Arcane Season Two Guide: It simply looks awesome to experience the all time favorite episodes of ARCANE. As per the latest update, ARCANE is currently streaming live on Netflix where you can watch both the seasons.
The different seasons of ARCANE are animated and have been created by Alex Yee, Christian Linke in collaboration with Riot Games and French studio.
They are known to be the same developers who created one of the most inspiring games called League of Legends. The series has also got the honor of winning Emmy award lately..
The teamwork of both Riot Games and Fortiche Production with Linke is not new. It’s in fact, established in the year 2012.
It all happened after they came together to create the specific video characterized as “Get Jinxed” video. It was titled League of Legends.
It’s been quite a friendly and professional teamwork that was managed to last for more than a decade,” says Barthelemy Maunoury, Fortiche’s co-director, to Tudum. “We communicated daily with Alex and Christian, along with their belief in the very Fortiche that basically allowed us to collaborate seamlessly.”
In Season One, the artists emphasized showcasing Zaun and Piltover looking as completely distinct cities. For Season Two, the visual team delved further, capturing the subtle intricacies of the above cities as the narrative deepened.
Work on ARCANE Season Two began immediately after its Netflix debut in November 2021, kicking off a three-year process to bring the vision to completion.
Each design required meticulous effort, with many of them reaching up to twenty iterations. It took over 3 months to become perfect in every respect.
“Sometimes the effort of the initial sketch captivates us, but we spend months refining it to preserve the kind of inner instinct in the final design,” this is what Arnaud-Loris Baudry (production designer) narrates his story to Tudum.
At the height of production, Fortiche’s creative team included approximately 450 artists based in the US and France.
If you talk about their talents, it almost spanned in almost every area of creation. It looked perfect right from environments and animation to effects, textures, props, paintings, and even more.
Dive in to see how Fortiche’s team brought the stunning visuals of Season Two from concept to screen.
ACT I
Bringing Smeech to Life
“Smeech was conceived as a yordle connected to Zaun,” explains Baudry regarding a criminal which has been created using upgraded technology.
“We wanted to create a quirky character with a body modified by Chemtech augmentations, giving him the ability to change size.
His design drew inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, incorporating a top hat, a distinctive hairstyle, and a lot more.”
Baudry further notes down the fact that designers are often credited to propose variations ideas, but the real fact is that it’s the work of directors and animators to “bring those concepts to life on screen.”
The Temple of Janna
Jinx, also known as Ella Purnell decides to lure Vi, better known as Hailee Steinfeld into a trap that takes them to an undercity temple. It was purely dedicated to the very ancient spirit Janna. It all happens in the episode 3 of Arcane Season Two.
At this time Vi feels that Powder is gone and seeing Jinx happens to be a twisted reminder of her, and determined to correct her past mistakes.
“We wanted the ancient temple honoring Janna to evoke a calm and neutral atmosphere,” explains Georgel. “It serves as a backdrop to showcase Jinx’s paintings, which depict the most pivotal moments of her life.”
Baudry explains, “The vibrant, glowing graffiti sharply contrasts with the calm environment, reflecting the heartbreaking story of two sisters torn apart by tragic circumstances.”
The Creation of Viktor
Viktor (Harry Lloyd) surprises everyone with his enhanced appearance. He at the same time also manages to survive from the Jinx’s attack.
All this happens during the 2nd episode of Arcane Season Two. Further the damage from the explosion to his body allows the Hexcore to transform him into a different avatar that we actually see in subsequent episodes.
“Georgel explains, “The Hexcore didn’t just alter Viktor’s body; it also healed him, which gave him the power to create his community and church.”
“We wanted Viktor to appear as a human messiah, exuding positivity and peace, despite his body now resembling an organic machine crafted by the Hexcore.”
“Viktor is basically an outdated design along with being an awesome
backstory,” says Baudry. “We saw this as an opportunity to refresh the very character with a lanuguage in terms of matching design.
This is our vision of biomechanical design, integrating his muscle structure and anatomy with somewhat tough mechanical parts, including the corset and straps that stabilize his injured form.”
Within the Anomaly
In Arcane Season Two, Episode 3, Heimerdinger (Mick Wingert), Ekko (Reed Shannon), along with Jayce (Kevin Alejandro) are all taken by surprise at the same moment due to a pivotal event in the plot.
After they start exploring Viktor’s anomaly, they came to know that their reality has come to wrap. The reason for that is quite simple which is mainly due to the fact that it basically narrates the kind of spherical creation just like an unstable and raw manifestation of the arcane,” with proper “color and shape language which is quite similar to that of the Hexcore.”
The entire design maonly showcases shifting, there are some kind of
iridescent colors known to have linked to the mystery named ‘pattern of chaos’ as purely obsessed Viktor,” explains Georgel.
“The universe is looking towards getting corrupted due to a kind of spherical anomaly. The reason why Hextech could obviously become the sole drwing power coming from that source, we can always see how the different Hextech weapons are getting influenced due to its instability.”
ACT II
Creating Vi
Vi is stuck in a kind of fighting loop that works in a self destructive mode which you might have come across in episode 5. It included sleepless nights and heavy drinking, in the undercity. In that sense, her grungy makeup along with black hair symbolize the inner turmoil she’s going through.
After the fallout with Jinx and Caitlyn (Katie Leung), Vi feels like she’s lost almost everything that belonged to her, leaving her estranged from both Piltover and Zaun,” says Baudry.
“The above signifies that she would perhaps tend to keep her features under the wrap. For examplpe, her unique tattoo and hair color. Now, keeping everythingaside, it looks like she tends to lose the game in fighting.”
