Anime Studio

So, this week I went to A-1 Pcitures Studio for a fieldtrip with one of my professors, a great opportunity and It was really interesting. You probably know this Studio, it has produced anime like Tetsuwan Birdy, Ao no Exorcist, Tsuritama, Idol Master, Fractale, Valkyria chronicles, Kuoshitsuji, Fairy Tail.... and their last works are Brothers in space, Sword Art Online, Magi and Shin sekai yori (btw this last one is one of my favourite anime right now). We took just a quick look at the studio because of course everyone was busy on the studio's next projects.
Well speaking about the studio, the building is brand new not really big, but the space is well organized and each department is divided in 3 floors. The animator's conditions and their working space seems good as well. You shoul know that when you talk about animators in Japan, you usally think of poor working condtions and a low salary(100￥ for 1 drawing), everyone know the sterotype regarding animators that eat instant ramen everyday because they can't afford more than that. My animation's teacher said that animator's life is hard, you have to work a lot not only for money but because the job is like that, you won't leave the studio until you have finished everything. Now she is working for Sunrise's Gundam Unicorn episode 6, and she said that the Studio is a 戦場 (senjou) which means battlefield LOL but she loves her work, and I think that only that is just amazing.
Well the people working there reassure us about that. We have also the opportunity to talk with one of the producers of A-1 Pictures, I ask him something about the character designer's job. It looks like chara designers have a lot of powers corning creativity, that's cool.

Anyway, I'm still working on 3DCG. I haven't really decided what to do in the future (except being character designer), but I want to study both 3D and 2D technics! I will try to do both next year, even if It will be difficult... But I must say one thing.... I'm starting loving 3DCG!

New character! This time no fat, but still a cat

His name is Baldassarre, an adventurer cat-knight you can find an artwork HERE.
I made this character for my 3DCG class on second term. It took almost 3 months for modelling, UV, textures and animation settings. Also I need to add coat and feather, they will take years to render ARGH. Well I didn't want to use him just like an homework, so I decided to make a short movie with 2 other friends. The main character is Baldassarre, 2 more kitties and... a dragon! Next project will be taking part in a contest next july, hope we will finish in time!

学園際 School Festival!

So at the end of October my university had the school festival!
If you had watched anime, dorama or read manga, you will probably know about school festival.
It is known as a national event called Japanese Cultural Festival 文化祭 (bunkasai) or 学園祭 (gakuensai), two different words with basically the same meaning. 
It was the first time for me to actually take part at something like that (last year I went only to see a friend's school). Well, I must say that I love the atmosphere about It, most of the students are damn serious about the festival! The school staff, the students even the teachers help with the preparations, and the day before and after the festival there is no class. I mean, wow! Back to my highschool we had something like that, called "open day" for people that wanted to see our school. At elementary school I have done something fun, but during middle high and high school we have done pratically nothing (in Japan seems to be the complete opposite). In my high school just a few people were serious about it, and thinking about taking one day, or just one afternoon for arrangements was something crazy.

we sell postcards and pins with our 3DCG club's characters!  Then one of my senpai was playing the old Mother on the pocket famicon, it instantly got my attention lol

The festival was full of events. We had a japanese speech contest for exchage students like me. I created a small animation video for my chinese friends that were taking part in It, and one of them actually won the second place, cool! Then we had cosplay contest and photoshop-illustrator explanations and tutorials done by one of my senpai.
Since I've joined the 3DCG club, I stayed in the room for the 2 days of the festival and help with things. We also showed our short movies during the festival.
I created my short movie in like 1 month and half, 4 weeks for animation and the rest for modelling... I just realized that working on 3DCG is to damn hard, especially if you are alone.





Man, lighting is so baaaaad rofl And everytime I moved the cat I had all sort of problems lol
Next time I'm gonna work with other 2 friends from the 3DCG club, and we are going to make a short clip for a contest next year, gonna do my best!
Right now I'm creating another cat, a knight cat for my 3DCG class, I have just discovere mudbox and MAN I LOVE IT. I have loved 3DCG since i was a kid watching the CG cutscenes in videogames like FFIX (I will never forget the opening and the opera scene), but I like hand drawing animation as well.
I'm studying 2D animation too, It's difficult as hell but I love It... and that's also because of my teacher, she is amazing and really LOVES her work. Even if the pay is low, the work hard, LONG, and she usually doesn't sleep for 2 days, she keep doing It because she likes animation, and she is proud of that. Even when she was young and animation studios said "we don't take women because they will get married someday" she kept her dream and realized It, she didn't give up. I really admire, respect her.. and all the good animators around the world.
Aaahh, but someday I will have to choose between anime and 3DCG.. T_T
Well, now I go back to work, I'm way too busy.. lately I have done also a short comic for a Skies of Arcadia 10th anniversary anthology (It's an old game for dreamcast and remake for gamecube, one of my favourite games EVER) because the founder of the project asked me,  It will be sold at comiket this winter^^
So, see you next post for updates ;)

Tokyo Game Show 2012

Phantasy star online is back!

I went to the Tokyo Game Show for the second time.
It was overcrowed as hell like always....but I must say that It was pretty fun, also I met a lot of friends there! YAY! Of course It was impossible to play games like Monster Hunter 4, too much people, and the tickets for the demo were sold out 30 minutes after the opening of the TGS. Even if I get there early, I had to wait almost one hour in line. Anyway, I saw MH4 presentation (Yian Kut-Ku is back!), then I bought some MH and Gyakuten Saiban stuff at the Capcom shops, and somehow I spent 80 minutes in line for LaytonVS Phoenix Wright, totally worth IT (?). Not kidding, the game looks pretty good, and Shu Takumi was working on It, so ok!
I couldn't play MH4, but I took a look at the stand, It was like a little village full of MH things... and the feline, ywah THE KITTY WAS SO CUTE I COULDN'T RESIST*^*
Gyakuten Saiban V (Phoenix Wright) stand was probably the most amazing of the TGS, take a look here...

I mean, what the hell! It's a real courtroom!

Probably only the Biohazard 6 could have been at the same level... well done CAPCOM!
The cosplayers were pretty cool, I was happy too find also characters as Pit or Palutena!

amazing monster hunter armor!

You can't even image how tired I was after a day like this...!^^" But as I said, It was really fun.
I think that from now on I will have time for NOTHING. I have just started the second semester and guess what, I'm at univeristy from 9AM to 9PM almost everyday. For lessons of course, but also for some project that I need to finish for the 文化際 (Bunka sai, aka School Festival), 3DCG movie is one of THESE. 頑張ります！

helloooooo, summer holidays are almost over and that's really sad... especially when you had exams on the first week of August, geez -_-
I finished my first 3DCG project....THE FAT KITTY PROJECT


Is nothing special at all, but It took me like 3 weeks, many hours for rendering... and I'm proud of It!

Actually I need to thank my senpais because they help me a lot during this project, they were amazing really, I couldn't do It alone.
Also, when I created the video I opened everything in After Effects, that was a BAD IDEA- the problem is that AE is made almost for special effects, there a lot of different settings, and of course I got lost with all of them lol

simple concept for the fat kitty

Anyway, I'm glad that I finished my project in time,  I can't wait for the next one ^^

3D Computer Graphic

Ok, I was going to talk about E3, but after seeing how TERRIBLE all the conventions were, I just gave up :S seriously, this E3 was ridiculous, nothing interesting at all! Oh well.. let's change topic.
Working on 3DCG is pretty difficult. Not pretty, It is really difficult. I'm using autodesk maya, which is an amazing program, the problem is that there are so many options! I always get lost @_@
My first work with polygon was kind of stupid

just a little kitty/fox face and bubbles

In the first project (assignment) we had to do, was to create your own room, with furnitures, lights, textures, and everything. The main purpose of this work was to create a "livable" room.

