How anime is created

How is anime made? It all starts with an idea. It happens that a brainstorming session is held, where from a whole bunch they choose only one, but the best one. Sometimes it’s the leadership that decides everything. But one way or another, this is the very first and most boring stage. After choosing an idea, the composition of the team that will implement it is decided, and sponsors are sought.

Anime is actually quite expensive - the cost of showing 52 episodes late at night on television channels 5-7 is close to 50 million yen (about 40 million rubles), and showing the anime Fullmetal Alchemist at 6 pm cost 10 times more.

In this picture you can see all the stages of the anime creation process from start to finish.

The next couple of steps are optional if the anime is based on a manga comic. In general, the majority of anime are like this, and this is quite justified. By whether the manga was successful or not, you can find out in advance whether the anime will be successful, and just save some pennies. However, it also happens the other way around - manga is drawn from anime. For example, this was the case with FLCL.

The second stage is coming up with a general concept - who, how, what and why. Characters and a main storyline are invented, and some first sketches are made. As soon as this is all ready, the writers and artists begin their work. A detailed script is written, characters and backgrounds are drawn, and then a rough storyboard is made.

Everything is usually drawn the old fashioned way, with a pencil on paper. Characters are drawn from different angles and moods, wearing different clothes and holding different objects.

Converting these sketches into digital form can be done in two ways. Or pencil sketches are covered with ink or a hard pencil for greater contrast, and then scanned:

Or they scan first, and then add contrast on the tablet. It turns out, in general, the same thing. Once the characters are ready, outlines of the entire storyline are drawn. This is also done with a pencil on paper, with comments, at intervals of a second.

The background is drawn separately from all this. At the same time, it quite often happens that it is drawn not from scratch, but from some photographs. So don’t be surprised if you see familiar places while walking around Japan.

However, the background can be drawn later in the process, especially if it is distant and there is no need to draw in detail the shadows from the animation.

Finally moving on to the next part, which is finally related to the computer. This is where the biggest and most difficult work begins - animation, coloring and layout. First, artists draw several frames of character animation, between finished sketches of frames of the storyline. For television anime, 12 frames per second are usually drawn, but sometimes it is 24 or 8. This is done in exactly the same way as before - the outlines are drawn on paper and converted into digital form. This is very painstaking work - imagine how much you have to draw for a 25-minute episode!

Then other people (although maybe the same ones) smooth out this animation so that everything looks natural and without jerks. And finally, still others color this animation. Apart from all this, there are also effects artists. They add all sorts of sparkles, stars, etc. As a result, after adding the background, you get an almost finished anime segment.

The entire process is overseen by an art director (animation director), who checks frames, makes edits, and sometimes redraws something entirely with his own hands. Therefore, one of the animators with extensive experience is usually appointed to this position. It’s worth noting that 3D graphics have made life a lot easier for animators lately. For example, Makoto Shinkai actively and very fruitfully uses it in his works. But still, most anime are still drawn by hand.

Then comes the turn of sound. Voice actors speak their lines and perform songs. From the outside it may look very funny. Most of the voices of anime boys are actually female - men's voices are lower and not like children's, and for some reason no one hires children for voice acting.

The voices are processed, additional sounds are added - rustling leaves, walking, etc. Finally, background music is added, and the production of the anime enters the final stage - screening.

How do you get money from anime? Advertising and sale of paraphernalia. An advertising block is inserted in the middle of an episode on television. Sometimes the names of sponsoring companies or their products are drawn directly into the anime (for example, all the characters use phones from the same company). The anime is released on DVD. Numerous posters, figurines, etc. are produced. Well, you and I are just watching it.