Personal commission ① (Patreon)

This is my first overseas project, and it predates my learning Blender. It's an entirely hand-drawn animation, and I handled the entire first part of this Warframe Fan Animation.

Full version here:
https://youtu.be/stO4VaGdm0E?si=y_qdZiZ9VGX8Piim

To complete this project, it took approximately nine months. My husband, Takahiro, assisted with some parts, and a friend who is an animator helped with some in-between parts. When I received the commission, the client had already prepared the script, storyboard, and character designs. We conducted meetings through chat. Later, I revised some parts of the storyboard to make it more animation-friendly. Once the client approved, it was just a matter of getting to work. The client was very kind, and being able to create the animation in my own way was a truly positive experience. Through this project, I realized that I can indeed create animations on my own.

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V-conte

This is the initial v-conte I created to show the client. I received their approval, but later, we made some changes and finalized it.

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Layout

Layout: cut-001

In the case of Japanese animation, the key animator must instruct and draw all the information in the layout: lighting, setting (background), camera work, and more. They read and reproduce what they want to show within a cut, the intentions, and details from the storyboard. In my opinion, no matter how excellent the animation is, its charm cannot be fully realized without well-defined intentions and layouts. In other words, if the layout is impressive, the animation has the potential to become outstanding.

I did all this work in TV paint. 

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From Key frame to composite

Genga (Key frame)

Douga (In-between)

Paint

Composite

As you can see, animation goes through various processes before completion. To create it alone, I need to simplify characters more and incorporate ideas into the script and storyboard. The final composite part was finished by Takahiro using After Effects.

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Background 

In conclusion, TVPaint is not well-suited for background production. It would be better to use software specialized in illustration for that purpose.

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Lip-sync

For lip sync, in the case of Japanese animation, you can express the mouth with three sheets (silhouette). However, since this animation is in English, I recorded my own mouth movements with a video to match.

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References 

MEMORIES OF MY WORKS  "WARFRAME - PROTEUS EPISODE 0":
https://youtu.be/dd1pyT7Q7XE

DOUGA WORKS By StudioBulldog  | WARFRAME ANIME:
https://youtu.be/KSplhbnaPYo

Here, it's a shot where we want to showcase the explosion in the background. The character in the foreground is simply landing, but when they land, there's a subtle effect of the ground's soil (in this case, a white, snow-like soil on this planet) kicking up. This effect shouldn't be flashy. The main intention is to show the smoke from the explosion in the background to the viewers. That's the layout's intention.

This shot was crucial in connecting to the later part.

If you have the time, please watch the main footage again with an awareness of the storyboard and directorial intentions. Thank you!

Full version here: https://youtu.be/stO4VaGdm0E?si=y_qdZiZ9VGX8Piim

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MÖCHOKO