The objective of this university project was to create a looping animation with a medium and theme of choice. The fascinating look and animation of Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse inspired me to try and adapt this style in a Spiderman animation of my own,
Pre-Production
To capture the iconic 'Spiderverse style,' I focused on three core features: Animation, Looks, and Effects. These elements, inspired by comic books, make each shot resemble a comic panel. The film uses 12fps animation, exaggerating actions with stretched body parts and cartoon-like motion. Instead of motion blur, it employs smears and duplicates, creating a unique, choppy feel. Bold, saturated colors and strong graphic shapes define the backgrounds, while characters feature ink lines and hand-drawn elements. Depth is achieved through color separation, mimicking comic misprints. Halftone and line patterns in highlights and shadows enhance the comic book aesthetic.
Production
Building on these foundational features, the production process was straightforward. I opted for a panoramic setup with linear camera movement, ideal for a looping animation. The scene was crafted in Blender, utilizing free assets that were modified to fit the style. The character models, also sourced as assets, were rigged and reshaped to better suit the stylized aesthetic. Additionally, custom shading materials were developed to mimic the unique lighting and details on the characters, such as a simulated rim light and the shimmer on Miles' suit.
With the final 3D render complete, the first of three stages was accomplished. To enhance the Look and Effects, I imported the render into AfterEffects. For the distant background, I layered a 2D illustration behind the 3D midground, seamlessly blending it into the animation using a depth map render. This depth map also enabled the application of chromatic aberration to both the foreground and background, creating a depth of field effect. After incorporating halftone patterns in the highlights and making final color adjustments, the animation closely resembled the original inspiration.