also no way to know whether a cut you draw will become a BANK cut in future episodes.

Lastly, BANK is written in English all-caps, usually never in furigana.

The more you know!

A BANK cut in Japanese anime is simply a cut that gets reused after its initial usage in an episode!

Examples:

- Flashbacks (Naruto on the swing)
- Transformations (Ryuko’s clothing in Kill La Kill
- Dramatic action (Ash in Pokemon twisting his hat & throwing a pokeball)

If you want to google a Japanese anime industry term but aren’t sure if the search result will be relevant, try adding these:

原画とは - とは gives explanations about (Genga)
原画と作画の違い - と and の違い give resulting explanations about the differences between (Genga) and (Sakuga)

Awesome!

Lastly, here is a cut with camera movement—hope you enjoyed this thread!

- A⓪修
A0 correction

- A⓪ [しのぶ]
Cel A = Shinobu

(red text top & right)
- 修PANフレームこちらで
PAN frame correction starts here

- リムライト
Rim light

- 動画時リムライト別絵でお願いします
For Douga: Please draw rim light on a separate page

Simple Dialogue cut notes, translated:

- [カナエ] A① 止め
A Cel = Kanae; Tome (fixed position)

- セリフ B{①,2,3,4} 4枚パク
B Cel = Kanae mouth flaps. Serifu = dialogue notation, 4 mouth variations

- C②END ①|―|―|-|-|-|②
Cel C has a spacing chart

- 前髪 D① 止め
D1 = bangs, fixed position

Putting the kanji into the demons' eyes isn't done by the animatorーthe compositing team does this important part!

That said, the animator DOES notate a cross to show the location and center point for the item to be added! This note is called harikomi, or, in kanji, 貼り込み!

Zenitsu cut notes:

- 善逸 A②END
Cel A = Zenitsu; Cel A2 END [of sequence]

- セリフ B{①(トジ口), 2, 3(アキ口)}
Cel B = Zenitsu's mouth flaps (kuchipaku)
Serifu = dialogue lines
B1 tojiguchi = closed mouth
B3 akiguchi = open mouth

- A②とクミ有ります
B2 has Kumi overlap w/ A2

Labeling each layer:

- 炭治郎 A①
A Cel = Tanjirou

- A画ブレ
A Cel image shake (red, grey line indication)

- 義勇 C①
C Cel = Giyu

- てちてち E①
E Cel = techi-techi hiragana (noise for walking smoothly)

- C,D,Eセル ローリング
Cels C, D, & E do rolling back and forth motion

I translated some of the notations shown in the Genga drawings in the video!

- B③END (すみませんAセルと多重クミ有ります"")
B3 END (There's multiple Kumi in A & B Cels--apologies!)

- A {10, 11, 12, 13, ⑭歯口END}
Kuchipaku (mouth flaps). A14 mouth shows teeth

- A⑫ ー|ーA⑭
中割り口
Tsumeshiji, spacing chart

While watching the Demon Slayer Infinity Castle documentary, I noticed an animator doing Douga (Inbetween work) clean up on a frame while using CSP.

Anti-aliasing is turned off to make the lines crisp & ready for the Coloring Dept.'s job! Not sure if Paintman was used after though. 🧵

English NAFCA Animator Skill Test textbook cover

English NAFCA Animator Skill Test textbook credits page

Don’t think I posted this on here, but I’m privileged to say that I helped translate the English version NAFCA Animator Skill Test textbook!!

As part of the English translation team, I helped decide terms and did some proofreading!

You can buy a copy on Amazon & Kindle!
Link: ▼
a.co/d/dpLix7g

Searching Anime Industry terms in Japanese is crucial to get the right definition!

Adding either アニメ制作, アニメ用語, or アニメ撮影 to your search all helps google give you the result you’re looking for!

Uses:
アニメ制作 - anime production
アニメ用語 - anime industry terms
アニメ撮影 - anime camera/compositing terms

For whom already got our textbook,
if you like it, please post your review on Amazon!
a.co/d/fvKHawU

It will be a great help for us!
Thank you❤️❤️❤️
Ayano

Foreign animators may be skilled, but without knowing Japan’s anime production rules, their talent can’t shine. Learning these rules benefits the industry and helps studios. 🌟 #NAFCA #AnimeTraining #AspiringAnimators

Lastly, the pricing is also concerning. Instead of purchasing a software license, you pay $160 USD for 1,000 Dondon credits, and each frame requested through the software costs 10 credits, which means $160 gets you 100 inbetweens.

Those inbetweens get used up faster than you’d expect.

YouTube video by Dong Chang Introducing Dondon Technologies

The instant coloring (Shiage) produced errors that seemed to get fixed at the end. Whether that’s done manually or not isn’t shown, but I would guess it’s done by hand.

The video doesn’t show inbetweens with partial holds, or multiple layer drawings either.

Video link:
youtu.be/Vr74PipOp-M?...

As a huge fan of Dong Chang, his newest video regarding ‘Dondon Technologies’ gives me pause.

I know AI tools and machine learning are hot right now, but integrating AI into the Douga (inbetweening) process further separates & eliminates that necessary skillset.

That said, in the video,

I’m on the plane to leave Japan but it got delayed due to an engine issue 😭😭

The ‘polite’ bowing deer at Nara Park are actually little savages with how food motivated they are!

The baby deer will jog after you when you walk away after feeding them a cracker! 😂

Went to Yokohama today, where I toured the Cup Noodle Museum, and then got to make my own personal cup of noodles!

I haven’t posted in a few days because I’m actually on vacation in Japan right now!

I’ve gone to a Japanese sword museum, Tokyo Skytree, and I even bought a replica katana for myself!

Having a blast in Tokyo!!

Candle burning

Mappa’s newest trailer for their anime ‘Zenshu 全修’ shows MC collapsing due to overwork, and then she gets isekai’d into an anime.

Goodbye truck-kun, hello karoshi! (Death by overwork)

Got my Spotify unwrapped stats here!

Analog supremacy ✍️

I’m glad you found a good circle of friends!

Keep on that drawing grind!