I started drafting my essay. The reason I like ARCANE is that its art style is very unique—different from other Disney or Pixar 3D animated films. Arcane’s 3D looks almost flat, yet it’s still 3D, without that popular “3D anime-style character” feel often seen in Japanese animation. In short, it’s very special. Once I looked into it, I realized it’s an entirely unprecedented and distinct style. I thought, wouldn’t this be perfect as a topic for an essay?
Then, I searched on CNKI using keywords like “3D technology” to find any references related to Arcane. I found one article titled A Preliminary Discussion on the Aesthetic Effects of 3D Animation Technology, which discussed several animated films produced by the very popular studio Taking Light Chaser Animation Works in the spring of 2025. The article mentioned 3D animation technology as well as the aesthetics and value of these Chinese 3D animations.
Then it occurred to me that my own essay could also touch on technology and aesthetic value, so my thesis topic emerged: discussing the production techniques and aesthetic value of Arcane.
I wrote several versions of the outline in Chinese first, as writing an in depth, layered academic paper might be easier to organize in my native language initially. Later, I found an exclusive technical sharing session from the Arcane studio online: using Arcane: League of Legends as an example, the video introduces the exclusive animation production process, covering what Fortiche shared at SIGGRAPH and revealing the technology and workflow used to create Arcane. The video mentions the software and tools they used, as well as key steps like assetization, camera projection, and digital matte painting. This is a highly beneficial and crucial step for my writing!
