Tom grabbed Jerry by the tail and pulled him a distance away before suddenly letting go. Jerry, propelled by inertia, charged forward headfirst. Just when he thought he could escape, Tom appeared ahead, smiling and opening his mouth wide, waiting for Jerry to rush into it.
After finishing drawing Jerry's terrified expression, Jiang Xia put down his pen, snapped out of his highly focused state, picked up his water glass, took a sip, and found that the hot water he had poured earlier had gone cold.
"Can I take a look?" Li Weiya asked softly.
The sudden sound made Jiang Xia shudder reflexively. He turned around and saw Li Weiya standing behind him.
"Did I scare you? Sorry, I just came in to take a look because I had nothing to do, and I found you drawing very seriously, so I didn't mean to disturb you." She smiled.
Jiang Xia scratched his head and quickly handed over all the original drawings that had already been completed.
"Teacher Li, please take a look."
Li Weiya sighed slightly, "Jiang Xia, you don't need to be so polite with me."
As she spoke, she took the drawing paper and flipped through it page by page. As an animation professional, her mind automatically connected the contents of the drawing paper seamlessly, and she even imagined the intermediate frames of the animation to make the picture run more smoothly.
"I didn't believe Wang Ming when he told me you were making animations, but it turns out it's true." Her tone was slightly surprised.
Through her observation, Li Weiya discovered that Jiang Xia's basic skills were more solid than some professional animators. He portrayed the characters' emotions very well, and one could understand what happened between the cat and the mouse without needing any dialogue. He also drew quickly, with many lines drawn in one stroke.
It's worth noting that such people are usually seasoned veterans who have been immersed in the industry for over a decade, and all of this is actually embodied in a high school student who was learning to paint from her not long ago.
"It's very well drawn." Li Weiya flipped through the original painting in her hand again and praised it generously.
Jiang Xia scratched his neck a little embarrassedly: "Teacher Li, I was just drawing for fun."
“They’ve already created a proposal; this doesn’t look like something they just doodled for fun.”
Li Weiya continued with a smile, "May I see the proposal?"
"OK."
He handed over the proposal and patiently waited for Teacher Li to finish reading it. He was also curious to know what kind of evaluation a professional art director would have of Tom and Jerry.
Holding the storyboard, Li Weiya found a chair, sat down, gently tucked her hair behind her ear, and carefully examined each page.
Out of professional habit, she would subconsciously analyze the main theme that Tom and Jerry wanted to express, as well as the commercial value hidden in this animation. Based on her initial assessment, she was able to get a very high score in her mind.
Doesn't that mean this animated work has the potential to become a hit?
After a long while, Li Weiya slowly raised her head: "The name of this animation is Tom and Jerry, right? The idea is very good. Using the antagonistic nature of animals to create a fun animation about love and hate, I think you are not mainly depicting the specific storyline, but rather the process of the cat catching the mouse?"
"Amazing, Teacher Li is truly a professional," Jiang Xia praised.
After all, from a professional perspective, this proposal is not comprehensive. Apart from the specific character designs, the rest of the document only contains a few superficial keyword descriptions.
If another animation director had this proposal, they might have created a work with a core storyline.
Li Weiya always felt a little strange being praised by her students, but deep down she also felt a sense of joy at being recognized.
“Tell me your specific ideas,” she asked.
"In fact, Tom and Jerry doesn't have a specific main storyline. It's a long-running episodic animation with no connection between episodes. It's just the cat and mouse fighting and bickering in various situations. For example, Tom tries his best to catch Jerry, and Jerry will also rack his brains to resist to the end."
“Is that so…” Li Weiya frowned. “Have you ever thought that if there is no specific main storyline, it is equivalent to each episode being a new story, which may slow down the production process in many cases. After all, there will always be a day when you run out of ideas in your head.”
Jiang Xia smiled and said, "That's how traditional animation works. A good storyline needs plot to drive it, and the plot is often driven by the conflict between characters. But cats and mice are natural enemies, and conflict is innate. There are a million ways they can fight. What I need to do is to express these million ways in an exaggerated way. As for who wins or loses, that's not important."
Hearing his words, Li Weiya's eyes lit up.
"Just like the storyboard for the first episode, the mouse deliberately breaks the owner's tableware, and the cat is eventually kicked out. In the next episode, the cat and mouse might fight again because of a piece of cheese. They can be enemies or friends."
"right."
Jiang Xia shrugged: "In fact, I didn't even think about having the owners appear on screen. Their struggles with each other are the most important thing. I didn't even consider any voice-over. In many cases, body language is much more effective than various expressive lines."
Listening to his unique insights, Li Weiya clicked her tongue in amazement: "To be honest, I still find it hard to believe that this is a work that a high school student who has only been studying art for a few years could come up with. I'm already looking forward to you finishing the first episode. Maybe it will quickly win over a group of Tom and Jerry fans. At least I already am."
Jiang Xia was slightly surprised. She hadn't expected Li Weiya to have such a high opinion of Tom and Jerry. Indeed, classics remain classics regardless of the era.
"Speaking of which, how long does it take to produce this seven-minute episode of your animation?"
"About a month..." Jiang Xia gave a rather conservative figure, worried that he might scare Teacher Li by saying too little.
"A month? That's a bit slow. Have you contacted any other animation teams? If not, how about considering my company? It's a fairly well-known animation outsourcing company in the industry, so the quality is guaranteed." Li Weiya began to recommend her company with a smile.
Jiang Xia sighed helplessly: "Teacher Li, you've misunderstood. I can't afford to outsource the animation. My plan is to do Tom and Jerry myself from start to finish."
Upon hearing this, Li Weiya's eyes widened again. A high-quality feature-length animation completed single-handedly? Could a high school student really do that? And one episode a month?
"Jiang Xia, you may not know this, but animation production is not as simple as you think. It's not just about making the drawings move. There are also various complex post-production processes involved."
“I know Teacher Li, I know all of those. It’s a bit troublesome, but it’s okay. The technical aspects aren’t particularly difficult.” He nodded.
The technology isn't particularly difficult...
Li Weiya twitched her face, wanting to say something but ultimately holding back.
She sighed, patted Jiang Xia on the shoulder, and slowly walked out of the room.
"Keep up the good work, I believe in you. Remember, dreams are meant to be realized."
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