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Fantasy character artist explodes onto WoW community scene
If you're headed to BlizzCon next month, will you be lucky enough to be wearing a coveted custom name badge by Noxychu? Her whimsical character portraits have become all the rage this year, and Noxychu has even turned out badges for the entire Blizzard community manager staff. As staff artist for Wowhead and well-known WoW "Twitterati," the unassuming Brit has long since had to pause taking on new commissions, and her newfound popularity promises great things post-BlizzCon. WoW Insider: Everyone wants a Noxychu! I'm betting most readers will recognize your name from the artwork you do for Wowhead. Tell us what you do there and how you got started. Noxychu: I'm not sure I have a proper title; I guess just "artist" covers it. I make logos for the various ZAM websites, and I illustrate the occasional contest and guide. I got started with Wowhead by volunteering, I made some badge art for them in 2008, and then after that the occasional Warcraft-themed web comic. And they were bloody awful. I really loved making them, and they were weekly for a while. Unfortunately I'm a terrible at writing scripts, and I have been unable to find a consistently funny writer that is willing to put up with me to try and get the Wowhead web comic back to regular updates.
ArenaNet hiring character artists, presumably for Guild Wars 2
If you're one of the many people looking forward to Guild Wars 2, seeing the words "hiring" and "ArenaNet" in the same sentence probably made you skip everything else in that sentence. And it's true: The team at ArenaNet is looking to expand. Unfortunately for some, the position being filled is that of a character artist rather than a Guild Wars 2 enthusiast. But if you're a character artist by trade, it's an excellent opportunity. Prospective applicants aren't being asked for a resume. Instead, they're being given two pieces of character concept art. Would-be artists are then tasked with creating a high-resolution mesh for the outfit with very clearly defined space and size limitations. Presumably, applicants who demonstrate skill with the more technical side of things will be asked for more information. If all this sounds like something you're more than capable of, read up on the fine details on the official posting and start modeling!
Go behind the scenes with EverQuest II's Lumpy the dragon
Behind-the-scenes videos are quite a lot of fun, and we're pleased to bring you the latest such from Sony Online Entertainment and the EverQuest II dev team. The new clip gives us a peek at the birth of Lumpy the dragon. For all intents and purposes, Lumpy is EQII's first low-rider dragon, since the rest of the game's drakes are sinewy, towering masses of muscle and scale. Senior character artist Steve Merghart describes Lumpy as "low to the ground and stocky," and the video clip shows us everything from initial concept sketches to the various stages of poly modeling, painting, and animation that make up the finished product. Have a look-see after the cut. [Source: SOE press release]
World of WarCrafts: Ollo Ollovious, the Technicolor gnome
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Sample the whole spectrum on WoW.com's Arts and Crafts in WoW page. There's knitting together a World of Warcraft-themed scarf or emblazoning a T-shirt with Alliance pride, inviting your game of choice to mosey along hand-in-hand with your hobby of choice -- and then there's oozing WoW-themed personality through every creative pore of your sweating brow. Jay Scullin comes from the second camp. A web designer by day, Scullin is a WoW-centric artist and blogger by night. When the sun goes down at the end of a long day, on comes his work lamp and in comes a flood of rich, color-saturated ideas pouring forth in his computer-generated artwork and a fanfic account of his character's progress through WoW. Scullin originally created this portrait of his beloved gnome mage Ollo Ollovious of Uldaman (US-A) for last year's Blizzard fan art contest. Using Photoshop and Illustrator with a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet, he painstakingly labored over some 12 hours to keep the representation as true as possible to Ollo's in-game demeanor. In yet another character-focused project, he blogs at Legend of Piket, the ongoing tale of his level 76 protection warrior's ascent through Azeroth, Outland and Northrend. Join us after the break for a brief conversation with Scullin about what keeps his creative pot bubbling with Azeroth-influenced projects. %Gallery-99054%
World of WarCrafts: Aigie's character sketches
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by contacting our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) -- not-for-profit work only, please.Who doesn't love original artwork that expresses the essence of your character? We were captivated by the character sketch Elnore of Argent Dawn-US sent us to go with her recent profile in 15 Minutes of Fame. As it turns out, the guildmate behind the artwork has just begun to accumulate a small portfolio of simple sketches. "I've been sketching since I can remember, really, but not seriously until I was a teenager," says Aigie. "I enjoy challenging myself with different perspectives and the process at which I got from point A to point B. This is why I use Artpad for most of my sketching. Sure, it's not the top of the line program and it's free -- but it has a replay button, and you can see the logical process in which my work evolves. (And did I mention it was free? Hehe.)"
