Render Breakdown is a show where we take official video game artworks, break down its art style, and try to replicate it in the end.
I fixed Kratos’ arm, woops!
https://x.com/thomoclock/status/1831234890601468189
I’ve opened up a Patreon! One of the tiers include access to all the Render Breakdown project files so far. Some files are free even for non-Patreon subscribers, like Palutena’s .CLIP file 🙂
https://patreon.com/thomoclock
If you’d like to support me anywhere else, you can find me on these other platforms:
http://twitch.tv/otherthom
http://twitter.com/thomoclock
http://instagram.com/thomoclock
Join the Discord! Why not?
https://discord.gg/5mEYnhE3wD
00:00 Intro
00:33 Part 1 – Background History
02:04 Part 2 – Art Style Analysis
05:26 Part 3 – Breakdown Process
09:39 Kratos Results
09:50 Part 3 – Breakdown Process (cont.)
11:50 Palutena Results
11:58 Part 4 – Results
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CREDITS
Thomas S.
Scriptwriting, Editing, Animationas
MUSIC
“Render Breakdown”
Loeder
https://www.youtube.com/@LoederMusic
“Hades OST Lofi ~ Good Riddance”
SuperDope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkPOxWmIJ6E
“Good Riddance (feat. Chris and Violet Trevino – Hades Lofi Hip Hop”
Autumn Orange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OxWc0SfEi4
“Chillout Of Tartarus”
tomhUK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHVUJk2oao
RESOURCES
Pidgi Wiki
https://pidgi.net
MCV/Develop Interview
https://mcvuk.com/business-news/behind-the-art-of-hades-we-value-artistic-integrity-and-excellence-in-artistic-craft-at-supergiant-however-were-first-and-foremost-a-game-design-lead-team/
How Supergiant Games Create Music & Art – Developing Hell #03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQPk9J7spw0
SPECIAL THANKS
Loeder
Your wiggle template was very helpful
iinkhat, BeeCoin
My (un)willing test audience and Discord mods
Jen Zee
Art Director, Supergiant Games
You
Thank you for watching!
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Thanks for reading all this. I have videos lined up for October and December. Here’s a hint for the next episode: 🐧
source
I seem to remember they mentioned in an interview that they purposefully had a "gemstone shine" aesthetic in Hades because in classical myth Hades is associated with gemstones and other earthly treasures. And that's why they put these colourful edge highlights on everything in the game.
Hello there. I am a subscriber to the Popcross Studios channel and the host of the channel was kind enough to post this wonderful video in a new community posting.
I just wanted you to know that I found this video to be very interesting and well done. Thank you so much for creating this video and taking the time to show us this amazing way of video game art.
This is surprising to hear because mignola's doesn't do eyes and expression, hence every character feels like a plot device and a mechination in the story adding to the noir/ timeless folklore feel,
Jen zee on ther other hand excels at what most female artists are talented at, using expression to give humanity to every character, small details for atomsphere in every setting
Btw does kratos have a staph infection in his left bicep? Can't unsee(love everything else including your video and knowledgeable breakdown)
Great job 👏👏 Hi Tom, great work and fascinating video. A huge thank you for your breakdown of the art of Hades. It's well explained, and I've saved your video to a playlist so I can watch it again later. Keep up the good work and have a great day. Greetings from France!
these are some good observations and you have the skillset to bring those into your own works well. good job! may i suggest the danganronpa style for the next render breakdown, or something like the persona games? those are striking style wise. thank you for this breakdown btw, i might use this one day…
i fixed kratos' arm (link in desc), the weird anatomy completely slipped by me. this is why feedback is an important part of the creative process, because you can develop a bit of a blind spot 😅. thank you for pointing it out!
here's the previously pinned comment by @tinylordhelix, which i think has some good advice:
"I also feel a big part of the Hades style is that the characters are posed dynamically, with a bit of fluidity to drive home that these are larger-than-life beings. One example is how Artemis is slightly crouched like a hunter, as she is the goddess of the hunt, but her hair flows up and behind her to show that she is quickly moving in one direction. Hades is also posed to where we have a worm's eye view of him because he is imposing and authoritative (since the player controls Zagreus it makes sense even without the knowledge of just how towering Hades model is). Wonderful video and breakdown and I'm so happy you included the interviews from Jen Zee because she and the art team for Supergiant Games really make a lot of small deliberate choices that make a massive difference in creating a cohesive style for their games."