I tried to create my room

It took like 2 weeks to create all the room. The most difficult part for me was to create the light.. shadows were a big problem as well.

nerd corner

 Then the first week I went crazy with the texture mapping, but now I get used to it fiuuuuu (the gamecube is made with texture). AND XENOBLADE ON THE TV, I KNOW RIGHT. There was also a Skies of Arcadia poster but I didn't render that part WOOOPS.
Now I'm working on another project, an animation project. I hope to do It in time for the deadline!
...And yes, I'm still playing Fire Emblem, but I will finish It soon because I'm at chapter 25th (probably the last one?). It's a bit short but there are a lot of side quests and characters! That's nice.

Everyone ready for E3?!

Or maybe you just don't give a f--- nothing!
E3 hasn't started yet, but.... yesterday I found THIS

LMAO I LOVE THE INTERNET

I'm watching E3 only for pictures like this one!
As always, I'm planning to see the live press conference via web with a friend! Hope It isn't boring like last year... everytime I hope to see interesting and original games, or maybe some good old series or amazing game like Arcadia, Chrono, Mother, blahblha we know that is impossible with this new generation *sigh* 

Talking about something else, I'm doing a little drawing for a friend's book, that is gonna be published this summer. The book is called "Nightshade" written by my friend Jonelle Patrick. If you have interest in Japan and japanese culture you should read It! You can find the book on amazon as e-book version ;)
Also, I'm really busy with classes and homeworks, for example 3DCG. Working with maya is cool, but It takes so many hours... And I need to finish a "room" for next monday, with textures render and everything! :S When I will have time, I'll try to post something here in this blog, so just wait! ;)

大学生活〜 University Life

A wild Pikachu appeared at the third campus!

Finally I have time to update this blog! YAY
I always promise to update as soon as possible but I always fail. Oh, well whatever lol
Probably you are wondering why I'm writing in english even if I'm italian. The fact is that english is the most common language and "usually" everybody can understand It... that's why I'm writing in english, so that everyone around the world can understand my blog. However my english is not so good, so I apologize for errors/mistakes and other stuff ^^"
Talking about University... well, It is quite hard, because everything is in Japanese. And when I said everything, believe me, I'm talking about E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G : reports, questions, books, homeworks, rules, notifications... sometimes even japanese students don't understand, you can imagine how difficult is for a ryuugakusei (留学生), an exchange student.
Anyway, I said difficult, but actually university is really cool. I can finally choose what I WANT to study. Of course you need to take some classes like japanese, entertainment, digital comunication, but the good thing is that you can also choose other classes.  For example, I'm taking 3D Computer Graphic, rough sketch class, and human anatomy. The last one It's really hard. Of course you have to draw human body, bones and so on, but the real problem is that you have to memorize all the name in japanese... and the funny thing is that sometimes I don't even know the name in my language lol

classroom at early morning... in front of Yodobashi-Akiba

For me is the first time at university, so this system is all new. But I must say that I kinda like It. The thing that Iike the most, is that you have to organize your own time. You are free, but you have responsability, kind of mature ;)
I have also made a lot of friends, most of them are Chinese, but there also guys from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Taiwan, one from Costa Rica, one from Spain, another one from German... I have some japanese friends as well. About japanese students, I must say that isn't so easy to talk with them, they are rather shy. Maybe because at first they are a bit afraid of foreigner... well we gaijin are not going to eat you, so take It easy guys^^"
Talking about a different topic, when I have free time I read the book series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by Martin, and usually talking with one of my friends at university. However, lately I have been playing a new 3DS games: Fire Emblem kakusei (ファイアーエムブレム覚醒). I thought no one know Fire Emblem, but here in Japan It's pretty famous. I won't spoiler the game, but let me say a few opinions. The gameplay is basically always the same-I like It, A LOT- also they added some interesting stuff like double-attack, and change-camera button during battle. Playing It is really fun. However I don't really like the story. I mean, It's not so bad, but at the same time not so cool as I thought before buying the game... It's so-so (maa maa まあまあ〜 ). The CG movie are cool, but I still don't like the character design, I'm sorry to said that but It doesn't suite Fire Emblem series... I prefer the other one used for Path of Radiance ad Goddess of Dawn, way more beautiful and original than this.
Another thing that is "maa maa" are the characters: the idea of making your own character is interesting, but the other characters are way too stupid, and usually act like stereotypes from anime/manga. Also their discussions are really poor. Well sometimes are quite funny, but still stupid.

