Kazuki Sekiguchi

Blog

Selected posts translated into English. All posts are available on the blog in Japanese.

  • Selected for the Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Creator Development Program (and Recent News)

    お知らせ

    My short film project in progress, The Animator Cat, has been selected for the creation support program of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Creator Development Support Program!

    I developed this project last year while being put through my paces in the NeW NeW program, so I really owe it to that, and I’ll do my best until it’s finished to make it a good film.

    The other day there was an announcement event and a networking session, and I was nervous because there were so many people who looked like they were no ordinary artists. The people I meet at NeW NeW and film festivals are mostly in animation, so I know them or feel some kinship, but this time it brought together artists from truly diverse fields, so I was nervous.

    I chickened out and didn’t talk much with people I’d never met, but I still got to connect a little and greet the advisors who will be helping me, so I’m calling it a success.

    Storyboard
    Layout

    My days are spent preparing materials for the first meeting and working on layouts.

    When I draw at a small size, I’m afraid there’ll be a gap when it’s shown on a screen, like “it’s bigger than I thought,” so I draw rule-of-thirds lines and keep the proportions within the frame in mind. I’ve also tried adopting a rule from a book on composition in painting: “Placing the weight on the left makes people feel uneasy, and placing it on the right makes them feel at ease.” Apparently in tokusatsu shows the villains are usually on the left too, which is interesting.

    I was planning to go location scouting over Silver Week, but the forecast is rain and I’m discouraged. Was autumn always like this? I wish every day had weather like today.

    Since I’m in the middle of production, I’d like to properly keep a production diary of all these things on Instagram or somewhere. I’m doing all sorts of things every day, but before I know it, a week has flown by like light.

  • Selected as a First-Term NeW NeW Artist

    アニメーション映画祭・上映会

    I’ve been selected as one of the first-term artists of “NeW NeW,” an overseas support program for short animation filmmakers!

    https://www.cgarts.or.jp/nwnw\_press20250214/

    Today, the 22nd, as a related event of “ENCOUNTERS,” the showcase event of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Media Arts Creator Development Support Program, there will also be a presentation by the first-term open-call artists, with screenings of past works and a talk together with the other selected artists.

    I’ll do my best to talk about the outline of my selected new project!

    “New Way, New World: First-Term Open-Call Artists Presentation”
    Date: Saturday, February 22, 2025, 13:00–14:00
    Venue: TODA HALL CONFERENCE TOKYO, Room 402
    Admission: Free (no registration needed)
    Speakers: Isanori Kaneko, Kazuki Sekiguchi, Ryo Hirano
    Moderator: Nobuaki Doi

    https://creators.j-mediaarts.bunka.go.jp/news/16662

  • Happy New Year 2025

    アニメーション日記

    Happy New Year.

    Last year was all about giving birth and then childcare, but this year I want to work hard on my client work and my own films too. It all depends on whether we get a daycare spot, so all I can do is hope we do…

    I hope it’s a good year.

    I look forward to another year with you.

  • I Went to COMITIA 146

    アニメーション日記

    Last Sunday I went to COMITIA 146 as a visitor.

    At my last COMITIA before giving birth, the long trip made my belly tighten painfully and I couldn’t look around much, but I was happy to see people, and I achieved my goal of eating the omusoba sold at the venue, so I’m satisfied.

    Today I entered week 30 of my pregnancy, and I’ve been feeling unwell more often, with stomach acid coming up all the time. When the doctor asked how I was and I said I couldn’t stop burping, the doctor half-laughed. I don’t think I can travel far anymore, and that makes me a bit lonely…

    I recently bought Moho 14 and have been doing the tutorials every day. I used Moho 12 once for work in the past, but I’ve completely forgotten how. The tutorials go smoothly and are fun, but I’ll need some training before I can animate my own drawings.

  • My First GIF in a While

    アニメーション

    I’ve gained 10 kg, and the hospital told me to cut back on food…

    Since my morning sickness ended, my appetite has been huge, and everything tastes good and I can eat a lot. And I used to have no interest in food and ate very little. (If I’d been allowed, I would have been fine eating something like nutritionally complete hardtack for all three meals.)

    But now that I enjoy eating more than before, I feel like I have more human joys. I’ve also become a little more careful when cooking.

  • Thank You for 2022

    アニメーション日記

    Time flies, and it’s already New Year’s Eve. 2022 was a year when I did many things that took courage, like moving house

    and getting a gastroscopy.

    Receiving an award at the Kichijoji Animation Film Festival in February and taking part in Hiroshima Animation Season in August were also memorable.

    https://pikopon.net/%e7%ac%ac17%e5%9b%9e%e5%90%89%e7%a5%a5%e5%af%ba%e3%82%a2%e3%83%8b%e3%83%a1%e3%83%bc%e3%82%b7%e3%83%a7%e3%83%b3%e6%98%a0%e7%94%bb%e7%a5%ad/ https://pikopon.net/%e3%81%b2%e3%82%8d%e3%81%97%e3%81%be%e3%82%a2%e3%83%8b%e3%83%a1%e3%83%bc%e3%82%b7%e3%83%a7%e3%83%b3%e3%82%b7%e3%83%bc%e3%82%ba%e3%83%b3/

    Resolutions for 2023

    My goals are first to finish the work I’m involved in now, and to move forward with the new film I’m developing. Also, I want to mow the overgrown lawn in the garden…

    This got long, but thank you very much for everything this year.

