ASTERIX - LE COMBAT DES CHEFS
3D Animated Serie - Netflix / TAT Productions - Visual Development and Colorkeys
Back in February 2022 I started working in Visual Development on the Netflix serie : “ Asterix - Le Combat des Chefs “, produced by Alain Chabat, Fabrice Joubert and Benoit Ouillon.
For more than a year, I worked in the “Background and Assets Visual Development” team under the direction of Fred Besson (Lead visual development) and Aurélien Predal (Art Director). We usually had to go from early concepts and key frames, to then developping the backgrounds and all the props within for the 3D departments coming after us.
The team was made of Ophélie Legrand, Lucas Roussel and myself.
This gave us the opportunity to work from initial keyframes to technical turnarounds and references on almost all the backgrounds we would work on. I’ve also been trusted to make the 2D animation from episode 2.
After this year and half of Visual Development, I’ve been tasked to work on the Colorkeys, all done under the lead of Aurélien Predal.
THE COLORKEYS
Done with Aurélien Predal. These were done above CG Layout and Storyboards.
THE FORESTS
Explorations on the different forests we would see in the serie, trying to incoporate classic views of Asterix and Obelix walking on the dirt path, to new places for when they are kids. I had a lot of fun pushing the scales of the trees as much as we could, giving it an eerie feeling. I also helped the art director on the exploration of style for the 3d texturing of the tree barks.
A few paints we worked on with the Art Director to give directions and references to the surfacing and modelling teams.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
I’ve had the opportunity to work on different sets made for the Romans. As the art direction advanced, the Romans would end up having a distinct Imperialist, massive, squared aesthetic. It was enhanced with differents patterns that repeat themselves while always pushing on the squared and rigid aesthetic.
The work I made on Cesar’s Palace was initially based on a painting made by Alexis Liddell. We then pushed the design and scale with the art director. The amazing design for the sculpture of Romulus and Remus behind the trone of Cesar was done by Alfonso Salazar and I got to put them in color.
A lot of explorations for how we could push the gigantism of the place, showing the greatness and power of Cesar. Even as the most feared emperor, he still has his mother pesting behind him. I firstly tried to push a colonialist vibe with plants, carpets and pots with designs vibes from Asia, Middle east, Greece,.. It finally got cut off as we don’t see her much in the final scenes.
The archives, home of Metadata. It’s located just under Cesar’s palace so it had to have the same aesthetic, but a bit less classy. I’ve done a few Iso views and setdress to push the floors patterns (since her name is Metadata, of course It had to be this QR Code like pattern). Initially based on the first paintings from Alexis Liddell.
On the Romans part, I also got to develop the Roman Camp of Petibonum. The camp was supposed to be totally wasted and ruined since all the soldiers and their commander, Potus, would rather drink and party instead of getting their butt kicked by the whole potion boosted Gaul Village.
One of the fun part I had to do was make a 30/40 second animatic done in Mosaics. It would show when Metadata explains to Cesar how he could finally defeat the remaining Gaul’s Village using an old tradition. Alfonso Salazar and Aurélien Predal initally made some designs for the characters in it. I then took all their previous work and pushed it further with backgrounds and this caracteristic 2D mosaic style. It’s then all been cleaned by Ophélie Legrand to make it doable for the 3D rendering after ! It was a looooooot of squares !



THE ARENA
The Arena made for the fight was the first task I did on the serie. And throughout the time I came back to it multiple times, pushing it further and further. I’ve also worked on the sets that are located withins like the locker rooms, Cesar’s tribune,… but also some props like the Catapults hidden in the structure.
The Romans would destroy a big part of the forest to quickly build the arena and the funfair around so it had to be made in wood, but the lodge of Cesar had to be sticking out. We also tried to keep some of the Roman Aesthetic and patterns in it.
The locker rooms. The set where Obelix is had to be quite oppressive for the mood of the scenes so we went with these wood planks painted in red, they are all pointing to the scale where Obelix has to weight himself for the fight. It’s built by the romans so it’s square and cold, the doors and the walls are patterned,…
Cesar’s seat, the Arena and the Catapults that would come out of each side of the Arena. 3D models of the catapult done by Aurélien Predal
THE DARK FOREST
The forest of Apothika was one of my tasks as well. She’s a “head doctor” they go see for Panoramix, the travel to her cabinet is set in a creepy forest with weird shapes and a lot of fog, leading to a swamp where she has her work cabinet in a tree. The inside of the tree is made of leaves and roots resembling a human brain.
The outside view of her house and the initial design of the inside is based on the amazing early paintings of Alexis Liddell, we then pushed the look of the tree further more and extrapolated the rest of the forest. The work on the forest and the house was also pushed by Ophélie Legrand and Aurélien Predal !

Potus’s Dream, Abraracourcix’s House, assets,..
A collection of diverse smaller sets I’ve also designed or set dressed, and some funny props I got to do !

Initial design’s of the roman blueprint and Fishmonger’s house by Ophélie Legrand (sorry for destroying and burning it)
First exploratory designs of the Star Wars Mosaic by Alfonso Salazar
Painting of the tree behind my childish mushroom drawings by Aurélien Prédal
Thank you for looking !
Thanks to Fred Besson, Lucas Roussel and Ophélie Legrand.
Secondly, a big thanks to the three producers : Alain Chabat, Fabrice Joubert and Benoit Ouillon !
Last but not least, thank you Aurélien Predal for your trust and guidance during these 2 years and a half!
Par Toutatis !