Kuromu-sama: he, I'm nakeeeeddd!!!!

My character "accidentally" found prince Kuromu naked.
Next time they will add high school students with uniform and then we'll get the perfect "medival fantasy school drama". Urgh, don't wanna think about that...!

大学 University

皆さん、お久しぶりだね　(´∀`）
やっと大学が始まった！実は、1日から〜6日まで一年生のガイダンスだけだった。。。が、その週間に色んな事があって、ずっと忙しくて、ブロッグで新しいポストを出来なかった。本当にごめんなさい　(´・ω・`)
月曜日から授業があるけど、その日から一所懸命頑張ります！ブロッグのため、もちろん勉強のためにも！

Hello! Finally University has started, YEAAAH!  From April 1st to April 6th I had the school guidance: course presentation, informations, and stuff.. of course all in Japanese @_@ Even if It was a "guidance", I was quite busy with lessons and other thinks... like buying furnitures for the apartment, buying textbooks... That's why I wasn't able to update my blog, I'm really sorry for that (´・ω・`)
Next monday I will have class and starting that day I will do my best! Not only for school, but also for this blog hehe :P

とりあえず、新しい絵を描いた！　(・ω・)
Anyway, let's talk about something else... for example, drawings! I have a new one that I did last week

ポケットモンスターのシゲル  -  Gary Oak from Pokèmon

最近、時間があれば（例えば電車の中でとか。。（･∀･)　）ゲームをやっています。イラストはＮｉｎｔｅｎｄｏDsの『二ノ国　漆黒の魔導士』というゲームなんです。私はスタジオジブリと久石譲の大ファンですから、このゲームをやると思っていた。英語のバーションがないので、全部日本語でやると思った！やっぱり、勉強にななってしまいましたね（；´∀`）それに、ゲームだけではない、必要な本もあるし。どうして？もちろん、魔法指南のため！これ、面白いですね。本の中で絵がすごくきれいと思う。大好きです。

Also, when I have time (on the train lol) I'm playing a really nice game for Nintendo Ds: Ni no Kuni! As a great fan of Studio Ghibli's works and Hisaishi Joe's music, I really had to play this! Unfortunately, this game hasn't come out in Europe or USA... but I know that they are going to translate the ps3 version, check this out!!!! . However, the most interesting thing is that you need a "magic book" to play this game! In fact, everytime you have to draw a macig spell, you need to check the special book included with the game! I think It's really original :P And the drawings inside the book are so beautiful!

ゲームと本  -  Ni no Kuni and the book

discovering blue pencils

Of course I know that blue pencils are used for comics and stuff, but this is the first time that I have ACTUALLY tried to use them. It's not really the first time, but whatever!

Random guy studies

not so bad, but I need to improve anatomy.... :S

The first one, Natsume and Nyanko Sensei from the anime/manga series Natsume Yuujinchou (by Midorikawa Yuki). last picture is just an original/random character.
And then the last one!

my favourite! Drawing the kitty was so funny :3

Also, lately I have been kind of "obsessed" with stars and galaxy, so I just tried to draw something nice like this or this one :)

Drawing snow leopards

Since last year, I've been quite interested in snow leopards. Why? Well, first of all because I love cats and felines. Also, I like the fact that a snow leopard (also called panthera uncia) is really secretive, solitary and well camouflaged by Its own habitat. Afer a little research on the web, not only about this animal, but also regarding legends and myths , I have found this program called "Snow Leopard Beyond the Myth" by BBC.  When I was little I didn't know such animal actually exists, and of course I have never seen this kind of program before. In fact this is the ONLY good documentary that I could found regarding snow leopards. Their life, the place where they lives, everything reminds of a legend. This feline sure is mysterious.
As an interesting animal, I tried to draw It. I usually take inspiration/reference from photos.

