Why Arcane is an Artistic and Technical Masterpiece

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Victor's Childhood scene: www.artstation.com/artwork/03... (Oliver Ryan)
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[@StylizedStation]

subscribe for more Olive content :) support us on Patreon: patreon.com/stylizedstation

[@aminaaml7401]

They used Blender in Arcane ?!

[@artloveranimation]

What I would love to see is how they managed to figure out subtle micro-movements that humans do that make the characters not only feel real, but tell a lot of information on what they feel and think. It is so cool. Nostrils flare, eyes flicker, etc., and I wanna know what it was that they did to figure out how to use them to feel natural. How long in the 6 years did it take to crack that part of the equation?

[@McDonaldsCalifornia]

Maybe they used a lot of reference? Details like that must be really hard to figure out without it

[@eeveeuwu2168]

I read that they obsessively referenced real life and filmed themselves or family/friends to block out a scene with several characters or to focus on the slight movements they made when they were lying down/standing etc.

[@RevelationOne]

Mocap and small tweaks in post production does that. It def made the characters feel alive.

[@Finchy_Bird]

@@RevelationOne It can be done with mocap, but they actually didn't use any mocap in the making of Arcane, all of it was done through keyframing which makes it so much cooler imo

[@dearmas9068]

@@RevelationOne I do not believe mocap was used here. This is all hand animated

[@KuroHebi]

As an aspiring concept artist, this show is pure candy for my eyes. Every shot could be used as a desktop wallpaper. I was grinning with passionate content while watching the series.

[@sunnyarts3086]

Arcane really is a masterpiece in every possible way! I added it to my "list of learning"

[@slothsarecool]

Except the story and music haha

[@Vizible21]

@@slothsarecool also the story and music. Maybe the music isn't your Jam but it's not about the musicians or genre of music, it's about how they utilize those elements to tell a story.

[@DMrKunst2]

@@slothsarecool the plot synopsis is deceivingly generic. But no one can deny how well written the characters and the story is

[@peacepham7838]

@@DMrKunst2 But Jayce/Viktor story line is Alfred Nobel's dynamite splash "Thomas edison vs Nikola tesla", showing 2 kind of science: political science and pure science. I don't watch that many shows, but this kind of story for sure isn't that common to be grade as "generic".

[@KuroHebi]

You have one, too? Awesome!

[@shawnikaros]

Dishonored has a very similiar art style as Arcane, and it's amazing to see it as real-time graphics.

[@federicoest]

Similar words and ART styles.

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

@YII ARTs Nah. But Silco is straight up a mishmash of several Dishonored characters such as the Pendletons and Billie Lurk.

[@maximeteppe7627]

There was a lot of pride and admiration for the work of arkane studios at my art school back when dishonored came out - I think it's fair to say that dishonored is a massive influence on the french videogame milieu, it's one of the french studios with a very recognizable visual style, and it wouldn't be a stretch that it would have influenced the people who ended up working at fortiche. and while it's not the only influence on the show's look, it's visible with the style of the doors and wrought iron flourishes of piltover, the brutalist prison, the piltover enforcers and of couse silco; i agree that vander looks like a buffed up corvo as he appears in the second dishonored.

[@binchamers]

Funny because the studio that made dishonored is called arkane

[@nourhanmostafa4467]

Can you drop a link to that graphics video plz

[@expunkstep7226]

Arcane is honestly "every frame a painting" taken unbelievably literally.

[@dance_ofThaDEAD]

Arcane visually is like the antithesis of Scooby Doo visuals. Where in SD you could always find a secret door because the book was painted differently from the rest of the bookcase, while you can never tell in Arcane what is 2d and what is 3d

[@ksemi]

There's high level of visuals in Arcane ! The illusion of 3D with 2D plans is called a parallax effect, it's often used to animate flat photos or illustrations by separating the Foreground and background elements of the scene in Z axis. It's a pretty famous trick. Ufotable studio also did an amazing work in the second season of Kimetsu no Yaiba, good integration of 3D and hand-made visual effects. Anyone who like VFX should take a look at it as well.

