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World of WarCrafts: Fan artists breathe creativity into their hobbies
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. I've been reading an anthropological analysis of the World of Warcraft for an upcoming 15 Minutes of Fame that talks about the game as an "active aesthetic experience," a collective expression in which the participation of all is key to the entire experience. One of the things I'm most looking forward to talking about with the author is the incredible creative energy that WoW breathes into so many talented artists, writers, crafters and musicians. From WoW-themed arts and crafts that tickle our fancies to re-imaginings of the very artistic underpinnings of the game soundtrack and art itself, the World of Warcraft has inspired so many people across the world. While obviously we could invite you to scroll through our backlog of World of WarCrafts columns (and indeed, if you're interested in any sort of creative effort, we think you should), we decided to make things simple. We'd like to invite you to our new resource guide, Arts and crafts in WoW. From how-to instructions for arts and crafts, to recipe "strats" bringing you the flavors of Azeroth, to soundtracks and artwork and fan fic and more, we've gathered the best of our galleries and in-depth features together in one place. We hope you find it as enjoyable and inspirational as we do ... Welcome to the sights and sounds of the community of World of Warcraft! World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including arts and crafts, fan art, WoW-themed recipes, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.
World of WarCrafts: Piece o' cake
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Yeah, I know, Monday again ... /moan ... But it's a WarCrafts cake Monday! Let's see if we can't help sweeten up the start of your week with a fresh round of fan-made cakes and cupcakes. %Gallery-31459% Join us after the break to hear more about the newest additions to our cake gallery.
World of WarCrafts: Behind the incredible Incredicon
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; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. Required reading for this week's post: Setting an Incredibles standard for guild meetups Synopsis <The Incredibles> of Boulderfist (US-A) sets the standard for designing WoW-themed guild meetups, with custom-designed collateral including an Oscars-style golden statuette volunteer award, picnic decorations, over-the-top publicity posters, game-themed menus -- even custom-designed, WoW-themed beer labels. Evidence See the gallery below. %Gallery-97242% Want to learn more about that golden bird? Click past the break for more details about the incredible Increddy award.
World of WarCrafts: How to make your own WoW-inspired crafts
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; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. The pre-expansion lull is the perfect time to pour your enthusiasm for the World of Warcraft into more creative outlets. Your stable of characters may be perfectly outfitted to face the coming Cataclysm -- but what about the person behind the keyboard? Is the entrance to your lair clearly marked? Are your earrings up to snuff? Would Thrall approve of the place you lay your head at night? Check out our how-to gallery of do-it-yourself WoW crafts below; just follow the blue text links under each photo to find simple instructions for making your own version of each craft. %Gallery-96364% World of WarCrafts is always looking for more how-to's on WoW-themed arts and crafts of every stripe. Send photos, descriptions and instructions of your not-for-profit creations to lisa@wow.com. 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 emailing lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.
World of WarCrafts: Papercraft-y
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; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. If your summer is turning out to be quite cold and dreary (such is life up here in Canada), then nothing passes the time better than picking up a creative and fun hobby -- like scrap booking, or paper craft. WoW-loving artist Ruth, author of Stamp Off, Eh! has created an adorable duo of cards representing the iconic druid forms of the Moonkin. Pictured above is the Horde version, although she states that she "opted out of doing horns on the Horde one."
World of WarCrafts: Critter Bites
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; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. That's right, people, you read it here first: WoW.com is running articles on how to make your own pet food. The end days have arrived. If filler articles aren't your thing, scroll on by ... But if filler for your pets is where it's at, then you've come to the right place. While the pets shown here are neither rats nor turkeys (as recommended in the original recipe), we feel certain that common household critters such as dogs and cats will equally appreciate the merits of this delectable delight. But hey, if you prefer lobbing meat pellets at rats and turkeys in your living room (and then having them follow you around for three minutes) ... Well, to each his own. WoW.com would never judge you for your choices.
World of WarCrafts: School's out, crafting's in
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; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. School's out! Busy hands are happy hands, so get those crafts started now. We want to share what you're making: artwork, knitting, music, crafts, fan fic ... Let us know what sparks your imagination! First up this week: The Horde scarf shown above is no ordinary Horde scarf. This Horde scarf was created to be equipped during rare-spawn, cold weather action in Costa Rica. "It all started when there was a cold wave a few months back in my country (Costa Rica; such cold waves are actually very rare), and my only scarf was actually a keffiyeh I'd wrap around my neck," writes Cambalache of Ragnaros (US-H). "So, since my wife's hobby is knitting on various styles ... she offered to knit me a scarf of my choosing, and as a true Horde player, I went for the symbol." A tauren after our own heart! Join us after he break for an update to the WoW tattoo gallery, plus a small collection of music by and for WoW fans.
World of WarCrafts: Piping fresh crafts
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; email lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. Yes, that is what you think it is: Thrall, created entirely from fuzzy-wuzzy pipe cleaners. Thrall is one of the latest creations from Toepher, who made this representation of his own druid that we showed you back in February. Since then, the Lich King has also joined the fuzzy family of figures. Although he's only been making WoW pipe cleaner figures for about six months now, Toepher's been twisting up crafts for most of his life. "Whenever I would go grocery shopping with my mom, we would make our way over to the produce department; there, I would grab a fistful of twist ties," he recalls. "I started out with making stick figures and usually arm them. After a few years of this and the advancement of the complexity of my twist-tie figures, my mother thought it would be a good idea to introduce me to pipe cleaners. I haven't looked back since." %Gallery-93865%
World of WarCrafts: Rock, paper, scissors
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; email lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. World of WarCrafts brings you arts and crafts around a theme this week: rock, paper and scissors. First up: "rock" -- a ceramic wind rider cub from Lakira of US Area 52. "I made this statue in my HS ceramics art class as an extra project," writes Lakira. "He's made out of clay and painted with acrylics. I later added some brown felt fur for his little mane; I didn't have any faux brown fur, but I think he looks better with the felt!" "I toiled over a few weeks, working out his design and hoping he wouldn't chip or break -- or even worse, blow up in the kiln," Lakira continues. "After he was finally fired, I had to finish painting him fast, in fear of someone stealing him. It's happened before, blah! I've never done anything really on this scale before; I've made tiny fel hound figures, but that was about it." Our verdict: adorable! Follow us past the break for more rock, paper, scissors crafts.
World of WarCrafts: The WoW Soundtrack Project
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. You don't listen to the game music while you're playing WoW? Really? Maybe it's stopped giving you shivers. Or maybe it's just not atmospheric enough. This week, we have a solution: the WoW Soundtrack Project. WoW-playing composer Jejin (US The Venture Co.-H) is quietly building an entire library of alternative vanilla instance zone soundtracks. This sprawling soundtrack project, which is still winding its way through the early zones such as Ragefire Chasm and Razorfen Downs, is not meant to be listened to on its own; it's meant to be incorporated into your in-game experience, as background music to set the mood of the instance zone. We talked to the talented 17-year-old composer about breathing new life into old zones with these atmospheric pieces.
World of WarCrafts: Travels Through Azeroth art winner
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. We have a winner for our art contest for Travels Through Azeroth and Outland, Destron's amazing fan-fic serial. The author selected this piece sent by submitter Mitch Death to appear in the fan-fic blog. Travels Through Azeroth transports readers to Azeroth and Outland as seen through the eyes of itinerant traveller Destron the mage. This ongoing, lore-based tale is deep -- deep enough in quantity to have accumulated years' worth of entries, and deep enough in content to be recommended by TVTropes.com. We've included large versions of both of Mitch's submissions, plus my own personal favorite (from reader Raymond Liang), in the mini-gallery below. %Gallery-92528% More creative tidbits from our talented readers, after the break.
World of WarCrafts: Everybody's Free
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. It's been a while since WoW player Dan (aka Nemikahn) came up with this WoW-flavored twist on "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," released in 1998 by Baz Luhrmann. "I have shared it on my guild's forums and once posted it on the Blizzard forum," he writes, "only to watch it scroll quickly off the page since nearly a year has gone by since anyone has seen it." We're glad Dan contacted us to share it anew (and for those of you who don't frequent the Blizzard forums). The Lurhmann song was inspired by an essay titled "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997. Both its subject and tone are similar to the 1927 poem "Desiderata." While Dan makes no claim to the original concept, the WoW-related revision is solely his own creation. Ladies and gentlemen of Azeroth, Roll a bank alt. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, a bank alt would be it. The long-term benefits of bank alts have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering leveling ... I will dispense this advice now.
