http://www.kamikazedouga.co.jp/
CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX was used to make Kamikaze's new motion graphics animation of City Hunter
Ms. Satake, Ms. Sakina, Mr. Yoshibe and Ms. Umeki
Kamikaze Douga is constantly bringing joy and surprises to animation fans with works such as the opening animation of the TV animation series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and the end sequence of TERRAFORMARS.
In addition to animation, Kamikaze Douga were involved in a TV commercial for manga magazine Shonen Jump +, and designed the logo, costumes and sets for the NHK TV series Let's Tensai Terebi-Kun (Genius TV Kid).
We asked Ms. Satake, Ms. Sakina, Mr. Yoshibe and Ms. Umeki from Kamikaze Douga about why they used CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX, our painting tool with commercial animation production features, and the effects it has had.
We mainly produce animation like TV commercials and opening sequences for games and TV animation, but we also get jobs where we are only involved in character design, and we also do jobs like set design for TV shows. We work with a wide range of media.
We have many designers working for us and they all have a wide range of skills to draw from. One thing that makes us distinct is that we have many jobs where we can make use of our idiosyncrasies from the planning stage onward.
(Ms. Satake, Producer)
We had been using CLIP STUDIO PAINT even before the animation features were added. Some of our jobs were for animation with a manga-style touch where we had to make an artist's line drawings move, so we used CLIP STUDIO PAINT and just made it work. (laughs)
We happened to be considering which tools to use for our new City Hunter project at the time CELSYS was looking for beta testers for the animation features (until September 2015). When we heard about that, we wanted to try the features so we contacted CELSYS.
CLIP STUDIO PAINT has many clever features like gap filling that make things easy for artists, and things like the start and end of lines make your drawings look identical to analog drawings.
(Mr. Yoshibe)
We use CLIP STUDIO PAINT in all processes for producing the materials before the special effects are added.
Separate people are in charge of the original images, moving images and finishing touches, and they each work according to their own specifications on the timeline, using functions like the onion skin and light table functions.
There were many fans of the City Hunter comic and TV animation series, and they each had their own image of characters like Ryo and Kaori, so we all worked together to make Ryo and Kaori cool enough to live up to the fans' expectations.
(Ms. Sakina)
Since so many staff members work on projects like this, it's difficult to put everyone's work together if different tools are used.
So we appreciated being able to give instructions for the whole job with one tool.
CLIP STUDIO PAINT makes it easy to get a team together because as long as you can draw, you can use this software, even if you've never done digital production before.
Our staff mastered it in one day.
It was also easy on our budget, as many graphics and animation tools are expensive.(laughs)
Kamikaze Douga is all about expression, so I would like to switch even more of our processes to CLIP STUDIO PAINT in future as this is a program that will allow us to achieve that.
(Ms. Satake, Producer)
First, you need to have the physical stamina.(laughs)
Don't go in thinking about how long the project is; break it down into small parts. One cut, then another.
While animation is great in a different way from still images, it's still awe-inspiring to watch good still images move.
There have been a lot of posts in places like pixiv's moving pictures category lately. I think that may be the best way to start - create short works and put them out there for people to see.
(Ms. Umeki, Mr. Yoshibe and Ms. Sakina)
I'd like an animation function where after effects can be created directly from exported time sheets.
I'd also like to be able to import voice recordings. Things like that.
But could you keep the price the same as it is now?
(laughs)
In addition to creating a full animation in CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX, you can make a short animation or moving illustration up to 24 frames long in CLIP STUDIO PAINT PRO and DEBUT.
Click here for details on CLIP STUDIO PAINT's animation functions.
Kamikaze Douga began in 1998 in Kyoto with the freelance work of Junpei Mizusaki, who is now the CEO.
The company's motto is "Compromise is death".
The company is constantly producing innovative films, researching and proposing new computer graphics-based cel creation methods to explore new possibilities in the field of animation.
Many of the staff are designers, who create new possibilities as they tackle animation projects.
The 30th anniversary of City Hunter
A special DVD of the animation will be given to those who purchased all 12 volumes of City Hunter: XYZ Edition, the new editions of the comics (at the time of writing, volumes 1-8 have been released. Volume 12 will be released on December 19.)
It's the ending everyone's been waiting for! See the famous scene where Ryo Saeba proposes to Kaori on screen! (Based on Ryo Saeba's Proposal, the special installment of Angel Heart in the April 2011 edition of Monthly Comic Zenon.)
Enjoy special content created for City Hunter's 30th anniversary, with Ryo Saeba's character voiced by famous voice actor Akira Kamiya!
*Only available in Japanese
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