I just dropped this in my comment and want to make sure y'all see it: "Lihtar Studio's work shown here makes me think of Genndy Tartakovsky's Unicorn: Warriors Eternal; the varying character design sells the characters, like seeing the the giant lion man with a small face vs the alien-like lenky white woman with wings, you can visually understand their character traits - apologies, I don't know The Witcher enough." Going to peep your work, now.
Gobelins is yet another good studio. French school of animation. Such variety of topics and animation styles. So much history in shorts that take only a few minutes. I my top 3 are "Mon ami qui brilles dans le Nuit", ''Au revoir Jerome" and "Contretemps".
@@FolkWalkCZthanks again for you video. I directed the Witcher Fan Teaser and since I am Belarus/Polish, I’m very happy that you popularize Eastern Europe folklore and culture! Good job :)
You know as a Pole I was so dissapointed with the way Netflix treated Witcher. As for Nightmare of the Wolf immediately after watching it I stated that this should be a 12 episode show. Not a single movie.
Exactly. In my view i found it so fresh to see animation like this. I picture the withcer's world like a dark fairy tale or some kind, but with a pinch of seriousnes, but no high fantasy that can get booring at times. The best way i can describe it, is watching an old fairytale book moving. Many praizes to the animators. Oh, and i'm not suprised Netflix doesn't support projects like this, they hate animation.
The Witcher 2 had a good number of its narrations feature artwork that was quite stylistic and often grotesque. It was always visually striking and made me excited to get to see another one. I doubt that same style would fit a film, but it certainly supports your point about the franchise working extremely well with more dynamic art styles
Yeah, I like that style a lot. There's actually a youtuber who does lore videos about the world of The Witcher with that style of animation. He's called Okayguv Bear.
@@FolkWalkCZ Gonna check him out. That artstyle in Witcher 2 was really freaking good. Sharp lines reminding me a bit of Mignolas which is always good in my book.
Netflix didn't invest in arcane,riot did and they have lots of money being one of the biggest game companies .and also the fact that riot paid Netflix to broadcast that show l,not the other way around
I super agree with this. That animation team put their effort to create a new style for a fan work that in the end became incredible. Netflix should have chosen them for the official project.
Most of netflix shows are just 3D animation with filter. French animation seems to be fully hand made. Netflix profits more from series eaters who don't care about quality much, than that guy, who buys single month subscription to watch that one show because it's really good.
Good points indeed, the production of animated series was inceased while the quality has been mainstreemed to a point when everything seems almost the same. And while I love that theres so many things to watch being that the stories and presentations are great, I hope for better days of different styles and greater animations. ^_^ pozdrav z Brna
Can also add that even though Lihtar Studio is Paris-based, it's not just a regular French studio. It was originally founded by Edward Kurchevsky; the word "Lihtar" means a lantern in Ukrainian/Belarusian.
I think the dark horse Witcher comics are another set of art styles that really fit the Witcher series. I would love to see one of those styles in an animated show
The style of Genndy Tartakovsky would be the best for the witcher, just look at primal or samurai jack! The fight scenes, colors , the world! By far the best fit.
I am French and I can say: we have many flaws... But we know our lot with animation (arcane and blue eyes samurai being among the latest examples that reached international attention). Strong identity, skills and soul is our tradition and when I saw your title, I was so much hoping you would mention French art style and animation ❤ Thanks for bringing some spotlight to my country and to one of the things it does best. 🎉
I remembered Fantastic Planet I saw it at the drive-in double billed with Barbarella. I thought it was really interesting. And yes it was different. Haven't seen it since. But thanks for referencing this other animated Witcher story.
at least In Castlevania, the artstyle doesn't limit itself, and the other shows just feel like they're trying to mimic it without actually having the same heart.
that's because of the animators, not the style itself. An example of this would be how the Dragon Ball Super art style didn't looked good but the show still had amazing animation during it's final episodes but said animation also had a tendency to just ignore the actual artstyle and by the Broly movie they just ditched the approach entirely.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj Very true. All the other shows that mimic the arttstyle just feel so...stiff. Castlevania works not just because the artstyle fit, but because the animators were allowed to go ham bananas at times
The more serious and history related topic the more variety in style of animation I think. Just look at "Is the Man Who Is Tall Is Happy" (a series of interviews with Noam Chomsky), Swallows of Kabul or Droga na Drugą Stronę (2011).
Thanks for the recommendation, it looks nice. What is even more interesting, the team behind it multinational and very Slavic as well. They are only based in Paris, but it is not against French, because they are known for hosting artists of various nationalities that have talent and good taste.
This is actually a problem that has been plaguing a large number of studios worldwide. The greatest offender in my opinion is A1 studios over in Japan, which puts out virtually indistinguishable projects each year. I think it's a problem of exposure to the same art styles over and over again. The style used in the Witcher is something that, growing up, was synonymous with the DCAU, which was probably a major inspiration to young artists in America. Probably the best solution for this problem is to go to studios in, say, Chile, and have them do the animation. If they aren't as heavily exposed to anime or comic adaptations, they will develop their own art and make unique shows.
Thank you so much for this video, I've got a lot of references now to study from and better my digital art skills, escpecially in color and its interaction with dynamic lineart.
