"What kind of manga?" Kanae Takahashi asked curiously.
"It's relaxed and leisurely, telling the story of a little girl's life in the countryside," Akira Fujimiya thought for a moment and said.
When Kanae Takahashi heard this, her expression became strange.
Akira looked at her with innocent eyes.
"Ahem, I think I understand. However, this kind of manga is too simple and not suitable for the current industry. You'd better give up." When Kanae saw Akira's eyes, she knew she was thinking in the wrong direction, but as a top painter in the industry, she was not optimistic about this kind of subject matter at all.
"Who represent the industry?" Akira asked.
"Of course it's those famous directors and those excellent animation producers upstairs." Kanae pointed upstairs.
"What about the audience?" Akira looked at her.
"Audience? What does this have to do with the audience? Only people who work in animation understand the industry. For those who don't work in animation, it's enough for them to just watch the animation we make." Kanae said without hesitation.
"I think that no matter what kind of work it is, there will be audiences who like it. An excellent animation is definitely not determined by the supervisor alone. It must be recognized by the majority of the audience before it can be called excellent." Akira said word by word.
"There will always be many fools like you who hold the same idea, believing in the so-called dream and not knowing how cruel the reality is." Kanae snorted coldly.
"You had the same idea as me at the beginning, right?" Akira sat down.
"I'm not as naive as you. I want to paint to make money. As long as I become the best painter, I can get more money. The rest is not important. Dreams are just childish delusions and will never come true." Kanae stood up and said.
Akira looked at her quietly without saying anything.
.....
"This industry doesn't require dreams. No matter what ideas you have when entering this industry, in my studio, you have to listen to me."
"I said that all painting must be done according to my requirements. Don't add your own ideas."
"A naive animator like you should get out of this industry as soon as possible!"
Kanae clenched her fists. The incident two years ago was still deeply engraved in her mind.
The other party had been the best supervisor in the industry, while she was just a painter/mangaka.
That person had shattered her childish dreams in the most cruel way possible.
If the company didn't need a third studio, she might have resigned and left.
Akira's words were just like her thoughts back then, as naive as those of the new employees. That was why her attitude toward the third studio was to leave it alone.
Occasionally, when work came to her, she would follow the requirements and come up with the most perfect painting method.
"Do you know? Flash Animation Production Company has received a new animation production task. This animation has an investment of 200 million yen and has a complete original script," Akira suddenly said.
Kanae was stunned for a moment, then came to her senses and looked at Akira in front of her.
"I wrote this script and I also invested 100 million yen. When the time comes, I can designate a supervisor and let the third studio take on the task," Akira said lightly.
"Are you… are you telling the truth?" Kanae's eyes were filled with anticipation.
"If you are only interested in money, then you are not qualified to participate in the production of this animation," Akira looked at her.
"...." Kanae opened her mouth, feeling a little conflicted.
"I don't know what you've been through, but my love for animation makes me want to make the animation that I want to see most, so I came here to learn painting and start from scratch," Akira continued.
"I… I will teach you how to draw. Let me think about the rest." Kanae said with a complicated look in her eyes and slowly sat down.
When Akira saw her attitude change, he knew what she was thinking.
.....
Kanae Takahashi said that she was the best artist in the third animation production studio, and this was not false.
Although she was currently the team leader of the third studio, all the animations she participated in producing were excellent works from the first and second studios.
The third studio was temporarily responsible for the animation design of games or advertisements, and she hardly had to take care of anything.
Being able to own an office here was a reflection of Kanae Takahashi's ability.
Of course, this also had something to do with qualifications.
Flash Animation Production Company once had many excellent supervisors and painters.
But — they left for various reasons.
The few remaining supervisors became the company's veterans, and they were the most experienced.
As for painters, there were still many painters in the first and second studios. They loved Flash Animation Production Company so much that they regarded it as their home.
These painters were relatively experienced.
Next, it was the person in Kanae Takahashi's position.
They were talents trained by Flash Animation School.
Finally, there were the ordinary employees in the company. Many of them were just qualified graduates and were treated far worse than Kanae.
Akira listened to Kanae talk while looking at her.
That's right, he was drawing Kanae.
This was the task Kanae had given him.
Soon, Akira finished the painting.
Kanae took it and looked at it, frowning.
