The Kyoto International Manga/Anime Fair (Kyoto Mafu 2020), the largest convention in western Japan for manga and anime, was held on September 19 and 20 at the Kyoto Municipal Kangyo Kan (Miyako Messe) and was jointly organized by the KCG Group (Kyoto Computer Gakuin, Kyoto Institute of Information Science, and Kyoto College of Automotive Technology).At the KCG Group booth, the "Introduction to Animation Production" lecture, which explained a series of animation production processes with digital drawing demonstrations by professional animators, was streamed live and watched by many people.
To prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, thorough infection control measures were taken at this year's KYOMAFU, including temperature checks at the entrances and the installation of rubbing alcohol at various locations in the exhibition halls.Professor Yasuhiro Takeda of Kyoto University of Information Science and Technology attended the opening event held on the 19th at the Rohm Theater Kyoto as the organizer.
At the KCG booth, Akihiko Ota, a leading professional animator and representative of Animator Guild Studio PaTHoS, demonstrated digital drawing using an LCD tablet and live-streamed the demonstration on the video sharing service "YouTube LIVE.Suzuna Matsukawa, the second generation voice actress who played Rei Taibin in "Ride the Subway," was the guest facilitator, and in the friendly atmosphere, many people stopped to watch the professional skills being demonstrated one after another.Mr. Ota demonstrated a series of animation production processes such as "storyboard→drawings→video→finishing," and introduced practical techniques such as "first firmly establish an image of what kind of image you want to create," "it is important to create characters that are easy for you to draw," and "it works better to create character movements with rough sketches (hand-drawn design sketches) in advance and then draw the details carefully.
Matsukawa, who himself draws illustrations for smartphone apps, was asked "What skills do you need to become an animator?When I asked Mr. Ota, "What is the most important thing about moving pictures?" he replied, "The moving pictures complement the original drawings by connecting scenes to scenes.The quality of the animation depends on how accurately you can draw the characters while maintaining the same texture, volume, and size of the characters, so you should practice every day.He also told aspiring animators, "Some people, especially newcomers, quit due to financial reasons, but that is because they have not made a strategy to calculate their financial situation before they enter the industry.I encourage you to do your best in researching the industry before you start working to make your dream come true.
The 2020 convention of "Seiyu Soul," which the KCG Group led and hosted the Kinki convention, has been canceled due to the prolonged spread of the new coronavirus in Japan and abroad.
You can watch Mr. Ota's drawing delivery at the following URL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCAJ_ewhzoc
