original story - Once a green plant. （曾为草木）

Phew, it took me about 9 months from writing the script to finishing the entire project... 16 minutes and more than 200 shots ain't easy job.
"Once a green plant." pretty much is a reflection of my mental state of 2023, which is consisted of depression, somatization symptoms after severe trauma and of course, cervical spondylosis that a lot of artists have. You could call this story a rather personal autobiographical record. Also as I was talking about trauma and depression with friends, we all have that feeling of being like "a plant", as if our emotions are shut down...
That's how my original character, Renée, was born. What's worth mentioning is, I didn't want to define Renée and how her form switches between plant and human, or whether she really is a plant or not. The morphologic change is both a symbol of vitality and a manifestation of the deepening of her disease.
The only way Renée is able to connect with the real world is by painting day and night, although all her paintings are hollow and soulless, which is exactly how I felt when I was most seriously ill. At first I just felt like writing a sad short story about how someone who's mentally ill lost her direction and inspiration on creating until she started to feel love, although she still failed to defeat her disease in the end and left quietly. However, as time progressed, the story evolved and branched a variety of themes, and more metaphors were added into it. Illusion and reality... past and present... everything works together on connecting Renée's small world of lacking love and regaining emotional experience. I personally was also very emotional about the process of bringing her to life. There were a few times I felt like just giving up on production, but I picked it up time and time again and tried my best to complete it. So this story is perhaps also a microcosm of the creating process.
Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, friends and viewers on Bilibili who have been accompanying me along the way, as long as voice actors who put in great amount of efforts.
历时9个月从写剧本到整个画完，两百多个镜头，16分钟。依然是叙事平淡but娓娓道来的风格，但是会比之前更晦涩抽象一些。
这次的剧本其实几乎是我去年精神状态的写照，即重创之后的情感缺失以及比较严重的躯体化症状。可以说是对我上一阶段的一些非常私人化的自传式记录。同时，和一些朋友聊到创伤和抑郁时，我们都会有“觉得自己像一棵植物”的感受，像是情绪被关闭了；因此诞生了女主角Renée，或是说，整个故事的唯一主角。
值得一提的是--如果对理解故事有帮助的话--我并没有在Renée和她植物形态的切换方式中作出太严格的定义，她即是植物，植物即是她。植物化是生命力的象征，也是病症深化的体现。
她只能通过没日没夜不停地画画与世界产生链接，即便那些画作是空洞的、毫无灵魂的，这一点也是我病得最严重时候的感受。一开始只是想写一个有关【病人机械地画着画直到感觉到了爱，于是画的画逐渐有了生机，但最后还是没能战胜躯体化】的故事，但是随着一年下来，不停地在加戏，也就开枝散叶出多个不同的分支主题，以及埋入了更多的隐喻。真真假假的过去、当下、未来断断续续地串起了Renée缺爱和重新获得情感体验的小世界。我也对给她注入血肉的过程很感慨，中间经历了瓶颈期和有过想要放弃制作的想法，还是一次次捡起来坚持完成，所以这个故事大概也是创作过程的缩影吧。
最后感谢父母，一直在陪伴我走下去的朋友和观众，以及几位配音老师。

[@fleffychickendog]

This was absolutely breathtaking, I couldn't pull away from the screen there was just something about it that kept me glued. Amazing work from the artist and voice actors this was beautifully made 💖

[@keiroty7187]

She’s in love with him

[@bella_daze3092]

This had me in tears… you made me cry with this… you’re a wonderful artist. A storyteller and… thank you. I don’t have any other words other than you touched my heart. It made me cry😭❤

[@sakamotoverge3194]

The art style reminds me of Slay The Princess. Great stuff.

[@-blueboba-]

It was so pretty... the emotions were beautifully potrayed. It made me tear up. Keep up w the good work!!

[@ricekrispies1917]

I did not expect to sit through the whole thing, it was so captivating. Loved the color palette and art direction in this animatic as well. Beautiful work!

[@MarieLisaJanes]

I cried. this is so beautiful. thank you for making this truly. Im inlove with this piece.

[@zskitchen2145]

Kudos to u lya! Looking forward to more animations like these! Also ur work is really beautiful. Where can i find more of these?

[@PlumBlossomCat]

That was so beautiful! It made me tear up. T-T I truly hope that more people can come across your hard work. It’s amazing!

[@anSh-js4hy]

好細膩的情感！劇情跟畫風也都也很棒

[@kioshi8090]

Just subscribed :>

[@laiba_hussain3169]

No way you have under 1k, I though this was made by a million subs channel!!! The quality is so amazing, words cant describe this masterpiece 😭

[@Waning07]

This is incredible, well done!

[@aedontknowww]

This was beautiful

[@littlewillie65]

Hauntingly Beautiful. Very well done.

[@bibubibums]

It is beautiful.❤

[@cankul7745]

so good

[@AndreSkipper]

This needs to be watched by more 🥹

[@micanikko]

this is so underrated! like what???

[@aliasrosegold-zw1xv]

AHHHH THIS IS BEAUTIFUL????!!!!!😨😨😨

[@elenaekanathapetrova2282]

it is so nice

[@blue_moone6863]

Strangely Poetic 🍃

[@SapphireHSpider]

This was very beautiful and strange.

[@sandraieremiah7710]

Why did I think this man was Harry Potter 🤣 🤣, This was cute ❤

[@snehapujari4451]

What happened to him and her