Klaus

Director Sergio Pablos and his team developed a hybrid lighting technique for this hand-drawn film, applying volumetric CG lighting and shadow passes on top of 2D character animation so flat ink-and-paint figures appear to sit inside three-dimensional light, a departure from the flat cel-shaded look of traditional features. This required building proprietary software to let 2D linework receive simulated light sources, rim light and cast shadow the way a CG character would, without losing the elasticity of hand-drawn line. Cold blue arctic exteriors against warm interior firelight are rendered with real depth and gradient rather than flat color fills, giving the film a painterly dimensionality unusual for 2D animation since the nineties. Character designs by Pablos favor triangular, angular shapes for warmth and circular shapes for coldness, a silhouette-language technique executed with unusual rigor throughout. For animators, Klaus is essential viewing for how it resolves the old tension between graphic flatness and the dimensional lighting audiences now expect, without full 3D character models.

What to watch for

Watch how firelight rims the hand-drawn characters with a soft glow that shifts as they move, a lighting effect rarely attempted in traditional cel animation.

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