MMOART stands up to cancer
Our friends at MMOART (they make custom art of characters from MMOs, including World of Warcraft) recently "rebooted" their service and website, and in the process announced that from here on out, they're donating a percentage of all proceeds to the Stand Up To Cancer charity. They don't say just how much they're donating, but they do say that the disease has been a problem among their family, and they're taking a stand to fight back.We know the studio's owner has had health problems of his own, but those aren't related to cancer, this is just something they're doing to commit to a charity for others. So now you can get some great looking art of your characters, and help out a worthy charity as well.
Trailers created for World Destruction
Following Square Enix's lead, Sega has released new CG-dominated trailers for its forthcoming RPG, World Destruction: The Will That Leads, replete with dramatic music and shots of sky-bound airships.Advocates of in-game clips need not raise their voices, as the publisher has put out an alternate trailer with combat scenes , as well as another movie advertising the planned anime, World Destruction: The Six People Who Destroy the World, both videos embedded past the post break. We're sure that were it possible, Sega likely would have put together a trailer for the upcoming World Destruction: Two Angels manga, too.The trailers and details for the mix media production were debuted at a recent Sega meeting, in which the game's scheduled Japanese released date (September 18th) and 2 gigabits cart were revealed. The game includes some 300 event scenes, a large variety of maps, and, in particular, a large set of voices. World Destruction will be making the most out of all that space, featuring over 300 event scenes, a generous amount of maps, and an impressive set of voices. Check our gallery below for screenshots, character art, and CG grabs from the trailer!%Gallery-24031%
Undodgeable SDB screens from U.S., Korean releases
North American publisher Aksys has accompanied Super Dodgeball Brawlers' stateside release this week with an image bonanza of (Japanese) screenshots, character art, and other promotional assets, all of which we've conveniently collected for you in the gallery below.Apparently, lots of people are having trouble finding the game in stores, so here's an opportunity for you to flip past the screenshots quickly to approximate an animated match, imagining that you're really playing the game. We had no problem finding Super Dodgeball Brawlers ourselves, as most of the GameStops around our area kept two copies on their shelves.In related news, Fujitsu also plans to ship Super Dodgeball Brawlers to stores in Korea next week and has released a huge, 80-image-strong batch of Korean-translated screens, which, for some reason, includes shots from the staff credits and celebration scene that appears after a completed tournament. Perhaps they were accidentally released in Fujitsu's rush to get the word out -- the word(s) being "Kunio in Korea!"%Gallery-14440%
15 Minutes of Fame: Character art inspires Cenarion Circle raider
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.For all the WoW players who sink into Azeroth to escape the travails of the world outside are others who seem set ablaze by the ideas, energy and connections sparked during their gaming. Among the inspired: Aislinana of Cenarion Circle, whose casual interest in assembling a sweet character portrait of a guildmate has morphed into a growing passion, with a growing fan base clamoring for their own portraits.15 Minutes of Fame: Tell us how you got started doing character portraits – because you're not actually a professional artist or long-time hobbyist, are you?Aislinana: Well, we were hanging around in Black Temple after a raid finished up, so I snapped a screen cap of my friend's priest, Kallindril, and said I'd spruce it up in Photoshop. Little did I know that it was going to turn into an obsession for me. I mean, I've always loved taking screenshots. I take them all the time to capture something awesome looking, much like I do with my own digital camera. So I've had an eye for this stuff. I just started to retouch/edit and then eventually started painting in effects in Photoshop.
MMO Art owner injured, should be back to work soon
Some bad news from our friends over at MMO Art (makers of extremely fine custom character art). They sent a message to their mailing list this evening that owner and artist Jomaro Kindred suffered a "chemical burn to his throat and lungs last week." Not sure how that might have happened (art or drawing materials, maybe?), but we sure hope he's ok.The announcement says that emails (and, supposedly, art processing) have been slowed down a bit, but that they expect him back up and working as soon as possible. That's definitely expected. No word on whether he spent any time in the hospital, but they say they expect "a full bill of health very soon."Very sorry to hear of the injury, but our thoughts and prayers are with both Jomaro and his family and friends. Hopefully, he'll be back healthy and churning out that great WoW character art sooner rather than later.
