Lyriel (AHITR) - Halloween special WIP🦇

Hey everyone! Today let’s start breaking down the Halloween special with Lyriel. This isn’t the standard animation that usually comes out, but a deeply worked-through scene with a character from the game A House in the Rift. You may have already seen our collaboration with the sister project in the Cait Bride animation, so you know the kind of love that goes into the process. Let’s dive in 🎃 !

The main task at the preparation stage is to gather as many references as possible and go through the available prop and environment assets that will help convey the atmosphere of All Hallows’ Eve. Once the assets are approved as a base for further customization, from light eerie accents to more frightening touches, it’s time to move on to setting up the lighting.

It starts with an HDRI map that lays the foundation for the sunset lighting, then comes the light of the rising moon and every individual candle. The goal is to arrive at a visually interesting picture and to guide the viewer’s attention toward the key points of interest in the scene and the characters who’ll be in it.

From the opening shot we move into the modest confessional, playing on the contrast in scale: from vast halls to a tight, enclosed space. That gives the scene a sense of intimacy and seclusion, making the storytelling more personal, as if we’re watching through the main character’s eyes.

In the confessional we get a monologue from Lyriel, built around the image of a shy, modest girl held in place by the space around her. She moves mostly with her upper body, so the main focus goes to her facial expressions and emotions.

The characters talk through a grille in a fairly cramped space, which adds a sense of mystery to the scene. At the same time there’s a camera pass along Lyriel’s figure, to break up the emotional tone with some sensual accents on her shape and body. Special attention goes to the small details: the lip licking, the hand movements and other expressive gestures.

The main challenge in such tight quarters is showing as many interesting angles as possible without losing important visual information. The key areas have to stay clearly visible, while the light and shadow, the contours and the silhouettes all work toward making the shot expressive.

Layered animation was the method used for this episode. After setting up several key poses, the movement was worked through in sequence: the hips, the torso, the shoulders, the neck, the head and the facial elements. Then came the secondary motion of the soft tissue using tweak bones, along with baked hair and cloth simulations layered on top of the finished animation.

That’s probably enough for part one. We’re not taking a long break here, the continuation is planned for this week. Today we covered the most important aspects of the environment, the lighting and the overall atmosphere. In part two we’ll go deeper into... well, we’ll just go deeper. See you soon 😉