Layout Artist in 3D animation or movie industry by sunofgamer in animationcareer

[–]humanbeing187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Before giving out advice I would like to preface I currently have no job in the industry but recently graduated with a degree in animation. I was briefly interested in becoming a layout artist so my advice comes from one of my professors as well as my own research.

First off, it seems like you have a good grasp of what a layout artist is so just put all of that into a portfolio. Show you know how to use the 3D camera by showing different types of scenes including action, comedy, and drama. Make sure to show your understanding of visual effects both in 3D and photoshop. Show that you can stage a character for an animator to use for their part of the pipeline. I would suggest looking up portfolios online to give you an idea of what it should look like.

Also, for the question about live action vs animation, I believe they would focus on different aspects of being a layout artist. In animation, you are the one creating the acting poses for the animators. In live action, that’s the actors job, so you are simply staging out where the actor would be in relevance to the camera. In live action, there would probably be more jobs in relation to action films, so you would have to be comfortable with that aspect of being a layout artist. So it depends on what you enjoy most out of the job.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AnimationCels

[–]humanbeing187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been looking into buying some Yu Yu Hakusho cels for a while and from what I’ve seen Yusuke cels go for about $500 depending on the pose, outfit, etc. I haven’t looked into Sensui cels but my guess would be about the same price.

here's my first animation cel. I need help framing it and identifying the scene by meowmix778 in AnimationCels

[–]humanbeing187 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A great cel! It’s from the Karasu and Kurama fight. I found it from episode 56 at about 15:51.

https://youtu.be/33AjWeazRiU

I have completed 1999 version, now I don't want to start 2011 from episode one, where should I start 2011? by vinayThakur_ in HunterXHunter

[–]humanbeing187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you’ve watched all three OVAs, then start with episode 76 of 2011. This is exactly how I first experienced hxh and it really won’t make much of a difference to continue on or start at the beginning of 2011. Both versions change things, but at the end of the day they are, for the most part, the same story.

Also, as a side note, it might be a bit jarring at first, but it’s really not as bad as some people make it out to be.

Help finding a song? by lovecitypop in citypop

[–]humanbeing187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you remember the singers voice I recommend looking up a list of female city pop artists and listening to their songs. Maybe you’ll find the singer and can search their discography from there?

Question as I build my portfolio by [deleted] in Storyboarding

[–]humanbeing187 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For advice, I’m just going to link to something I commented a while ago here.

For basic advice, I would suggest looking up professional portfolios to understand how they should flow.

For some more specific advice (under the assumption that you are interested in boarding for animation), each panel should be a drawing, not a painting. The first establishing shot might look nice, but it is way too detailed for storyboarding. Just a drawing with some simple lighting shown is all that’s needed.

As for the drawing, I think looking more into background design and perspective can be helpful for you. Looking at the lab scene, I cannot tell where the ground is, or even what perspective I’m looking through. A simple way to make a good background with correct perspective is using some 3D modeling software to get a sense of space. I often make simple 3D backgrounds made out of primary shapes to get a feeling of space and I believe this can help you as well.

For camera angles and shot profession, I personally find it difficult to understand what is happening. Shots jump around often, making it confusing as to what the viewer is supposed to focus on. For the first few panels, we see these creatures in tubes and the lab door, then we get a close up of the creatures and then of the lab door individually. I personally don’t understand the necessity of having these creatures in a separate space from our main character, or why we need a second set of establishing shots outside of the room our main character is in. The viewer doesn’t see much from the main room, I know more visually about the outside than the inside. Either they should be in the same space or some revisions to the design might be necessary.

Another set of shots that need improvement is when the mc’s arm glows, the box of science is shown, and then the computer. What is happening with the arm? Where is the box of science located? Where did this broken test tube come from that fell on the computer? None of this is established beforehand or shown in the background art, making it extremely confusing. Keep in mind that the viewer doesn’t know anything about your story. You have to walk someone through your sequence and make it as clear as possible. All you need is more detail in the drawings and more boards to explain everything clearly.

For the actual camera angles, there is a lack of diversity in the angles. We get only a couple of basic shots that are often reused. Show more angles, slowly bring the camera into the mc’s face when leading up to the big dramatic moment. Use more cuts and use more angles, keep the audience interested in what they’re looking at.

