World-of-Warcraft-art-design
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Third annual Blizzard Student Art Contest announces winners
Blizzard has looked through all of the entries for the third annual Blizzard Student Art Contest and chosen the winners, who were announced on the official website yesterday. Entrants this year had four different categories to choose from -- Environment, Character, and Weapons art, and also an Animation category -- the first time we've seen additional categories for the contest. Needless to say the variety of winning entries covered everything under the sun. The top three winners were Sukjoo-Choi for the mount model shown above, Servando Lupini for an absolutely gorgeous Hallows End-themed environment design, and Duy Nguyen for an eredar-themed, incredibly ornate weapon that frankly I'd love to see a draenei slinging around. Runners up included more environment and weapon art, as well as several incredibly quirky character designs, including an otter fisherman complete with rod and knapsack full of tasty fish. Check out the official announcement page for a look at all of the entries from the talented winners, runner-ups, and honorable mentions -- and congratulations to all!
Reminder: Blizzard Student Art Contest deadline is this Friday
The deadline for the Blizzard Student Art Contest is fast approaching! If you're working on a piece for the Blizzard Student Art Contest, which this year includes four categories for submissions -- Environment Art, Character Art, Weapon Art, or Animation -- note that the deadline for submissions is Friday, January 31. That's this Friday, so if you're still in the middle of working on submission pieces, you better start wrapping them up. This year's contest includes a gigantic collection of prizes for winners. Grand Prize winners will receive a one year subscription to World of Warcraft, a Blizzard Entertainment notebook featuring an original sketch by a Blizzard artist, a Blizzard T-shirt, and a three-month mentorship by a member of the World of Warcraft art team in the form of email or phone critique of portfolio work. If you have yet to submit your entry, or just want another look at the official rules and information, head to the official contest page and get it in before it's too late. Good luck to all who enter!
Blizzard Entertainment Student Art Contest making a return
Are you a college or university art student with a passion for World of Warcraft? Good news -- the Blizzard Student Art Contest is about to make a return. Blizzard Entertainment's university relations team, along with the World of Warcraft development team, are looking for original artwork or animations that would work within the World of Warcraft universe. The contest itself doesn't officially begin until December, but hopeful artists may want to begin work on their projects now, just to make sure you've got plenty of time to submit your absolute best work. This year, Blizzard has upped the ante and added new categories to the contest. Artists can create Environment Art, Character Art, Weapon Art, or Animation -- either a battle scene or flavor animation. Check out the winners from the previous two years for inspiration if you'd like -- and take a look at our interview with one of the previoius winners, Peter K. Lee, whose Darkmoon Carousel design actually made it into the game! Winners of the contest will get some amazing prizes, including a three-month mentorship by a member of the World of Warcraft art team, a one year game subscription, and more. Check out the official announcement page for more information, and for updates on the contest as it becomes available, join the official Blizzard Careers group on LinkedIn. Good luck to all who enter!
How we see the World of Warcraft
One of the things I'm leeriest of is the idea of a complete overhaul of World of Warcraft's aesthetic. I've talked about it in terms of character aesthetics, and in terms of the visual set that defines the warrior class and what it all boils down to for me is that when I log into the game, I want it to feel like it's the same game, the same world. This is not to say that the game hasn't seen plenty of upgrades to its visuals over the years, far from it. As Takralus pointed out recently in a forum thread asking if WoW will ever see a major graphical upgrade, the game has seen upgrades, at least one every time an expansion has come out in fact. World of Warcraft is a game built out of all of these separate elements combined. It's got excellent sound design, both in music and in sound effects (although I can't watch a TV special on dinosaurs without recognizing a sound from World of Warcraft nowadays), which the graphics build on top of to create the world we experience. As such, I'm simultaneously interested in yet afraid of the long awaited character model redesign Takralus mentions. Yes, it's somewhat ridiculous that human wizards and warlocks, if male, have arms like coiled pythons, but by now I'm so accustomed to it I don't know if I could accept a more slender build for a spellcaster.
