There is a crucial difference between the animation industry and the gaming industry.
That is its requirement for hardware technology, but in many cases there are ways to circumvent it.
Perhaps Hollywood will be unable to realize many things due to the backwardness of CG technology.
But in the field of animation, as long as someone is willing to spend money, and enough money, they will eventually be able to create it.
This is an industry with extremely high ceilings and very low floores.
Beyond technology, there is something else Lin Lixin can try to change.
That's the art style.
As human Civilization develops, aesthetics also change constantly.
It's difficult to use a single, unified standard to judge whether it's good or bad.
However, the terrifying dominance of Evangelion in the anime world later on is enough to prove that, at least for the next few decades, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto will still be the ace of character design.
The character designs in "Evangelion" fall somewhere between the realism of the Golden Age and the cuteness of the post-millennium era. They neither blindly pursue the more modern big eyes, round faces, and small noses, nor do they dwell too much on the long faces and pointed chins of the Golden Age.
If Lin Lixin were to choose a character designer/animator to lead this project, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto would undoubtedly be a one-in-a-million genius. Indeed, the success of Evangelion is inseparable from Hideaki Anno.
However, from a visual arts perspective, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is the true blood c.
However, he still needs some... guidance.
While " Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise" and " Gunbuster " are also very gorgeous and detailed, they are quite different from "Evangelion" five years later.
"My needs are simple, Sadamoto."
Lin Lixin beckoned, Satoshi immediately understood, handing over a notebook.
"I want a beautiful girl who makes people want to fall in love at first sight."
There is absolutely no doubt that Gainax has the potential to reach the top.
However, they have a very obvious problem: they are a group composed of military enthusiasts and tokusatsu (special effects) enthusiasts.
Gainax isn't really good at things like pretty girls and sweet romance.
"I don't need realism, don't talk to me about life-size figures, what I want is the purest fantasy, an idol that truly exists in the world of anime."
Lin Lixin picked up a pencil, frowned, paused for a moment, and digested all the art experience he hadn't had a chance to organize and summarize before starting to write. "Although I'm not a professional in the animation industry, there is such a concept in our video game field."
As he spoke, he smoothly drew several silky lines on the paper.
With just a few strokes, the basic form of a figure was sketched out.
Even Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Sadamoto in the field, was astonished by Lin Lixin's move, his eyes widening in surprise.
The proportions of this base body are absolutely wrong.
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto were very certain.
It's at least not the proportions a real person should have.
According to his own habits, he usually chooses a head-to-body ratio of around 7 to 7.5 heads, which is the proportion that best matches the real female after he has practiced and copied a lot.
However, the proportion chosen by Lin Lixin was clearly more idealistic.
A quick visual estimate suggests that it's already close to an 8-head-tall proportion, and the head size has been noticeably enlarged.
The shoulders were also edited to be very narrow, making them look nothing like a real person.
Not to mention the noticeably raised waistline, the long legs, and the shortened chest. Although the actual changes in proportion aren't particularly drastic, visually they present a completely different picture.
At first glance, the character's body appears very slender.
Can...
But this distortion did not make it ugly; on the contrary, it added a unique aesthetic.
This is a youthful feel, not the mature woman feel that everyone was familiar with in the past.
Even someone like Satoshi, who's somewhat of an insider, could clearly sense this change.
Needless to say, the character design of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who is a professional, is even more so.
"Elegant, delicate, and... simple."
He directly expressed his initial feeling upon first glance.
Yes, for people of this era, this style of art is indeed simpler.
"Hey, you're definitely a professional."
Lin Lixin nodded. "That's the idea. In the gaming industry, we usually have a 'less is more' mentality."
This is very counterintuitive, but very clever.
"Doing... subtraction?"
"Yes."
Lin Lixin turned to look at Satoshi Tajiri beside him.
" Satoshi, think about it. There are so many beautiful girls at the Roppongi Agency, but how many of them can you remember instantly?"
"Well?"
Satoshi Tajiri was surprised to be suddenly asked this question, and frowned as he tried to recall what had happened.
Although Roppongi was nominally under his management, Satoshi Tajiri spent most of his time dealing with Gamefreak's business.
If he were to recall on the spot, the only one he could immediately remember would probably be Yui Asaka, the top courtesan.