    I look forward to working with you in 2023.

  • Two Things I Drew Recently

    アニメーション日記

    When I picked up some trash I’d been noticing and ignoring for ages, I realized that even a small good deed can make you feel like you’ve accomplished something great.

    I’d almost stopped drawing outside of work, but when I drew with an old-fashioned sketchbook and mechanical pencil for the first time in a while, it was fun, and I got a bit of my doodling habit back. I realized that how good it feels to draw matters, and maybe I shouldn’t change tools carelessly…

    I heard that the day before yesterday was Watermelon Day, so I drew a watermelon animation. Thinking I had to post it that same day, I rushed through it in about five hours and added voice and sound effects too.

    I meant to draw it casually, but it used up even the energy I needed to cook dinner, so my husband and I went to a convenience store late at night to buy food. Going out at night with no makeup in whatever clothes felt like summer.

    I bought Bomberman in a game summer sale, but I couldn’t figure out the controls and kept dying from my own bombs.

  • New Animation Estrange Is Complete

    アニメーション

    The animation I’ve been making independently since 2019 is finally complete!!!

    Trailer

    About the film

    Estrange (Japanese title: Chushajo de Ame wo Tabeta ne)
    6 min 15 sec, 2021

    Synopsis

    On the eve of her wedding, Miyo’s best friend, whom she had invited, cuts her off. Realizing that friendships have a shelf life, Miyo thinks back to the days when they were young and joyful.

    Staff

    Screenplay, Animation, Direction: Kazuki Sekiguchi
    Music: Marty Hicks
    Voices: Yuka Suzuki, Michiru Nakamura, Masako Nojima
    Sound Design: Nao (69★STAR Films)

    This is my first original work since leaving school.
    Production stopped now and then, but I managed to finish it!

    This film is a sequel to The Life of Miyo, my university graduation film from 2016.
    The previous film looked back on the life of Miyo (the blue rabbit) until she met her husband and got married. This time, a grown-up Miyo struggles through her wedding preparations with the question: “When your life stage changes, do your old friends disappear?”

    I plan to submit it to film festivals one by one from now on.
    Unlike work or school projects, I made this all alone without anyone’s feedback, so I’m very scared of how it will be received. Still, I find I’m more eager to send films I’ve made since I stopped being a student to festivals and competitions. Maybe because I feel I’ve given more of myself to them…

    I felt like it would never end, but I’m glad I finished it. If I leave a gap I’ll overthink things, so I’m going to start planning my next project right away.

  • 2　0　2　0

    アニメーション日記

    Thank you very much for everything in 2019.
    As we are in mourning, I’m refraining from New Year’s greetings, but I look forward to working with you again this year.

    I chose the idea I thought had the most punch, but once it was done it turned out surprisingly ordinary, so I’ll keep working to improve.

  • Tooth Extraction

    アニメーション日記

    I’ve changed the design of my website again.
    WordPress is written in a language I don’t understand, and since I only know HTML and CSS I tweak it by instinct, so I get frustrated when I can’t get things exactly how I want.
    But this template is very easy to customize, and I’m glad I found it.

    The other day I had my upper and lower fourth teeth pulled for orthodontic treatment.
    Compared to wisdom teeth the pain was a breeze, but when they pulled them I thought my jaw would come off, and there was an indescribable “BAKKYA!!!” sound.
    Having teeth pulled gave me a feeling close to despair, like there’s no going back now, and for a while I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror.

    I could only eat liquid food, so I tried to buy ochazuke at the supermarket, but I was dazed by the downpour and the shock of the extraction and bought furikake by mistake.

  • Finished-Film Screening

    アニメーション日記

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    171209_ss1.png
    171209_ss3.png
    Yesterday was the finished-film screening. No matter how much I fix, new little mistakes keep turning up, and fine-tuning takes quite a lot of time.

    Today I took the whole day off, slept and went to a café.

    While I’m making something I’m full of energy, maybe because I’m on a high, but once the work reaches a pause I’m hit with an enormous emptiness (it was the same last year). I feel most at peace when I’m absorbed in the work.

    While working I kept playing Hataraku Ossan Gekijo or Inuyashiki on Amazon Prime. Inuyashiki is pretty sickening overall, but sometimes there are satisfying episodes, and it’s interesting. There’s a newscaster in it who looks exactly like the NHK newscaster I always watch, and I hope he doesn’t die.

    The venues for the graduation exhibition have been decided, so here’s another announcement!

    🐱 Yokohama 🐱
    March 2 (Fri) – March 4 (Sun), 2018
    Lecture Hall, Yokohama Museum of Art
    Free admission

    🐱 Tokyo 🐱
    March 21 (Wed, holiday) – March 25 (Sun), 2018
    Lecture Room 1, Central Building, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts Ueno Campus
    Free admission

  • My Graduation Film Is in Trouble

    アニメーション日記

    171108_59.gif

    I can’t waste a single day, so I’ve decided to stop doing more rough sketches than necessary and draw with my final brushes from the start.

    Today I bought paper-like film for my iPad and pen display (you stick it on the screen to reduce the slipperiness and recreate the feel of drawing on paper). Without it the pen just glides away, but now it stops with a little squeak, which is really nice.

    But the pen nibs wear down incredibly fast, so now I draw while paying attention to how I hold the pen, so that the less-worn part of the nib touches the screen.

