The Archer

Vova Orlov, director

In directing, I was looking for the inner music in action: long scenes with camera flyovers alternating with fast cuts, akin to drumming. One of the main challenges of the project was the ability to divide the video into shorter versions. As a result, each shot was made to blend well with any other scene, without losing the meaning of the narrative. What could be easier to understand than the colorful violence against slugs?

Denis Pisarev, Art Director and Character design:

We decided to take chibi style as the main direction: it was able to emphasize the boldness of the heroes and balance it with a slight childlike quality. My task was to adapt and rethink the designs from the game. It was necessary to preserve the recognizable elements of the heroes and not overload them with details for ease of subsequent animation.

Denis Pisarev, Art Director and Character design:

The small monsters underwent a slight adaptation, but overall remained almost the same as in the game, while the boss monster had to be searched for, as this character did not exist. In the first iterations, a steroid version of a small monster on “steroids” was created, but in the end, a menacing one-eyed danger...man came out.

Vova Orlov, director

The most difficult shots were the scenes with a large number of monsters, and not just because of the large amount of work. We needed to very delicately arrange the visual and rhythmic accents so that the viewer wouldn’t lose sight of the main thing we wanted to show in the scene.

Vova Orlov, director

It’s always difficult and interesting to create scenes with total animation: with camera flyovers, background movement, and perspective distortions. Starting such a shot is like jumping from a great height into the unknown.

Roma, Background design

During the approach discussion, we chose a more realistic style for the environment, which allowed us to create a rich atmosphere in contrast to the stylized and simplified characters. When working on the backgrounds, we paid special attention to the depth of the shot to avoid a simplified, flat look.

Denis Pisarev, Art Director and Character design:

The most important feature of compositing in this project is the use of color and different ways of applying lines. We added color to the contacts in the shadows for greater vividness. As a result, the feeling of a marker outline was achieved.