I Spent 24 Hours Drawing at an Anime Studio

A few months ago, I got a letter, an invitation from the Royal House of Anime, Gods of Anime, which studio invited me to come over. I could not pass up. They've animated Attack on Titan, Spy Family, a ton of shows, and even the new upcoming One Piece. This is a huge deal. They don't normally do this kind of thing. I could not believe it. Me? Apparently, they saw my drawing video where I taught myself how to draw and was like, "Hey, let's have this read over." But I was not just coming for a visit. I was actually coming to participate and draw myself. So, we filmed the whole experience and it starts off at 8:00 a.m. heading to Witch Studios with Paul the camera guy. We're heading to Witch Studio. The king of anime has invited me. I don't know why. If this doesn't go well, I'll be banned from anime. You distract them and I'll just run into the woods and live there for the rest of my life. If this doesn't go well, I don't know. I'm really nervous. I think drawing with professionals, that's kind of daunting, but I think it'll be really valuable information. We'll learn a lot and um there's [music] always plan B. So, first off, I got to meet with the board of directors and the creators. A bit of cultural explanation here. Japan is very formal business-wise. No matter what, you wear a business suit and a tie. Everyone looks the same in the business industry. So, the fact that these guys pull up in Attack on Titan T-shirts and their goofy attitude, I absolutely love. These guys were awesome. Okay. Okay. [laughter] So, which anime have you worked in in the past? Main character designer Super super. [laughter] Thank you. So, what are we going to do today? Every day. each. So, you'll be also experiencing that today, too. Together. Oh, okay. Can you tell how much I am nervous about the drawing bit? I knew I was going to draw with the other animators, the warm-up drawing session, but I was dying on the inside. Okay. This is something about drawing in front of other people, especially pros. Like, it's just daunting. But first, they introduced me to some of their work. Let's go. Attack on. Yeah. Yes. Nice. Oh, the reg leg regend 18 second animation cut. This legendary scene in particular. You can probably tell what's so special about it. There's no cuts. They told me initially this was supposed to be three cuts, but the director just came in and decided to go Super Saiyan and was like, "No cuts." Mr. Baro came up with the idea to have it in one scene. So, he had to take responsibility to complete it. Okay. Okay. [laughter] Because of that he was in the office working on the animation for the whole day for several days. No one has expected this much of work to be done. Oh really? So when everyone was checking the animation they were saying that Mr. Bar is crazy. [laughter] One word. Not awesome. It's crazy. Crazy. [laughter] Nice world. Maybe you have to be crazy to work on anime then. I love how they emphasize just how crazy this was. This sort of move, not only did they push the whole studio, but it pushed the whole industry as a whole. Seeing the original drawings for it in person, how this was all made and thought out was seriously so sick. Then I was introduced to every department in the animation studio. And first up was director of color design. But before we get into that, let's get real for a second. The internet is worse than ever. Everything is free. Free apps, free services. But remember, if it's free, you're the product. And companies have taken full advantage of this. Your name, your phone number, your address, your relatives, your shopping habits, they trade this and sell this. And you might be like, I don't really care, whatever. They make money off your data. And it's not just like a little bit either. You're worth a lot more than you think. An estimate was 250 billion every year. and per person in the US is around $700. That's crazy. 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Thank you for sponsoring this video. Let's get back to anime. So, no one is actually here yet. People, they said they come in at 12, so it's very quiet right now, but it's cool to see. [music] I got to be honest, I never really thought about colors that much. We looked at the character color design for Attack on Titan. Seeing the raw drawing and then just it come to life with the color was so cool. It really makes you realize just how important color is obviously. [laughter] But not only that, we got to see how it's drawn different colors. If it's twilight or sunset or night or day, all this made a huge difference. And it just looked perfect. I don't know how to describe it. I will say this a lot in this video, but every single frame someone has to color it. And seeing him do it, it's just unbelievable. You might have noticed the raw image here has red and blue lines on it. That's basically a marker for them. What is highlight and what is shadow? Little industry knowledge for you guys. Wow. Yeah, it's really cool. How long does this take to to [music] get this much? So, it will take about 15 to 30 minutes for u one picture to be drawn. And