How we ani-made CYBERSLAV | Hand-drawn animation
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Client: Evil Pirate Studio
Project: Cyberslav (Kiberslav)
Type: Animated action / sci-fi series
Studio Role: Animation production & background painting
Cyberslav is a highly anticipated animated series, first introduced to audiences through its trailer released in 2018. With strong visual identity and a distinctive style already established, the project came with high expectations from both the client and the fan community.
In this production, DeeDee Animation Studio was entrusted with the animation production for two episodes, including a significant portion of the background painting work.
Challenge
Overall, the team was tasked with delivering:
500+ background paintings
Over 40 minutes of fully hand-drawn animation
Across a total workload of 4,376 tasks
This project presented multiple layers of complexity across both artistic and technical aspects.
The animation was entirely hand-drawn, requiring frame-by-frame execution without relying on keyframes. This approach demanded a high level of precision, consistency, and craftsmanship across every stage.
In addition, the character designs in this project were highly complex and close to realistic. Animators needed a strong understanding of anatomy and had to study real-life references to create natural and believable movement.
In-between artists also needed a strong understanding of drawing fundamentals. When connecting keyframes, they had to maintain solid form and volume, while ensuring that the motion followed natural arcs in space rather than appearing flat.
Facial animation was especially challenging. The number of lines, along with detailed wrinkles and hair movement during dialogue, required a significant amount of time and a high level of skill to execute properly.
The project’s unique mix of cyberpunk and medieval styles also introduced another layer of complexity. Character costumes were highly detailed, and great care was needed to ensure that clothing moved naturally and interacted correctly with the body during animation.
At the same time, the environments posed an equally demanding challenge. The series features highly detailed, realistic background paintings, set in a Russian winter landscape, combined with complex mechanical elements. These were not typical settings for a Vietnam-based production team, requiring additional research and adaptation.
The realistic style of the series required artists to have a strong understanding of color, lighting, and form. This was essential to accurately depict materials, depth, and atmosphere in each background.
In addition, FX animation followed a straight-ahead, frame-by-frame method, with strict requirements on timing, shape, and physical behavior, especially for elements such as fire, water, smoke, and debris.
Beyond technical difficulty, the project also came with pre-defined artistic standards. Since the series had already gained attention from its earlier trailer, the client, as well as the audience, have had a clear visual direction and high expectations.
Detailed guidelines were provided, including lip-sync standards, line quality (clean, minimal, and well-connected strokes), and consistency in environmental elements such as vegetation, snow color, and lighting.
Production process
To meet these demands, DeeDee Animation Studio assembled a big team, covering multiple stages of production including rough animation, tie-down, clean-up, in-betweening, coloring, shading, FX.
The production process began with studying the Cyberslav universe, including its lore, character descriptions, and visual direction provided by the client.
After receiving the animatic, the team proceeded with both background painting and animation production.
Background painting process:
The background work was highly detailed and carefully planned, following a structured process:
3D blocking: Artists first built rough environments in 3D to ensure consistency across multiple shots. With a large number of props in each scene, this helped save time and maintain accurate continuity. It also supported complex camera movements, including shots rotating around characters for more dynamic visuals.
Digital painting: Based on the 3D setups, background artists then used digital painting techniques to finalize each scene.
Consistency control: A key challenge was following the Art Director’s guidelines closely. Color tones, lighting, and level of detail had to match across shots within the same sequence, ensuring a seamless final result, regardless of how many artists were involved.
Animation pipeline:
Rough → Tie-down → Clean-up → In-between → Coloring → Shading → FX
Each stage was reviewed based on predefined checklists to ensure consistency and quality.
As for tools, we use Toon Boom Harmony for animation; and Adobe Photoshop for background painting.
A structured production pipeline was established to ensure both efficiency and consistency:
A new evaluation system was developed to estimate scene complexity and allocate resources effectively
Split the workload into smaller batches and handle them one at a time for better efficiency
Special scenes with higher level of complexion were handled with custom workflows, including adjustments in production order to optimize output
Detailed checklists and guidelines were created and continuously updated through regular internal reviews, based on recurring issues identified from feedback
An internal meeting to update on common issues and how to fix them
For animation specifically, key principles were enforced:
Use line and polyline tools to minimize the number of points, instead of freehand drawing, to avoid wobbly lines
Regularly reference the character design sheet throughout the process, as character details may differ from batch to batch
Natural acting and physics, realistic style, not over dramatic
Clear motion arcs (C-shaped and S-shaped trajectories)
Strong sense of volume and 3D space
Consistent proportions and perspective from rough to tie-down stages
For FX:
Realistic timing across different elements
Clearly defined shapes and layers
Visual consistency with character style
Support for depth, volume, and composition within each shot
FX were designed specifically for each scene to create strong visual impact and ensure the best possible composition and visual effects. Based on these designs, animators then added motion that fits naturally within the scene.
This required experienced artists who could both maintain the physical behavior of each type of FX and stay true to the original design. All FX were animated using a hand-drawn, frame-by-frame approach.
After completion, each frame went through multiple rounds of quality control to ensure accuracy and eliminate any errors.
These systems allowed the team to maintain a high level of quality while managing a large-scale production.
Results
Despite the scale and complexity, the project was successfully delivered with consistently high quality across both animation and background art.
The backgrounds, in particular, stood out for their level of detail and realism. Each piece carefully crafted to the point of functioning as a standalone artwork, even if it only appeared on screen for a few seconds.
The project also received highly positive feedback from the client, reflected not only in words but also in an overwhelming number of visual reactions and approvals throughout the production process.
Explore a selection of standout cuts from the project:
Looking to bring your animated project to life with high-quality visuals? Let’s create something exceptional together with DeeDee Animation Studio!
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