One career path that I want to try in the future is pre-production art design. As a 2D animation student, I have experience in both animation and design through projects and internships. Compared with being a 2D animator, pre-production design gives me a different feeling because it focuses more on developing ideas, researching references, and communicating with the team.

In our graduation film, Press Any Key to Live, I was responsible for designing some NPC characters and background scenes. Before this project, I had already designed characters and environments in many of my own animation works. I also joined internship projects such as YAO-Chinese Folktales 2 and other animation productions, where I worked on prop design, character costumes, and some concept designs for animation shots. My designs were used as references for the animators during production.

Figure 1. Character design work created for the graduation project, Press Any Key to Live.

Figure 2. Some of the basic background designs created for the graduation project, Press Any Key to Live.

Through these experiences, I realised that pre-production art is not only about drawing well. It also requires patience, research skills, and good communication. When designing props or scenes, I often needed to search for a lot of visual references. Sometimes I had to study objects or animals that I was unfamiliar with, such as historical containers, unusual fruits, or different kinds of animals. Although it could be challenging, I enjoyed the process because I was always learning something new while improving my drawing skills.

Figure 3. Research references used during the pre-production design process in internship projects.

I also think communication is very important in this role. During team projects, I needed to understand the director’s ideas and turn them into visual designs. Sometimes the instructions were very clear, but sometimes they were quite vague. Because of this, I learned to communicate and confirm ideas during the sketch stage to save time later. This experience helped me improve my understanding, patience, and teamwork skills.

To prepare for this career path, I want to continue improving my portfolio and practising character and scene design. I also hope to learn more professional concept design workflows in the future. Based on my past experiences, I believe pre-production art design is a direction that fits both my interests and my abilities.