in Japanese animation, 1 second is 24 cuts or 24 animations. Can you tell my math brain did not figure out what that meant? A lot of work. That's what that meant. [laughter] A lot of work goes into this. Next, I got to meet with backgrounds and detail. [music] Guess how many backgrounds is in an episode? I guess like 20 [laughter] up to 300 per episode. There's a whole department for this. This is a section um for the background team to be working on. He'll be introducing you about how background team is working on for the animation. Nice. So they start off with raw image like a basic sketch then not in all but then in some they get 3D rendering and then they draw on top of that all the details. He even made this video for us to see just how they do it. I couldn't help thinking like you wouldn't even notice that unless you zoom in. The amount of levels that goes into the details is insane. And I was like that looks amazing. But he goes, "No, no, no. This is the rough version. Here's the real one." It's like, it really does make a huge difference. I asked, "What was the most challenging thing about this?" And the answer was so obvious, but really interesting. What's the most difficult thing? Um, making sure he makes it for the deadline. [laughter] Everyone works on a deadline. He's like, I I love drawing. I can keep drawing forever, but we have to keep constantly moving. And when you draw on a tight schedule, that's going to make it so much more difficult. And I got to experience this firsthand in our next planned event, the Croquat session. This is a session they do to warm up every single day. Everyone sits in a circle and then you take turns to draw each other in all these different poses. Wow. So, [laughter] you're challenging them. 30 seconds. 30 seconds. Yeah, only 30 seconds. [laughter] Okay. Draw anything in 30 seconds. It's impossible. They told me it was going to be fast, but I did not realize just how fast 30 seconds is. Chi. I was stressing out. I was like, "But [laughter] are people actually drawing stuff?" Oh, yeah. Boy. slept back in school. I haven't dared to look at other people's yet. I hope they're as bad as mine, but I know that's not the case. It's way too fast. [laughter] Way too fast. Here's mine. Then after a couple sessions, we switched to 3 minutes. So you have 3 minutes to do 3 minutes to draw it now. No. Oh, okay. Okay. And then all of a sudden I'm LIKE THIS IS TOO MUCH TIME. [laughter] BUT eventually I got a rhythm of it. I got a flow and I was feeling good. I was like okay I like this. This is not too bad. This is not too bad. Then I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I glanced over to my left and oh my god. Oh, so annoying. That is the most incredible [laughter] piece of art. Looking at mine, just looking like a baby droid. What I didn't know at the time was I was sitting next to the art director for Osamano Ranking, the big boss. Yeah, [laughter] that was next level. I've been drawing for 2 years. I would still consider myself a beginner. Then it was my turn to pose. I wish I picked a less uncomfortable pose. I was in agonizing pain for 3 minutes, but I think I played it off pretty well. Maybe again. Okay. Going to leave. [laughter] should have picked a less painful pose. Everyone's so good. I don't want to show. Afterwards, we reviewed each other's art, cleaning up, then reviewing and commenting on each other. Can we just keep it? I I felt okay and then I look over to my left and right. I'm like, "No, this is Did you have fun?" Yeah, it was so fun. Yeah. A little U. It was Yeah. Super interesting. I've never done anything like it. These are amazing. You guys are all so good. I I shouldn't be next to another one. Everyone draws so fast, too. This is like uh level one. [laughter] Level 100. It's kind of weird for me to just be like, "Ah, this is terrible." It's amazing. Okay, I'll just have a look then. Okay. Oh, I like the um the line art. It's really good. You guys did shading, too. I didn't even think of that. And different highlights. Wow. So good. Damn. Wow. I have only good things to say. I don't know. I like how you did different as well. That's cool. Wow. I have a long way to go. [laughter] I was so scared of this drawing session. I almost didn't even accept this offer. I know it sounds crazy, but just to me it just seemed too much, like too scary, too big of a deal. Like this amazing studio invites me over to draw. I I got like what's it called? I never had this feeling before. Everyone talks about it. When you feel like you're not worthy or something. I don't I felt like I wasn't worthy for this opportunity, so I almost said no to it. In hindsight, it was so stupid because everyone in the room was just so supportive and just wanted to do their best. So I think with this video there will be a lot of people that want to learn to draw. So you would recommend [music] this sort of exercise for people to do? As a beginner, you may would have a habit to go small and more detailed, but be more dynamic and, you know, have fun instead of, you know, being picky about yourself is very important. That's good. Yeah. I got even