The TOEI Experience

Yesterday, the BG Artist training team went on a field trip to the famous TOEI Animation at CyberPark, Libis. YEY! So what can i say about the trip? AMAZING! I wish i could just take home those big posters of dragonball z! heres what happened:

1st, we were introduced to our tour guide(forgot his name), and hes says that hes obssessed with anime. Im not. Then he brought us to the IB(in-betweeners) section, where they drew character movements using their P100,000 touch-screen monitors. Expensive eh? Fyi, they have 60 of those for each artist, holy shit. kainggit sila. For those who dont know, the in-betweeners are those responsible for drawing the frames between the key frames drawn by the Animators. Animators however, are the ones who draw the 1st and last frame of each movement. They are also responsible for the sequence of the scenes, timing and structure. Confusing? just ask me personally, even if i wrote a long description on this blog you wouldn't get it anyway coz im kinda weak on my english, plus i easily run out of words to say. Moving on... IB peeps - These guys could draw FAST! really fast! they could draw 1 frame per minute, without making any mistakes. Btw its a requirement, for each 22-minute episode it takes around 3,500-4,000 drawings, and TOEI finishes around 16 episodes a month! so imagine how pressured these people are everyday, no time to breathe!

After observing the quiet in-betweeners, we were transferred to the even MORE quiet room... The Animators room! Very disciplined, focused and hardworking, these animators never looked nor talked to us! And i was expecting a short lecture from them. These guys are loaded with deadlines that they don't have to time to talk to anyone. They just keep on keep on working as if no one stood or sat next to them. Not breathing at all, heheh kidding. Btw, they currently working on episodes 100 going up of the series One Piece, if you're an anime fan youve probably seen this being airred at GMA during the afternoon. But they're showing the 1st episodes, the old ones actually. So for those who say that its already the ending or claim that they know the ending, then you're wrong, eh yung mga artist di pa nga tapos eh.. hehe... simula pa lang yan. One Piece has yet a long way to go. oh yeah, were also using DBallZ and One Piece BGs as references in our training, un lang po. hihi.

Next we were intoduced to the colorists. Well compared to the in-betweeners and animators these guys are more relaxed and laid back. Some of them are actually playing around the workplace, obviously they have more time to smile and goof around. The work load is easier, all they have to do is provide flat colors for the drawings done by the IB and Animators, then they'll pass it to the special effects team for shadows, lights and special effects, duh. hehe.

Lastly, we visited the noisiest, wackiest, most artistic and perverted team in TOEI Animation... The BackGround team. These people have the biggest work load next to the Animators but somehow these guys could still goof around, talkshit and talk a lot about hentai. haha. hentai-japanese porn. yup most of them are maniacs and from the way they dress and the look of their desks, i could say that these peeps are rockers as well. i feel at home already, haha. So like i said, it was a different environment. people are noisy and shit, maybe its because of the age, in this team the people were around 20-26 yrs old, in the other teams some were 30 above. We got to talk to few artists only, since it was the 15th(sweldo), almost have of the team were out, having a break, enjoying their money and partying at 5pm. haha. Going back, we got to talk to one artist, he just talked while he painted using the Intuos WACOM tablet which costs around 20,000 to 30,000 php. wow mahal. Using photoshop, they were all provided with a standard brush palette and settings so that the backgrounds done would have consistent strokes. The backgrounds maybe the last thing you'll ever look at in an animation series but its one of the most important and hardest things to do. The colors must be consistent, it must be perspective and the lighting should be in the right place. one small error in the strokes or inconsistency in the lights could cause you your job, then again if the director doesnt notice that then your saved. hehe. Even if it shows up only 1-3 seconds they are still very strict about it. Thats how the japanese work man. Anyway, we asked more from the dude, but he didnt mind, as if he was used to talking while working. It was more of an interview than a chit chat, ofcourse we asked about the salary. he said that really starts off slow, but as you get faster at working, the pay gets better, plus the benefits are great. He told us to get ready to end our social life. wtf?! no way! OJT starts january, with a small allowance for food and transpo only, crap. And after 2 months theyll decide if were qualified to join them. We''ll be working at the BG department, the bestest perverted team ever haha. We'll see what happens next year, pray for my success f*ckers. I wanna go to Japan someday, and make lots n lotsa hentai for jihan and luanne! the horniest members of Amethyst! bingo baby! bingo!

Im quitting the band Amethyst btw, when i start working at TOEI... HAHAHA! joke, if carlo's reading this he'll surely react, he over reacts sometimes. hahaha, peace pare. youre a supa cool drummer mehn.

Btw, I was able to refund my Slipknot ticket! FINALLY! after 2 months! For those who bought slipknot tour tickets you can have them refunded at the araneta colliseum green gate! go and claim your cash mothaf*ckers!

peace \m/