"It's hard to remember, isn't it? I don't deny that everyone is beautiful, but being beautiful doesn't mean you'll be remembered."
Lin Lixin pointed to the blank space on the paper. "Because there's too much information."
After saying that, he picked up his pen again and began to try to add some details to the blank body.
Extremely long twin ponytails, black arm warmers, a short skirt, knee-high socks, a tie longer than her shirt, and the code "01" on her left shoulder...
Because he used a pencil, Lin Lixin was unable to reproduce all the details of her work.
But even these black and white details alone are enough.
Any modern internet user living after the turn of the millennium would be able to recognize this silhouette at a glance.
Hatsune miku.
I love Hatsune Miku!
She is a typical product of symbolic design.
There is no excessive piling up of elements, nor is there any overly ornate or delicate brushstrokes (at least not in v2).
But she has the ability to be unforgettable.
Just one glance is enough to etch this image into your mind. The long, turquoise twin tails and the outfit, mostly composed of black, white, gray, and turquoise, create a very restrained and clean color scheme.
There are no special pupil designs, and not many facial features.
"As a game developer, I prefer the refinement of features and the visual symbolization to the pursuit of realism."
Lin Lixin casually tossed the pencil onto the table and looked at Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Takami Akai, who were completely dumbfounded.
Satoshi and Yui Asaka, being outsiders, might just think, "Wow, that's cool."
But these two are genuine animation industry professionals, and among the most technically skilled.
No one knew better than them just how terrifying Lin Lixin had just done.
You call this an amateur's work?
Then what are we?
"Of course, this is just my personal opinion. I just hope this project can be designed in a similar style. I won't interfere with your other animation business."
Lin Lixin added a sentence.
While this design approach certainly has many advantages in terms of character design, the unique visual style of the Golden Age is also a distinctive feature. It would be a huge loss if they accidentally ruined " The Secret of Blue Water," which just premiered a couple of days ago.
"Do subtraction..."
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto felt a buzzing in his eardrums.
Lin Lixin's voice wasn't loud, but it was deafening to his ears.
"Animation... is not like film and television; it can use more exaggerated techniques to design visual symbols..."
Rather than designing characters, Lin Lixin's thinking is more like...
Design a logo.
Design characters that are memorable at a glance, using the simplest and most distinct features.
This reminded him of something.
Pokémon.
The most popular stocks on the market right now are all successful examples of this strategy.
The human brain is not a camera, nor a computer. What the human brain remembers are often features.
Think back carefully, how do you remember someone?
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto asked himself this question.
The answer was quite simple.
Now, if he were to recall someone he remembers very well, he wouldn't be able to remember what that person's face looked like.
Even with Takami Akai sitting right next to him, a comrade-in-arms with whom he had worked for countless years, he couldn't recall his true face.
All I could recall were the features.
His hairstyle, his eyebrows, his nose, his ears, his teeth...
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto swallowed hard.
I can't believe I only realized this now.
He had become accustomed to copying the human body, tracing it from photographs. He even tried to animate the photographs.
Perhaps this is a case of being too close to the situation to see clearly.
"That's roughly the idea, but I don't want to go too far with the subtraction and end up with a childish, cute art style."
Lin Lixin waved his hand and said.
This is the most terrifying aspect of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, and also the key to his deification.
Modern anime and manga culture has been constantly promoting this idea of subtraction, refining the characteristics, and then exaggerating them further.
The result is a clean-looking, modern, cute art style.
However, while refining the characteristics, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto also preserved the framework of the realistic era.
It retains the collarbone, the body's center of gravity, and the authentic skeletal design.
This is what made the character design of " Neon Genesis Evangelion " a classic, a work of art worthy of high art.
"Just like I said at the beginning, Sadamoto."
Lin Lixin looked at Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, "What I want is a beautiful girl who makes people want to fall in love at first glance, a true anime idol."
Shiori Fujisaki is good enough, but she can be even better.
Since he had Gainax, one of the world's top artist teams, Lin Lixin naturally didn't intend to produce a mediocre product.
"Regardless of cost or method, I need approximately... about a dozen female character concept art pieces to complete this work."
Lin Lixin turned his head and pulled Yui Asaka up.
"The first character was designed based on her; she's a top-tier idol who attends the same school as the protagonist."