[@redflag4255]

It's not just 2D paintings in the background, It's uv's painted on 3D elements in the environment not cards. painted by highly skilled artists like Meesh Chen (Character artist) amongst many in a very very short timeframe.

[@Cap_Laberinto]

Hi Thomas, as an steampunk maker i really love the aesthetic of this show. Thanks for taking the time to breakdown how was it made. By the way i also enjoy watching your vídeos of artist to buissness owner. Wish you a hice month.

[@seokim7211]

I have seen how some anime has started weird 3d background elements with 2d characters which totally does not integrate but characters 3d and bg 2d is just so much cooler. Thanks for the video 🙏🙏

[@roricute]

no

[@seokim7211]

@@roricute I mean its hard compared cause different budgets and all. Its just that I saw detective Conan lately and the room especially the fan from 3D was so disparate and disturbing. Then I saw this review so

[@drfoto2673]

@@seokim7211 Thing is having 3D backgrounds in anime has been done for ages now, you are only noticing it when it's done poorly.

[@mango-float]

@@drfoto2673 demon slayer being a prime example

[@matheussanthiago9685]

@@mango-float btw in demon slayer 90% of the time the character are full on 3D models pretty well disguised as 2D

[@MotionPix.]

I watched the whole season amazed of how beautiful everything was, even the story telling was pretty cool. Can't wait for season 2.

[@grahamulax]

Glad you made a video about this! I'm thinking the same thing about how they used texture projection for a LOT of things. Watching this show was a magical experience with how well it blended all together. I work in motion graphics for 10+ years now (making a switch to unreal5 and real time 3d tho!) and I think Arcane was a first time in years that I felt incredibly inspired to create. Love your video man! Love your channel! LOVE....TECH AND ART SO MUCH!

[@grahamulax]

Oh to add my knowledge to this at 5:35 that care is most definitely 2d with puppet warping (you say spline but its basically the same thing. A mesh around the engine thats layered seperately from the rest of the car and moving its rotation scale and position to create the movement and puppet to change its angles). Its actually a lot like those 2d anime gatcha announcements (like genshin tehe) with characters that move around subtly. Just 2d art in many layers and puppeting their movements well. I actually wonder what their workflow was. Is this all in a 3D engine or was it composed with after effects which handles 2D a lot better than most 3D programs I used. Interesting interesting!

[@Bohmartistry]

Great breakdown and video as always dude!

[@GComMatt]

Great job on this wonderful series. Please fill us in on all the vfx in this series. Thanks again.

[@mykolaromanenko4116]

This style inspires me so much 😍 Great video 👍🏻

[@DeadlyLazer]

I've made a few Arcane videos and it required me to go frame-by-frame on some scenes and it really is true what they say. Every frame can be a painting. Some shows can fall apart if you go frame-by-frame and you can see the imperfections hidden in the movement. But Arcane somehow has MORE details hidden in the seams. Details you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. They truly went all out on this show

[@thetzinaung420]

I've been waiting this video from you, thanks !

[@xXWillyxWonkaXx]

haha I loved the analysis. And honestly, its one my all time favorite series for this year. The lighting was just breathtaking

[@violetfolgi]

This video is AMAZING, thank you so much!! I've been looking for someone to explain how arcane was made with their assets and backgrounds and mix of techniches, I'm so happy you've shared! def keep making content like this please, I'd really wanna see the FX video and anything else you can find and share on how arcane was made to look sososo incredible. suscribed!

[@QuadPoly]

Great analysis! I work in the broadcast industry and the insane timelines we are given I have to employ these techniques every day, mixing 2D with 3D just to save time. Its a real balance between what do I have time to reasonably do at a high level vs how do I make this clip look good in an hour or less and move on.

[@ValentinFouche]

Awesome analysis, thank you for this !!

[@Lordradost]

The animation of the psychology of emotions alone is astounding, and so much more... It's really an exquisitely crafted animated series.

