It Took Nearly Two Years To Design The Hundreds Of Characters In ‘Across The Spider-Verse’

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was one of last year’s biggest films, animated or otherwise, and has been rewarded with an animated feature Oscar nomination.

Critics and audiences praised the film as a major step forward for the Oscar-winning franchise, both narratively and aesthetically.

One of the standout virtues in the Spidey-sequel is the incredible cast of Spider characters that populates the film. Curious about the design process required to create such a wide and diverse cast, we spoke with two of the film’s character designers, Kris Anka and Jesús Alonso Iglesias, about their involvement in production and the origins of some of the film’s more memorable Spiders.

They also provided us with designs demonstrating how the characters evolved throughout the production process.

Prowler

Kris Anka: I’ll call Prowler “Wiles” so it’s easier to distinguish them. That’s what we called him internally for years to keep it clear when we needed to distinguish between our hero Miles from Earth-1610 and the alternate dimension Miles from Earth-42. When designing Miles, we asked, “What are the circumstances of his world?” He wasn’t originally going to be the Prowler; he was always his own person. We had to decide what this kid would be like without having any powers. How would he create this persona for himself to be able to do the things he needs to do to survive in this world? That’s when we had the idea, “Wouldn’t it be really cool if he became the Prowler of his world?”

From there, the challenge became integrating the iconography of the Prowler from the first movie and reinventing it in a way that works for a younger kid. It needed to feel handmade, not super fabricated. We worked on creating a silhouette that you’d immediately go, “Oh, shit, that’s the Prowler!” But then, as he comes closer to the camera, you notice a completely different vibe.

So when you first see Wiles, there are more long lines and lots of drapery. There are still characteristics that immediately tell you it’s the Prowler, but as he approaches, you see there is a different style here, and as the elements unravel, you realize that it’s the Miles of this universe.

Designing Wiles was a really fun collaboration between me and Even Monteiro, where we would go back and forth and add new levels. We were perfectly in sync on this character from the beginning, and I think we probably spent a year and a half fine-tuning Wiles, almost two years.

Spider-People

The Spiders came from a mix of sources. I’d get a direction like, “Kris, we need to fill up this room.” The first step was pulling whatever we could from the comics. There were some Spiders that everyone knew we wanted from the beginning, like Web-Slinger the Cowboy. Spider-Byte was another one. We did designs for characters from Spider-Man Unlimited, Spectacular Spider-Man, and anything we thought would be cool for the fans to see in the film. Then, throughout the entire production, anytime someone had a Spider idea, we’d ask them to submit it. We still needed more Spiders, though, and in the end, I created about 100 Spiders, maybe 50 of which got into the film.

More Designs from Anka

Hobie Brown (Spider-Punk)

Jesús Alonso Iglesias: For Spider-Punk, the first designs I did were based on classic London punks, with the suspenders, the fabrics they used, big boots, and the t-shirts they wore. The designs I did in those early years of the movie became a reference for the rest of the development of the character.

Even Monteiro is the one who eventually solved his face. It was based on different people from punk rock culture. Once we had the face, things became easier. We had my early designs and put those together with the face and just had to find the final proportions, graphic techniques, and solutions for the character.

I worked closely with Omar Smith, the artist who made the 3d model, and Joe Moshier [character designer]. We worked together over a few days, working out the 3d sculptures that Omar would send to me and doing drawovers to finally find the exact proportions with the length of his limbs, his boots, and how thin he could be. All those things.

Another problem later was the hair and how to fit it under the mask. In the end, it didn’t matter because this is animation, and it’s not a problem we had to deal with. You can just make things work in animation, and nobody ever raised any concerns about what happened to his hair when the mask was on.

The Vulture

Alonso Iglesias: I was the first to start designing the Vulture character. From the beginning, the character looked so cool. It wasn’t the classic Vulture we were discussing back then, but one influenced by Leonardo da Vinci. It required a completely different technique, with the cross-hatching and the sepia coloration. Everything I came up with in my head looked so cool, but I have to admit, in the end, I had to quit on this character. I had a mental and creative block, and I couldn’t move forward with this character. I couldn’t sleep or focus on anything else. I had to tell the directors, “Okay, it’s done for me. I can’t continue with this character.”

So, the directors took what I’d done and handed it over to Mauro Belfiore, who, in the very first moment, really accomplished everything we were looking to do with the character. It was amazing how easily he was able to do it, something that I never could have done. The result was incredible, and the way they animated him, they got something special out of the character that I never could.

It’s not something that has happened often in my career, but it was great to know that when you fail, when you can’t find a solution, there is a whole team of wonderful artists there to support you and pick up where you left off. I was so happy with the final result. I think Vulture is one of the most beautiful characters in the film.

More Designs From Alonso Iglesias