  • My Graduation Film So Far

    アニメーション日記

    Yesterday was the midterm presentation.

    I’d been working through the nights before the presentation, and afterward I was hit with headaches, nausea, fatigue and terrible stiff shoulders from my wrecked daily rhythm. I felt like Gon after using power he shouldn’t have.
    The lesson I learned from yesterday’s critique is that “understanding” is a prerequisite for “laughter.”

    I always play comedy while I work, and I realized that I can laugh precisely because I understand the meaning instantly. I really want to see my film get laughs, so I thought I need to make it easier to understand.

    Whenever I get advice from teachers at presentations, I worry, “What if after I graduate I can’t get advice anymore and can only make work that has lost objectivity?” That’s all the more reason to make this advice part of me and do my best.

  • Air Swing

    アニメーション日記

    170814_1.gif
    A swing you ride by feeling it with your heart.

    Ever since my new iMac arrived last week, I’ve become quite the homebody, and my daily rhythm has gone off again. But at home all my time becomes work time, so as long as I take care of my mental health, it’s the best.

    Last year someone stopped me in front of the station and asked, “Would you like to be a haircut model?” Since then I sometimes get my hair cut at the salon where I was their practice model. But it’s somewhere you can only reach by bus from the station, and it’s fairly expensive when you’re not a practice model, so honestly I think, “I don’t really want to go.”

    So why do I go? About every two months, the stylist (a stylish, cute woman who also seems a bit shrewd) sends me a friendly LINE message asking how my hair is doing. I feel bad brushing her off, so I end up going, even getting driven there by car.

    Every time a sales message arrives I think “…”, but I reply using lots of emoji. What’s the right thing to do…?

  • Animation Digest 2017

    アニメーション

    I made a digest of the animations I’ve made so far.
    I packed everything into one minute, so please take a look.

    Here’s what I’ve been up to.

    Lately I’ve been really agonizing over job hunting. I don’t think there are many times in life when you keep asking yourself “what do I want to do?” this much.

    But compared with people at regular universities, I feel like I’m already choosing from a fairly narrow field, and I’m starting to think that in the end it comes down to fate, and I’ll reach a “bloom where you’re planted” kind of conclusion.

    The other day, when I went to a family restaurant to work on storyboards, a group of local college students sat down next to us. As one of them walked by, she knocked over my glass, and the table was covered in Calpis.

    The girl who knocked it over said, “Oh, sorry,” but, maybe embarrassed to look like she’d messed up in front of her friends, she stayed aloof, had my companion get the napkins, and lightly dabbed at the table. While doing so she grabbed my arm to wipe under it, and I got really angry: “Why aren’t you flustered, and why are you touching me so casually!?”

    I felt intense anger at the sense of omnipotence of a cute girl her age who thinks she’ll be 100% forgiven if she looks you in the eye and apologizes.

    Wishing she’d age rapidly and then fall into a cesspool, I deliberately wiped the table and my wet belongings very, very thoroughly.

    Feeling aggressive only makes you sadder, and I stewed over it for a while afterward.

  • Hoge Hoge

    アニメーション日記

    161125_28_BG.jpg

    ↑ A work-in-progress file that was still around

    My blog-writing speed has dropped off lately, and I have trouble finishing posts.

    I used to be able to write one in about ten minutes, but maybe I’ve unconsciously started trying to write something meaningful.

    The other day a kerosene heater arrived at our house. Snow was forecast before I’d bought any kerosene, and I thought, “I should have bought some…”

    but it didn’t snow at all around my house, so that was good. (Maybe it did, though.)

  • iPhone Case

    アニメーション日記

    techogata_case_manga2.jpg techogata_case_sanpo2.jpg

    I’d been using a cheap Android phone for a long time, but I suddenly wanted an iPhone, so I daydreamed about case designs.

    There’s less than a week until the picture deadline, so I have to work without sleep or rest. Why is it that those are exactly the times I want to do something else…

    Expenses like paying the voice actors made me anxious about money, so I applied for a part-time job at a gyoza shop in a department store food hall. The interview is tomorrow, so I’ll try to speak as clearly and cheerfully as possible.

  • Leave It to the Experts

    アニメーション日記

    161023_aaa.jpg

    Today was another voice recording, and we finished without a hitch. I’m grateful to the two voice actors and to the sound engineer who ran the session.

    At first I was optimistic, thinking, “I took the studio training, so maybe I can manage the recording myself.” But watching the sound engineer set up, I realized there’s so much about sound that I don’t know, and I was glad I didn’t try to do it myself…

    The sound engineer did the sound properly, and when I wondered whether I was doing a fine job as director and animator, I lost confidence and felt like a half-baked presence…

    After asking myself questions and answering them, I reached a very philosophical conclusion: “It’s better to erase the ego and focus on social meaning and purpose.”

  • I Want to Enjoy Autumn

    アニメーション日記

    161023_totyu.jpg

    I’m aiming to finish the picture for picture lock on 11/1, but I’m at the “I’m so tired, Patrasche…” stage.

    My two biggest worries are (1) the progress of my first-year film and (2) having no income. If you have any work for me from November on, please get in touch…

    Lately I like boiling a whole kettle of tea (hato mugi tea). It’s reassuring that no matter how much I drink there’s still more, and it feels like I’m doing something good for my body.

    My little pleasure lately is imagining that once production calms down, I’ll go to the nearby library, borrow books, and enjoy autumn reading over tea.

    The other day I finished the recording with the child actors I’d been nervous about. While the sound engineer prepared things with amazing efficiency, once I’d handed the scripts to the child actors I had nothing to do until recording started, so I walked around the dark, empty hallway.

    The child actors were all very skilled and experienced, and so personable, like people from a world I’d never encountered, that I was in a daze for a while after I got home.

  • Nervous

    アニメーション日記

    161018_son.jpg

    I can’t stop worrying about tomorrow’s dialogue recording.

    My skin has been breaking out lately, probably because of too much sugar and artificial coloring and irregular meals, so I’m going to cut out sugar and plan healthy meals.

    When I keep exchanging business emails, dark thoughts start to take over my mind and I get really depressed. If I’ll always have to handle negotiations like this myself, I don’t feel confident I can keep making films after I graduate…

    Wearing new clothes makes me feel a little less miserable.

  • I Want to Go on a Trip

    アニメーション日記

    161013_inoti.jpg

    For a long time I’d thought our house sometimes smelled like a homeless person, but today I realized it might actually be the smell of coffee… (It’s a little sour.)

    I made a big batch of simmered sweet potatoes, but most of the potatoes had gone bad, and they’re bitter and awful, and I’m sad.

  • Work in Progress

    アニメーション日記

    My production is in a bad way, but the low pressure has me lazing around.
    I feel like the approach of “finish one stage completely before moving to the next” doesn’t suit me.
    Someone I showed my progress to said, “The previous one was better,”
    but I didn’t feel I understood the previous version myself, so even if something I don’t really understand got praised, it wouldn’t feel like much, and I wasn’t shaken.
    But that person had praised the previous version a lot, so I thought, “Sorry.”

    I ran out of apricot oil and tried something called a camellia oil hair cream, which made my hair stiff and squeaky, and I’m annoyed.
    I went to the hair salon for the first time in three months. I’m growing my hair out, so I only had it tidied up, and of course it barely changed, so I’ve decided to forget I ever went.
    I read in a book that models with short hair go every two weeks. That might be fine if your hairstyle is defined enough to want to maintain it, but with a vague hairstyle like mine, the way home from “getting it tidied up” feels empty.
    Once it grows out a bit I long for a well-kept short cut, and once I cut it I long for long hair. I’ve been repeating that loop, but considering the years it takes to grow, I can’t have long hair that many times, so this time for sure…

  • Fake Village Vanguard

    アニメーション日記

    Last week I vowed to become a respectable person and stayed late at school working every weekday.
    On Saturday I took a workshop at school with a Studio Ghibli animator. I worked up the courage to show my work in progress and got great advice, which made me happy.
    On Sunday I went to see Your Name., and the audience around me was so delinquent-looking that I got scared.
    The shopping mall with that AEON Cinema had a Village Vanguard outlet store, but it was so sloppy, with junk-like goods at 70% off scattered around a nearly empty room, that I doubted it was a real Village Vanguard.

    ↑ Some of the cuts I showed

  • Lost in Thought (the News Is Good)

    アニメーション日記映画祭・上映会

    My Tama Art University graduation film The Life of Miyo has been nominated in the Japan Animation category of the New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival in November!
    http://airport-anifes.jp/competition/nominate/

    Since watching the DVD a while ago I’ve been hooked on Ajin, and I watch the trailer for the latest film almost every day.
    I like the character Kaito, and I’m enjoying myself noticing the differences in his lines between the TV and film versions. I can’t wait to see the new film.

  • Shin Godzilla

    アニメーション日記

    ↑ A rejected cut from my first-year film

    Yesterday I went to see Shin Godzilla.

    The Hollywood Godzilla they showed on TV the other day looked like a crocodile, and at the end it roared a satisfying “Gyaooo” like in Jurassic World and went back to the sea. But the Godzilla in Shin Godzilla felt like a disaster you can’t reason with. After it ended, I felt like I’d caught a glimpse of a dense world of hardcore fans.
    I wondered what the human-like things on the tip of Godzilla’s tail were.

    Afterward I browsed an illustration magazine. It was full of illustrations that were each slightly different but gave roughly the same impression, and I wondered, “Don’t the artists ever think there’s no point in what they’re doing when there are so many similar pictures?” But then I reflected that maybe my own sensibility is crude for not bothering to look for the “subtle differences” among similar things, and left.

    Later I went to another bookstore, and an art book there struck me like lightning. It was a collection of incredibly detailed miniature-style paintings. Written down it doesn’t sound like much, but it had a refreshing feel, as if free of any constraints, and I thought, “No one could easily copy this.” And I thought: “In today’s world, information comes in but we rarely get to really feel the value of things, and if we’re not careful we think we understand everything and it all looks unremarkable. But we have to discover that hard-to-see value.”

    On a whim just now, I took the rubber grip and cone-shaped part off my tablet pen, and it became a slim pen that’s easier to draw with.

  • Let's Take It Easy

    アニメーション日記

    Lately I’ve been reading a paperback of Black Rain.
    I bought it at Mandarake in Nakano, and the previous owner had drawn double lines in pencil here and there and written notes, which reminded me that I used to do the same in my Japanese textbooks…
    When I properly read books I’ve bought or use up ingredients without letting them go bad, I feel like I’m doing something good.

    It’s already August, and the plan for my first-year film keeps wavering.
    It’s not the tools’ fault, but when I draw with a pen tablet, I feel like the drawing will never be settled.
    (Without the feel of the pen tip scratching into paper, somehow…)
    When I thought about why the story keeps wobbling so much, I realized it may be because the “anger” that motivated the film keeps cooling as time passes.
    My present self is acting as a mediator with my past self, saying “no need to be so angry,” so the story won’t settle.
    I want to win the fight against the inner voice that gouges my heart.

    Last week I went to the annual fireworks festival at Seibu-en amusement park.
    I’d always felt a sense of mission, like “if I don’t go, who knows when it’ll disappear,”
    but the part-time staff were working hard, and of course, I realized that for some people the place I feel romantic about is just their real-life part-time job.
    And I learned a life lesson: “Chasing romance and retracing memories never gives you the same thrill as the first time.” I thought, just a little, that memories are like a drug…
    But when I watched a huge golden firework bloom and fade, I almost cried.

  • Aaaaargh

    アニメーション日記

    I know I’m being spoiled, but lately making work has been so hard it brings me to tears.

    I entered grad school wanting to properly build my skills, but I’m losing sight of my goal day by day.

    In college I often wondered why people who had no motivation and half-heartedly got through even their graduation film had bothered to enroll… but now I understand how they felt all too well. These days I’m not even throwing myself into my work fueled by negative energy. It’s just a sense of duty.

    My inferiority complex toward my honest, ambitious classmates is huge, and I wonder how everyone can absorb things so innocently and keep working so hard.

    Coming across news about independent animation has been a little painful lately. (But I’m looking forward to the Hiroshima Animation Festival.)

    I’m making this film with such low motivation, but I have to finish it, so I’ll at least make the effort to sit at my desk every day.

    Part of why I think I might not make it as an artist is that I can’t keep believing in the value of what I make, and I get caught up in grand worries like “what is the fundamental meaning of making things?”

    A great master among my teachers said something like “It’s about steady, patient work,” and I thought that was absolutely right.

    When I express what I think, it all feels wrong and I immediately want to take it back, so I can’t talk properly with people, and sometimes I don’t even know what I’m saying. But I think a work that raises no questions and is only about looks or story is just fashion, so even if I don’t really understand it, I feel I have to assert something of my own…

    The other day, when I went back to my parents’ home to vote in the Tokyo governor election, I ate Hanamaru Udon at the food court of the local Ito-Yokado. The down-to-earth feeling was irresistible and I didn’t want to go back… (I am down-to-earth, though.)

    The children’s swimsuit section with its slightly unfashionable designs, the clear balls (with condensed bubbles inside) on the tips of the levers of the game corner machines… they stirred up my nostalgia for supermarkets.

  • Earphones In

    アニメーション日記映画祭・上映会

    I’ve found that popping earphones into my ears while I work helps me concentrate a little.
    The drawing above is an unrelated doodle, but when I draw people and animals together, the animals always end up looking like pets or Pokémon, one rank below. It bothers me. Maybe they’re better off not being together much.

    My graduation work is now on the Tama Art University website!
    Reading my teacher’s comment gave me an indescribable feeling.
    http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/pro/g_works/2016/id/s8/

  • Wanting to Be Close to Nature

    アニメーション日記

    TVPaint practice

    Yesterday I went to something like a job interview and had them look at my portfolio.
    They said, “The style is too uniform,” and “Companies want people who can do a variety of things, so you should give your work more range.” So that’s how it is, I thought.

    I casually asked, “Do a lot of art students give up job hunting halfway?” and they said, “More often, people who planned to be artists start job hunting partway through.” It felt very real.

    A sweet potato I’d stored under the sink and forgotten had sprouted and looked like an arm with bulging veins, so I hurriedly ate it today. I soaked it in salt water, wrapped it in paper towels and foil, and baked it in the toaster oven for over 40 minutes, but it just wouldn’t cook through, so in the end I made candied sweet potatoes and had them for dinner.

    Afterward my stomach hurt a little.

    ↑ I took part as an animator.

  • TVPaint

    アニメーション日記

    I recently finally bought the animation software TVPaint.

    I’m so used to Photoshop that learning it will probably be a struggle, but I’ll try to use it every day. (I bought it thinking “the yen is strong” (?), but it was still expensive.)

    I also bought all sorts of things I wanted on impulse, and while excited, I got scared about the future,
    so I kept my household accounts for the first time in about two months. I’d been using a Google spreadsheet, but it was a pain and I didn’t think I’d keep it up, so I decided to write it in my planner.

    I buy whatever I want, and the school has a wonderful production environment, yet I somehow lack drive and spend the days lazing around. I have a vague feeling that lack of exercise is the cause.

    When I’m goofing off, a line from a character named Itabashi in Ushijima the Loan Shark comes to mind: “I used up the time I needed to find what truly matters on the joy of meaningless consumption.”

    In a book I read recently, I learned the terms “lycée style” and “nutra style.” “Nutra style” is fashion focused on marriage and being popular, while “lycée style” is fashion for self-expression. My current hobby is looking at passersby and thinking, “Ah, that person carries on the lycée tradition,” or “Ah, that’s the 2016 version of nutra.”

  • Vroom Vroom

    アニメーション日記

    No matter how hard I try, my Dropbox storage is never enough, but I don’t want to upgrade.

    Yesterday I ate chicken rice in Nishiogikubo and then went back to my parents’ home.
    Before heading there, my mom and I stopped by Tsutaya and rented Cinema Paradiso and Ushijima the Loan Shark, and watched them at home.
    I’d seen Cinema Paradiso on Hulu before, but yesterday I saw the director’s cut for the first time, and the story was different. (Especially the second half.)

    Lately I sometimes follow nail blogs,
    and I saw a blog by someone who buys gels from every brand and makes color charts of them all.
    I thought, “This is so helpful,” and at the same time, since they collect so many,
    I wished the nail brands would send them a thank-you gift or something…

  • Zootopia

    アニメーション日記

    This morning I painted my nails to my heart’s content, did the sound work, and then went to see Zootopia.
    The picture above is one cut from my assignment. I wanted the line width to stay fixed when scaling,
    so I tried drawing it in Animate CC (Flash).

    Nails
    I tried a top coat I recently bought that makes nails look like frosted glass.
    It isn’t slick to the touch, and has a smooth feel like bare nails.
    When I put two clear, puffy decorations on each nail, I got this “I want to add more!!!” feeling,
    and decided that I can add more, but I shouldn’t forget the spirit of subtraction.
    Nail supplies aren’t very expensive individually, so I want to collect them endlessly.
    I started doing this because I admired a stylish person’s nails, but I suspect stylish people put effort into everything as a whole.

    Zootopia
    Nick the fox was cool,
    but I was a little frustrated that I, like everyone else, fell for a character you can’t help but think is cool.
    (Like Hiei from YuYu Hakusho, Jigen from Lupin III, or Taizo from Mr. Driller.)
    The logo animation before Disney films, where the castle appears against the sunrise,
    somehow feels empty of people and eerie, like looking into a world living humans aren’t allowed to enter.

  • style="width:100%;"

    アニメーション日記

    160607_rakugaki.png
    Today I went to school in the evening for an assignment to make a clay animation in three hours per person. The makeshift darkroom was so hot and humid that I downed a can of Dekavita in an instant.

    I’d like to celebrate finishing the clay animation, but I have to finish the 2D assignment in three more days, and the four remaining cuts are just painful.

    Lately I like using the tag style="width:100%;" to make image widths flexible. (There’s probably a better way.)

    I put this website’s address on my business card, so I thought that since it’s on there it should look a bit more like a web portfolio, and I’ve been fiddling with the HTML and CSS. But I can hear a voice inside saying, “Don’t you have other things to do?”

  • Dangling Egg

    アニメーション日記

    The tough stop-motion practicum is finally almost over, and I’m savoring the feeling of having cleared a hurdle.
    Shooting frame by frame with the tension of not being able to redo anything, I feel I discovered all sorts of new perspectives by doing stop-motion.
    During group work, we took turns playing our favorite music on YouTube, went out for ramen and okonomiyaki saying “I don’t want to go back to the studio…,” and put a tripod on our heads. It was fun.
    I have to finish the 2D animation assignment in the one week left, so I’m working furiously at home, but being able to relax at home for the first time in a while makes me incredibly happy.

  • The Puppet for My Stop-Motion Assignment

    アニメーション日記

    Even your favorite food gets to be too much when it keeps coming, like New Year’s dishes.
    Lately the days steeped in animation have been tough. Maybe it’s the May blues, but I can’t stop buying snacks.
    I discovered that one Gaburichu chewy candy disappears in my mouth in the distance from the station to my house.
    But buying snacks or opening up to people in the same situation clears my mood quite a bit,
    so when my mood clears, I’ve decided to stop sinking back into gloom, like going back to sleep right after waking up.
    When I’m running scared, things I do thinking “eh, it’s fine” often get me unexpectedly scolded or frowned upon,
    creating even more suffering, so I want to plan ahead with my stamina in mind and not cause trouble for others.
    I want to ride a ferry or get taken for a drive on the express
    waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

  • Chuu-chan

    アニメーション日記

    Today I went to a big home improvement store to buy materials for an assignment.
    I felt refreshed and fulfilled, and thought a home center beats a fashionable neighborhood.
    Every day is all stop-motion assignments, and I haven’t touched my other assignments or my important first-year film at all, which is tough. I get home, cook and eat, and before I know it, it’s 2 a.m.
    Wanting to avoid ending up only wanting to lie there in a daze, I’ve been going to the local public bath (with a sauna) and got a card for the city library.
    The bath has about three kinds of jacuzzi and an outdoor bath (with no view), so it felt like a mini trip. It was the best. The library has a great teen corner, which seemed good for remembering how it feels to be a teen.
    As new “nice places” in Yokohama keep adding up, I feel like the old “nice places” are fading out of the world, and it makes me a little sad.

  • I'm Worn Out

    アニメーション日記

    Today I played around with an armature, a jointed puppet used for stop-motion animation.

    I soldered for the first time in a while, but nothing would stick, so I fixed it with resin.
    Who knew the electronics I reluctantly did in college would come in handy? Life is full of surprises. (Though I couldn’t do it.)

    Lately I’ve had a hard time keeping my eyes open during lectures, and I’ve been getting through them by poking the webbing of my hand with a pencil or straightening my posture.

    I want to live days without a time attack every morning and night.

    I keep thinking I need to submit to various film festivals, but it’s so tedious that it ranks near the top of my list of chores. I can probably only do it when I’m feeling virtuous, so I’ll do my best.

  • Soft-Serve

    アニメーション日記

    Yesterday was the return date for a DVD, so I hurriedly watched Mulholland Drive. It left me unsatisfied, and when I read an explanation site I thought, “How was I supposed to get that?”

    I tend to rent about eight titles in one trip to Tsutaya, so I end up liking only the films I can mostly understand in one viewing, and my verdict on films that need puzzling out is just “I didn’t really get it.” (I never feel virtuous enough to watch them again.)

    I’m worried that if all I do is watch films without thinking, I’ll become a simple person, like a smartphone game that gives you 1,000 gems just for logging in. Then again, I feel like the times I try to be virtuous are when I tend to head in strange directions.

  • My Friend's Baby

    アニメーション日記

    I went to a friend’s house to see their baby. While drinking milk, the baby stared and stared at its mother, and I felt an atmosphere that no one but the baby and mother could enter.

    The baby’s heels were so squishy. I was amazed that they had never once stepped on the ground.

    Last night I watched Eyes Wide Shut. Its length wore me out, but after it ended I was left with a strange, nightmarish mix of understanding and mystery.

    Also, we’re in the middle of a group assignment called “Make a Masque Play,” and I’ve learned how eerie masks are.

    Lately I’ve been wondering why the creative people out there never lose their focus and curiosity. But as for “how to get the urge to make things when you feel calm,” I’ve come to think you just have to force yourself onto the track, so from tomorrow I’m going to face the things I need to get started on.

  • Animation Stand

    アニメーション日記

    I now have an animation stand at home, so this picture was captured with the stand instead of a scanner.

    Whenever I scanned paintings done with paint, wrinkles would show up or the pale colors would get washed out, which was a shame. But with the stand they came out beautifully, and I was moved.

    Lately I’ve been making my work booth at grad school feel more like a private room, hanging a curtain and bringing in my own tissues.

    When I see people who are already staying late working on something, I get anxious: “Am I being left behind without realizing it…?” Then I naturally end up at my desk, so I think it’s a good thing.

    A while ago I read Syd Field’s book on screenwriting and decided, “For my first-year film, I’ll try firming up the script with a storyboard wall.” So I bought an MDF board and sticky notes and have been fiddling with them, and I feel like I can see the plot from a bird’s-eye view.

    The school is full of people making amazing work, so I’m afraid of the days of envy that might await me:
    “From now on, will I feel my chest tighten a lot at news like ‘so-and-so got nominated for, or won at, a film festival’…?”

    I’d been carelessly thinking, “Once I’m in grad school, I want to take pottery classes,” but I think I’ll do that after I graduate…

  • Graduation Film Released

    アニメーション

    I’ve released my graduation animation, The Life of Miyo.

    It missed out on nominations at the Zagreb and Annecy animation festivals I wanted to go to, but it became a very memorable work. At the critique someone said, “It’s good that you can depict ordinary things,” and the scales fell from my eyes: “So things I thought only happened to me are normal to other people?” It was also the first time I asked people to do voices for me.
    Putting it online finally made it feel finished, so I’ll do my best on the next one too.

    Tomorrow is the graduation ceremony!

  • Every Single Frame Is Hard

    アニメーション日記

    Today I woke up crisp and clear, didn’t fall back asleep, and got off to an ideal start. But drawing was incredibly hard, and I found myself thinking, “There clearly aren’t enough frames and the movement is too fast, but please forgive me.”

    About two months ago I quit reading 2channel and had been succeeding, but last night I couldn’t help checking whether there was a thread about a designer’s plagiarism scandal, and since then I feel a little of the suffering has come back.

    Here’s a bit of trivia my grandmother taught me while we watched Koshien at lunch: “Pro baseball players have to have a big butt, especially pitchers. The scouts look at that too. So the high school players who are aiming to go pro always stick their butts out during team huddles. Take a look.”
    Is that really true…?

  • Sudden Downpour

    アニメーション日記

    Around noon today there was a sudden downpour, and even a power outage. All the lights in the house went off with a click. After the lightning, my mom was holding her head because the blog post she was writing had disappeared, and I thought, “Glad I don’t use a desktop computer.”

    Before lunch I washed my hands, and thinking my water-cooled hands would feel nice, I squeezed my mom’s and grandmother’s upper arms in turn. Maybe because I don’t usually touch my grandmother much, she squeezed my arm back with a big smile. It was hot, but it warmed my heart.

  • Fillings

    アニメーション日記

    Tormented by the heat wave and air-conditioning hell, my stomach is upset and I have a slight fever, so I want to take care of my health once again.
    When an easy-to-understand sign of feeling unwell appears, like a fever, I get a little excited and start fishing for sympathy: “Am I… done for? (glance, glance)”

    I was watching TV feeling queasy, and old Tom and Jerry was on. It was incredibly cute. I also saw the recent Tom and Jerry the other day, where Tom makes meaningless noises like “Uah?” and “Ohh-ahh” every time he moves, and the line “Have you lost even your words?” popped into my head.

    I bought replacement nibs for my pen display called “elastomer nibs,” made of a rubbery material.
    Every time I went to the electronics store I’d think, “So expensive,” and leave the section, but the one I’m using now has started to feel gross to draw with, so I got them with Bic Camera points and cash.

  • The Living Room

    アニメーション日記

    When I shut myself in my room on the third floor, I’d get gloomy, couldn’t get up in the morning and got stuck on my work, in a vicious cycle. Recently my family cleared some space in the living room on the first floor and I moved there. The TV and printer are close by, and there’s always someone like my mom to talk to, so I can stay in a fresh mood. It’s really good.