[@GerardMenvussa]

The camera seems to be what really brings those scenes together. These guys clearly know what they are doing :)

[@DannyBoy443]

My favorite part is how smoke and lightning etc are hand drawn. That's a really nice way to handle the story and effects.

[@beppebraida4502]

An amazing lesson!

[@odinseye8835]

Would def like a deeper dive into vfx of arcane. Awesome video and channel

[@StefanoKocka]

5:23 League of Legends was pretty known for its animated Splash Arts from the older Game Clients Login Screen. You could see them during Events, new Champ releases or Champ updates. Fun fact, the lore of the Game and its Characters has been made over a decade ago, thats why this game has such a great storyline and well developed characters (nah, and i dont talk about the champ balances ingame :D), and thats a big reason why they are working on a MMO, because they can.

[@chadyonfire7878]

great content dude , more breakdowns please

[@nothingiseverperfect]

The show seriously deserves all the praise. It is truly a masterpiece. I hope to see other films or shows integrate art and think of new ways of animation and using art in their work. Arcane is the progenitor for this.

[@wolfochungo]

good communication between teams and some absolutely sexy compositing

[@AdulAhmad68]

Please do the VFX of Arcane video!

[@AdulAhmad68]

@@philippellerena944 VFX stands for "Visual Effects", and that is exactly what they use in Arcane, however, they are pre-rendered, unlike ones used in games, which are real-time.

[@dimok135]

I can add that textures were painted on objects in The Foundry Mari. That's why they look like a concept art sketches. The scenes were rendered with Guerilla renderer. Also there are videos in youtube showing some city animation with and without textures.

[@adrielovi]

OMG!! Este era el video que necesitaba

[@SnuffBee]

This was very in depth ; it gives me even more admiration towards professional CGI artists.

[@christian9140]

Great ending, I'm in! (subbed)

[@ammonn9930]

Your chanel is pure gold

[@jingleskhanaudioproductions]

the VFX are truly masterfully. I was very amazed

[@JackBohmArt]

You are constantly killing it! Great work :)

[@Chanemus]

I've litteraly been waiting to find a video on HOW 2d and 3d were blended in Arcane since i finished watching it. Comparing it to several anime shows attempting various forms of this blending, its definitely in the lighting, which Fortiche definitely got just right

[@Diinify]

I would absolutely love if you did a video on the VFX of Arcane. It's really hard to find good videos covering it.

[@zZ-Wipeout-Zz]

it would be cool if you could get a artist who worked on it for a interview to talk about the progress behind it & break it down more ? also im all for a video VFX video with some additional vfx tutorials in ue ;) glad to see there is new content coming to the channel instead of another 1 of the "how to make money videos" lol

[@jelm4315]

If you haven't already seen the League of Legends documentary on Arcane then I'd highly recommend it! Part 3 touches on the lighting and technical aspects and it's generally a great watch! Would also be interested to hear if your thoughts on any of your investigations change in light of what they talk about

[@aleonardo7582]

thank for showing me this.

[@ThorneIdentity]

thank you for this.

[@joey_yangyin]

this gives me hope.

[@HH-mf8qz]

Yes please make a video on the VFX of arcane!

[@jacktruong7151]

I'm so amazed

[@kingsevil5255]

The 2D stuff is definitely Live2D/Aftereffects. Its so smoooov

[@Conv1cti0n]

What I want to know is how long did it take to complete and what was the budget.

[@monles2352]

Love it ❤

[@SanOcelotl]

the work they put in this show is unreal, every 3D asset has 2d projected elements on top to give it that style

[@atgunsforhire9643]

I love this video so much.If you don't mind,I would like to ask your permission to share this video to the other website in China for the embarrassing reason that KZbin is blocked from accessing in China.Of course, I will give sources of the original website.Thank you very much.

[@masonthecoyote]

"good girl, hahaha, good girl--- AHHH THE CAMERA"

[@germanmairen]

any tutorial someone could recommend of how create characters with these textures?

[@RevelationOne]

As a person who never played the game, The show is freaking AMAZING!!! I only watched the show like 4 days ago and have already seen the show 5 times, Going on the 6th.

