Still working on my Gallery.

[SabreMarionette]

Hey everyone!

It's been very slow getting my gallery in order but I wanted to show what I have thus far! I would love to hear feedback on what I could do to make it better maybe.


Thanks a ton!

http://sabremarionette.rubberslug.com/gallery/home.asp

[sensei]

Sorry to be slow in responding, SM. I've really availed myself of a lot of help from my fellows in constructing and maintaining my gallery, and so I can see why you're anxious to start getting feedback.

I didn't look through all of the galleries, but I did look at those for series that I know as well as those showcasing material that's unfamiliar to me. I thought these were strong elements:

Episode IDs with screen caps. Brief IDs of the characters and the basic situation that the cel/sketch shows. Cels are pictures in motion, after all, and so it's essential with this kind of art that you share with visitors some sense of the action that the art you have freezes.

Interest in the artists represented. I can confirm that your Inuyasha layout is indeed by the late Shouko Ikeda. That's her personal stamp in blue down in the lower right corner (the letters read "Shouko" in hiragana clockwise from the top right). The blurry stamp in red is that of the episode director, Tatsuya Ishihara.

I was also intrigued by the sketches on yellow paper (that paper is an indication that a senior animator is advising or correcting the work of the key animator assigned to this scene) for Megazone 23. The collaboration of Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshihiro Hirano on this OAV is an interesting one: Hirano was involved in Magic Knight Rayearth and directed the spin-off Rayearth OAV. Kakinouchi was mangaka for the Vampire Princess Miyu manga and was involved in the animation of both the VPM OAV and TV series, which Hirano also directed.

But as both served as chief animation directors, I don't think that either of them sketched any of the gengas, which would be done by key animators under their supervision. Or under one of the other two animators (Haruhiko Mikimoto and Ichiro Itano) who also received credit as chief animation directors. I'd say you probably need to do some extra research to see if you can identify a signature style in any of these that you can use to establish a specific artist. That said, the interest in doing so puts your gallery in a special echelon, as the identity (or even the influence) of a specific artist is becoming more and more important in this field.

OK, some areas for improvement. (Not criticism, just suggestions ) You might use the gallery description field to give chance visitors a brief introduction to a series that you collect. Some are (or should be) familiar to most collectors -- CCS, Inuyasha, Slayers, etc. -- but some are unusual enough to merit giving their date of production, main director/animator personnel, and a thumbnail summary of the plot/situation.

Also, you should consider limiting the visible items to the main images, rather than giving spaces to mouth layers, partials, images of characters only partially in frame. These belong, if at all, in thumbnails. Or you can try doing a simple reanimation from your scans. There are good animation programs available in freeware. I've used Jasc Animation Shop 3 for years, as it's intuitive and menu-driven. But I see there are lots of additional options available for no cost.

Hope this helps. Thanks for sharing and happy hunting! (Just not on the same auctions I'm browsing...)

[SabreMarionette]

Thank you for taking the time to look at my gallery Sensei. The feedback means a lot so I can make it a better experience for those viewing it.


I apologize for the delayed response on my end as well. After reading your response I went on a research mission for the Megazone 23 production drawings. When I purchased them, the seller did state the genga was drawn by Narumi Kakinouchi and corrections done by Toshihiro Hirano. From my research Mikimoto was brought on to do character design for Eve. I was not able to find any genga or correction of Eve to compare but based on the final product, Eve is Oozing Mikimoto's style and based on deduction and information I could find (using his known work on Macross as an example) I believe he may have only supervised Eve's animations.

Screencap from Megazone 23 of Eve.


Hanken from Macross done by Mikimoto.


For Itano, I am not 100% sure. But from what I can gather it appears he supervised the action scenes. I have not had any luck confirming this except for one site. But the action scenes do show Itano staples.

The thing that I also found interesting while looking into this further was that Narumi Kakinouchi was a chief animation director and a key animator on Megazone 23 part 1. I did find that there was a mandarake auction that occurred (Link here: https://k.mandarake.co.jp/auction/item/ ... dex=623323 ) showing a genga that is identified done by Kakinouchi and correction by Hirano.

The strangest thing also was, from the seller I bought the opening Macross Storyboard copy which Hirano did key character animation on and a copy of the storyboard of Macross episode 7 where Kakinouchi was a Key animator. It is interesting to me, that these were sold by the same seller with Megazone Genga done specifically by Kakinouchi with Hirano corrections only. I did discover that Kakinouchi has a website and has sold some of her work there before and also has a email. So hopefully this will be a way I might be able to confirm who worked on these. I will let you know what I discover.

This is mostly speculation and based off my deduction from my familiarity with the animators works and what I know of the production. But it was fun diving into this! And also fun fact, Hirano and Kakinouchi are husband and wife.

Now that I went off on that adventure for a few days, I'm going to take your advice and work on my Gallery description and work on find a way to do something with drawings with odd layers. I will let you know when I'm done with it :3


Thanks so much for your help Sensei!! You are the best!

[sensei]

You are certainly welcome, SM. It's good to see someone building an interesting collection based on a good eye for art and a healthy interest in the human artists responsible for it. The seller's assessment of the sketches' provenance counts for a lot, and I've found this information to be usually (though not infallibly) on the mark. But, yes, nothing counts like having an feel for a specific animator's style and hallmarks, and you're going about it the right way, asking questions, finding attested examples of an artist's sketchwork, and the like.

Anyone else? I've gotten to be an old hand (just passed my RS gallery's 19th year), but I'm hardly the only gallery curator worth hearing from.