Making-of: lighting a cartoon like a concert

Gel lights, rim lights and airbrushed backgrounds — the film's visual recipe.

K-Pop Demon Hunters' lighting reference doesn't come from animation: it comes from music videos and editorial photography. The production moodboards mixed concert stages, colored gels and fashion photography — territory 3D animation had barely explored.

Sony Pictures Imageworks pushed a “2D in a 3D language” aesthetic: held poses, cartoon smears, chibi expressions for comedy — then battle shots lit like an MAMA Awards stage, magenta rims and golden backlight.

For Seoul, the team cites an unexpected model: Sailor Moon backgrounds. Atmospheric, “lost and found”, airbrushed — a romanticized rather than photoreal Seoul, where color carries the mood of each district.

The Honmoon itself is described by the team as a “sonic and luminous” barrier: its patterns ripple like a frequency visualization. That's the thread we picked up for this site's design — the wave ribbon you see at the top of the homepage.