Best wishes for animation production

The speed Gu Xue talks about is not the kind of "I'll add a BUFF to you", but to reduce the switching of shots and emphasize the continuity of actions, so as to make the characters look "faster".

For example, there is this scene in the comics.

A warrior and a magician met for a fight, 50 meters apart. The magician began to chant magic, and the warrior ran towards each other. But on the way, the magician finished singing, and a fireball hit his face. The warrior stopped suddenly, and a The donkey rolled and hid aside.

How is the storyboard designed for comics here?

First, a shot of the two confronting each other was given.

Then there is a close-up of the magician unleashing his magic.

A close-up of a fireball roaring away.

A shot of a fireball hitting the ground and exploding.

Finally, the soldiers were given.

The soldier in the close-up looked shocked, and then he didn't know if he was blown away. He finally realized that running over like this would not work, so he also started to use the sword skills that can rush forward. At this time, the camera turned into a telephoto lens, and the soldier crouched. On the ground, he raised his sword with one hand.

As the special effects appear, the warriors get ready.

But then the camera cuts back to the magician, with another close-up of his face.

When the camera zoomed out again, the warrior suddenly appeared in front of the magician, with the sword pointed directly at the opponent's head.

Then came the shocked expression of the magician again, but after the shock, he turned around calmly, dodged the warrior's charging technique, and dodged three times in a row to widen the distance again.

The warrior's attack failed, and he turned around and followed up with the same set of preparations.

The above-mentioned situation repeats itself several times until one party uses a trick to determine the outcome...

How about it? Does it look like a turn-based online game?

You shoot one and I shoot another, it's procrastinating and there is no sense of tension. Although the medium of comics is very restrictive, the painting is like this. At best, it is meticulous, but at worst, it is really just water. If you didn't know that this comic is Serialized in the monthly magazine, Gu Xue really suspected that Rina Shirakawa was counting the issues...

This kind of protracted fight storyboard design has been criticized by many people in the comics, let alone copied into the animation.

Not to mention that the audience will be dissatisfied when the time comes, Gu Xue will not be able to pass her own test.

So when she designed the storyboards, she tried her best to maintain the combat power system in the comics while 'speeding up' all the actions.

It’s the same scene I just mentioned.

Warriors and magicians face off.

If it were done in animation, it wouldn't be so ink-stained.

Overlooking shot.

Both sides are prepared and ready to go.

The magician began to chant.

The warrior immediately squatted down slightly, held the sword blade flat with his right hand, and directly activated the sword skill.

The camera moved behind the warrior. After a second's pause, the hand-painted sky-piercing special effects lit up, and then the camera moved forward directly, following the warrior's advance.

en route.

After the magician finished singing, the fireball roared towards the camera placed behind the warrior. The fireball grew from small to large until it was close to the eyes.

The warrior who was charging forward with his one-handed sword flatly turned over in mid-air. While avoiding the fireball, he landed on the ground. The moment he stopped his decline with the blade of his sword, the warrior's right leg stepped on the ground, followed by a wave behind him. The fireball exploded with flames, and he used his sword skills again to rush forward.

The camera follows the soldier all the way forward.

Just when the tip of the sword was only a few dozen centimeters away from the magician.

The magician turned around and passed by the warrior and his sword. Relying on the inertia of his turn, he raised his wand and struck the warrior on the back of the head. Finally, he dodged three times to distance himself.

As for the warrior, after being hit on the back of the head, his center of gravity was unstable, but he suddenly stopped and continued to move forward. He stepped on the ground with his right foot, turned around smoothly, waved the blade of his right hand, continued to approach and then distanced himself. magician.

That's it.

What stands out is the sense of urgency and smoothness.

The magician did not dare to be approached by the warrior, and the warrior did not dare to let the magician sing comfortably.

The core combat system has not changed, but it will look much better this way, because both sides of the battle are in a state of urgency, not like in the comics.

Close-up, shock, then close-up of explanation, close-up of fireball explosion...

And the warrior will not wait until the fireball is poured on him before he remembers that he is popular, not because... he knows sword skills.

The same principle applies to the battle cards between the protagonists and Warcraft in the first episode that Gu Xue is now responsible for drawing.

Gu Xue will reset all the key fighting plots involved in the animation without changing the result and trying to maintain the flavor of the original comic.

There is no way Gu Xue can change the combat system.

She could only try her best to make the picture look better within this established framework.

But doing this is not easy.

Because the shots Gu Xue imagined were not very easy to draw in animation production.

…

brush.

Gu Xue opened the original painting at the bottom, took a brief look at the original painting that had been drawn before, and manually moved the picture. After finding that there was no problem, he started to draw the latest one.

This is the scene where the male protagonist and his group first encounter the World of Warcraft, but have not yet started fighting.

She was going to outline the monster now.

The monsters in this card do not move violently, so they are quite easy to draw.

The comics drawn by Shirakawa Rina not only draw handsome men, but also draw such monsters. Gu Xue likes this kind of handsome monsters. When she is willing to draw, the speed will be faster.

More than half an hour later.

Gu Xue finished several original paintings of Warcraft watching eagerly.

She opened the rhythm sheet, and after confirming the duration of each original painting and the requirements for mid-cut photography, she sandwiched the original paintings between them and threw them aside.

Then, Gu Xue rubbed her sore right hand and began to think deeply.

The first two cards are just foreshadowing, and the next step is the official fight card.

Although the storyboards were designed by Gu Xue himself, it was really troublesome to make the pictures look good.

Think about it.

Gu Xue picked up the pencil and planned to draw the beginning.

first.

The camera is behind the three protagonists, and beyond them you can see the warcraft staring at them eagerly.

Seeing the monster, the second male was the first to react. He pulled out his long sword, squatted down slightly, then twisted his wrist, turned the long sword over with its vertical blade, and put his left hand on the sword.

The right hand holding the sword moves back, and the left hand holding the sword pushes forward.

Wait until the palm of the second man's left hand touches the tip of the long sword.

The camera switches and zooms in to show the World of Warcraft.

An illusory long sword made of energy appeared above the Warcraft. After spinning in mid-air, the illusory long sword, which was shaky at first, suddenly stopped. The tip of the sword was facing the Warcraft, ready to attack.

In the animation, there will be a second, third, and fourth sword like this...