World of Warcraft: FX team

Battle for Azeroth marks the first expansion for the World of Warcraft with a dedicated visual effects team. Previous expansion’s FX were completed with the hard work of just a few FX and Prop Artists. Our intent with BFA was to live up to the visual style, and painterly aesthetic that the rest of the art team have been cultivating for years.

The FX team is well on their way to redefining the visual effects style. World of Warcraft is a huge game and there is still a lot of work to be done, but after you see this post, I hope you are as excited as I am to see it happen.

Over the course of this week we will be showcasing work from each art discipline.  Please look for artwork released on the following dates:

Mon (9/10) – Dungeon Environment Art

Tues (9/11) – Character Art

Weds (9/12) – FX and Animation

Thurs (9/13) – Prop Art and Level Design

Fri (9/14) – Visual Development/Concept Art and World Environment Art

The Artists and Designers put a lot of their talent, attention to detail, and creativity into Battle for Azeroth. We hope you enjoy the work!

Steve Nelson
Lead FX Artist, World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment

FX Artists

Ethan Zink – FX Artist

Guillermo la O’ – FX Artist

Kali Jacobs – FX Artist

Luis Aguas – FX Artist

Sarah Carmody – FX Artist

World of Warcraft: Animation team

It’s been an amazing journey witnessing the ongoing evolution of The World of Warcraft’s animation style. This time around, there was a bigger push to add more life to the new continents, Kul Tiras and Zandalar. The animation team was put to the challenge with breathing life into all the new characters, creatures, pets, vehicles, boss encounters, flying machines and mounts.

All the hard work they put into creating key framed movements has made me very proud and I look forward to seeing what they come up with for future content. On behalf of the animation team, we hope you enjoy these videos showcasing some of the amazing work they’ve created for Battle of Azeroth.

Steve Aguilar
Lead Animator, World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment

Animators

Caitlin Geels – Animator

David Edwards – Animator

Kevin Rucker – Animator

Jason Zirpolo – Animator

World of Warcraft Student Art Contest

The World of Warcraft Student Art Contest was created to give students who are excited about creating stylized, hand-painted game art an outlet. It has helped many Artists start their careers here on the Warcraft team at Blizzard and across the games industry.

We wanted to create something as an overview of the contest and the impact it has had and can have on student artists. The contest runs throughout the fall. For more information go to www.blizzard.com/students.

Enjoy the video and we look forward to seeing your entry in the contest.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/BjcOKmGincw

Jeff Parrott
Art Manager, World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment