It is well known that completing an animated project requires efficient teamwork, and animators play a key role in bringing characters to life. Through studying the production of The Legend of Luoxiaohei and reflecting on my own internship experience, I have gained a deeper understanding of the professional requirements, skill set, and daily workflow involved in animation production.

The core responsibility of an animator is to design character movements based on storyboards, dialogue, shot rhythm, and the director’s intentions. Animators must transform static designs into expressive, emotionally driven performances. During my remote internship, this interplay between creative vision and practical execution became especially evident. Because the project was small and the team had limited resources, I often had to handle multiple tasks—creating in-betweens, cleaning up, coloring, and texturing. At times, the director assigned me an entire shot, making me responsible for all animation and coloring work. I also communicated with the producer daily, updating the director and revising my work repeatedly according to feedback. Even when I felt an animation was complete, further adjustments were often required.

This experience was a stark contrast to personal projects, where I could freely decide my own style and direction. In a studio environment, however, maintaining consistency with the team and adapting to an established visual style are essential. I needed to work patiently through continuous rounds of refinement, which made me realize that in a well-organized studio, tasks and working hours would likely be distributed more reasonably.

The most challenging aspect of the internship was capturing subtle character emotions. For instance, when animating a hesitant, sorrowful head turn, I naturally leaned toward more exaggerated poses, whereas the director preferred extremely subtle acting to convey nuanced feelings. This experience showed me how essential acting sensibility is. Animators must understand a character’s personality and the scene’s rhythm to create natural, layered movement. Patience and keen observation are equally important—attending to small gestures and micro-expressions is key to producing lifelike animation.

From a technical standpoint, Toon Boom is not widely used in China. Instead, most 2D animation production relies on TVPaint, Clip Studio Paint, and Adobe Animate, which require solid technical proficiency. Mastery of these tools, combined with a deep understanding of animation principles and language, is essential for producing high-quality, expressive character animation.

Bibliography

DonghuaHun‑Anitama (2019) A Video That Fully Explains How Animation Is Made – Anitama New Series Special Episode 1 (一个视频让你彻底了解动画是怎么做出来的——Anitama解新番特别篇第一期). Bilibili video, 11 March. Available at: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1jb411e75F/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=acfe9e75b8e721bba1015d70ddf4a245 (Accessed: 20 November 2025).