Take a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has received immense popularity from the audience, and it's exciting to take a behind-the-scenes look at how the animated show was created.

Recently, Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks shared three insightful videos with Cartoon Brew, covering a sneak peek at animating Rumi, a VFX breakdown, and insights into crafting the stylized version of Seoul.

The first video about crafting character animations for Rumi, the Annie Award-winning character embodying the show's vibrant essence, shares that the character was brought to the screen using custom tools and workflows. Special focus was placed on the character's expressions, ranging from glamor to anime. Animation Director Josh Beveridge shared details on the animation system named Chibi, which allows for extensive animation of Rumi's emotions.

The creators also employed a unique approach to motion blur. All this special attention to detail and the use of custom solutions allowed the show's creators to shift from "heartfelt drama to explosive anime action to a glittering K-pop spectacle."

Take a closer look at the animation setups:

In the VFX breakdown, Josh Beveridge pointed out that the visual style had to keep up with the story's "rapidly shifting tones." The three pillars of style for the show were anime, k-dramas, and k-pop, with authentic details of Korean culture embedded into the film.

Environments Lead Rafael Lescano stressed that Seoul, with its bustling districts and the Bukchon Hanok Village, was built with meticulous attention to authenticity. The creators used satellite data and then, with Houdini, procedurally scattered the props, generating the entire city. The city of Seoul, portrayed in the show, features 268 unique assets.

Before, we shared more behind-the-scenes looks at creating this eclectic show. For example, check out hilarious reference videos from Daniel Ceballos and Eric Stinnissen, Senior Animators at Sony Imageworks:

Don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter and join our 80 Level Talent platform, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Instagram, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.