Shinya Ohira - Master Sakuga Animator
Shinya Ohira is one of my favorite animators to examine. His drawings are so rich with detail and have a very distinct and life-like way of moving. Here is an exclusive analysis of one of the scenes which he animated.
See the overview of his work here
Here is a transcript of the lesson:
Ohira- San got his start in the anime industry as a teenager. he was devoted to capturing authentic motion in his characters and as he mastered this, he quickly evolved to have a signature animation style which can be recognised in any production he is part of.
BahiJD - another influential Sakuga animator - says this about Shinya Ohira:
Ohira-San has a very original style, individual animator & artist. His animation is both realistic, dynamic and abstract.
Here are some lessons I can learn from Ohira's work
1) He does't cut corners. Few people draw like Ohira because it is VERY hard to do. His drawings often feature a massive ammount of detail. Some frames only stay on the screen for 1/24th of a second and yet they maintain the same level of detail. Not only are the drawings detailed, but so is the animation. Each component of the body has an ever changing trajectory and mass.
And yet, he keeps going, for better or worse. Unfortunately, this approach does not fit with most anime productions. So aparrently this has got him fired in the past and has made him quite difficult to work with.
2) He takes his time drawing frames
In the detailed animation of Ohira San- even a small line will require massive amounts of calculations, taking into account physics, perspective, exaggeration, character, style and one of my favorite techniques - moving about the mass of the character or object in a method I call shifting.
3) Every frame is a great drawing. Pause his animation and you will see a unique expression of what the character is feeling.
4) I learned from Ohira to throw the rule book out of the window if it is holding you back from what you want to get across to the audience.
he has an intimate knowledge of what he is drawing so
He does not just draw what he sees. He embellishes it. He draws out certain features and he ignores other features.
5) another thing I have noticed him to is he surrounds himself with other excellent artists. Notice here how Hiroyuki Okiura precedes Ohira's animation part with a beautifully executed walk cycle shot with stunning cinematographic angles. There's a tendency for great artists to sometimes distance themselves from other great artists because they don't like to be compared (rightfully so) and they want to stand out (understandable) but master anime artists understand that the quality of the film is what is most important, and not their own credibility.
This could also be why it is often so difficult to identify animators in a production. They all blend with one another unless there is a courageous animation producer who is audacious enough to allow his animator's art styles to flourish.
6) He has massive confidence in the scene, his knowledge of the scene and the audience. There's no way that someone who is shy and insecure could make such a bodacious piece of animation like this. He trusts his instincts on any scene he takes part in. it takes guts in commercial animation to commit to animating in a style that not everyone may like. It's actually kind of crazy that ohira's work is featured in any popular anime. Apparently his animation style does not go down well with the majority of anime viewers. His pitches have been rejected numerous times from producers
7) He taught me to have fun in a scene
His work in flcl is a good example of this. Because he had fun animating it, we had fun watching it.
8) learn the principles and never stop evolving. From years of experimentation, Ohira has made a style which is abstract but is always grounded in a core of realistic observation. He observes first and then he draws on what he discovers
Ohira- San got his start in the anime industry as a teenager. he was devoted to capturing authentic motion in his characters and as he mastered this, he quickly evolved to have a signature animation style which can be recognised in any production he is part of.
BahiJD - another influential Sakuga animator - says this about Shinya Ohira:
Ohira-San has a very original style, individual animator & artist. His animation is both realistic, dynamic and abstract.
Here are some lessons I can learn from Ohira's work
1) He does't cut corners. Few people draw like Ohira because it is VERY hard to do. His drawings often feature a massive ammount of detail. Some frames only stay on the screen for 1/24th of a second and yet they maintain the same level of detail. Not only are the drawings detailed, but so is the animation. Each component of the body has an ever changing trajectory and mass.
And yet, he keeps going, for better or worse. Unfortunately, this approach does not fit with most anime productions. So aparrently this has got him fired in the past and has made him quite difficult to work with.
2) He takes his time drawing frames
In the detailed animation of Ohira San- even a small line will require massive amounts of calculations, taking into account physics, perspective, exaggeration, character, style and one of my favorite techniques - moving about the mass of the character or object in a method I call shifting.
3) Every frame is a great drawing. Pause his animation and you will see a unique expression of what the character is feeling.
4) I learned from Ohira to throw the rule book out of the window if it is holding you back from what you want to get across to the audience.
he has an intimate knowledge of what he is drawing so
He does not just draw what he sees. He embellishes it. He draws out certain features and he ignores other features.
5) another thing I have noticed him to is he surrounds himself with other excellent artists. Notice here how Hiroyuki Okiura precedes Ohira's animation part with a beautifully executed walk cycle shot with stunning cinematographic angles. There's a tendency for great artists to sometimes distance themselves from other great artists because they don't like to be compared (rightfully so) and they want to stand out (understandable) but master anime artists understand that the quality of the film is what is most important, and not their own credibility.
This could also be why it is often so difficult to identify animators in a production. They all blend with one another unless there is a courageous animation producer who is audacious enough to allow his animator's art styles to flourish.
6) He has massive confidence in the scene, his knowledge of the scene and the audience. There's no way that someone who is shy and insecure could make such a bodacious piece of animation like this. He trusts his instincts on any scene he takes part in. it takes guts in commercial animation to commit to animating in a style that not everyone may like. It's actually kind of crazy that ohira's work is featured in any popular anime. Apparently his animation style does not go down well with the majority of anime viewers. His pitches have been rejected numerous times from producers
7) He taught me to have fun in a scene
His work in flcl is a good example of this. Because he had fun animating it, we had fun watching it.
8) learn the principles and never stop evolving. From years of experimentation, Ohira has made a style which is abstract but is always grounded in a core of realistic observation. He observes first and then he draws on what he discovers