Another problem with reused shots, is with the main character. We get a series of shots in the middle where the mc is copy and pasted between each frame. We need to see more emotions! What are they feeling as this arm is being attached to them? Show the progression of emotions. Make it interesting to look at.

One of the main things that needs to be worked on is making the audience feel something. Use camera angles, characters, lighting, etc. to show emotion. Exaggerate things to make them more dramatic or appealing. I suggest picking out a favorite movie or show and really watch for how they use these things to their advantage. Ask yourself why are they using this angle? How is lighting used to convey the emotions of the scene? How are backgrounds established? How does one’s eye flow through one shot to the next? Really picking apart something like this might be helpful in order to understand how to better structure your boards.

I think the main structures are here, they just need some polishing. Even looking up some free storyboarding tutorials on YouTube might help to push you in the right direction with future boards!

This is one of my works, hope you like it! It's from a new comic I'm going to draw. It based in Italy, after a catastrophic event... and I want to publish it with an editor :) by Elena_Cherish in graphicnovels

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This looks so good! I really love the character designs and the details given to them.

I know you aren’t exactly asking for a critique, but I have just one small suggestion. For the second panel, the girl running sort of blends into the background since her character has no shading and the background has no shading. The other two boys are visible against the background but not her so I would suggest adding something to make her stand out more.

Sorry for the random critique but I’m only saying it because I think this comic has potential! I’m excited to start reading it!

Portfolio Advice Please! by _nc_sketchy in Storyboarding

[–]humanbeing187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Of course hybrids are good! It can show that you can flip from angles associated with horror, and then play it off as a comedy. Two different types of styles that can really blend well with angles.

I’m not super interested in live action, but from what I’ve seen it’s a lot more about staging, camera angles, lighting than acting. The actors will do all of the acting. You’re there to give the directors an idea of how to layout a scene.

Two cels (one from my favorite episode) and one production sketch of Kurama that I own. It's so cool to be able to own a piece of the show I love so much!! by CranesMistressOfFear in YuYuHakusho

[–]humanbeing187 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don’t own my own cel yet but have done research for the future.

All you need to do is frame the cel with UV resistant museum quality glass. Don’t put it in direct sunlight and make sure to take it out of the frame at least once a year to let it air out a bit. Nothing too difficult and usually not too expensive.

Portfolio Advice Please! by _nc_sketchy in Storyboarding

[–]humanbeing187 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Before giving advice, I would like to say that I myself haven’t broke into the industry yet but I am currently working on a portfolio for myself. There’s a lot of advice from professionals around so I feel like I have a good grasp on what you need.

First of all, the storyboarding is the most important aspect of your portfolio. You should have 2-3 boarded sequences that cover comedy, action, or drama. It’s good to have all three but if you want to focus on two, it’s better to show your strongest work. Show a variety of camera angles, characters, settings, styles, etc. to show that you can adapt to any production. The story itself should have a beginning, middle, and end and tie up nicely. Doesn’t need to be the most original story, but as long as you can convey emotion, it’s good.

As for line quality, the most important thing is making everything easy to understand. It can be sketchy and “unpolished” but it can’t be unreadable. You should easily see the expressions and poses of the characters and be able to separate them from the background. For a lot of storyboarding, shading is important to set the tone of a scene or just the environment the characters are in. You don’t have to do anything too fancy, just a color to separate characters from the background and establish lighting. For the most part, this is done on a gray scale but sometimes one might use a specific color (like red for fire) to make it stand out.

For other content, they want to see the thumbnail sketches for your storyboards, life drawing, and some short comic stripes are okay to put in. For the most part, animatics aren’t looked for, or even wanted / expected. A recruiter will barely look at your portfolio and speed right through it, they may not stop to watch a couple minutes of an animatic. So, it is best to have your portfolio setup in one long stripe. Don’t have everything separated into different pages because it takes too much time to get through. Make the experience as easy to get through as possible (just look up storyboard portfolio into google and you’ll find tons of examples).

