Do you know how an episode of Japanese animation was made?
Many people love watching Japanese animes, but have you ever wondered how they were made?
In Japan, there is an anime called White Box, which details the work and life of practitioners in the Japanese animation industry，so let us start with this example.
In the official website of "White Box", there is a flowchart of animation production: アニメ制作について｜TVアニメ「SHIROBAKO」公式サイト
I translated it into English as follows:
Planning: the establishment of the work, mainly to determine the title, style, type, episodes number, story content and so on.
Screenplays: create a story about each episode. There are usually one to three screenwriters for the creation of a story. In most of the works, a "Script Coordinator" position will be set up to create a synopsis and check scripts for each episode.
Settings: settings for all aspects of the anime, including conceptual design, character settings, mechanic settings, art settings, color design etc.
Character settings: design the main character. This work is to design the character draft that can be used by the animator for reference. The design draft usually includes the whole body image on the front, side and back, and the characters’ general expressions such as happy, angry and so on. Compared with drawing good-looking characters, it is focusing on drafting the characters which can be referred correctly by animators. It will lose its meaning if the character drafts can’t become a template.
Mechanical settings: similar to the character settings, but it’s not to design a character, but a variety of machinery, common robots, vehicles, aircraft, firearms and so on.
Art settings: background settings.
Color design: design basic colors, such as the character's hair, skin, eyes, clothes etc. Generally, the colors of normal, highlight, and shadow are specified as the reference for the color keys later.
Storyboard: the text of the script is turned into a picture of a shot. The storyboard is the design of the whole work, which includes the positional relationship, background content, lines, camera mode, effect sound, lens length and so on.
Design draft / Layout (L / O): according to the storyboard draw the draft sketch, including the exact position of the characters, the specific content of the background, the specific actions and expressions of the characters, the decomposition of the action, the specific use of the lens, etc. Must be a clear draw, for it is an important step in determining the quality of the finished picture.
Original painting: draw the key sheet according to L/O. For example, if the content of the lens is that the character runs from left to right, then all the key actions of the whole process should be drawn. It is a step in the transformation of the picture from static to dynamic, the core of animation production.
Background: draw a background based on L/O. The background part is relatively independent and is created according to the art settings.
CG: make CG animations according to the requirements of the storyboard. The CG part is also relatively independent.
Inbetween: the original painting only shows the key movements. The work of the in-between complements the transition between the movements, allowing the picture to move smoothly.
Color keys: it is specifically responsible for the color of each episode, especially the color of the dynamic part, excluding the background. Basic on the color keys, specify the color of the specific environment, such as dusk, late night, daylight, and each color is varied in different environments.
Coloring: coloring the sketches of the original paintings and inbetweens, excluding the coloring of the background. The basis for coloring is the indication of the color kes.
Synthesis: combine the original paintings, inbetweens, background, CG and other materials into one screen, and add special effects according to the requirements of the storyboard.
Edit: connect all the shots into a complete animation, including adjusting the shot sequence, adding and deleting shots, and removing unwanted ones.
Recording: after the animation is completed, invite voice actor to record.
Dubbing: add effects sound, BGM, songs and so on.
If you’re interested in the production time of animation, you can refer to the following flowchart below：
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