Author: Zhenhong Zhang

To prepare for a career in character design, one of my main focuses this year has been rebuilding and strengthening my portfolio. Instead of presenting my portfolio only as a general animation project collection, I am now trying to make my direction clearer by highlighting character design, especially Chinese-inspired character design, character redesign, shape exploration,…

I have gradually become clear that I want to continue developing towards character design, especially character design rooted in Chinese cultural contexts. This direction was not something I decided only at the end of this project. It has been present in my creative practice for a long time. I have always been interested in Chinese…

In Soul Remnants, my role was mainly focused on visual style design, scriptwriting, and storyboard-based narrative development. Therefore, my reflection on skills is not only about software or individual production tasks. It is more about how to turn a complex idea into a clear animated narrative. To put it simply, this project taught me not…

Introduction Pre-production and storyboarding are fundamental stages in both game and film pipelines, shaping narrative pacing and emotional impact. I chose to investigate this direction because I have practical experience creating storyboards for promotional videos and game opening animations. Storyboarding has always been a role I am passionate about, and I often analyse films by…

Introduction In game development, characters are central to visual identity, storytelling, and emotional engagement. For this reason, I chose to investigate the roles of Character Designer and Character Animator. These two positions align strongly with my personal interests and play a decisive role in shaping the vitality of a game world. Role Research: Character Design…

Introduction I have always hoped to work in the game industry. Compared with traditional animation, games offer interactivity, dynamic storytelling, and a wider space for creative expression. In terms of career planning, I am particularly drawn to the game industry in Guangdong, especially Shenzhen—one of the most influential and mature game development hubs in China.…

In this Simulated Work Experience, my main work was in the pre-production, mainly responsible for the creation and drawing of the storyboard. I mainly serve two groups. The first group is the design of storyboard and lens, and the second group is the design of the middle frame of the storyboard (the scene in which…

Many lip-sync mouth shape charts are widely available online, summarizing common mouth positions during speech. Animators often use a set of standard mouth shapes to match various phonemes . These charts work well for English dialogue, but using them directly for Chinese speech can lead to mismatches . Differences in phonetic systems between languages mean…

The mid-20th century marked a golden age for Chinese animation, with Havoc in Heaven (1961-1964), Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979), and The Legend of Sealed Book (1983) standing out as representative works. These films made significant technical advancements while embodying strong national characteristics and deep cultural meanings. Chinese animation during this period relied heavily…