got critique on my art and uh yeah, I made the biggest new mistakes ever. Like maybe compare because it's the same. It's It's so evil having, you know, a beginner and a professional. It's okay. It's really cool. It's If anything, it's inspiring. So areas of improvement where can I what should I work on? Do you think [laughter] my feelings won't be hurt? It's okay. You can just draw bigger. Yeah, I noticed you. Yeah, this is a habit. Yeah, everyone draw bigger. It looks much more interesting and it's hard to do the detailing. Yeah. Have a a longer stroke and be more dynam dynamic as you said. I think confidence probably I was a little nervous. At this point, I was so relieved and so happy. I was like, "Okay, now I get to enjoy the rest of the day." You probably had this experience where you there's an important day, but there's this is one moment that you kind of dread. So once that was done, that was done. I was feeling so relieved. I was like, "Okay, no more pressure on me. I just get to enjoy the last of this amazing tour." Wrong. It was about to get way worse. They were going to have me actually animate. I've never animated ever. I don't animate. So, we enter the room where everyone is working. It's it's a very respectful atmosphere, quiet. I got to look at the raw storyboard for Attack on Titan intro. This is where the director first shares his vision with different notes and detail. It has [music] the instruction on how you want the characters to move. And in the boxes, you also have the instruction for the camera team to whether for example pan up. It says there um how cameras are moving, not the characters itself. Because it's the opening, the animation itself would have a longer plot with um more scenes and details. So this is the first cut till here. This then gets passed to the key frame team which draws a rough version of the key frames like a first version of the animation. It was really cool and interesting to see how much is still drawn by hand or physical pieces being used. the time sheet which is this green paper looking at this animation being better than anything I will ever draw and it's the rough first draft. So these are actually all drawn by hand [music] so many for just like small movements. It's crazy. It's for 14 seconds. But after that, it was time for me to test it out myself. They gave me a classic animator's exercise, which is to draw a person jumping off a box. 15 minutes. Go. What? [laughter] How many um drawing you? Yeah. Okay, I'll do simple. [laughter] I was freaking out internally. What have I gotten myself into? But I decided to try my very best. Paul, can you jump for me so I know how it looks like? You ready? Slower. Slower. How can you jump slower? I can [laughter] just not. I see that. I got it. Oh, it's So, I have to think he's going to have to go down and then jump and then back to the way it started. So, I think my strategy will be to just draw and see what happens. Boom. Boom. He shrunk. [laughter] But after a little while, the realization hit me. I'm sitting in the same room as some of the best artists in the world. And here I am drawing this absolute garbage. [laughter] [snorts] He's got to go down lower. You can't jump from this position, right? It's got to be lower. Okay. So, like boom. [gasps] At least it's consistently shrinking. I'm throwing this because I'm doing so poorly. I know this is like the worst, but it's really fun actually [laughter] to try. All right, let's watch his masterpiece. That's not terrible because it's so fast you can't see it. Well, I tried. But again, I actually managed to finish the task. And after Sensei cleaned up my key frames cuz I didn't understand any of that, we got to watch my little animation. And you know what? It didn't look too bad. Oh, nice. There's some missing legs. mosquito. What's that? It jumps. It's jumping. Yes, he may have shrunk through the process, but he jumped. But then again, I didn't know this same experience again. Sensei was drawing next to me the entire time. We got to compare. [laughter] They kept comparing. I don't want to compare. Obviously, it was a billion times better. But it was still really, really cool to see. I was like, "Oh, so that's how I should have done it." Maybe you want to see your sensei's work. Wait, he drew now as well. You have to drew the second. No. Okay. Oh. Ah. With the one leg too. Wow. And you have the right size too. So good. And the arms and everything. It makes mine looks even worse now. I didn't think it was possible. That's amazing. Next, I got to meet with the department for line work and the in between frames. Someone usually draws the overall like maybe this going to this. And like I said, every single line has to be drawn by someone. All the ineteens to that move has to be drawn. That's amazing. So, this is a key frame. She'll be um drawing on top of this. That's so cool. Like this. M. These are each key frames. You'll be learning how she draws the inbetweens. It's impressive. So this is what she added. This is a guided key frame. This is in between. This is the key frame. This is the in between. I thought for sure there would