World of WarCrafts: WoW art for your computer
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. If you spend a lot of time at your computer -- and what WoW devotee doesn't? -- you've probably got a soft spot for game-related wallpapers. This week, we've got trio of computer art we bet will have you booting up to a whole new look. World of Wallpapers has been putting out simple yet stunning WoW wallpapers for some time now. The problem isn't finding one you like; the problem is picking a single favorite for your desktop. (Personally, I'm planning to solve that problem with a slideshow screensaver of my top picks.) Go wide with these panoramic views of the wide world -- literally -- of Azeroth. Creator Cybear has been hard at work creating panoramic views of areas that will be changing come Cataclysm. (As of this writing, he had yet to settle on a final host for the files; please be patient should the bandwidth be temporarily exceeded. They're worth checking back for!) While we're on the subject of artwork, if you use Firefox as your web browser, head over to GetPersonas.com and check out the growing collection of WoW personas, which add artwork to your web browser's borders and function areas. We'd been waiting to mention these until more were available, but a tip from reader Akussa (thanks!) showed that the selection is coming along nicely. 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 e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit WoW-inspired creations.
Reminder: Travels Through Azeroth art contest continues
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. Because of all the cataclysmic, celestial madness around these parts lately, we've decided to tack on another two weeks to our art contest for Destron's amazing fan-fic serial, Travels Through Azeroth and Outland. Send us your original illustration of Destron, the protagonist of Travels Through Azeroth, for a chance to be featured here on WoW.com and on the About page of Travels Through Azeroth. (Read more about Destron and his travels in our World of WarCrafts feature.) Travels Through Azeroth transports readers to Azeroth and Outland as seen through the eyes of itinerant traveller Destron the mage. This ongoing, lore-based tale is deep -- deep enough in quantity to have accumulated years' worth of entries, and deep enough in content to be recommended by TVTropes.com. Find out more about Destron by reading about him on Travels; your illustration should show Destron, the narrator. You may use any art medium you like. Send your entries (.jpg format, please) to lisa at wow dot com, with the subject line TRAVELS THROUGH AZEROTH ART. We'll accept entries through midnight EST Sunday, May 2.
World of WarCrafts: Welcome to X-Cross' Deadmines
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 emailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. You're bound to have seen the ebullient Welcome to the Deadmines here already, in WoW Moviewatch, spicing up a WoW Rookie article or linked in an enthusiastic reader comment. What you haven't had yet is the chance to meet its talented 17-year-old creator, Swedish machinimist X-Cross, a.k.a. Adrian Drott, or Tìnkle of EU Argent Dawn-A. We spoke with the young winner of Blizzard's World of Warcraft Movie Contest: Rise to Power to learn more about his creative process, his collaborators and where we might see him pop up in the future. World of WarCrafts: Winner of Blizzard's Rise to Power contest -- and you've only just turned 17! How long have you been making machinima, Adrian? X-Cross: I started with machinima in the early summer of 2008, and back then I was 15 years old. The first machinima I did was made together with my cousin and a friend of mine. It was a horrible WoW parody of Pokémon that for some reason a lot of people found quite entertaining and funny. After that, we decided to continue making the episodes but stopped after the third, since I wanted to go over to a bit more "serious" machinima making after all the great feedback.
World of WarCrafts: Ninja Raiders creators Roninhobbit and Ember Isolte
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 emailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. I'm afraid that all we've got for you here at World of WarCrafts this week is QQ -- and lots of it. Talk about an earworm ... "Ninja Raiders," a WoW-flavored take on Beyonce's smash hit "Single Ladies," has inched its way into the brains of WoW fans as one of the catchiest little remakes on the scene. Us? We're simply smitten with the collaborative creative spirit among this group of collaborators. We talked to lyricist Roninhobbit (aka Ryan Myers) and vocalist Ember Isolte for a peek behind the scenes of the hit machinima from Raven Sylphe Productions. World of WarCrafts: Roninhobbit, how did "Ninja Raiders" come about? Did Ember Isolte approach you to remix it, or was her production a surprise? Roninhobbit: She asked me if she could cover it -- and to be honest, I was surprised anyone would want to. I just thought it was goofy. When she sent me her version, I was amazed at how good it sounded. Now mine just sounds embarrassing. But I've been forbidden by my guildies to take mine down. Ember Isolte: For me, it started with my random craving to write a parody based on Beyoncé's "Single Ladies," just because I love that song. I wanted to write my own lyrics, but I figured "Single Ladies" was so popular, it had to have "been done already," so I searched YouTube for something like "Single Ladies WoW." I watched more than a few "Single Ladies" WoW parodies and got a little discouraged about writing my own lyrics, since so many already existed! But then I came across Ryan's "Ninja Raiders," and I loved the lyrics so much that I just went ahead and messaged him via YouTube, asking if I could possibly cover his cover. ^_^ He simply said yes, and the rest is history. I sent him the audio when I was all finished and he put it up on his website. =)
World of WarCrafts: Player-composers create sounds of Azeroth
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 e-mailing lisa (at) wow (dot) com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. The atmospheric listening music for this week's World of WarCrafts comes to us from Rehmaar of <Knights of Valiant Fury> on US Destromath-H. This original, orchestral-style composition, "Knights of the Valiant Fury Overture," is dedicated to the composer's guild. "We are a radical bunch on the Horde side of Destromath, but we have an awesome time playing together and this is my gift to them," writes Rehmaar. "The piece captures what it means to be a member of our guild and depicts the struggles and glory our characters face in Azeroth." How's that for some faction and guild pride? Join us after the break for two entirely -- and we do mean entirely -- different musical takes on Azeroth.