The main advantage with animation is how much freedom it offers, compared to live action. It's rather shameful to see how generic it tends to be with these projects you've listed. And it really is a western trend these days to make things look souless, while having atrocious writing; hoping for things like the french witcher vid to lead the change.
Soulless and poorly written animated media is usually a symptom of poor management, as can be seen both in western corporate slop and state propaganda from the east and elsewhere.
Whaaaaaaaaaattt???!!!! Western media is soulless?! AND it has atrocious writing?! Have you SEEN the new Disney-Lucasfilm Star Wars??!!?! I haven't - I watched recaps because of how little time I have to devote to media, but.... Really?! How could you say such things?! /sarcasm.
@@enraikow6109 Sadly, things like these tend to take a lot more time and money to make this way. Arcane got to be what it was because of a huge budget and it being in production for years.
Fun fact though, these shows are actually animated in South Korea... The US doesn't even do it's own animation anymore, they just write the scripts, do the concept art and then outsource the animation to other countries... You can deal the difference by looking at what American animation used to look like in the 70s, 80s and 90s compared to what it looks like now
The first style is like an updated 80s/90s aesthetic, without the pizzazz of what made the 80s and 90s so iconic. Lihtar Studio's work shown here makes me think of Genndy Tartakovsky's Unicorn: Warriors Eternal; the varying character design sells the characters, like seeing the the giant lion man with a small face vs the alien-like lenky white woman with wings, you can visually understand their character traits - apologies, I don't know The Witcher enough. Cool videos, dude. Great points.
Didnt know about the tribute video. Thanks for the recommendation. Even though I realy like the Netflix animation style, the tribute is better in every aspect. Absolutely fantastic
The reason a show like Arcane can stand out in terms of visuals is because it has the backing of Riot and League of Legends, Netflix isn't footing the bill on that, they just have the rights to air it. You're confusing the platform for the studio actually responsible for the creation of an animated works.
Not a big fan of this particular style, but it would definitely fit Witcher's world better than what Netflix chose. It actually made me thinking about Knyaz Vladimir/Prince Vladimir 2004/2006 (depending on the translation) animation style, especially the one assigned to the main characters and the background scenery. I think that one would go well with the Witcher setting.
Great points, and finally someone that acknowledges Valiant Hearts! It's such a great game and the only critique I have is the stereotypical and clichée depiction of the German commanders as pure villains. Yeah, the French and Belgians are great at animation, I just remember the Asterix films from my childhood for example, or also the Asterix or Lucky Luke comics! Also I absolutely love your outro music lol
Damn, I can dream about HBO or Prime Video picking up this amazing Witcher animation for funding and letting them go wild, that way we might get something like Arcane or The Legend of Vox Machina
The animation from that short is really good, so much better than whatever Netflix does. Talking about art styles, I was reading the hardback illustrated UK edition of the books, and I realised that the art and colours do look nice, but I feel like that the art is just based from Netflix. All the art of Geralt is just like Henry Cavill and some of the other art has that same feeling, its a shame that they haven't gone off the books and kept that Slavic feel. Despite that, I love the cover art of the sleeves, they did those really well. I found some art from Denis Gordeev (I think they are really great), and the way that he illustrates The Witcher is much closer to the books and has that realistic rugged feel that you would expect from a Slavic series. It's made me want to buy the Russian edition of the books despite not even knowing Russian haha.
Regarding design of the mansion - while French animation version of the mansion looks really good, I think most Poles would imagine it more like some middle-class "dwór szlachecki". (Polish noble-man manor eg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_houses_of_Polish_nobility#/media/File:%C5%81opuszna,_dw%C3%B3r_Tetmajer%C3%B3w_(HB1).jpg). Those type of architecture was quite unique. In case of countryside manors they ware often wooden and somewhat fortified, which would fit perfectly to a type of an out-law as Beast's 'daddy is depicted here.
Enough with making western IPs series with anime-like style! Let us be more unique. There are exceptions (I did not mind anime style in Edgerunners) but sadly we are getting Terminator (#TerminatorShouldHaveStayedDead) and Lara Croft in anime-like style.
Yeah, in the case of CP: Edgerunners the anime style actually fits and I like it because the cyberpunk genre is very much associated with the Japanese culture so the art style is perfect fit for it.
This is the people one should support with their projects and stop using Amazon, Netflix, Disney and all companies that have destroyed the stories we love.
Disney did a pretty good job with X-Men 97 and in front of most of our Amazon is doing a pretty good job with inevincible. So just like most things in life it's fifty-fifty
I want to add the generic style you describe isn’t necessarily easier to animate as it forces you to animate the characters more on model and exaggerate less as well less stylised character designs are also generally seen has harder to animate regardless it would be nice to see more stylised animation. Especially for things like the Witcher the fan animation reminded me a lot of wolf walkers despite the tone of each story being massively different
I think this is, what took me out of Dragon Prince - they tried zu integrate some humor like in Avatar - the last Airbender, but it failed, because they could not get the slapstick right by exaggerating certain features of charakters - it seems when you use 3D-based models you either can not do that or you don't think about doing it - don't know which it is, since I'm not in animation, just comics and drawing.
4:11 There are actually tools and settings in animation programs to make the line work consistent with what you are saying. It’s not really an issue anymore.
The problem with Netflix's anime releases is that they always feel the same because they always use the same animation, and when they don't, they go and rely on bad CGI. Hate it.
The biggest thing about western entertainment companies (movies, comics and animation) is that they don’t care or love entertainment. It’s not about art, it’s about making money from the work of creators.
The question of "epic" is a topic that involves me a lot, given that it characterized one of my favorite fantasy universes: Warhammer. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I recommend comparing the third edition of the miniatures game and the first edition of the role-playing game with the current editions. Practically the concept of Warhammer was that of a dark fantasy (of course there were quite "high" elves), heavily inspired by history and with a slightly lower tone than D&D and Warcraft. Then over the years they raised the bar, and by a lot. For example there is the Empire, which is basically the Holy Roman Empire with a pinch of steampunk, see the steam tank. The latter was the only truly bizarre thing about the faction (excluding wizards and warrior-priests). But then in the eighth edition they added the monstrous cavalry regiments: the Demigryphons. I won't stay here to give you other examples, however I wanted to give you another example of a setting that over the years has increasingly undergone an extreme "dye" of epic.
It looks very cool and it does have that very european feel to it. I dislike that they gave Geralt a beard though. Book Geralt would never have a beard.
one of my biggest complaints is that Japanese animation has a higher minimum 'frame per seconds' allowed that what the west has, I believe but am probably wrong but in JP it's closer to 24/36 frames per second while the west is much less. Yet western animation is far less detailed, especially lately with the rise in HQ JP animation. Also big up Castlevania, what it lacked in art style it more than made up for in choreography and plot.
French animation seems to knock it out of the park a lot of the time. If you can find it, watch Dofus: Book 1 - Julith PEAK animation right there. At the very least, look up the fight scene between Kerub and Julith.
And it was made by French studio Fortiche. And with a script that was just chunk of dialogues they were able to give characters so much personality. Truelly a passion project
I think, if somebody used art style that was present in Dark Horse Comic's Witcher, that it would be very fitting also. Just read House of Glass - you'll understand what I'm talking about ;)
Literally everybody on earth: Picking hundreds of details about netflix Witcher that is made wrong and sugesting changes. Netflix Screenwriters who never fully red a single witchers book: Naah our vision is better.
No, I didn't have this channel when it came out and I don't know if it's worth it to do now it after it has been out for so long and people probably don't care that much anymore. But I didn't like it. I want to do a video about Sirens of the Deep when it comes out though. I have a feeling that I'll hate that one as well.
@@FolkWalkCZ Not that Lauren Hissrich wrote anything coherent. Again it is acting on shock value and emotions to hide that fact. At least it gives you a slight hint what the books are about monster Hunters who themselves are considered monsters by vast majority. It is very bizzare fanfiction (but at least fanfiction not hatefiction like movie series called "The Witcher")
You're just factually wrong. It's not generic animation, it's simply Studio Mir's style. They did Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, they did Dota: Dragons Blood, they also did Legend of Korra, a bunch of DC movies and more. They have a more or less uniform style across their works, which is perfectly fine. Also I don't understand how you can lump clearly gothic Castlevania with Studio Mir. Completely different looks.
Great animation, one minute which is far more Witcher than Aquaman war trailer and Castlevania ripoff (which was still better than Castlevania sequel in 2023)
i actually like the animation from american studio and european company so far to be honest! legend of vox machina, invincible, castlevania. sure, the character expression, look a bit more simplistic. but they still got the message across. the emotion that the character feel. we still get that! plus the animation look's more reallistic. the body porportion of the character for example? they look human. which give's the animation? the matured aura to it i think. Because of the fact that they look human. maybe because it's just my bias? but i actually like this kind of animation. because they actually look more realistic. and i do think the fact that american studio and european studio, start making this kind of animation. is actually a plus. because they actually make the kind of animation that i liked. all of this new, american studio animated show, that came up recently? is an anime inspire animation. thank's to anime being popular outside of japan? this kind of animation exist. yes! you could argue that. even animation in anime has way more characteristic. than this more realistic looking, type of animation? but do you Know what they get right, with their animation? that 90% of anime studio in japan could never achieved? the smothness of the animation, when it was being played. when their character talks? their mouth actually follow the word's and vowel of the word's, they are not just opeaning and closing. even when they fight? you could see they actually throw a punch fully. they are not cutting frame's! like you see in a lot of anime. because they have the budget to do so. and because they have no problem hiring animator. compare to company in japan. so i think they just decide to sacrifice a bit of characteristic, for a more simple animation? so they could make a more smoother, animation! compare to japanese anime, where yes? you got more characteristic! but the animation is not as smooth, as what you get with this new, western animation. the point is? you cannot have both. you have to pick one over the other. and personally? i love a more smoother animation. as for characteristic? i think as long as they get the character emotion across? then it's good enough. plus this thing is still new to western animation studio. because they just get into it recently. anime inspired animation that target adult audiences. most of it. that is. which i think? is one of the other reason why? they decide to make the animation more realistic. but the point is. this kind of animation? is still in it's infancy, to western animation studio. so i don't think we should, criticized them just yet? you know? sorry. but i think, you're being too nitpicky.
🇨🇵I'm saying that today as your video resonates particularly for me as a French, but I really like your work of promoting slavic and European cultures in general, your arguments are always on point and very interesting, keep going 😊
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust have the best animation I've ever saw in my entire life, period. Imagine The Witcher with that animation and level of details, would be awesome. Sadly as a fan I will stay away from the games and CDPR since they are going to make their new games for "modern audiences", everything is woke, everything is "queer" nowadays and I'm done with these kind of crap.
I understand your point about this, but first i would like to defend a little bit the animation they used for The Witcher Nightmare of the Wolf and in the upcoming movie, (this is my speculation so take this as you will) people in these movies draw the characters to look more like the depictions from the games, and therefore more realistic bodies and movements as in the game, while in that short animation (that I saw some time before) the Art style is more caricatured and bends the characters in the animation more, there for making more dynamic movement which I love as well, but that is an "Artistic choice" and that can be risky, and in America they are afraid to risk anything in recent years, so they will focus on a more "safer look" that is already similar to something that people and fans are familiar with.
I think it’s mostly because Netflix uses the same animation studio ( studio mir) for all their western anime-ish cartoons. Most of their shows look identical with a few exceptions.
@@jijie9328 Yes, but that also goes into my comment of their not taking risks, another studio might cost more, or they are not reliable enough to be a safe option, for the genre of movies (animation) that today in America are not respected as much as they used to be. That's why they choose a reliable and safe enough option for these movies, because they don’t care so much about creativity, and only about money.
But Cyberpunk Edgerunners also drew it to look realistic yet style feels different. And honestly when you have magic you can go for different styles like they did in Puella Madoka Magica. No matter how hard they try in USA they cannot compete with passion of French and Japanese animation studioes.
@@karolinakuc4783 The vibe is not the same for a Cyberpunk Future world, and a Medieval Dark Fantasy world in Europe, so it's not something that can be compared just like that. Certain styles are better suited for a Medieval Fantasy, while other styles are more suited for a Cyberpunk type of future world (that's not to say it's impossible, but different art styles are more suitable for specific types of worlds). The Witcher The Nightmare of The Wolf is directed by America, but even if it's made in the anime studio in South Korea that made "The Legend of Korra", it's still an American vision, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners is made in Japan and directed by Japan, so two different countries have different values, and different things are more important than others, like freedom of creativity when it comes to new stories.
Thank you for your video! It means a lot for us :)
Glad to hear that. Thank you for your work 🙂
I just dropped this in my comment and want to make sure y'all see it: "Lihtar Studio's work shown here makes me think of Genndy Tartakovsky's Unicorn: Warriors Eternal; the varying character design sells the characters, like seeing the the giant lion man with a small face vs the alien-like lenky white woman with wings, you can visually understand their character traits - apologies, I don't know The Witcher enough."
Going to peep your work, now.
Gobelins is yet another good studio. French school of animation. Such variety of topics and animation styles. So much history in shorts that take only a few minutes. I my top 3 are "Mon ami qui brilles dans le Nuit", ''Au revoir Jerome" and "Contretemps".
You guys are doing GREAT!
@@FolkWalkCZthanks again for you video. I directed the Witcher Fan Teaser and since I am Belarus/Polish, I’m very happy that you popularize Eastern Europe folklore and culture! Good job :)
Fun fact: the animation of Arcane is also made by a french studio.
Wasn't a French studio also involved in Blue Eye Samurai?
try martin mystery, also by a french studio
@@continentaldrift2170 Yep, that's the case
@@continentaldrift2170 it time for french studio to go shine
lmaooo for some reason french studios are more crafted in animation than wester, take a look at mars express, beautiful movie
Yes, I saw it. I also thought this is what The Witcher animations should look like.
do NOT put Castlevania on the same level as all those other listed shows, that shit is gorgeous
2:40 WOW i didnt think many other people listened to the tribute songs for the Witcher 1, very nice to hear it in the background of your video
nice, calm, well structured video
You know as a Pole I was so dissapointed with the way Netflix treated Witcher. As for Nightmare of the Wolf immediately after watching it I stated that this should be a 12 episode show. Not a single movie.
The animated parts in the Witcher 2 is what I wish I could have a whole season of tbh
Exactly. In my view i found it so fresh to see animation like this. I picture the withcer's world like a dark fairy tale or some kind, but with a pinch of seriousnes, but no high fantasy that can get booring at times. The best way i can describe it, is watching an old fairytale book moving. Many praizes to the animators.
Oh, and i'm not suprised Netflix doesn't support projects like this, they hate animation.
The Witcher 2 had a good number of its narrations feature artwork that was quite stylistic and often grotesque. It was always visually striking and made me excited to get to see another one. I doubt that same style would fit a film, but it certainly supports your point about the franchise working extremely well with more dynamic art styles
Yeah, I like that style a lot. There's actually a youtuber who does lore videos about the world of The Witcher with that style of animation. He's called Okayguv Bear.
@@FolkWalkCZ Gonna check him out. That artstyle in Witcher 2 was really freaking good. Sharp lines reminding me a bit of Mignolas which is always good in my book.
I personally also like the Witcher 1 intro animation very much, I'd love to watch a whole movie like that.
The best part is that look of Gerald is accurate. When i watched animation i thought "Ugh what an disgusting mutant"
Netflix didn't invest in arcane,riot did and they have lots of money being one of the biggest game companies .and also the fact that riot paid Netflix to broadcast that show l,not the other way around
I super agree with this. That animation team put their effort to create a new style for a fan work that in the end became incredible. Netflix should have chosen them for the official project.
This is the first time I recognized 100% czech accent lol
Most of netflix shows are just 3D animation with filter. French animation seems to be fully hand made.
Netflix profits more from series eaters who don't care about quality much, than that guy, who buys single month subscription to watch that one show because it's really good.
Good points indeed, the production of animated series was inceased while the quality has been mainstreemed to a point when everything seems almost the same. And while I love that theres so many things to watch being that the stories and presentations are great, I hope for better days of different styles and greater animations. ^_^ pozdrav z Brna
Can also add that even though Lihtar Studio is Paris-based, it's not just a regular French studio. It was originally founded by Edward Kurchevsky; the word "Lihtar" means a lantern in Ukrainian/Belarusian.
I think the dark horse Witcher comics are another set of art styles that really fit the Witcher series. I would love to see one of those styles in an animated show
I must admit that, along with Japanese animation, French animation is also one of my favorite animation styles.
The style of Genndy Tartakovsky would be the best for the witcher, just look at primal or samurai jack! The fight scenes, colors , the world! By far the best fit.
I'm not a Witcher fan, but I love great animation. This French style is so cool!
Thank you for all those wonderfull tipps. As a Witcher Fan I will definitely have a look.
I am French and I can say: we have many flaws... But we know our lot with animation (arcane and blue eyes samurai being among the latest examples that reached international attention). Strong identity, skills and soul is our tradition and when I saw your title, I was so much hoping you would mention French art style and animation ❤ Thanks for bringing some spotlight to my country and to one of the things it does best. 🎉
Nice analysis!
Zajimavý kanál na mě vybafnul. Like & sub, dobrá forma, výtečný topic. Přeju hodně sleďů do budoucna.
I would love to see a Witcher series in the art style of "Dont Starve"
Ngl I legit thought the netflix adaptation to be a fanmade edit of justice league or something when seeing the thumbnail pic
I personally imagined Nivellen's house as a smaller version of the Von Evorec manor.
Yeah, that's not bad either. Or smaller version of Crow's Perch (without the village around it.
I remembered Fantastic Planet I saw it at the drive-in double billed with Barbarella.
I thought it was really interesting. And yes
it was different. Haven't seen it since.
But thanks for referencing this other animated Witcher story.
Lithar studio animation style reminds me of Secret of Kells
at least In Castlevania, the artstyle doesn't limit itself, and the other shows just feel like they're trying to mimic it without actually having the same heart.
that's because of the animators, not the style itself. An example of this would be how the Dragon Ball Super art style didn't looked good but the show still had amazing animation during it's final episodes but said animation also had a tendency to just ignore the actual artstyle and by the Broly movie they just ditched the approach entirely.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj Very true. All the other shows that mimic the arttstyle just feel so...stiff. Castlevania works not just because the artstyle fit, but because the animators were allowed to go ham bananas at times
First time I saw this animation was in chaotic season 2
The more serious and history related topic the more variety in style of animation I think. Just look at "Is the Man Who Is Tall Is Happy" (a series of interviews with Noam Chomsky), Swallows of Kabul or Droga na Drugą Stronę (2011).
My favorite animation style 🤷🏾♂️
Thanks for the recommendation, it looks nice. What is even more interesting, the team behind it multinational and very Slavic as well. They are only based in Paris, but it is not against French, because they are known for hosting artists of various nationalities that have talent and good taste.
I love castlevania, invincible and I am interested in blood of zeus, but I agree, I also want more unique animation styles in industry
This is actually a problem that has been plaguing a large number of studios worldwide. The greatest offender in my opinion is A1 studios over in Japan, which puts out virtually indistinguishable projects each year. I think it's a problem of exposure to the same art styles over and over again. The style used in the Witcher is something that, growing up, was synonymous with the DCAU, which was probably a major inspiration to young artists in America.
Probably the best solution for this problem is to go to studios in, say, Chile, and have them do the animation. If they aren't as heavily exposed to anime or comic adaptations, they will develop their own art and make unique shows.
They find one style for everything and beat it into the dirt
Oh my gosh running to the animated feature now
Thank you so much for this video, I've got a lot of references now to study from and better my digital art skills, escpecially in color and its interaction with dynamic lineart.
The main advantage with animation is how much freedom it offers, compared to live action. It's rather shameful to see how generic it tends to be with these projects you've listed. And it really is a western trend these days to make things look souless, while having atrocious writing; hoping for things like the french witcher vid to lead the change.
It's just weird to me:
"We have a media that allows us near infinite freedom."
"Let's not do anything remarkable with it."
Soulless and poorly written animated media is usually a symptom of poor management, as can be seen both in western corporate slop and state propaganda from the east and elsewhere.
Whaaaaaaaaaattt???!!!! Western media is soulless?! AND it has atrocious writing?! Have you SEEN the new Disney-Lucasfilm Star Wars??!!?! I haven't - I watched recaps because of how little time I have to devote to media, but.... Really?! How could you say such things?!
/sarcasm.
@@enraikow6109 Sadly, things like these tend to take a lot more time and money to make this way. Arcane got to be what it was because of a huge budget and it being in production for years.
@@itsmytoast666You're going to lose your mind when you hear where in the world France is (hint: the west)
Fun fact though, these shows are actually animated in South Korea... The US doesn't even do it's own animation anymore, they just write the scripts, do the concept art and then outsource the animation to other countries... You can deal the difference by looking at what American animation used to look like in the 70s, 80s and 90s compared to what it looks like now
Yup. And even those aren't precise. They only gave raw test with dialogues to Fortiche . But Fortiche turned it into gold with Arcane.
Never knew Fantastic planets was Czech as well.
Fantastic planet is an awesome movie, highly recommend if you enjoying heavy metal or star chaser ✌️🤘🖖
The first style is like an updated 80s/90s aesthetic, without the pizzazz of what made the 80s and 90s so iconic. Lihtar Studio's work shown here makes me think of Genndy Tartakovsky's Unicorn: Warriors Eternal; the varying character design sells the characters, like seeing the the giant lion man with a small face vs the alien-like lenky white woman with wings, you can visually understand their character traits - apologies, I don't know The Witcher enough. Cool videos, dude. Great points.
Didnt know about the tribute video. Thanks for the recommendation.
Even though I realy like the Netflix animation style, the tribute is better in every aspect. Absolutely fantastic
Idk I asociate this type of artstyle with smth less serious like Chasseurs de Dragons (2004-2007).
THE castlevania animation is top notch.. even Nocturne shocked me by how well it was made fluid as water
The style Soyuz Multfilm showed in Snow Queen would be perfect for Witcher
Valiant hearts mentioned yay
The reason a show like Arcane can stand out in terms of visuals is because it has the backing of Riot and League of Legends, Netflix isn't footing the bill on that, they just have the rights to air it. You're confusing the platform for the studio actually responsible for the creation of an animated works.
Not a big fan of this particular style, but it would definitely fit Witcher's world better than what Netflix chose.
It actually made me thinking about Knyaz Vladimir/Prince Vladimir 2004/2006 (depending on the translation) animation style, especially the one assigned to the main characters and the background scenery. I think that one would go well with the Witcher setting.
I never noticed the animation similarity until you pointed it out. WOW.
Never expected a fellow czech mate. Glad your take on this, and that you noticed it.
I'd love to see longer version of Witcher animation in this style.
Honestly, Justice League unlimited is an aesthetic i wish came back more often.
So they animated my favourite story - now I NEED to watch it :)
Great points, and finally someone that acknowledges Valiant Hearts! It's such a great game and the only critique I have is the stereotypical and clichée depiction of the German commanders as pure villains. Yeah, the French and Belgians are great at animation, I just remember the Asterix films from my childhood for example, or also the Asterix or Lucky Luke comics!
Also I absolutely love your outro music lol
Nah it ain't a stereotype
@@Nepetita69696 it is.
Valiant hearts is such an awesome game.
Damn, I can dream about HBO or Prime Video picking up this amazing Witcher animation for funding and letting them go wild, that way we might get something like Arcane or The Legend of Vox Machina
The animation from that short is really good, so much better than whatever Netflix does.
Talking about art styles, I was reading the hardback illustrated UK edition of the books, and I realised that the art and colours do look nice, but I feel like that the art is just based from Netflix. All the art of Geralt is just like Henry Cavill and some of the other art has that same feeling, its a shame that they haven't gone off the books and kept that Slavic feel. Despite that, I love the cover art of the sleeves, they did those really well. I found some art from Denis Gordeev (I think they are really great), and the way that he illustrates The Witcher is much closer to the books and has that realistic rugged feel that you would expect from a Slavic series. It's made me want to buy the Russian edition of the books despite not even knowing Russian haha.
Regarding design of the mansion - while French animation version of the mansion looks really good, I think most Poles would imagine it more like some middle-class "dwór szlachecki". (Polish noble-man manor eg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_houses_of_Polish_nobility#/media/File:%C5%81opuszna,_dw%C3%B3r_Tetmajer%C3%B3w_(HB1).jpg). Those type of architecture was quite unique. In case of countryside manors they ware often wooden and somewhat fortified, which would fit perfectly to a type of an out-law as Beast's 'daddy is depicted here.
Enough with making western IPs series with anime-like style! Let us be more unique.
There are exceptions (I did not mind anime style in Edgerunners) but sadly we are getting Terminator (#TerminatorShouldHaveStayedDead) and Lara Croft in anime-like style.
Yeah, in the case of CP: Edgerunners the anime style actually fits and I like it because the cyberpunk genre is very much associated with the Japanese culture so the art style is perfect fit for it.
Bro only say that if The Terminator animated series is going to be bad.
This is the people one should support with their projects and stop using Amazon, Netflix, Disney and all companies that have destroyed the stories we love.
Disney did a pretty good job with X-Men 97 and in front of most of our Amazon is doing a pretty good job with inevincible. So just like most things in life it's fifty-fifty
@@kingj9664it is not tho they do this often and f up good things on purpose
I was so dissapointed that it was a whole thing and not just a trailer for that short story....oh well, it's fantastic nevertheless.
I want to add the generic style you describe isn’t necessarily easier to animate as it forces you to animate the characters more on model and exaggerate less as well less stylised character designs are also generally seen has harder to animate regardless it would be nice to see more stylised animation. Especially for things like the Witcher the fan animation reminded me a lot of wolf walkers despite the tone of each story being massively different
It’s the wolves. They have those melon shaped heads
It's not easy, they working for year or two to animate some shows, so it can't be easy.
I think this is, what took me out of Dragon Prince - they tried zu integrate some humor like in Avatar - the last Airbender, but it failed, because they could not get the slapstick right by exaggerating certain features of charakters - it seems when you use 3D-based models you either can not do that or you don't think about doing it - don't know which it is, since I'm not in animation, just comics and drawing.
4:11 There are actually tools and settings in animation programs to make the line work consistent with what you are saying. It’s not really an issue anymore.
Prime Video has done different animated series with more epic styles, the new Batman series still has that old DCAU style and it’s great.
The problem with Netflix's anime releases is that they always feel the same because they always use the same animation, and when they don't, they go and rely on bad CGI. Hate it.
The biggest thing about western entertainment companies (movies, comics and animation) is that they don’t care or love entertainment. It’s not about art, it’s about making money from the work of creators.
If you're interested in this type of folklore in french animation, check out Le Collège noir, it's so good !!!
Your videos are treat to watch,love hearing your thoughts and opinions.
Keep it up fellow witcher!🐺
Thanks a lot 🙂
Needless to say even though it was made on a french studio it was made by multiculture team. Art Director of all this work is from Russia
But the platform responsibile for overall shape is from USA so we have what we have.
those netflix generic animation style is something that should only be use in things like invencible
The question of "epic" is a topic that involves me a lot, given that it characterized one of my favorite fantasy universes: Warhammer. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I recommend comparing the third edition of the miniatures game and the first edition of the role-playing game with the current editions. Practically the concept of Warhammer was that of a dark fantasy (of course there were quite "high" elves), heavily inspired by history and with a slightly lower tone than D&D and Warcraft. Then over the years they raised the bar, and by a lot. For example there is the Empire, which is basically the Holy Roman Empire with a pinch of steampunk, see the steam tank. The latter was the only truly bizarre thing about the faction (excluding wizards and warrior-priests). But then in the eighth edition they added the monstrous cavalry regiments: the Demigryphons. I won't stay here to give you other examples, however I wanted to give you another example of a setting that over the years has increasingly undergone an extreme "dye" of epic.
Ta slovenčina tam je strašne cítiť 😂 ale súper VIDEO😂❤
It looks very cool and it does have that very european feel to it. I dislike that they gave Geralt a beard though. Book Geralt would never have a beard.
Yeah, that's one point I forgot to mention.
one of my biggest complaints is that Japanese animation has a higher minimum 'frame per seconds' allowed that what the west has, I believe but am probably wrong but in JP it's closer to 24/36 frames per second while the west is much less. Yet western animation is far less detailed, especially lately with the rise in HQ JP animation. Also big up Castlevania, what it lacked in art style it more than made up for in choreography and plot.
Yup. I have seen nothing like the style used in 5 centimeters per second. It is so detailed and unique
Thats a good point and i agree with it
French animation seems to knock it out of the park a lot of the time. If you can find it, watch Dofus: Book 1 - Julith
PEAK animation right there.
At the very least, look up the fight scene between Kerub and Julith.
as far as I know, Arcane was bankrolled by Riot, not Netflix
And it was made by French studio Fortiche. And with a script that was just chunk of dialogues they were able to give characters so much personality. Truelly a passion project
Check the animated series Lastman as well as Crisis Jung !
I think, if somebody used art style that was present in Dark Horse Comic's Witcher, that it would be very fitting also.
Just read House of Glass - you'll understand what I'm talking about ;)
no i'm done with the simplistic art style, ready for standards to be pushed and creativity to shine
Completely agree with all of this ❤
your accent is so obvious i can't xD
I like the style of sirens of the deep. I dont think thats a problem.
Literally everybody on earth: Picking hundreds of details about netflix Witcher that is made wrong and sugesting changes.
Netflix Screenwriters who never fully red a single witchers book: Naah our vision is better.
Have you done a video on nightmare of the wolf
No, I didn't have this channel when it came out and I don't know if it's worth it to do now it after it has been out for so long and people probably don't care that much anymore. But I didn't like it. I want to do a video about Sirens of the Deep when it comes out though. I have a feeling that I'll hate that one as well.
@@FolkWalkCZ Not that Lauren Hissrich wrote anything coherent. Again it is acting on shock value and emotions to hide that fact. At least it gives you a slight hint what the books are about monster Hunters who themselves are considered monsters by vast majority. It is very bizzare fanfiction (but at least fanfiction not hatefiction like movie series called "The Witcher")
Nightmare of the Wolf was awesome.