That is pretty cool man ! Would love to see you do the same with the style of GranBlue fantasy characters. as an character artist myself ive been studying it for a while and would be nice too see how you break it down. 🙂
I have a theory regarding the vibrant accent marks that makes the Hades art style stand out so much. It's olive oil.
Not like, actual olive oil, but the rainbow shimmer of an oil stain. Greece is known for its olive oil, and rainbows are often associated with divinity, so this touch could literally be making two references at the same time (presuming I'm not up my own ass on this guess).
You were overly careful with the deep black shadows, compare that to the official artwork where it often covers a good half of the body.
"Jen Zee" is such an unfortunate name in this day and age
oooh this was very useful! I've tried in the past to emulate hades artstyle for studiees but something was always missing… It was the terminator line! Time to try again! ty for the nice analysis 🙂
You should try to break down the Marvel vs Capcom 2 Offical Character Portraits
Don't know if you have yet, but you should definitely try the darkest dungeon artstyle. It's awesome and totally what got me into the game 🥰.
Break downs at this level of clarity and quality is gold man, keep it up! Maybe Valorant style next time?
i was just thinking yesterday, i wish there was a youtube series that broke down art styles to help me learn how to do it and do more style studies!! thank you, thank you, thank you! you're absolutely brilliant, and you do an amazing job explaining things in a simple, straightforward way, without talking down. plleeeeeaseee keep this series going!!
“Jen Zee”
this is a such a good breakdown!! i love art analyses with good production value, and take into consideration the artist' thoughts behind their work. well done!!
Oh my gosh, I love this style breakdown! Please make more I have never subed to anybody so fast
DAMNN THOSE WERE SOME REAL GOOD ARTWORKS GOOD JOOB
Glad to have stumbled across your channel!! Beautiful artwork and breakdown of the game’s style, loved it a lot! Keep up the wonderful work
EDIT: I don’t tend to recommend things often, but I also want to say I think you’d have a blast with the style of In Stars And Time, an indie game from the dev insertdisc5. The style is cute and has a lot of unique elements that would be fun to examine!
This was such a good video!! Thank you for sharing, the artworks both turned out amazing!
Never forget, kill your babies
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oh wow i remember seeing the kratos artwork on the subreddit! great video i love the breakdown
MAN this was great. i hope it gets in front of jen zee, she really did strike gold with these character designs and this was a wonderful analysis ! 🙂
Maybe you should check out risk of rain returns. It has an amazing art style that really inspires me. It’s beautifully rendered with lots of detail. Especially in the monster logs
This is a very cool format – I watched it with great interest! Thanks for your work!
Let’s go gen z or Jen zee
This was amazing! I loved seeing the breakdown lead into the results. Really helps that you chose two characters I love the design for. I am looking forward to future episodes. You've clearly put lots of work into your art and this series.
Aaaah this is so cool and so useful! As a hobby artist who has a lot to learn, and also absolutely adores Hades but couldn't get the art style fully down, this video is SO useful. I'm definitely gonna refer to this when I give another shot at drawing a Hades character, and I am DEFINITELY checking out your other videos. An Ace Attorney style breakdown? Sign me UP!
I have a feeling I'm gonna really enjoy watching your videos. Awesome video. I'm looking forward to more!
Oh man, pls, dont make us wait for anothers half of a year just to see your next shot!
I love a breakdown of artists work and hope you do more, this also totally helps for fanart when you want to try and evoke a certain art style! Cant wait to see more styles!❤
phenomenal video, great combination of an academic breakdown of principles and characteristics and a stylistic analysis and recreation. i love that you source the artist's quotes as well, really great stuff 🙂
This was very educational! I don't know if you need suggestions, but I'd love to see you breakdown more Videogame dark art styles, like Darkest Dungeon!
Awesome video and incredible skill with those drawings, might try to do something similar myself! I would love to see you breaking down Darkest Dungeon or Banner Saga artstyle, if that would be something up your alley.