The Witcher was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2019, watched by 76 million households in the first four weeks of its release – according to Netflix’s stats. And however you feel about its characters and storyline, there’s no arguing with the production quality. VFX is a huge part of the show, bringing to life sorcerer’s magic, monsters, and all the fantasy locations each episode plays out in.

When you’re dealing with this kind of subject matter, it’s easy to fall into cliché. But it turns out The Witcher’s production team wanted every part of its imaginary world to be rooted in reality. “The showrunner told us that she wanted to have something that was subtle, and elegant,” says Mateusz Tokarz, VFX Supervisor at Platige Image, the Warsaw studio that designed much of the show’s magic effects. “For us it was crucial to make all the shots not only remarkable, but also convincing. We’re pretty experienced in creating things from scratch, and things that don’t already exist – no camera, no actor, just software and artists’ imagination.”