The only thing I don't like it's the beard. That shouldn't have never become iconic for Geralt
Perfect Analise.. do you know Olivier Ledroit art in Requiem, Vampire Knight?? If not, take a time to look at
I didn't know about those books, but they look great. I'll definitely check them out.
You're just factually wrong. It's not generic animation, it's simply Studio Mir's style. They did Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, they did Dota: Dragons Blood, they also did Legend of Korra, a bunch of DC movies and more. They have a more or less uniform style across their works, which is perfectly fine.
Also I don't understand how you can lump clearly gothic Castlevania with Studio Mir. Completely different looks.
Great animation, one minute which is far more Witcher than Aquaman war trailer and Castlevania ripoff (which was still better than Castlevania sequel in 2023)
His sequel was not that bad stop it
i actually like the animation from american studio and european company so far to be honest! legend of vox machina, invincible, castlevania. sure, the character expression, look a bit more simplistic. but they still got the message across. the emotion that the character feel. we still get that! plus the animation look's more reallistic. the body porportion of the character for example? they look human. which give's the animation? the matured aura to it i think. Because of the fact that they look human.
maybe because it's just my bias? but i actually like this kind of animation. because they actually look more realistic. and i do think the fact that american studio and european studio, start making this kind of animation. is actually a plus. because they actually make the kind of animation that i liked. all of this new, american studio animated show, that came up recently? is an anime inspire animation. thank's to anime being popular outside of japan? this kind of animation exist.
yes! you could argue that. even animation in anime has way more characteristic. than this more realistic looking, type of animation? but do you Know what they get right, with their animation? that 90% of anime studio in japan could never achieved? the smothness of the animation, when it was being played. when their character talks? their mouth actually follow the word's and vowel of the word's, they are not just opeaning and closing. even when they fight? you could see they actually throw a punch fully. they are not cutting frame's! like you see in a lot of anime.
because they have the budget to do so. and because they have no problem hiring animator. compare to company in japan. so i think they just decide to sacrifice a bit of characteristic, for a more simple animation? so they could make a more smoother, animation! compare to japanese anime, where yes? you got more characteristic! but the animation is not as smooth, as what you get with this new, western animation. the point is? you cannot have both. you have to pick one over the other. and personally? i love a more smoother animation. as for characteristic? i think as long as they get the character emotion across? then it's good enough.
plus this thing is still new to western animation studio. because they just get into it recently. anime inspired animation that target adult audiences. most of it. that is. which i think? is one of the other reason why? they decide to make the animation more realistic. but the point is. this kind of animation? is still in it's infancy, to western animation studio. so i don't think we should, criticized them just yet? you know? sorry. but i think, you're being too nitpicky.
🇨🇵I'm saying that today as your video resonates particularly for me as a French, but I really like your work of promoting slavic and European cultures in general, your arguments are always on point and very interesting, keep going 😊
nice
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust have the best animation I've ever saw in my entire life, period. Imagine The Witcher with that animation and level of details, would be awesome. Sadly as a fan I will stay away from the games and CDPR since they are going to make their new games for "modern audiences", everything is woke, everything is "queer" nowadays and I'm done with these kind of crap.
Most things have always been woke and for real why do you all hate gay people so much you all just complain about anything don't you
Angel's Egg is way better IMO ruclips.net/video/j3qMwnMtnhQ/видео.html
good video
I understand your point about this, but first i would like to defend a little bit the animation they used for The Witcher Nightmare of the Wolf and in the upcoming movie, (this is my speculation so take this as you will) people in these movies draw the characters to look more like the depictions from the games, and therefore more realistic bodies and movements as in the game, while in that short animation (that I saw some time before) the Art style is more caricatured and bends the characters in the animation more, there for making more dynamic movement which I love as well, but that is an "Artistic choice" and that can be risky, and in America they are afraid to risk anything in recent years, so they will focus on a more "safer look" that is already similar to something that people and fans are familiar with.
I think it’s mostly because Netflix uses the same animation studio ( studio mir) for all their western anime-ish cartoons. Most of their shows look identical with a few exceptions.
@@jijie9328 Yes, but that also goes into my comment of their not taking risks, another studio might cost more, or they are not reliable enough to be a safe option, for the genre of movies (animation) that today in America are not respected as much as they used to be.
That's why they choose a reliable and safe enough option for these movies, because they don’t care so much about creativity, and only about money.
@@PetarSon true
But Cyberpunk Edgerunners also drew it to look realistic yet style feels different. And honestly when you have magic you can go for different styles like they did in Puella Madoka Magica. No matter how hard they try in USA they cannot compete with passion of French and Japanese animation studioes.
@@karolinakuc4783 The vibe is not the same for a Cyberpunk Future world, and a Medieval Dark Fantasy world in Europe, so it's not something that can be compared just like that. Certain styles are better suited for a Medieval Fantasy, while other styles are more suited for a Cyberpunk type of future world (that's not to say it's impossible, but different art styles are more suitable for specific types of worlds).
The Witcher The Nightmare of The Wolf is directed by America, but even if it's made in the anime studio in South Korea that made "The Legend of Korra", it's still an American vision, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners is made in Japan and directed by Japan, so two different countries have different values, and different things are more important than others, like freedom of creativity when it comes to new stories.