Across the Spider-Verse animator dives into Spider-Punk’s look

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse The game features many different Spider-People that span (haha!) decades in Spider-history. Despite all being connected by their powers (and also catastrophic canon events, as we come to learn), they’re all vibrant and distinct from one another. The first film established this, but the sequel has dozens and dozens of Spider-People. Across the Spider-Verse Take everything to 11 It’s not just their character designs; it’s also the way they’re animated and the style that they’re rendered in.

Perhaps the most impressive Spider-Person — and certainly the one that many fans have latched on to as being the coolest — is Spider-Punk. Spider-Punk is played by Daniel Kaluuya. Hobie Brown, Spider Punk’s alter ego, is an independent, nonconformist punk hero. It’s also reflected by the differences in his appearance and movement compared to other members of the cast. The design of his character is similar to a collaged magazine, and he moves differently than most of the cast.

He is one of the most dynamic characters in the whole movie — and also the one that’s been blowing everyone’s minds with just how Wild Looks like he’s a good guy.

“How the FUCK did they do this,” one Twitter user asked, sharing a clip of Spider-Punk’s chaotically cool intro.

They have also been open and honest about their processes. Chelsea Gordon-RatzlaffSwung into action to answer. They detailed the rules that the animation team had for Hobie, and also clarified that the rules were broken when necessary — a punk-rock approach that Hobie would approve of.

These are our hobie rules!

– Body on 3s

The vest can be offset (also in 3s on a delayed frame of two frames).

Guitar on 4s

– outline on 2s (only when he’s moving, should remain static when he’s held still)

Cutouts around the guitar

What is all this? Standard for most animated films is 24 frames per seconds. Typically, animators will change poses and details every second frame — or “on the 2s.” But in the case of Hobie, his body pose changed every third frame, making his movement more staccato than the characters around him. But that’s not even the wildest part.

All of Hobie’s separate elements — his vest, his outline, his guitar — move on separate frames. With the vest, which is animated at an offset, that means it’s still changing on the third pose, but one frame off from the body (so if his body moves at frames 3, 6, 9, and 12, the vest moves at frames 4, 7, 10, and 13). Hobie’s parts also changed textures depending on where the film was taking place. After all, Hobie hates consistency.

When animation studios are confronted with something deeply ambitious that seems impossible, they innovate — and that means developing new software and tools to help them achieve what they want. The snow simulation is a must-see. FrozenThat helped to solve the Dyatlov pass incident. Sony’s experience was similar. Gordon-Ratzlaff says that the “pipeline team invented all kinds of crazy stuff that let us do even crazier stuff in animation.”

The evidence is clear Across the Spider-VerseIt is the visually most daring American animation movie of recent times. Everything from the original movie was used to launch it into new heights. The first film was a springboard that launched the second movie to new heights. Beyond the Spider-Verse comes out next year, it’s sure to go even more above and, well, beyond.