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Chris Metzen talks about The Art of Blizzard Entertainment
Over the last few years the question of art and video games has gone in and out of hot-button topic territory. Whatever someone's opinion of the status of games as art, though, it's impossible to ignore the vast amount of art that goes into them, and the cultural consciousness surrounding art and gaming is growing all the time. Earlier this year Blizzard published The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a volume spanning over 20 years of concept art and development, complete with commentary by Nick Carpenter, Sam Didier, and Chris Metzen. Along with the book was an exhibit of the same name at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, which ran from January 12th to February 3rd, 2013. This is an old video by GamerHub.tv from the opening night of the exhibit back in January, but it's the first it has come to our attention at WoW Insider, and it's worth watching if you haven't already. Metzen talks about the origins and inspiration for Blizzard's art, Blizzard's feelings toward fan art, and some of his thoughts on the perception of art and games in general. Check out parts one and two on GamerHub's youtube channel.
The Daily Grind: What game features your favorite concept art?
I'm kind of a concept art freak, especially when it comes to games. I can't draw or paint at all, though, so I have to live vicariously through the many talented artists working on MMOs today. As a result, I've got a whole section of my hard drive stuffed with digitized paintings, loading screen captures, and all manner of concept art miscellany. Some of my favorite pieces hail from games like Age of Conan, Guild Wars 2, and the EverQuest franchise (particularly the art produced for the Legends of Norrath card game). What about you, early risers? What game features your favorite concept art? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Art of Blizzard covers Blizzard's artistic history
If you like the art that Blizzard creates for its games (and really, how can you not?), then you should get yourself a copy of The Art of Blizzard, a new hardcover that surveys the past 20 years of Blizzard's development in art. Covering the origin of the studio and its development with more than 800 illustrations and commentary from Nick Carpenter (vice president of art and cinematic development), Samwise Didier (senior art director) and Chris Metzen (senior vice president of story and franchise development -- and you seriously should probably know this guy already), it promises to have something for the dedicated fan or the fan of art and illustration. As Blizzard themselves put it: This epic volume of art and behind-the-scenes insights celebrates the company's genesis, granting readers access to the inception and development of Blizzard's blockbusters and offering a never-before-seen look into some of Blizzard's unpublished projects. I'm definitely looking forward to this one. I can't draw worth beans, but I love me some art. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
S'all about style, baby: Carbine Studios' Matt Mocarski on art and design
Nothing seems to stem the tide of dev diaries flowing out of NCSoft's Carbine Studios, and that's just fine by us. Today we have a new post from Carbine's art director Matt Mocarski regarding the visual style of their upcoming title, and which just so happens to include a sneak peek at a screenshot from the title's upcoming debut trailer (which you can see as the header to this post). According to Mocarski, the team began work on the project with a simple goal for the art: It had to be unique and iconic; something that would be instantly recognizable as belonging to Carbine's MMO. With that in mind, the artists began drawing on the collective influences of the team, specifically American and European comics and American and Japanese animation, and came together with an art style that would be unique and memorable for their future fantasy game. It took a few iterations, but eventually the team settled on what Mocarski describes as an illustrated and hand-crafted style. Judging by the still provided, we think it's going to be quite interesting to see the team's work in motion when the game premieres at Gamescom next week.
Official trading card art gallery updated
I've always been a huge fan of game art in all its forms -- the walls of my house are literally covered in framed game posters, instruction booklets, and fan art. That, in part, is why I was so glad to see Blizzard update its Trading Card Game art gallery today with 10 new pieces of art. Whether you play the card game or not, the (now) 40-piece WoW TCG gallery is definitely worth taking a look at. This update includes Booty Bay denizen Landro Longshot, a gnome impaling an orc, and (ever a fan favorite) scantily clad women holding weapons. %Gallery-123401% World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Another batch of armor skins for WAR
Mythic Entertainment just released eight new armor set designs for Warhammer Online. This part, two of three, features redesigns and comparisons for the Marauder, Shaman, Chosen, Witch Elf, Archmage, White Lion, Witch Hunter, and Knight of the Blazing Sun. They are seeking feedback from players, which can be shared in this forum thread.The studio drew a bit of criticism for their first batch of redesigns because they seemed to be comparing low resolution versions of the older sets versus high resolution renders of the new sets. It seems as though they've avoided that this time around.One thing we've always loved about the gear in WAR (even the old skins) is that it has such visual depth, dimension and personality. Rather than looking as if it was simply added as a distortion map on your character (that bends and stretches with his body), each piece appears individual, nicely interlocking with the others on top of your character. The higher end gear looks quite dark and Gothic, as if it was meant for pain and battle and the new designs show a much more obvious progression than the previous sets, that's for sure (most obvious in the Chosen and Knight).
Insomniac talks Resistance 2's art at CGSociety
Want to know a little more about what it was like to be an artist behind the scenes on Resistance 2? A few choice Insomniacs have contributed to an article over at CGSociety.org where they talk about how many of the game's art assets were put together. The article also contains a load of screenshots from the game, such as the one above which shows an untextured Leviathan in the modelling package Z-Brush. A great read for any enthuast game artists.
Doom's surly protagonist becomes art project
That's one zoomed space marine. An article on Videoludica discusses the latest work of one Damiano Colacito, said to be one of the most interesting contributors to the Italian Game Art scene. His "Face of Doom" exhibit, which opened the XXIII International Festival of Sarajevo, is comprised of Doom's HUD (heads-up display) being projected onto a war-damaged Hotel Europa.As Flynn "Doomguy" Taggart endures damage, his face slowly transforms from that of a stern space marine into something more closely resembling an exceedingly displeased hamburger. Fans of Doom would certainly recognize the various levels of pain and bloody torment expressed by the silent protagonist, but what they might not be aware of is how those tie into the history of the hotel and the war that left it in ruins. As Doomguy grows visibly anguished and upset, so grows the metaphor for the people in Sarajevo and their reactions to seeing the destructive effects of war. The video ends on an upbeat note, however -- Doomguy's health is restored, calling forth " the proverbial phoenix that rises from its ashes." [Via GameSetWatch]
Artistic NES up for sale
The NES, billed as the savior of the video game industry after the 1980s crash, has a special place in the hearts of many long-time gamers. Now, an artist is offering up a piece of that with an NES. Not just any original NES, but one lovingly painted. Depicting The Legend of Zelda, one of the NES's landmark titles, the NES is not only a functioning piece of gaming history, but an incredibly well done piece of art. The NES looks like a screen shot were taped to the top of it and is protected by 3 or 4 layers of acrylic coating. The seller also has other custom painted systems featuring Kid Icarus and Mega Man 2. Worth taking a look at if you're under the mindset that games are art, as these systems are quite artistic.
A look at Into the Pixel: video game artwork
Tucked away near between the West and South Halls lies the "Into the Pixel" exhibition. Attendees can walk in and check out some very impressive artwork that they have on display. Here's a taste of what's inside.
Exploded N64 controller; a study in reverse-engineering
Cmr8286, aka Cole Ranze, has posted some images at deviantART of an exploded Nintendo64 controller, part of a reverse-engineering project. Cole says: "This was done for an [materials & processes] class I took last semester. The project was to reverse engineer a product and examine with what and by what means it was made. Instead of pasting the parts up on a board and labeling them, I thought this was a better way to present this particular product. It also has a nice sculptural appeal, I feel."Beautiful.[Via 4cr]
