Exploring the Creative Workspace of Linnea Kataja and Bellamy Luna Brooks
Linnea Kataja and Bellamy Luna Brooks are two artists who have made significant contributions to the Japanese anime industry. Linnea serves as a keyframe supervisor, with her work appearing in both TV anime and popular VTuber media for groups like Hololive and VShojo. Bellamy, on the other hand, is a character designer, producer, and animation supervisor. She has contributed to numerous TV shows and movies, and has also designed animations for online creators.
Their shared workspace reflects their passion for creativity and their dedication to their craft. When not working in-person at an anime studio, they spend most of their time in this space, where they collaborate on various projects.
The Layout and Equipment of Their Studio
Linnea explains that their workspace is designed to be both cute and comfortable. “My partner Bellamy and I have our work desks together, mine is on the left and hers is on the right,” she says. “We wanted to create a welcoming atmosphere to work on our projects together.”
The desks they use are known as douga and sakuga desks, which are commonly found in traditional anime studios in Japan. These desks come with small shelves on the right side to hold animation paper and a light table underneath for traditional animation. However, they rarely use the light tables now since most of their work is done digitally using iPad Pros and Clip Studio Paint.
Linnea’s desk includes shelves that hold sakkan paper used in traditional animation for keyframe drawing corrections and timesheets. In Japan, every cut of anime uses a timesheet to time by the frame when certain cels are used. Anime is timed on 24 frames per second, so you’d write the number cel on the slot you want keyframes and inbetweens to come in.
Personal Touches and Inspirations
In addition to their professional tools, their workspace is filled with personal items that reflect their interests and inspirations. Linnea has a collection of Kuromi plushies that she keeps at her desk to watch over her while she works. Bellamy’s favorite anime figures double as references for her artwork.
They also have a banner from the premiere of The Lord of The Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which they both worked on as senior animation supervisors. Bellamy purchased a plant from a store outside Studio Ghibli when she first moved to Japan, considering it a symbol of her growth in the industry.
After working on Dungeon Meshi as a keyframe animator, Bellamy bought standees from the theatrical release of the first few episodes. Additionally, she was the character designer and keyframe supervisor for the VShojo Nova trailer, and one of the character sheets is displayed on her desk.
A Unique Setup for Creativity
Bellamy also has a large wooden iPad stand that increases the surface area for her hand to rest. It mimics the feeling of a Wacom Cintiq. Lanterns help keep the desk space lit up, and Linnea wants to install more cool lighting into the desk.
Linnea creates most of her projects with a single iPad Pro, highlighting how technology has evolved. She also works on her indie idol horror manga, Idol Royale, which is available in both English and Japanese.
Bellamy gave Linnea a feather duster to brush away eraser shavings, and the cup contains inking supplies like nib pens and brush pens. Linnea is a big fan of KAngel/Ame from the video game Needy Streamer Overload and created a small shrine to the character.
Final Thoughts
The shelves of Linnea’s animation desk hold a lot of sakkan paper and timesheets, plus some random items like Polaroids for her camera and an extra fan for the hot Japanese summers. Their workspace is a blend of practicality and personal expression, reflecting their journey in the anime industry and their commitment to their art.