World of WarCrafts: Travels Through Azeroth (and art contest)
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. "This has never happened to me before. I'm a good pilot, dammit! Ugh, I know I'm going to be charged for it too. Serves me right for renting out a Cartel Zeppelin, dammit!" It was a dark, steaming jungle night in northern Stranglethorn. The ambient noise of the forest is astonishing. An endless natural orchestra of birds, insects, and mammals play in the lush canopies and dank undergrowth. Much like the Swamp of Sorrows, rain is a daily occurrence in Stranglethorn Vale. After Spirra crossed over the mountains it looked as if we would soon reach the goblin metropolis of Booty Bay. Then an unexpected storm blew us badly off-course. Spirra took this in stride, saying that it would just take a little longer, and that she could stop by Grom'gol if I wanted. Then, drifting low over the verdant jungle ceiling we heard a staccato of gunfire rise from the tangled landscape. Bullets shattered the propeller and pierced the balloon, and we streaked to the ground. It ended suddenly when Spirra's zeppelin impaled itself on a tree. Fortunately, neither of us was badly hurt. We climbed down the tree, carrying what supplies we could. Of our attackers we found no sign. ("Stranglethorn Vale," Travels Through Azeroth and Outland) Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually be in Azeroth? To travel from place to place, staying in inns or with friends and acquaintances, taking in the sights and logging it all down in your journal? Find yourself transported as you see Azeroth and Outland through the eyes of itinerant traveller Destron the mage, as documented in the fan fiction Travels Through Azeroth and Outland. This ongoing, lore-based tale is deep -- deep enough in quantity to have accumulated years' worth of entries, and deep enough in content to be recommended by TVTropes.com. ATTENTION, ARTISTS: Submit your own illustration of Travels Through Azeroth's main character, Destron, for a chance to have your art featured here at WoW.com and on the main page of Travels Through Azeroth. Join us after the break for more details.
World of WarCrafts: Filking tells musical tales of WoW
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. "Filking" is a funny word. Sounds faintly obscene (or at least embarrassingly personal), doesn't it? "We caught you, you nasty little filker!" We're frankly surprised that more WoW.com readers aren't familiar with the term, since filk is music with a science fiction or fantasy theme (or more broadly, a musical culture, genre and community tied to sci-fi/fantasy fandom). Most filk falls into the acoustic folk music genre, but some filkers prefer rock, a cappella or other styles. Parody is popular among filkers -- and it's how this week's featured WoWCrafter, Kevin of Rad Bear Music, got his start making music about WoW. Kevin and Andrew, his partner in crime, didn't start out seeking to filk. They first began fiddling with a few silly songs about WoW for their geek-centric podcast, Super Number One. The idea picked up steam, and they've ended up with the beginnings of a catalog of WoW filk. World of WarCrafts has been in touch with Kevin (Fourtree on US Thunderlord) for several months now to keep tabs on this burgeoning musical project.
World of WarCrafts: Barbecued Buzzard Wings
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; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations. Out of all the delectable tidbits we've cooked up for our Well Fed Buff (now a part of the fun here in World of WarCrafts), can you believe we've never tossed together a batch of Barbecued Buzzard Wings?!? Appalling! After all, the opportunities for gathering Buzzard Wings are endless: Tanaris, Blasted Lands, Deadwind Pass, Western Plaguelands, Desolace, Badlands, Arathi Highlands ... Heck, you could even count Sharptalon in Ashenvale as a source of these mouth-watering inhalants. (Yeah, I called them inhalants. Isn't that what you do with barbecued wings?) With so many wings to choose from, we've kept things easy with recipes for three different skill levels (including those of you who were too hungry for Icecrown action to bother slowing down to train cooking -- we've got your back!).