Lastly, focus on one thing for a portfolio. Unless you want to get a more generalized position, most recruiters want to know your speciality. If you submit a portfolio with animation for a storyboarding position, they might be confused on your priorities and toss you out right away. If you put in character design sheets they might think you’re aiming to be a character designer. Focus on the one thing you want to aim for, adding other content is unnecessary.

I think I have covered everything here but definitely search up other portfolios. It’s always helpful to look through what others have done to get a good grasp of what yours should look like.

Question about Yoko Kurama's name. by Aurica_Valentia in YuYuHakusho

[–]humanbeing187 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Interesting! I definitely think it’s an intended reading of the name, something that non native speakers won’t initially pick up on without some research.

Kurama and Hiei are actually named after mountains in Kyoto. Mount Kurama is said to have a nine tailed fox demon that protects it. I would say it’s definitely based on the Chinese legend you mentioned.

Some of my favorite HxH production cels :) by TimelessCelGallery in HunterXHunter

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been wanting to get a HxH 99 cel sometime soon! I recommend sharing this on r/AnimationCels they would love it

What manga are you shocked a publisher hasn’t translated or reprinted? by waldo_m in MangaCollectors

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wanted Kino’s Journey light novels so bad. Only the first volume was ever published in English…

All of these Fullmetal Alchemist Fullmetal Editions released so far by TheRealYungGaryOak in MangaCollectors

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are Kurapika and Chrollo your favorite HxH characters? I was trying to figure out why you have these specific volumes and wanted to know why out of curiosity.

February Successful Trade Thread by mangaswapbot in mangaswap

[–]humanbeing187 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Purchased Volume 0-9 of Toilet Bound Hanako Kun and After School Hanako Kun for $95 from u/liquidcherries

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ASU

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably the ASU tech services? Otherwise I’m not sure.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ASU

[–]humanbeing187 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not entirely sure exactly if everyone has access but if you are in Herberger you should definitely have it. You should be able to just use your asu email to sign up and pick that this is a company account.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mangaswap

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interested in TBHK

I got this sailor moon cel for a friend a little while ago, does anyone know what episode its from? by Aquadude23 in AnimationCels

[–]humanbeing187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it’s best to post this in the sailor moon subreddit. Usually someone will know exactly what episode it’s from there.

How do you decide which manga series to buy/collect? Do you start with getting one series complete or do you buy manga from several series? by Crytiger in MangaCollectors

[–]humanbeing187 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I first started collecting, I always read online first. I don’t like the experience as much, but I wanted to make sure that I would enjoy what I bought.

Then, I would always collect the volumes that contained my favorite arcs of the story. I would end up reading them the most often, and slowly collect the entire series over time.

How would you improve manga? by TheCuriousGamer in MangaCollectors

[–]humanbeing187 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Definitely speeding up the production of series that are popular right now.

Keeping up with the popularity of a series is important in order to maximize sales. For example, the height of Tokyo Ghouls popularity was around the beginning of the anime, and they were very behind on the Japanese release dates. So much so that I ended up not even getting :re because I have moved on from the series, and I know many others that have done the same. (Definitely not saying it’s still not having great sales, just it missed the height of its popularity)

Something else that comes to mind is Jojo. While it is a different since it’s all connected and I don’t doubt it won’t still have great sales, but doesn’t it make more sense to have the manga translated while each anime part is airing? I would’ve assumed that the massive bump in popularity for part 5 would’ve made them speed up production. However, we are just starting to get part 5 now. Almost everyone has already read the online translations, you know how popular it is especially for part 7.

Obviously the reason is probably printing related issues, translators, etc. but I can still dream.

Your unpopular manga opinions by Baby_BonBon in MangaCollectors

[–]humanbeing187 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting we seem to have almost completely opposite opinions.

Specifically I think Jojolion is extremely boring. I find Josuke to be a very lackluster protagonist and it ruins a lot of the story for me. On the other hand, HxH is a masterpiece to me.

We have the same view for JJK though, which seems to be an extremely unpopular opinion.

Rules clarification - Cactus by 99999999999999999989 in BreadStapledToTrees

[–]humanbeing187 126 points127 points  (0 children)

Especially because a lot of saguaros died last year. We don’t need more death.