Drawing process, click for bigger size

As you see, It's only a mere sketch and nothing more. I have started with the base lineart for the body, and then I have drawn the fur and stuff. I think animal anatomy (or general anatomy) It's quite difficult, but snow leopard's anatomy is even more difficult because of Its thick fur. This was the reference for the sketch.

In the future I'd like to create a comic (or somenthing similar) with this amazing creature as one of the characters. In fact I already have a story on my mind, characters, setting, and everything, but with my actuall drawing skills I think I won't be able to create a good work. Of course I have tried to draw a page, but I didn't really like it, so that's why I'm practicing with sketches and simple drawings :)
I've done other drawings, and probably this is the best I have done so far

Done with watercolor

Benvenuti! Welcome! ようこそ！

Salve! Userò questo blog principalmente per postare disegni, sketch, ma chissà.. magari anche per altre robe "random". Non sono molto brava a scrivere, quindi è molto probabile che ci saranno più immagini che parole  (*´∇｀*) Bè facciamo un minimo di introduzione: ho 20 anni e adoro il disegno. Studio giapponese da un pò, ad Aprile inizierò l' università a Tokyo. Mi piacerebbe molto diventare character designer, inventare personaggi e storie per videogiochi o film di animazione. Le persone che mi hanno ispirato nel settore (e non solo) sono Miyazaki, Takahata, tutto lo staff Ghibli, Makoto Shinkai, Miyamoto, Sakaguchi, Charles M. Schulz, Midorikawa Yuki, Makoto Yukimura, Ursula Le Guin, Lucrezio, Epicuro, Seneca, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, artisti del web come Yuumei, Juby, Demitasse-lover e tantissimi altri...
Il nome del blog riprende Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜 Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru)  di Kenji Miyazawa, un classico della letteratura giapponese. In verità non ho ancora letto il libro per intero (solo l' inizio) ma l' ho trovato molto interessante. C'è anche un cartone animato se vi interessa.
Spero di aggiornare in modo costante, anche se non sarà facile, argh!


Hello!  I will use this blog as a sort of "art blog", full of drawings, sketches and other random stuff from my daily life. My favourite artists and inspirators are Miyazaki, Takahata, Ghibli's staff, Makoto Shinkai, Miyamoto, Itoi, Sakaguchi, Charles M. Schulz, Midorikawa Yuki, Makoto Yukimura, Ursula Le Guin, Lucrezio, Epicuro, Seneca, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, web artists as Yuumei, Juby, Demitasse-lover and others. Anyway, in April I will start University in Japan, so maybe I will try to write something interesting here... even if I think I will be quite busy with school and stuff. Usually I post only in Italian, but If I have time, I'd like to translate part of my posts in english and japanese. My english isn't perfect and of course I will make some mistakes.. sorry!^^"
Also, the name of the blog is Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜 Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru), a classic Japanese novel by Kenji Miyazawa. I'd really like to read this novel, because I've started watching the anime sometimes ago and I have found It pretty interesting.
Please enjoy and keep following (＾▽＾)／


皆さん、こんにちは！これが私のブロッグで、描いた絵の説明や、日常や、色んな事などを書くつもりです。ブロッグの名前は『Night on the Galactic Railroad』 (銀河鉄道の夜） 、宮沢賢治の童話作品と同じ名前です。４月から東京で大学を始めるし、毎日日本語の勉強をがんばります。普通このブロッグはイタリア語だけですけど、時間があれば日本語に訳する。じゃあ、私のブロッグをフォローラしてください。＼(＾▽＾)／