“Georgel portrays her life as steeped in dull grays and blacks, highlighting the “unpleasant yellow” tint of the streets and her temporary bedroom, mirroring the color of the alcohol she’s been overindulging in. “The glaring white light in the fighting pit was intended to create a bleak, unsettling, and aggressive ambiance, paired with the bar’s flickering lights.”
The Making of Warwick
Singed (Brett Tucker) revives Vander (JB Blanc), reshaping his character into the brutal and relentless beast, Warwick.
According to Baudry, the showrunner Linke had envisioned right from the start of development that Vander’s character would eventually change into Warwick.
“In Season One, Vander was envisioned as a character of remarkable strength, someone who could endure profound hardship,” Baudry says. “Singed was able to improve his experiment and bring Warwick, the chimera, to life because of Vander’s extraordinary strength.”
Although Warwick in League of Legends resembles a werewolf, Baudry notes that they “added wild animal features to his design to emphasize his wolf-like nature.” The team also kept Warwick’s “traits and facial features close to Vander’s” to tie into the overall narrative.
Inside the Commune
It was mainly chosen for its “bright, positive, and sunlit mood, as well as its color schemes,” explains Georgel. “We sought to evoke the feeling of being in the open countryside, with a bright blue sky and a sense of freedom, in spite of the fact that commune is nestled within the depths of Zaun.”
Georgel points out that a vital feature of the design is the strong bond commune members who share with Viktor’s mind, mainly those individuals whom he has healed. Their creations are deeply influenced by Viktor’s fascination with the anomaly and the intricate patterns of the Hexcore.”
The unique spiral, fractal, and iridescent patterns are visible everywhere, from the tiniest features to the village’s overarching design.
ACT III
The Making of Mel
Episode 8 sees Mel (Toks Olagundoye) embracing a new style that symbolizes her awakening as a mage, following her direct conflict with none other than the Black Rose sorceress.
“For her mage reveal, we wanted the costume to be simple yet elegant, with a clean design that made an impact,” says Baudry.
Mel is reluctant to embrace her mage identity, so she hides behind a loose white cloak.
This is what Baudry has to say, “As she distances herself from Piltover, the entire team stressed upon the need to travel and concealing herself in this new role.”
As per Georgel, when Mel tries to tap into her power, the actual shapes of her magic look to inspire exactly by some golden color tattoos all over her body.
The Making of Ekko
This is what Baudry has to state, “It all happens in episode 9 of Arcane Season Two when Ekko decides to take action. He’s well equipped with one of the unique “prototype of his iconic Z Drives” along with a different and “improvised weapon that resembles his signature bat.”
One thing which is quite obious is none other than the looks of Ekko. Although, he still not reached his champion status in the League of Legends, you can well spot him enacting like a hero in the finale of Arcane series.
“The very character of Ekko has got so much appreciation from the audience. At the same time, we also knew that we won’t be able to grab all his powers at the time of finale. This is what Baudry states.. “We always liked to present the thrust of the boy having all the potential to defy time.”
Ekko is the character that always looks fascinating, especially when he tends to wear orange and green colors in the entire series of ARCANE. He’s also seen wearing a white hourglass symbol directly on his forehead.
Baudry points out that in Episode 9, they aimed to “visually link Ekko to Jinx,” ensuring that their unique looks complement each other.
“The color scheme of Ekko’s outfit merges with Jinx’s,” Baudry adds. “There are visual details and graffiti that call back to their confrontation in Season One.
Inside the Black Rose
Shimmer, Chem-tech, Hextech, and Runes represent distinct magic styles and forms, each with its own unique color palette. In Arcane Season Two, Georgel clarifies (regarding the presence of Black Rose magic) that his team always “believed to create an entire new color scheme with a unique shape language that would feel like eerie and dangerous.”
Mel finds herself trapped in the mental prison of Black Rose, a grim setting dominated by black and red hues, where glowing red thorned chains create an atmosphere of intense discomfort and unease.
“We wanted the chains to look magical,” Baudry explains, noting that the chains are not physical. In Episode 8, Mel is not physically bound but trapped in a mental prison. She is “immobilized at the center of a pentagram-shaped Black Rose device, while her mind is transported into an illusory mental prison.”
The design finally came out to be just like the makers wanted to have right from the beginning. This is wha tthey have to say, “We constantly worked on different episodes of ARCANE along with collaborating simultaneously with designers against Elora and Amara.
In order to make the entire work look impressive, all credit goes to the compositing and FX team.
Inside the Finale
Creating the epic battle in the series’ final act took “years of work,” reveals Baudry.
Right from the beginning, we always intended to build the 2nd season around this great battle using all the factions followed. It included the Noxians, Viktor’s followers, the Jinxers, Piltover, along with people of Zaun,” Baudry explains.
This is what Baudry adds. “Viktor tends to expend his mental cosmic link at the Hexgates. It includes Jinx, Warwick, Sevika, Mel, Vi, and Jayce. “It’s a great moment for us, but at the same time we like to keep it intimate and human,” He concluded.
You might beleive that the final design that came out for “Super Viktor” stood out to be quite complex that actually took over almost 4 years of visual development.”It essentially looks like following the very own design language that evolves in the same way as the season gets progressed. It finally reflects its ultimate transformation and loss of humanity.”
You can tune in to Netflix to watch ARCANE season one and two.
ARCANE
In the midst of the intense conflict between the twin cities of Piltover and Zaun in Arcane Season Two, two sisters find themselves on opposing sides of a war driven by magical technologies and conflicting ideologies.
