Posts with tag artwork

Regional advertising campaigns are both the scourge of the collector's market and a financial boon to the lucky residents of said region targeted. The most recent ad campaign for World of Warcraft features four collector's cups from ampm stores as well as the ampm sweepstakes, promising some pretty cool prizes for those lucky few. Here's the thought that's the most fun to think about: Which of these is more ad-worthy -- someone seeing a World of Warcraft cup and being convinced to play, or the mass scramble to create a nationwide cup network for collectors and WoW fans, fueling more ad presence?

It's a fun game, advertising. At some point in our lives, we were convinced that fandom and collectors could be the same consumer as the guy who bought stuff because the cup looked cool. At some point, we became complacent with advertisement as collectable, and that's fine. In fact, if anyone wants to send me a Kil'jaeden cup, let's talk.

Now this is neat: brand-new totem artwork has been spotted on the patch 3.3 PTR for troll shamans by extremely excited tipster Zjin. Previously, all Horde shamans shared a totem design, and draenei got their own space-themed totems when they were added. The new troll ones look appropriately voodoo, I think.

There are now at least three designs for the four different horde races; I wouldn't be surprised if orcs turned out to have their own as well. The current Horde totems fit tauren best of all the races. Once we here at WoW.com start making our way onto the PTRs, we'll bring you any more information we can find on possible new totems for the various races. In the mean time, I'll be in my bunk, doing designs for dwarf totems in my head.

Update: yep, there are new Dwarf and Orc totems too.

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.)"

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.

Getting started can be the most difficult step for WoW newbies and WoW "WarCrafters" alike. Showing your artwork to other people – or even having the gumption to create any in the first place – can be intimidating stuff. Discovering someone who's willing to show you how it's done or even share his creative process represents a major inspirational coup. Swedish WoW player Jonas at wowatar.com is one of those creative wellsprings. He's created a small drawing site filled with WoW-related nuggets that inspire, instruct and delight.

A Chinese browser-based MMO named Aurora Blade has been accused of lifting art and design work from a few other MMOs, including Ragnarok Online, Maple Story, and yes, even World of Warcraft. You can judge for yourself in the comparison above (the little Rogue is Aurora Blade, obviously), put together by ShackNews, but that definitely looks alike to us. The game is hosted in the West by a company called IGG, and they've responded by saying that they only host the game and aren't responsible for the game's artwork.

They give no indication, however, who is responsible for the artwork of the game, and there's nothing on the page or in the FAQ that gives a company name out either. Granted, Aurora Blade is hardly competition for World of Warcraft, but at this point it appears to be up to Blizzard whether they'll bother taking further action to get to the bottom of this.

Of course, there is a flaw in their plan. If they really wanted to rip off some cool Rogue armor, wouldn't it be Bloodfang? Why bother with Shadowcraft?

Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.

With Wrath looming over the horizon, the instances we currently spend all of our time inwill become obsolete. The dusty halls of Karazhan will be forgotten and we will never have another chance at obtaining an Amani War Bear.

So, here's your chance to commemorate the good times with your fellow guildies and spruce up your WoWspace.

Here is what you will need:

• White Cardstock
• Color Printer
• Scissors
  
• Paper Cutter
• Xacto Knife
• Double Sided Tape
  
• Photo Frames (8x10)
  
• Matboard (3 for 8x10 frames)

Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions.

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July today than to sit outside with some good beer, some tasty BBQ, and a whole lot of cheaply made fireworks? Brom and Seku on the Llane server were kind enough to send us this picture they took of a firework they found at a store in Pittsburg, Kansas -- apparently the "Behemoth," made by the Consumer Fireworks company in China, not only "emits showers of sparks," it also blows copyright law completely out of the water. Very nice.

One more gigantic pic of the Behemoth and its Warcraft III orc cover art after the jump. If you do use fireworks (or break copyright law) today, do it safely, and have a great holiday!

