Early the next morning, around 7 a.m., Lin Zhiyan was woken by the voices of his neighbors.
He clung to his blanket for a while, waiting for the noise to subside before finally rolling out of bed.
Checking his watch, he saw it was nearly 8 a.m.
The graduation ceremony was still a day away, but as a senior, he no longer needed to attend school. All he had to do was show up for the ceremony and collect his diploma.
After brushing his teeth, washing his face, and having breakfast, he set out to gather information about job openings at animation companies.
In 1995, many families in Japan already owned computers, but it wasn't until September of the previous year that the world's first internet café opened in London.
Lin Zhiyan wasn't sure if Tokyo had any internet cafés yet, and without online maps, it would be difficult to find one even if they existed.
Since he couldn't access the internet, it was likely that few animation companies were posting job openings online at this time.
Fortunately, there were still job fairs where he could find information about openings at various animation companies.
Standing before the job listing board, Lin Zhiyan scanned the postings one by one. His gaze quickly settled on one in particular.
IG was advertising a job fair for recent graduates on March 26th, seeking production assistants, animators, colorists, and photographers.
The term "Animator" doesn't refer to someone who creates animation in general, but rather to a specific role also known as "In-betweener." Their primary responsibility is to trace and refine keyframes and add intermediate frames between them.
When new artists join an animation company, they typically undergo several months of training to become qualified animators.
After working as an In-betweener for a period ranging from one month to several years, gaining experience, they can take the company's Key Animator exam.
Only by passing this exam can an Animator be promoted to Key Animator.
In other words, Lin Zhiyan was right to focus on "Animator" job postings.
He reviewed the detailed requirements:
[ - No gender restrictions ]
[ - Graduated from an art or animation-related institution ]
[ - Prior animation production experience preferred ]
[ - Submit resume in person, including 5-10 samples of artwork ]
"Graduated from an art or animation-related institution?" Lin Zhiyan clicked his tongue.
His high school certainly couldn't be considered an art or animation-related institution.
He did have animation production experience, but that was from his previous life, irrelevant to his current existence.
If he could attend a short-term art school, getting a job at an animation company would likely be easy. But with only a high school education and no specialized training in animation or art, securing a position at such a company would be no easy feat.
Still, it wasn't entirely impossible.
If someone like Hayao Miyazaki could receive a job offer from Toei Animation while still in his first year of high school, then with sufficient skill, anything was possible.
Lin Zhiyan didn't lose heart. He noted down the specific time and location, then briefly checked the job postings of other animation companies. Finding none more suitable, he stopped browsing and went to a specialized art supply store. There, he bought a sketchbook, a watercolor book, a stack of animation paper, a T-square, and a set of professional drawing tools.
After shopping, he grabbed a quick lunch, then returned home, closed the door, and sat down at his desk.
He opened the watercolor book, pulled out a sheet, taped it down, and took out his drawing tools. After a moment's thought, he quickly began to draw.
In animation, illustration primarily falls into several major categories: character design, animation, props, special effects, and backgrounds.
Good character design could lead to opportunities as a character designer or illustrator.
Excellent background art could pave the way for a career as an art director.
Being able to animate action sequences, props, and special effects is what truly sets Key Animators apart, especially when it comes to character battles, explosions, high-energy effects, and large mechanical devices like mechs. Key Animators with insufficient skills simply can't handle these.
Mine Nakamura of Bones is hailed as Japan's national treasure and the undisputed pinnacle of animation artistry in the industry, precisely because of his exceptional mastery in mechanical design, special effects, and character animation.
If Lin Zhiyan could create a high-energy action sequence, he could likely choose any animation company in Japan except Studio Ghibli. Securing a position at IG would be a breeze.
However, the job listing clearly states to submit 5-10 illustrations. Sending hundreds of keyframe sketches would be overkill and might end up being dismissed as spam.
Moreover, Lin Zhiyan isn't particularly skilled at drawing action scenes.
In his previous life, his specialty was character design, roughly on par with a character designer. He could draw backgrounds better than action scenes.
For animation keyframes, animation paper with registration marks is typically used. But since Lin Zhiyan is creating illustrative art, not actual animation keyframes, he's using watercolor paper.
While sketch paper, watercolor paper, and animation paper may look similar, their differences are significant.
Not being able to draw action scenes wasn't a problem; it only showcased his illustration skills. He should still be able to smoothly enter an animation company.
As for the content of the drawings...
Of course, it would be girls—beautiful 2D-style girls. After all, women are rare in managerial positions in Japanese workplaces. Lin Zhiyan could roughly guess who would be conducting the interviews at IG—it would likely be all men.
Which male animation professional could resist beautiful 2D-style girls?
In short, beautiful girls were a given. At most, he'd also draw some other things—like cats, dogs, horses, mechs, and other subjects that required more technical skill.
In his previous life, designing a character from scratch would have taken Lin Zhiyan at least half a day, possibly up to six days, or even longer.
This time, when he drew a 2D-style girl, he didn't reference any characters from memory. Yet, a rough outline naturally formed in his mind. Picking up his pen, he instinctively knew how to draw her, and the process flowed smoothly.
He was satisfied after just one draft, and when he finished, he realized he'd only used less than half an hour.
Adding a simple background took less than forty minutes in total.
Then he drew cats, dogs, horses, and mechs, all in one go. Even with backgrounds, each took less than forty minutes.
It was going too smoothly.
Compared to his previous life, his keyframe illustration speed had improved dramatically.
Could it be that simply transmigrating has enhanced my keyframe skills?
Or maybe, like other transmigrators, I actually have a system?
He harbored his suspicions and quickly called out, "System!"
No response.
It seemed he didn't have a system after all.
Undeterred, he tried again in a low voice, "System, show me my keyframe skill level."
He waited for a moment, but there was still no reaction.
He then experimented with various secret commands, but none of them worked.
He couldn't confirm whether a system existed, but even if it did, it seemed unactivated.
Giving up on the system, he turned to exploring his keyframe skills instead.
After about an hour of experimentation, he came to a realization: his keyframe skills had likely been maxed out during the transmigration.
He could effortlessly complete any illustration with remarkable speed, finishing each piece in one go and finding it satisfactory no matter how he looked at it. Even animation, his previous weak point, was no exception.
Indeed, not working in animation in this life would be a waste, he couldn't help but think.
With skills like these, if IG still rejected him, the interviewers should eat their own feces and die.