"You're only at the beginner's level, not even as good as those graduates out there. This drawing can only be considered a child's doodle. Of course, ordinary people with this level of skill can get ordinary jobs as painters and draw manga, but don't dream of it."
"Just tell me my shortcomings. I don't care about your comments," Akira looked at her.
"The character's expression is unnatural, and there are some issues with the drawing of the joints, the material of the clothes, the lines of the legs, and the body contours…"
As Kanae was speaking, she started to make changes.
A few minutes later, Akira looked at the character she had modified.
He had to admit, Kanae was amazing. Her simple revisions were almost all about details.
"Do you understand?" Kanae asked.
"I think I understand it. Thank you for your guidance. I want to draw another one," Akira said seriously.
"Draw now. If you don't make any progress, it means your comprehension ability is too poor. In that case, it will be a waste of time for me to teach you again." Kanae crossed her legs and said to Akira.
Akira did not answer. After looking at her carefully, he began to draw.
This time, he got serious.
His eyes occasionally glanced at the painting next to him.
Kanae waited quietly for Akira, without urging him to draw faster, nor moving casually.
For a moment, the office fell silent.
About half an hour later.
Akira finished the second painting and handed it to Kanae.
Kanae took it and looked at it, her face full of surprise.
Isn't this progress too fast?
If Akira was at the beginner level just now, he was now a qualified painter.
Kanae looked for a few minutes and then raised her head.
"Your attention to detail is pretty good, but there's still room for improvement. Next, I'll test your imagination. You have to draw five versions of me wearing different clothes. Any clothes will do. You must be able to draw the sailor uniforms and maid outfits that often appear in anime."
"Can I look for some pictures of the clothes?" Akira took out his cell phone.
"Whatever, I'm going to get some coffee, you can take your time drawing."
After saying this, Kanae left the office.
Akira looked at the closed door and began to look up information.
This kind of thing that tested imagination was no longer a problem for him.
The biggest problem lay in the details.
Akira found the clothes, looked at the first and second paintings, and started painting.
The character's movements, facial expressions, clothing material, leg lines…
Akira startes slowly, no longer caring about the passage of time.
At this moment, he felt that he seemed to like drawing.
Then one sentence suddenly popped up in his mind—
"Interest is the best teacher."
If you have no interest in something, then doing it will feel boring.
Just like he used to like writing novels, and almost all of them were fan - fiction, which was also out of interest.
Without interest, there was no motivation for him to write.
Of course, income was also important.
.....
He didn't know how long it took.
Akira heard the door open.
He looked up and saw Kanae walking in with food.
"Is the drawing finished?" She glanced at Akira.
"Almost," Akira replied.
"This is your lunch." Kanae placed the plate in front of Akira.
"Thank you." Akira handed over his painting.
Kanae took Akira's painting and began to look at it.
Akira glanced at the time before starting to eat.
Now, it was already noon.
.....
If painters were divided into levels, there were roughly four stages.
Beginners artists—artists at this stage could only draw the appearance of the characters.
Low-level artists—artists at this stage could pay attention to the curves and figure of the characters.
Intermediateartists—artists at this stage could present the expressions of characters and could already work in the animation industry.
Advancedartists—artists at this stage could not be said to paint lifelike, but the characters they painted had their own characteristics.
Kanae Takahashi was undoubtedly an Advanced artists.
And Akira Fujimiya, in just one day, had gone from a beginner to an intermediate artists.
After looking at Akira's drawing, Kanae had to admit that Akira had made great progress.
Now, there would be no problem even if he joined the third studio directly.
"You're very smart and a quick learner. Next, let's talk about how to draw manga. There's a certain difference between a cartoonist and an artist. If you don't have an assistant, you'll need to do everything yourself. The professional knowledge involved includes…"
Kanae watched Akira finish his lunch and began to talk about how to draw manga.
The style of the manga was slightly different from animation, and it was not necessary to draw every step. But in order to maintain the overall structure, storyboards were necessary.
Kanae Takahashi used to draw manga and even won awards from the manga clubs. Her graduation project was to animate her own manga.
One person completing the manga, and one person producing the animation—that was the strength of Flash Animation School.
Although it was just an animated short, the time and effort she had to put in could be said to be far more than that of other painters.
Akira listened carefully and remembered her words.
...
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