[@zefanyaraysanevadalaput7371]

Yess do the vfx video

[@hanniffydinn6019]

The first thing I thought was one of my favourite games “dishonoured”. To me it was set in the dishonoured universe, I couldn’t get that out of my head. 🤯🤯🤯😎😎😎👍👍👍

[@marvelouslukpata5345]

This movie is a masterpiece the art story all are so compelling

[@ElJorro]

Arcane will go down in history.

[@worthlessstudio1344]

some of the vfx were done with cg, but they are quite rare, and for season2 all of the vfx will there be done fully 2d

[@delusionalunicorn5324]

Please, do another on Arcane's vfx

[@uoriwoh]

List of music used in video?

[@SB-Boi]

Man I can’t imagine how long it must have took to draw out all the angles of the 2D objects

[@narutodayo]

Really interesting analysis. I can't help wondering whether all of these little imperfections from the mishmash of 2D and 3D are noticeable in the sense that something feels "off," visually, even if a viewer can't put his or her finger on it. Because I found something about Arcane's animation/art was somehow slightly gross or nauseating, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe this video provides the answer, inadvertently.

[@AngelinaAlive]

I have to stop procrastinating with 3d tutorials and finally watch Arcane 😅

[@backfischritter]

Yes you have to!

[@SansP3ur]

Love your insight, but if I may be so bold and ask for some clarity about the word "projection"? I'm a VFX designer/artist who's worked for EA, Activision, and Atari (to name a few notable ones) starting way back in the 90's -evn before the Xbox was a thing- at the risk of dating myself :) To the point; in my experience there is a distinct difference between Projecting and Mapping. Shadows for instance are projected but texture/image maps are Mapped -using an UV system I'm certain you're aware of. In many games I used a hybrid system to create effects like bullet holes, burns, etc.. Anyway, not assuming you're wrong since technology is constantly shifting and I may have just missed something. Just thought to ask.

[@garvenlouisyo5059]

What is the name of the music behind

[@poppi3362]

Are you sure that tree at 6:03 isn't 3D? The artstation post of that scene from an artist of the team calls it a 3D environment, and there is fanart that gets really close to that result, that shows how the shot is combined of 3D + camera projection

[@brucewayne243]

Plz make a video on The Vfx of Arcane

[@Colendro]

Please make a video about the VFX of Arcane. Pretty please...

[@archondalcreativeminipaint]

Yes

[@blueknightmv4507]

?how do you spell the production team or whatever that is responsible for the integration of 2d n 3d. Fortigeigh or something

[@Invaderbob7]

I want them to do a Dishonored movie so bad

[@sixxmahmud9837]

Pls do another on how to achieve that style i 3d, i have been looking to learn this style since for ever, since i saw rise, especially the characters pls pls pls, make another video on that...

[@sixxmahmud9837]

How do i get this style using maya and 3dcoat

[@qaztim11]

@@sixxmahmud9837 stylized proportions. Hand painted textures. Mix of flat and dynamic lights Look at the league of legends art and vfx guide for some more in depth explanations

[@seanpaulson9098]

The show was fucking amazing

[@johndeggendorf7826]

Ok, yeah…this video was pretty good. 👍☕️🎩🎩🎩

[@kida4313]

Piltover paintover?

[@AusFastLife]

There is an animation by Riot of the origins of Annie (kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4a3hmB9o92Jq68) which has a very similar aesthetic to Archane where each shot looks like a hand painted scene, but there is obviously some 3D animation going on. There is also a behind the scenes video of the Annie origins video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGPRXmR5n9yZbMk) which shows how they made the hand painted look in the 3D software. In addition to the movie making layering techniques you referred to @Stylized Station, I wonder whether they used any of these techniques too.

[@Jkikmi]

A+ Outro

[@benitezparedessantiagodavi1603]

Who are/is the concept artist behind the character designs? 🤔🤔

[@SB-Boi]

Can we please get a official breakdown I beg

[@VeeRubedo]

Arcane is 3d done right their 3d models are so expressive that i think it rivals with 2d animation of expressiveness also gorgeous style.

