June Dormitory Diaries: Kaneko

Hello, it’s Kaneko.

Here’s my dormitory diary entry for June.

Up until a bit ago, I wore jackets and long sleeves, but lately, I still feel warm even in a short sleeve. I feel that Summer has suddenly made its way here. Since I’ve come to Tokyo, I’ve slept with a comforter, but it’s getting harder and harder to sleep so I’m pondering buying a towel blanket.

Training has felt relatively consistent since last month, there haven’t been many changes, so I’d like to write in more detail about some challenges that I’ve faced since joining my studio.

I think I wrote about this in my April post, but I was a digital-oriented artist until I joined my studio. Adjusting my focus to analog for my work was particularly difficult then. Digital is convenient because you can adjust the pressure and density of your lines through the settings on your tablet or software, and you can easily redraw using the eraser tool. I got so used to that luxury that I needed to practice drawing straight lines and curves traditionally for about 30 minutes before each training session. Compared to when I first joined the studio, I’m now able to trace much more beautifully, but it takes me more than an hour to draw a keyframe of an upper body. At most, I can do 5 keyframes a day. That includes the tracing and the tweening, and each in-between frame yields me about 2 dollars, so my daily wage is less than 12 dollars. A while ago, there was a story on the news about an increase in the minimum wage. I watched with an indescribable feeling as I realized that if I were to view that wage from the position of an animator, I would have to draw almost 50 frames a day to make the same amount.

About twice a month, I call my friend who signed on with a studio when I was still in vocational school and we share the latest news about our lives. Listening to them, I realized how much variation there is between companies. Of course, it depends on the company's structure, the number of employees, and the schedule of the anime being made, but when they told me about things like studios where people are given cuts with little to no training and are forced to work through the night, I felt that if I had gone to a studio like that, I would have had a really rough time.

I received my first paycheck for training at the end of last month. I didn't have much money saved up, so I had to live very conservatively during April and May. My parents sent me some money, but I don't think I would have been able to live without the animator dormitory. Once again, I am very grateful to Mr. Sugawara and all the people who have supported me and made it possible for me to work like this. I hope you will continue to support me.

June 6th, 2021.