"You drew all of these?!"

Wang Ming's eyes widened. Although he wasn't a professional, he had received enough exposure to animation from his mother since childhood, and he could tell at a glance that it was an animation aimed at children.

"Hmm." Jiang Xia nodded slightly: "I've been preparing for a long time, and I only finished the storyboard for the first episode last night."

"You little brat..."

Wang Ming quickly went through the thick stack of original manuscripts. Even though all the storyboards were very rough, with only a simple outline and text annotations for facial expressions, considering that he himself was responsible for both the storyboards and the original drawings, there were no parts that were particularly difficult to understand. As long as the creator could understand them, that was fine.

Moreover, the character designs on the first two pages are very detailed, and the themes are very clear, giving the impression that children will like at first glance.

If he remembered correctly, the draft paper Jiang Xia showed him a few days ago was a drawing of Tom and Jerry, only now it was colored and the details were richer, so it looked much more perfect.

"Well done, kid! You've been hiding it well!"

Wang Ming handed the proposal back to him, raising an eyebrow: "So, how long did it take to complete?"

"I'll start preparing during winter break. I'll begin after the art exams. How's it going?" Jiang Xia casually lied, mainly because she was afraid that telling the truth would shock him.

"It's hard to say. I've looked at your topic, and it seems to be a pantomime-style animation. While this would minimize the need for voice acting, there are almost no animations of this type on the market right now. The lack of dialogue means that viewers won't be able to understand the animation's meaning immediately, and..."

Wang Ming looked at Jiang Xia as he spoke: "Besides, in the end, it's an independent production by an individual, so it's hard to guarantee the quality. It's just something you do out of passion. If you really want to achieve anything with this animation, there's no chance at all."

Jiang Xia smiled and didn't explain further. The essence of Tom and Jerry lies in making the audience understand the content of the animation without dialogue. As for quality, excellent content is better than anything else.

He spent so much time watching cartoons at the internet cafe the day before yesterday, and there isn't a single mainstream work on the market that can rival Tom and Jerry.

If he can produce it, it will be a game-changer in the current animation industry!

"Just consider this something I did out of passion. We can't give up before we've even started production. That's not right, is it?" Jiang Xia put the proposal in her bag and put it away.

Wang Ming pondered for a moment: "That's right. How about we go to my family's art studio? My mom isn't home today, and I have all the necessary tools."

"Good brother, it's settled then!"

"Why do I feel like you've been waiting for me to say that all along?" Wang Ming felt a toothache.

"An illusion, absolutely an illusion!" Jiang Xia said with a serious expression.

◇

Wang Ming took out his key and opened the door. Before the two even entered the house, Jiang Xia saw through the gap in the screen that a beautiful young woman in home clothes was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

"Old Jiang, here are the shoe covers, you can wear them yourself." Wang Ming put his backpack and shoe rack down, casually took out the shoe covers and tossed them over. He then changed into slippers himself, but saw that Jiang Xia was still motionless.

"Don't be shy. Like I said, my mom's out, so just make yourself at home. There's no need to be so formal."

Jiang Xia gave Wang Ming a speechless look. Could this kid ever get any information right? He'd probably get a beating from a woman after he left.

Seeing his friend's hint, Wang Ming's heart skipped a beat. He turned his neck stiffly and saw his mother scrutinizing him with her legs crossed.

"Mom, didn't you say you were going to a meeting at the company?" Wang Ming forced a smile.

"The plan has changed, it's been postponed to the afternoon. But you..."

Li Weiya looked at her son and frowned slightly: "Didn't you go to school? Why are you back again?"

“A-Xia said she wanted to paint some pictures, and I figured the studio at home was empty anyway, so I brought them back.”

Hearing his best friend betray him so easily, Jiang Xia looked helpless and bowed to Li Weiya: "Hello, Teacher Li, I apologize for bothering you."

Wang Ming's mother is an art teacher at a middle school and also works as an art supervisor at an animation outsourcing company.

In his previous life, Jiang Xia received a lot of guidance from Li Weiya when he was learning to paint. Strictly speaking, she was Jiang Xia's half teacher. In their later lives, the two of them chose animation by coincidence, which was more or less influenced by her.

Looking at Jiang Xia's polite demeanor and then at her son's boisterous manner, Li Weiya couldn't help but sigh.

"Come in, come in, don't be shy. Just like he said, make yourself at home. By the way, have you had breakfast yet?" Li Weiya asked with a gentle smile.

“I’ve already eaten, Teacher Li,” Jiang Xia replied.

Putting on shoe covers, Jiang Xia followed Wang Ming into the studio, which was actually more like a study. The walls were covered with Li Weiya's works of various sizes, as well as several art trophies.

Although he had been here many times before, more than ten years had passed since then. Looking at the familiar scene, he felt a lot of emotions.

"Alright, you can draw by yourself. I'm going to read a book. If you don't understand anything, just ask your mom. After all, she's the professional." Wang Ming patted his shoulder and walked out of the room. A moment later, he brought back a glass of hot water.

"Thanks."

Jiang Xia didn't hesitate. He opened his bag, took out the three-hole positioning paper he had just bought, and got to work. Looking at the storyboard he had drawn yesterday and the descriptions next to it, he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he was already in the zone.

The first shot shows a white wall and a rat with a long tail, trying to escape but running in the same spot.

This shot is very simple. Just draw three subtle movements while running, fill in the middle frames, and then repeatedly play this segment during post-production editing to create the visual effect of running in place.

The next scene shows Jerry realizing something is wrong. As he runs, he slowly turns around as if he sees something terrifying, revealing an exaggerated expression of horror. He gradually increases the speed of his run, but despite his desperate efforts, he remains stuck in the same place.

Since the backgrounds of the two shots did not change, the original background artwork could be drawn separately. In post-production, software could be used to combine the movement of the characters with the background, which greatly improved efficiency and saved a lot of unnecessary time.

The camera then cuts to Talking Tom lying on the ground, one paw supporting his chin and the other pressing down on Jerry's tail, his eyes full of mockery, thus explaining the previous scene.

The three shots combined convey the message of the first ten seconds of the scene—Tom easily catches Jerry and plays with him.

He was engrossed in his painting when the studio door opened silently, and Li Weiya appeared behind him, her eyes growing brighter and brighter.