[@yumeesfactory]

I'm curious where you heard "100% of the fx have been painted in 2D" when you know they actually have a fx3D team working on the project and are hiring 3D fx artists :D tho, I really have hard time knowing when the fx are 2D or 3D and I can't find anyone talking about that cause everyone thinks it's all 2D ,_, Like basically there's a mix of 3d and 2D on smoke effects, the glowing flies are 3D (yes it's fx). I have dissects the serie to find when it's 3D and when it's 2D. Tbh saying everything is 2D hurts a bit x)

[@yumeesfactory]

@hjf4a2 yeah, right? I'm just curious to what extent they did use 3Dfx with cel shading and flat comp and how much real 2Dfx there is. Saying they use houdini is quite saying they used 3Dfx at my lvl ^^

[@royalfoussa]

Not all the fx r 2D. u have some 3d vfx. Like the trail of the board (2:32 for exemple). Some destruction is 3d too and other. But yeat 80% is 2d.

[@Lync1111]

WOW Ekko reminds me of XXXTENTACION. I bet the designer looked in his image and created this amazing character Ekko. I wonder if I am the only one that see this in Ekko?

[@fantasticbirdblue]

HOW IS THE ANIMATION SO SMOOTH HOW DID THAY HAVE THAT MUCH MONEY Edit:WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE BUDGET WASN'T HUGE

[@TiDuZzO]

I would love to see a Berserk anime with this technique instead of the current 3D version that still looks weird.

[@gudi4412]

yesyesyess

[@giulyanoviniciussanssilva2947]

Imagine if you take, say, the camera and move in this scenario, it must be a violent break of magic, I say break for the spectator for VFX professionals this is where the real magic happens 😎

[@alirezamohseni3970]

arcane use maya?

[@sovan6715]

The 2D image stretching is made by an ai

[@3d_blunders]

Do i need to get demotivated because such great level artists exists in this world??😶😶

[@yashsingh8363]

U can be one of them if you really try to be Edit - 'your' to 'you'

[@TopoFighter]

Or you can try to see it the other way around, thinking that you can get that good, and get motivated ^^

[@ninja_tony]

@@TopoFighter I was going to say the same thing, watching this should just motivate you even more as an artist.

[@jstinlee]

I misread the title as Fortnite and was about to get my pitchfork

[@jk844100]

They didn’t have the biggest budget? It’s just rumours since Riot hasn’t given figures but I’ve seen a lot of claims from “industry sources” (salt has been pinched) that say Arcane cost between €60-80 million (€7.8m per episode). And that not including paying the voice actors or any of the marketing.

[@taufeeqagherdien3134]

That is pretty low considering the made 3 animated movies worth of content

[@jk844100]

@@taufeeqagherdien3134 it’s not in the context of other animated shows. Attack on Titan is about $150k per episode. The Demon Slayer Mugen Train movie cost $15m. Dragon ball super: Broly cost $8.5m

[@taufeeqagherdien3134]

@@jk844100 And Into the spider verse cost $90m. Point is depending on the technology and techniques used I'd say their budget could have been higher since it had a production time of 6 years

[@peacepham7838]

@@jk844100 I don't want to bring it up but many anime movies ripped it animator alive with low pay and over work, we don't want to talk about that.

[@jk844100]

@@peacepham7838 well most animators in the anime industry are freelance so if they agreed to that, then that’s their probably unfortunately. Although with in house animators they definitely deserve better, anime schedules are insane

[@LOCKSHADES]

I see paint over.......Piltova

[@vanthursday]

I think they use Live2D 🤔

[@Huntracony]

Paint-over, Piltover... Coincidence? I think so.

[@lexawoods7196]

It would be great if you gave credit to the actual artist you used for your thumbnail :)

[@DannyBoy443]

Fun fact, Fortiche is a French company.

[@mikiychance5893]

definitely wanna learn about The ‘VFX’ of Arcane ！！！！！Please !！！