The times they are a changin'. If you've ogled the latest WotLK screenshots as much as I have, then you'll notice that the art department at Blizzard has been pushing the envelope style-wise of late. It seems that since TBC the graphics in WoW have gotten not just better, but measurably more detailed and stylistic. Each new instance, area, race -- heck, even the new weapons added to the game -- they all just get more interesting and creative as time goes on. I am continually amazed at what these artists do with 1000 polygons.

Some players are asking about updating the older models in the game to reflect the updated style evidenced in the newer content. Anyone who's run Old Hillsbrad can see exactly how far we've come from the WoW original models, and some would like to be able to have new choices as we progress into WotLK. Drysc reminds us, though, that some people are very attached to their character's physical appearance. Some players have been with those characters since 2004. To change their faces would be like giving a friend plastic surgery. Or what about body types? Would you feel that you were playing the same character if there was suddenly a major change to their physique?

Personally, I am eager for the hairstyle changes coming in the expansion. I don't feel like my character needs a new face perse, but the difference between a Blood Elf or Draenei hairstyle and a human one is pretty drastic. I actually considered rerolling my main character because the new races just look a whole lot cooler than she does. Faces though, I'm not sure. How would you react if Blizz changed the models, or gave you more choices?

I love fan fiction, I always have. There is a point where an author or artist ends the story and those that have been enthralled with it pick it up and continue the journey. With WoW the opportunities for fan fiction are numerous, since it's a persistent world we roam, and we make what we will of the characters we play. I guess you could say our role play today is the fan fiction of tomorrow.

Thus it was with relish that I began reading the tale of Spooner, a paladin struggling in a world of frustration until he finally encounters his ultimate form. I won't spoil it for you, and I'm sure there is considerable debate that could arise from this author's viewpoint, but remember, it's how he sees the progression in the game, and to some extent so do I. Anyway when you have a moment pop on over to the European forums where this story was posted and add a little art to your day.

[thanks Dego!]

With so many fascinating places and quests in the game, players can get caught up for hours (or days, or weeks) in the world that Blizzard has created for us to play. But the beautiful thing about an MMO is that in the game we encounter the stories already in the game, as well as create our own. Many of us have built backstories for our characters, but have you ever considered taking a step further?

Recently a player applied to a guild that has been creating their a lore of their own for their boss kills. Converge (A) on the Anachronos realm doesn't just post the normal group photo with the corpse of [insert epic monster here]. Instead they weave a tale about their exploits. Their most recent addition to this catalog is a poetic guide to running Karazhan:

Attumen, a Huntsmen and his good horse Midnight,
Offers a gear-check to prove you can fight.

Hyakiss, Rokad and Shadikith three,
Hide in the shadows before coming to see.

Moroes, with four friends, will vanish a lot,
Then return with the gift of a crunchy garotte.

The Maiden, all holy, makes no exemption,
And kills your tank during peaceful redemption.

I know I am eternally fascinated by the artwork of the game, and I am equally overjoyed to see that artwork created about or even in the game itself. It's important to realize that we can create something beautiful with the tools given us in WoW, and we can use our creative talents in addition to simply playing the game. Have you encountered any personal lore or artwork created about the game?

Most of our news of late has been about BlizzCon, but as anyone interested in comics knows the mother of all comic conventions began today in San Diego, Comi Con. Blizzplanet today posted about one little bit of WoW-related news released at the convention today: the first in a series of WoW sculptures. This particular sculpture is based on that spectacular mural we saw at the first BlizzCon (okay, so maybe this story is related to BlizzCon after all) featuring the battle between a Blood Elf and a Draenei.

This series of sculptures, created by Sideshow Collectibles, will be available next year, so we have a while to wait, but the images sure are amazing. I'm not one for statue collections, but I will definitely have to pick this one up, especially considering the collector's edition will feature a Nether Whelp.

[via Blizzplanet]

With the World of Warcraft trading card game due for an October release, we're starting to get more and more information on it. Today, WoW TCG News posted scans of the eight different UDeck covers, each one done by a different artist. The UDeck is a plastic card case that you'll get when you purchase a starter deck and the outer artwork will be customizable with the options you see here (and, no doubt, more to come). And even if the idea of a trading card game isn't your thing, Upper deck has a great line up of artists on the project.