be like a rough version and she just goes from that. But I guess yeah, it makes sense that she had someone has to add the in between. Now it's your turn to add in between. What am I supposed to do? [laughter] Some of this work involved literally just tracing what was already there. And you think there's no way for me to mess that up, but it WAS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. Is this backed up so I don't ruin anything? [laughter] Is that okay? Yep. All right. I'm just getting a feel for the pressure. The lines have to be connected. So, so you have to be so you you know the coloring team would be just painting on top, right? So, it have to be a straight line. I can't draw that much. Drawing lines is hard. This is impossible. No. Ah, no. I lost everything. Okay. [laughter] What do we think of that one? You're getting better. I think I'm getting worse. Can we have the computer make the lines straighter [music] and less shaky? So, computer. No, I'm joking. [laughter] It's [music] hard to do these long lines. Long um curvy lines are always difficult. She's saying this is a lot harder than it looks. I will say that. Like how many times you're redoing it tells and it's already so wobbly. This is my best. This is my finest work. I guess she knew it. That's why she asked you to do the hair. I think so. Yes, exactly. [laughter] But it was really cool to see the images in this raw form and just how insanely good they look. Like this is just one frame. And again, of course, we got to compare. Yes. Mine sucked. [laughter] Do you want to compare with the actual key? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, this is the one you have grown. Wow. [laughter] This is the That's a big jump. [laughter] This is the the actual work. This is you. Wow. Even though it's just tracing lines, there's such a difference. Yeah. It's crazy. I'll have to practice more. Now it was 5:00 p. p.m. The day was done for me at least and I got to meet with the creators of the studio again to reflect on the day. It's a really unique opportunity and I had so much fun. I'm very grateful. Me too. It was I think it was really fun to try out myself. I was already impressed by how much work goes into making the anime, but then trying it myself made me really understand it and I I'm way more impressed now as well. I got to animate for the first time and it was really difficult. I forgot to delete my drawing. So, if they could please make sure it's deleted. You have to think about I think uh I probably contributed to the worst drawings ever drawn in this building. [laughter] they'll preserve the data you have drawn as a data created by cutiepie. I think um you know it was really fun for me and I think everyone in watching the video will really better understand the process of every all the work that goes into making anime and appreciate it as well. I think even if you don't draw, it's really inspiring to see how much hard work goes into it. In typical Japanese fashion, they gave me a lot of gifts which were amazing. Ton of Attack on Titan merch. I even got, look at this signed version for Ozaman King. Look at this. Even a signed key frame handdrawn. That is so cool. How sick is that? I can't believe it. But I was not ready for the last surprise, the last gift. There's one more. [cheering] That's [applause] amazing. So cool for you. Pewdiepie. Pewdiepie. [laughter] An actual Attack on Titan. An official rendering of myself. How insane is that? I can't believe it. I can't believe I own this piece of of u I don't This is amazing. After this experience, I look at anime differently with a new set of eyes. I look at the background and I notice and appreciate all the details that someone had to put in there. I notice how the characters move more and appreciate the thought that actually went behind it. How colors is used and chosen for different scenes. And one last time, how every single frame, every single piece was actually drawn by someone. I think in a time of AI, even if you don't draw, there was just so inspiring. What an incredible experience to be able to have done this. I will cherish this memory. Thank you, Witch Studio, [music] so much. And I'm so glad I got to share this with you guys. And thank you for watching. Bye. Y [cheering] I'm honored. [laughter] This month we're traveling a lot and what always happened whenever we travel the inevitable connecting to public Wi-Fi. Free Wi-Fi is a trap. Get the reference? If you connect to someone else's Wi-Fi, you might as well just give up your credit card and banking [music] information and all your information they ever have. You should always use a VPN. NordVPN. Say it with me. Nord Smormeos board connect always. I'm even connected right now. I made a little module for me. Look, cuz whatever I do online, if I want to download, it's my goddamn business. It's my [laughter] It's my goddamn right. So, thank you NordVPN for making it possible to free yourself, protect yourself online. If you go to nordvpn.com/pie, you get a huge deal on a 2-year plan, plus a bonus extra 4 months for free. 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