Netflix’s ‘Arcane’ is a masterpiece of animation

Welcome to Thanks, I Love It, our series highlighting something onscreen we’re obsessed with this week. 

If you’ve been putting off watching Netflix’s Arcane because you don’t play League of Legends, stop that right now. Friends, you’re missing out on some truly incredible animation.

The first TV series from Riot Games and French animation studio Fortiche, created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, Arcane landed on Netflix on Nov. 6, rolling out three episodes per week until the finale on Nov. 20. And while fans and players of League will find references, Easter eggs, and character signatures aplenty throughout the show, any viewer can jump into it and fully appreciate the series’ compelling story, nuanced characters, and unique, stunning animation style.

To be clear: I don’t play League of Legends and I loved it.

The city of Zaun in “Arcane.”
Credit: Netflix

Taken from the lore of League, Arcane centres around the tensions between two cities, Piltover and Zaun. It’s the wealthy elite versus the shadowy underworld, where both sides are developing technology to secure dominance.

In Piltover, where a council rules all, scientists Jayce and Viktor (apprentices to the mustachioed Heimerdinger), create what’s known as hextech, which gives anyone the ability to use magic. Meanwhile, in Zaun, where Piltover police do routine raids, a bright purple drug called shimmer is turning people into monstrous creatures with super strength, which could prove advantageous in a simmering rebellion. It’s here we meet sisters and protagonists Vi and Powder (later Jinx), who become separated for years after tragic events.

While the series’ extremely dark plot and established characters are a major drawcard, the animation in the series is worth the trip in itself: It’s both painstakingly hand-painted and computer animated, all framed within meticulous cinematography.

“In a typical 3D production, every element from the characters to the background is modelled in three dimensions,” Barthelemy Maunoury, Fortiche’s director of animation for Arcane, explained to Mashable.

“On Arcane, it’s slightly different — the backgrounds are digitally hand-painted and the texture on the characters is crafted to get that graphical look that fits with the environment. We also mainly use 2D animation for the FXs (explosions, tears, smoke…) to reinforce the painted look. In the details it’s slightly more complicated but it’s more or less how you end up with something that looks like an illustration.”

Out of the game and into the series: Jinx confronts her demons.
Credit: Netflix

Creating an animated series based on the lore and playable characters (or champions) of League of Legends comes with heavy baggage — millions commandeer these characters daily, knowing their physicality, their voices, and especially their weapons intimately. The facial movements of each character are incredibly complex, bringing nuance to reaction, raw emotion to excellent delivery by the cast, and believability to these unreal characters usually known from a top-down perspective, viewed on the Summoner’s Rift (the game’s battle arena).

Fortiche and Riot joined forces to bring these beloved characters to life up close.

A significant, emotional moment for Vi and Jinx, beautifully handpainted.
Credit: Netflix

“We worked really closely with Riot to make sure the lore and the IP were respected. Having said that, animation is a different medium than video games, so we also had to adapt the characters’ animation and create our own style,” Maunoury said.

“Our goal was to find a good balance between realism and ‘cartoon’ style. Since our characters have semi-realistic proportions, they have to move and behave in a realistic way with weight and solid body-mechanics. But to keep the appeal and avoid any uncanny valley effect, we also had to bring traditional animation techniques. That’s why we didn’t do mocap [motion capture] but only keyframe animation that allows us to control our acting performance and aesthetic.”

It revolves!
Credit: Netflix

For existing and new characters, costuming in the show is elegantly detailed and tailored, with show-stopping elements like geometric belt buckles and steampunk glasses appearing throughout. In the fancy city, Piltover officials wear golden embellishments on their attire — Councilor Shoola’s incredible kinetic neckpiece casually revolves like clockwork, and police officers wear golden metal facemasks to walk around Zaun.

Meanwhile, in Zaun, characters wear whoever’s jacket they can steal, fine-tuning their own personal steampunk looks from scraps in The Lanes. It’s a grimy den of bars, clubs, brothels, and street food vendors, illuminated by smoky green hues and the promise of distraction lurking behind each closed door.

Vi and the gang.
Credit: Netflix

“Designing characters that belong to the well-known IP can be tricky,” said Maunoury. “But with the support of Riot’s artists and the trust of Christian Linke and Alex Yee, the creators of Arcane, we had a blast doing that work.”

Fortiche usually starts with a brief from Arcane directors Arnaud Delord and Pascal Charrue, who bring moodboards for the team to reference. After the character designers get their sketches reviewed by Riot and the directors, they also need to be technically approved to make sure the design can be done within budget.

League players will notice the weapons in the show almost immediately, and Fortiche didn’t muck around with those — Jinx’s punk DIY mechanical chompers and machine gun appear in the game and the show, for example. “Weaponry is probably one of the things we diverged the least from the game as it’s a key element for the champions and we wanted to make sure LOL‘s fans would recognize them in the show,” said Manoury. “We did adapt elements though, to make sure the functionality would make sense when our heroes are manipulating them.”

That’s a hell of a gun to carry around.
Credit: Netflix

But often, the characters are upstaged by the stage itself. Interiors and exteriors, taken from League lore, are exquisitely detailed, down to the window pane, and they often steal the scene they’re setting. There’s a stark difference between the winding, shadowy, neon-lit streets of Zaun and the bright, mechanical, Art Deco promenades of Piltover, gleaming with gold and glass like a landscape straight out of Bioshock Infinite. Meanwhile the buildings across the river are pieced together with whatever’s left.

Rooftops itching to be raced across.
Credit: Netflix

“These locations exist in the lore of League of Legends, so we didn’t start from scratch,” said Maunoury. “The process is not different from designing a character. The location needs to tell a story and is, obviously, as important as a hero. We’re gathering a lot of research on moodboards, defining colors, shapes or patterns that fit with the environment to make sure we keep consistency during the design process. I don’t have a particular favourite but if I had to choose between Zaun and Piltover, I would have to pick Zaun!”

“It’s like the scene you’re looking at is the movie of her life that Jinx is editing herself with rage, scribbling directly on the film.”

One of the biggest differences in animation style that Fortiche plays with in Arcane is the consistent core animation and the distorted, bright neon scribbles that often accompany Powder/Jinx’s inner turmoil. It’s a particularly striking, graphic novel-like technique that mixes 3D and 2D elements — something Fortiche is well-known for.

“We usually use that mix for effects like fire, gunshots, smoke,” said Maunoury. “Here, the idea was to use 2D animation and film scratches to make you enter Jinx’s mind. It’s like the scene you’re looking at is the movie of her life that Jinx is editing herself with rage, scribbling directly on the film! Kudos to the 2Dfx team who did a great job designing and animating those scribbles. Also the edit and the compositing team for the final look!”

Jinx’s inner world is not a fun place to be.
Credit: Netflix

Whether you’ve played League of Legends or not, the sheer beauty of Arcane‘s animation should reel you in, where a truly engaging, extremely dark story awaits. Don’t let the fact you haven’t battled on the Rift stop you from appreciating it.

Arcane is now streaming on Netflix.