The Blood, Sweat and Vampires of Anime CASTLEVANIA – VFX Voice

The Inhabitants of Castlevania

Some of the creatures take inspiration from existing creatures from the game. which we then adapt to the show style and apply our own spin on, explains Sam Deats, Creative Director at Powerhouse Animation Studios. Others are completely original we tend to start with what their ability set should be, based on the story, then take inspiration from nature and often folklore which is something of a tradition in the Castlevania games.

Deats also provides some insight into the creative and technical challenges encountered with designing the principal cast. Trevor was probably the most difficult design of the main trio to land on a look for. His first few designs were a little younger looking and cleaner, but it wasnt till I caked on a level of grit and grime that he started to take shape. Syphas design was one I landed pretty close on from the start, and shes so versatile with her magic shes a blast to storyboard action for. I suppose the main challenge with her is trying not to make her too overpowered.

Alucard is one of the hardest characters for the animators to draw, which will surprise no one, says Deats. Ive had to do a lot of corrections for him over the years! His design and fighting style take a lot of inspiration from the games, which has always been fun. Draculas design had to be equal parts terrifying and endearing, someone who makes you fear for your life while also making you fall in love. The crux of the story relies on the audience feeling for a man who wants to wipe out humanity.

Katie Silvia, who took as the Character Design Supervisor for Season 3, explains what was involved with producing some of the new additions to the cast. For Lenore, the biggest challenge was she was essentially my art test, and I was going to school at the time and didnt know one thing about character design, so in a panic I bought some books on the subject with next day delivery, drew a lot on Post-its, and then in the end I just followed my heart and threw a lot of shapes and things I love to draw in one design.

For a more production-related answer, Silvia explains, I really wanted to capture the pretty, warm, big, droopy doe eyes Ayami Kojima draws on some of her girls. For Morana, I wanted her to look really out of time but also regal. Vampires wear more modern fashion than humans in Castlevania [Alucard invented the V-neck], so theres more room to play with clothing periods. Moranas the oldest, probably thousands of years old. Her shawl is a kaunake-type thing that shes either kept for thousands of years or adapted from something else as a reminder of older times, while her outfit top is more Elizabethan. Morana has modern makeup because shes an icon, and one of the biggest challenges was trying to do that eye makeup myself at 2 a.m. to test my abilities.

For Saint Germain, the big deal was trying to figure out how to adapt a pre-existing character for a show where he has a different function in the story, describes Silvia. I put him more solidly in the Tudor time period, like hes a few years more advanced than the rest of the folks clothing-wise but not as much as the vampires. I gave him a Shakespearean doublet because I thought he was an actor playing a part and because theyre hot. His cane actually is the same rough design as the sword he carries in the concept art. The really hard thing for him was that he was described as wearing really fine clothes that were broken down and worn with age, but thats hard to do with flat colors because [to me] it implies a textural element. Saint Germain has the greenish coat because thats kind of the color a fine, rich, black coat gets when its been in the sun too long. Saint Germain keeps his shirt untucked because he really is tired and isnt looking to really impress these Lindenfeld folks as much as if he were younger.

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The Blood, Sweat and Vampires of Anime CASTLEVANIA - VFX Voice

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero