Design Work

Five minutes had already passed in the conference room.

But Gu Xue, holding her pencil, still felt her mind go blank. She took a deep breath, dropped the pencil, leaned back in her chair, and said in a fit of self-abandonment, "I'm not drawing anymore."

"What's wrong?" Mihara, who had been watching her the whole time, stood up with her hands pressed against the table. She walked around behind Gu Xue, hesitated for a moment, then gathered the courage to place her hands on Gu Xue's shoulders and began to massage them gently.

"You're disrupting my focus." Gu Xue turned her head to glare at her.

Mihara Chisa's movements paused, and she said softly, "Then I'll step out for a moment and come back later with something for you to drink."

With that, she turned to leave.

"Eh..." Gu Xue wore an expression that said, I was just saying that, are you really leaving?

However, Mihara really did leave.

Gu Xue watched the figure disappear at the doorway and let out a sigh.

Although it hadn't reached the point of truly disrupting her focus, the atmosphere between the two of them just now had indeed been a bit strange. It was mainly because the way Mihara expressed her gratitude was so odd that Gu Xue felt a bit awkward and unaccustomed to it.

Once Mihara left, Gu Xue's brain cooled down.

Even though Mihara's way of saying thank you was strange, Gu Xue felt relieved to confirm that the other girl was just awkward by nature and didn't have any other intentions.

She could finally get along with Mihara with peace of mind, enjoy her beautiful photos without worry, see a different side of her without any reservations, and never have to worry about other issues again.

She could kiss, hug, and lift her up whenever she wanted... well, maybe not lift her up, she was afraid of dropping her.

That was pretty much what Gu Xue was thinking.

She felt relieved, and even a little happy.

Although Mihara had sensed Gu Xue's thoughts at a critical moment and told a little lie, it seemed to have pushed Gu Xue even further away.

But that wasn't something Gu Xue needed to worry about.

After Mihara Chisa left, Gu Xue began to organize her thoughts, preparing to continue drawing the original drafts.

The original draft does not refer to the script, but rather the initial settings or early story outlines. Because the story hadn't been approved or truly finalized yet, and it was only being made for other key creators to look at and discuss, it didn't need to be drawn perfectly.

To use a more easily understood term, it was essentially the original work or the screenplay.

Because Gu Xue was the one who proposed this story, she needed to explain clearly to the key creators what the story was about; after discussion, it might still need to be changed.

For animation production, a formal script is definitely needed to draw the storyboards.

Gu Xue was a key animator, which was why Misawa Hiroshi had asked her to draw it.

Similarly, character design also has the concept of an original draft. For example, in manga or light novel adaptations, the character design original draft is usually completed by the manga artist or illustrator, and then modified by the animation character designer to be suitable for animation production. This is because animation schedules are very tight, so one must try to reduce the number of lines—in plain terms, make it easier to draw—and refine or supplement various settings.

The characters in Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress are beautiful, right? That is the credit of the character original designer Mikimoto Haruhiko, and the animation character design also tried its best to preserve and restore his style.

However, not all character designs are restoration-based. There are some with very heavy stylization that drastically change the original character design, to the point where even their own mother wouldn't recognize them.

Of course, Gu Xue wasn't worried about others drastically changing the characters she drew, because she was the one in charge of character design. The reason she still called the characters she drew "original drafts" or "initial sketches" was simply because they hadn't been approved or discussed with other key creators yet; perhaps some minor details would need to be changed.

As for what character design is used for... it is actually the standard for the upcoming project. After all, Gu Xue isn't the only one drawing the key animation; many people are involved. Others might have deviations in the characters they draw due to their own style or drawing habits. Giving them a character design sheet to refer to makes such problems occur much less frequently.

Of course, this doesn't mean it will be 100% the same, which is why there is the position of animation supervisor. One of the jobs of an animation supervisor is to correct areas that differ from the standard—for example, if a face is different from the design sheet, or if the contour lines are different.

The chief animation supervisor is responsible for the entire work, correcting any discrepancies throughout the project.

Only in this way can the characters and body lines in an episode or an entire animation remain consistent, so that the audience doesn't wonder if the person they saw a second ago was the protagonist, only to ask "who is that?" the next second.

In fact, many animations feel "off" because the schedule is rushed and there is no time to fix them, or the animation supervisor is of low skill and unreliable, forcing the work to be released as is. When the faces don't match up, the feeling of the animation being "off" becomes particularly strong.

As for the key animation Gu Xue was previously responsible for in Ore-sama, why wasn't it corrected when the faces were so handsome and didn't match the overall style at all?

First, it was a directorial requirement. Misawa Hiroshi had many ideas and convinced the others, so it went through.

Second, perhaps all the viewers thought Gu Xue drew the protagonist too handsomely, but in reality... the cuts Gu Xue was responsible for were drawn by referring to the character design sheet and were the closest to the design. Rather than saying Gu Xue drew him handsomely, it would be more accurate to say that everyone else drew him "off"...

What a sad story...

In animation production, besides character design, different works might also have positions such as mechanical design, weapon design, and prop design.

For example, the staff Gu Xue was drawing now—that cold weapon from Little Witch Academia that the protagonist Akko held, which looked like it could kill someone just by hitting them with the butt of it—normally wouldn't be drawn by her. In a typical TV animation, there would likely be a prop designer specifically responsible for this task.

However, even if there were such a position, Gu Xue probably wouldn't let others draw these props. Actually, don't underestimate these props; they are quite important. If they don't match the style of the work, it's very easy for the audience to be pulled out of the immersion.

As the person most familiar with this work, Gu Xue honestly and implicitly took on all the design work. Although there was no extra pay, it was just a matter of convenience. Drawing from memory didn't require her to look up materials or brainstorm.

Other designs, such as brooms and the ordinary wands of other witches, were also drawn by Gu Xue.

Gu Xue's hand holding the pencil moved faster and faster, and she became more and more absorbed. Sheet after sheet of original draft paper filled with characters or props was set aside, piling up thicker and thicker.

By the time she reached the protagonist Akko, Gu Xue could no longer control her right hand.

For character design, the most important thing besides the body shape is the facial expressions—that is, the character's expressions. You have to draw some for the key animators below to refer to: happy, angry, frustrated, etc. Usually, there are just a few.

But Gu Xue, when drawing the protagonist Akko, drew a full twenty expressions across two sheets of original draft paper.

It was just like drawing a sticker pack.

Please give me some recommendation tickets... (It's really embarrassing to be so thick-skinned, but it really is quite important, thank you...)

Also, thanks to Lazy Tourist for the 500 reward, Nanjo Yoshino for the 1000 reward, Kirakira-tei Kitan for the 500 reward, Wuwang Tiankong 01 for the 1000 reward, akatsukiryuu for the 100 reward, Book Friend 5079 for the 500 reward, Ru Yan Fei Wu Yan for the 100 reward, and Xian Kai for the 100 reward. Thank you all, and thank you for reading my book.