the clog

Memoirs of a semi-animator...

Well, this is an old story. Or at least it would be old if someone actually bothered to tell it (and yes, that someone would be me). My Boss, Mr Rahman (the Big Cheese himself) professes that he is not a great animator. I do not believe him. I mean, how can I after seeing his work?

Maybe animators in general are a humble lot...either that or they're a very demanding lot. Anyway, Rahman used to work in Japan under the company Toei. Ever heard of it? Well, maybe you've heard of some of their works: Ninja Turtles, Jem (god, if you remember this you must really be a freak) and most significantly, Dragonball. The frightening thing is that Rahman used to work on these series...well, maybe not Dragonball (I can't remember if he worked on that one) but he did work on the animation of the Saint Seiya series. I used to love that series as a kid! It was amazing. If you were into cartoons as a kid, you've probably seen something done by Toei. It's that big. In the animation industry there are few animation houses that are as respected or as big.

And my boss came out of that. Yowza. It's very hard not to just grovel at his feet ^_^. The funny thing is, out of all the artists there he says that he was the slowest 0_o. And this is coming from a guy whose hands move like lightning! I mean, he's uber fast! I'd hate to see those japanese at work. The stories that I hear about them from Rahman make me cringe. Their work ethic is nothing short of monstrous: they would start work at 7am on the dot without fail every day. They would work incessantly drawing pictures day after day trying to better their art. And the concentration! Surgeons would be amazed at it! The have nothing to detract from their concentration: no music, no television...nothing! They would continue to work for the remainder of the day and would only take breaks for lunch and dinner. They would continue to work 'til around 2am. And then they would go to karaoke lounges 'til about 3am, after which they would head back home to sleep. They then wake up at 6am to get ready for work again. It's insane I tell you!

In fact, at work they would prepare little pillows...not much bigger than a small textbook, and would often stop to take 10 minute naps on their desks. They would just lay their head on the pillow (on the desk), set an alarm and sleep. For 10 minutes.

Of course, on the plus side Rahman says that animators are a well respected lot in Japan. He says they are more respected than even parliament members! And that's saying alot! When I say respected I mean it in the same context as "worship". That's great and all...but I need my sleep, so I'm pretty sure that I would never want to become an animator in Japan....

Rumoku out!