Created between Paris, Montpellier and Las Palmas, the “Arcane” series explodes the scores. The success story of the Fortiche animation studio.
“Jinx”, the main character of the series “Arcane”, who goes from one disappointment to another over the course of the episodes, has not at all brought bad luck (the translation of this first name into French) to the Fortiche animation studio. Quite the contrary. This Franco-American animated series, inspired by the world of the video game “League of Legends”, season 2 of which is currently broadcast on Netflix, is the most watched English-speaking series on this platform, one of the most awarded too, and even the most awarded in the animation category. Not to mention the performances on Youtube with more than 2 billion views.
From Paris to Montpellier and Las Palmas
Behind this phenomenal success is the animation studio Fortiche. Created in Paris in 2009, it has opened two other studios since then, one in Montpellier, the other in Las Palmas, in the Canaries because “the project for this series turned out to be more colossal than expected. We therefore needed to expand our talent pool“, says Hervé Dupont, general director of the Fortiche animation studio.
Backtracking. It all started in 2013, when the company Riot Games, behind the video game “League of Legends”, wanted a video for the launch of the character “Jinx”. Fortiche makes it. The video is a hit. The studio did another one the following year. Rebelote. This one is creating a buzz on Youtube. “Building on these successes, Christian Linke convinced the management of Riot Games to make an animated series with us based on “League of Legends”. This is how the story of Arcane began after the production of a first pilot in 2016, then that of the two seasons following“, continues Hervé Dupont.
It was therefore during the first season, in 2018, that Fortiche realized that it was going to need reinforcements in terms of animation to successfully complete the creation of the series. This is where Fortiche’s animation supervisor, Alexis Wanneroy, comes in, who has just settled in Montpellier after returning from Los Angeles where he worked for more than a decade for Dreamworks.
Between the pool of talents trained at the Higher School of Artistic Professions (ESMA), the dynamics of Montpellier around the cultural and creative industries, and the enthusiastic support of the Metropolis to welcome this flagship of French animation on its territory, Fortiche did not procrastinate for long to create a studio in Montpellier, then another one, this time in the Canaries. In total, more than 700 people will be mobilized for this project which will have lasted seven years.
An incredible adventure
For Antoine Tomasi, ESMA graduate in 2021, who joined this project as a 3D animator in September 2023, “working in a studio that maintains such high standards and following so many wonderful artists, it’s a gift“.
His mission was to animate several characters, including Jinx, Caitlyn, Viktor and VI. “The most complex thing was finding the perfect emotion for everyone. It was quite a challenge, but this requirement met, the complexity of the characters and a very rhythmic storyline are at the origin of the success of this series with the public. For us, it’s a lot of pride, because this studio showcases the skills of French people around the world, even if foreigners also participated.“, he concludes.
