Lin Zhiyan's decision to offer to draw keyframes was the result of careful deliberation.
Firstly, he possessed the necessary skill. Whether it was for any animation or any specific scene, he could produce the keyframes effortlessly. With his top-tier keyframe drawing ability, there was no concern about his capacity to deliver.
Secondly, if he were to follow the standard process and apply through a regular interview, even if he succeeded and joined IG, he would have to start at the bottom as an Animator.
Animators are notoriously overworked in the animation industry. To meet the minimum business standards, they must draw at least 350 frames per month. Paid on a per-piece basis, their wages are pitifully low.
For an Animator to earn 100,000 yen per month is considered impressive. Most newly hired Animators are lucky to make 60,000 to 70,000 yen a month.
Lin Zhiyan's drawing speed should be at least twice that of an ordinary Animator. Even so, working as an Animator for a month would only net him around 100,000 to 150,000 yen, significantly less than the lowest-level Production Coordinator in the production department.
Of course, given Lin Zhiyan's skill level, he would undoubtedly advance from Animator to Key Animator in less than a month. But bypassing the Animator stage entirely and debuting directly as a Key Animator would be ideal.
If he could seize this opportunity, skipping the interview would be worth it.
At the end of the day, Animator interviews are a dime a dozen. But for someone like him—without a reputation, connections, or professional experience, and not even officially an Animator—securing a job as a Key Animator is incredibly difficult.
Moreover, once he becomes a Key Animator endorsed by an Animation Director, the interview becomes irrelevant. A skilled Key Animator is invaluable to any animation company. When the time comes, IG's executives would be thrilled to have him, not the other way around.
As for whether skipping the interview might offend IG's executives, causing them to hold a grudge and refuse to hire him even if he's qualified... That might happen in a traditional Japanese production company, but animation companies generally don't operate that way. IG's executives are famously easygoing and wouldn't hold such a petty grudge.
Even if they were that narrow-minded, it wouldn't matter. Worst-case scenario, he wouldn't get into IG, but as long as he got this chance to showcase his talent, it would all be worth it.
That said, Lin Zhiyan's self-promotion at this moment was rather annoying for Akimoto To.
He'd been secretly pleased just moments ago, but now it seemed like he'd been celebrating for nothing.
He didn't know Lin Zhiyan at all, had no idea why he'd appeared here, and was completely unaware of his keyframe skills.
Despite being much taller than him, Lin Zhiyan looked younger.
How could a skilled key animator possibly be this young?
Even with exceptional talent, experience takes time to accumulate.
In short, Akimoto simply couldn't believe in Lin Zhiyan. He suspected the young man either had no idea what a key animator actually did, or was deliberately trying to pull a prank on him.
"People these days... even if it's a joke, this is a bit too much," he muttered under his breath.
Lin Zhiyan knew the man wouldn't believe him easily, and he hadn't expected an immediate yes just from asking.
He quickly added, "Don't let my youthful appearance fool you. I've been working in the animation industry for years. If I hadn't happened to be on IG today, I wouldn't have helped you even if you begged."
After a pause, he continued, "If you don't believe in my skills, that's fine. Just give me a space in your company to work. If you think the drawings are subpar, you can stop me at any time. I won't charge you a cent for any keyframes the Animation Director rejects. It's just a test—won't take much time, and you have nothing to lose, right?"
Hearing this, Akimoto To couldn't help but scrutinize Lin Zhiyan carefully.
He couldn't understand where Lin Zhiyan's confidence came from.
Then he realized Lin Zhiyan was right. If it was just a test, he really had nothing to lose.
Moreover, he couldn't find any other key animators who were available and willing to help. If he didn't find a solution and ended up needing Sanbon Ryuji, the production manager, to intervene, his standing within the company would suffer.
If this person before him, who looked even younger than himself, could actually draw, it could solve his professional crisis.
The chances were slim, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
With this thought, he asked, "May I ask your name?"
"Asking my name now is pointless. You can ask after I finish drawing," Lin Zhiyan said mysteriously.
Akimoto To hesitated briefly but didn't press further. Instead, he said, "Alright, follow me."
In such a large company, especially on a Sunday, finding a quiet place for Lin Zhiyan to draw wasn't difficult.
Lin Zhiyan quickly demonstrated his professionalism. He had Akimoto To fetch the character designs, Layouts, animation peg paper, and animation rulers needed for keyframe illustration, while he took out his own drawing tools.
After briefly reviewing the character designs and Layouts, he swiftly began drawing.
The term "Layout" referred to the design sketches, usually abbreviated as "L/O."
To create an animation, the first step is to finalize the project concept, followed by selecting the director, scriptwriter, character designer, chief animation director, art director, music composer, prop designer, and other key personnel.
Next, script conferences are held to determine the script content.
These steps constitute the preliminary preparation phase.
Once the preliminary preparations are complete, the formal production phase begins.
First, storyboards are created, which can be handled either solely by the director or jointly by the director and the episode directors.
Storyboards serve to translate the written script into visual form, including scene content, camera movements, sound effects, dialogue, and timing. They are often referred to as the blueprint of the animation.
Once the storyboards are finalized, the director and episode directors gather the key animators to explain the storyboard content. The key animators then convert the storyboards into layouts.
Layouts primarily contain information about character positioning, perspective, backgrounds, camera movements, and frame composition. They are typically created on a per-cut basis and serve as crucial reference material for both the animation and compositing stages.
To put it simply, storyboards are like rough drafts—they can be very sketchy, and even someone who hasn't learned to draw can create them. Layouts, on the other hand, are formal design drafts that must be meticulously crafted by professional artists.
Only after the Layout is completed does the formal keyframe stage begin. This stage essentially involves tracing the designs, so the difficulty level drops significantly. However, because the drawing standards are much higher, it's not something just anyone can handle. By this point, though, there's no need for frequent drawing meetings; those who can draw, draw; those who can't, are replaced.
Lin Zhiyan, of course, could draw.
Previously, he hadn't known exactly what animation he'd be working on. But after seeing the character designs and Layout, he realized it was the '95 theatrical version of Ghost in the Shell.
The two cuts around the 10- to 15-minute mark needed to balance character portrayal and action. It wasn't exactly easy, but because the movements weren't overly complex, it was still manageable.
Thinking about it, it made sense. He didn't know who this "Mr. Umehara" was, but he was likely a freelance key animator not affiliated with IG.
The outsourced cuts, handled by freelance key animators with little industry recognition, naturally wouldn't be particularly challenging.
Akimoto To couldn't find any other key animators. His own credentials and connections were insufficient, and time was pressing—this was one reason. The other reason was that while these cuts weren't particularly difficult, they still weren't easy to draw.
That said, Ghost in the Shell itself is notoriously difficult to animate.
Of course, this only applies to average key animators.
For Lin Zhiyan, there was absolutely no difficulty.
He could draw the scenes from memory without referencing the original Ghost in the Shell animation, and with references, his speed was breathtaking. With a flurry of strokes—"whoosh, whoosh, whoosh"—he finished a keyframe in about ten minutes.
Behind him, Akimoto To stared in shock at the keyframe Lin Zhiyan had completed in just ten minutes.
Not only could he draw, but he was also incredibly fast and skilled.
Akimoto To had initially decided to give it a try as a last-ditch effort, but now he wondered: Could this person, who looked younger than him, truly be a highly skilled key animator?