  • aatuuuuuui

    アニメーション日記

    Today I ate udon served to look like somen.

    About two days ago I entered a period of strongly wanting to “pull myself together,” but if I have this many ups and downs even while mostly staying at home, I think I’d wilt right away once I’m out in the world.

  • The Eternal Time Flowing Through the Universe, as Seen in the Lives of Hamuko, Hamue and Hamuyo

    アニメーション日記

    I meant to draw hamsters, but looking at it now, they look like rabbits.

    Starting tomorrow I’m going to seriously work on waking up better, so I put a tub of water next to my bed and installed a light alarm clock app. Apparently you can make an even stronger light alarm with a floodlight for road construction and a program timer, so I’m going to buy them this weekend.

  • Super Fun!

    アニメーション日記

    I started using a pen display, and it’s so much fun that I wish I’d bought one sooner.

    Someone advised me, “If you use a pen display, you should make a stand for your keyboard,” so I wandered around a 100-yen shop. After much hesitation I bought a small metal shelf to assemble, but once I put it together it was so big that it hid the monitor.
    I dug a coping saw out of the tool set I bought in high school and tried to cut the shelf’s legs, but it was impossible. I learned that you can’t actually make anything with what’s lying around.

  • Mr. Squeak

    アニメーション日記

    The music video I’ve been working on since last year never seems to reach its completion day, and it’s painful.

    Today I visited my grandfather’s house, and when we got home the whole family hunted a rat.
    In Heidi, Girl of the Alps, there’s a scene where Heidi picks up a mouse that shows up in the mansion and strokes it, saying, “It’s so smooth!” But the rat we saw today was probably the size of an iPad mini, and it was terrifying.
    My grandmother, who always says things like “Poor tires, having to run on hot concrete,” revealed a fierce hunting instinct toward the rat. When I handed her a mini lint roller as a weapon, she dismissed it with “That won’t do!” I sensed a strong fighting spirit.

  • The Life of Miyo

    アニメーション日記

    The Life of Miyo | Graduation work, Department of Information Design, Tama Art University
    English Sub ver → https://vimeo.com/159066288

    The life of Miyo, a young rabbit who is getting married next month, from her childhood until she meets her future husband.
    Graduation work from the Media Art Course, Department of Information Design, Tama Art University.
    The one-panel comics it is based on are available on this site.

    Direction, Screenplay, Animation: Kazuki Sekiguchi | Voices: Aya Segawa, Shunsuke Saito, Haruna Shibuya | English Subtitles: Ikumi Kawashima
    08’15”　2015

  • New Animation

    アニメーション

    “The day I gave a cat that came close to me a snack (vinegared octopus) when we were setting off fireworks in the park, and it ran away.”

    A memory of a stray cat I happened to meet when I went to set off fireworks in Fussa, Tokyo on August 9, 2014.
    Wanting to “draw what I truly feel without losing objectivity,” I turned a blog entry into an animation.
    (The entry → ビーハナ, in Japanese)
    I think I’ll upload it again after a few touch-ups.
    The friend I went with and I formed a unit called “Aishu Club Fussers.”

  • I Finished a New Animation

    アニメーション

    This is Joy of Spring, a 2 min 47 sec piece I made for an assignment on the theme of “festivals.”
    Based on KUKERI, a Bulgarian festival, it depicts the joy and excitement of spring. It even includes a live (?) clarinet performance by me, so please take a look.

    After the critique today, I had tea with my mom at the fashion building where I used to work part-time. Looking out at the night view, I thought, “I’m so glad I’m a customer again.”

    ●What is KUKERI?

    A traditional Bulgarian festival held from New Year’s to around March.
    Large groups parade through the streets ringing bells to drive away evil spirits, praying for good health for the year and preparing to welcome spring. Apparently everyone except the group leader has to be an unmarried man.

    ●Storyboard

    I recently noticed that the frames I draw without thinking aren’t 16:9 at all, so I want to be careful about that.

  • New Work

    アニメーション日記

    I finished a new animation.
    It’s about my memories of junior high school, when I didn’t want to go to school and wandered around the neighborhood instead. I’ve been working on it since around last November. It was a difficult birth, but I’m glad I could finally give shape to a theme I’d wanted to draw for a long time.
    Please watch it!

    Shopping bag

  • FACE

    アニメーション

    I finished a new animation.
    I made it for a self-portrait assignment. I rotoscoped it very diligently, so I’d be happy if you watched it.

    Standing all day is hard on my feet, but sitting all day gets my back, so I figured they’re about equally tiring.

  • So Much to Learn

    アニメーション

    Today I added camera movement and so on in After Effects. I can only do the basics, but I’m sure there are all sorts of techniques out there.

    The design of the FC2 blog editor has changed, and the buttons and input fields are bigger now, which makes me happy.

  • swimming

    アニメーション日記

    “Wheeeee. This is so much fuuun.”
    “Ahh, now this is what summer is all about!!”
    “The water feels great. Summer is wonderful.”
    “I love, love, love summer. Let’s come again next year!!”

  • Summer Cold

    アニメーション日記

    I’ve had a bit of a summer cold lately, and my throat hurts.

    When I draw directly with a pen tablet, I lay a sheet of photographic paper upside down on it and draw on top. The matte surface gives just the right amount of friction, which makes it easier to draw. Making do with whatever is lying around is a little trend of mine right now.