D&D: Take A Behind-The-Scenes Look At Critical Role’s Animated Special
Critical Role’s animated special-turned-series looks incredible–come get a look behind the scenes at the world of Exandria reimagined in animated glory.
Last year, Critical Role broke all kinds of records with a Kickstarter that launched an animated series soon to be debuting on Amazon Prime. Today, we’re going behind the scenes to take a look at the development of the series–in particular the way that the world of Exandria has been brought to life in full detail, beyond even the original cast’s wildest imaginings.
It truly is incredible. The artists and animators at Titmouse studios are among the best in the business right now, and it shows. You can see the sweeping shots and lush vistas that grab details from Critical Role’s 1st campaign and just drop them right here into reality. Fans of the show will recognize all sorts of details taken straight from the already extant maps, but given new life in a lush, living realization that takes you right inside the world.
It helps that the art director on the show, Arthur Loftis, is also a massive fan of Critical Role. He was one of the 90,000 backers who helped make the show a reality, though at the time, he didn’t know he’d be responsible for bringing the world to life. But now, that love of the show brings the details from the first campaign right on to the screen.
Loftis talks about bringing the “shipyard” feeling of Whitestone to life–but it’s not just familiar places that we get to see in the show. It begins before the big campaign, with a look at a sleepy seaside village known as the Shale Steps:
And from there we get to Emon, the big fantasy metropolis of Exandria. For context, here’s a look at the map of the city as it appears in the Tal’Dorei sourcebook:
Now here’s a look at Emon as it appears in The Legend of Vox Machina.
You can find more details in the video below.
