We humans, wonderful animals that we are, love to derive inspiration from outside sources. From books, magazines, scenery around us, idle comments from our coworkers - that's the way of the demiurge, the creative force inside each of us. We're always watching, always listening, always flirting with ideas, concepts, and the boundaries of what we know versus what we wish.
Is it any wonder, then, that so many WoW players are inspired by Azeroth, Outlands, and their hundreds of thousands of years of richly-crafted history? 9 million subscribers, even if only a small fraction of them are creators who put these wonderful ideas on 'paper'*, that's a mountain - no, a planet full of mountain ranges - worth of media for us to enjoy. Videos. Paintings. 3D renders. Fiction. Poetry. Software. Web sites. Icons. Sound bytes. Songs. The list is ... well, pretty much as long as our imaginations are deep.
'Titans and Demiurges' is a series that's all about discussing, enjoying and sharing the creativity WoW has inspired. I'll be scouring the internet, bugging friends and contacts, following trails of animus, and gladly accepting suggestions for art, writing, webcomics and anything else that is born out of the inspiration of Blizzard's Warcraft world. Sometimes, we'll have simple showcases, a sharing of beauty and individuality. Other times, we'll discuss sources of inspiration in the game that might help your own demiurge kick into motion. For those that are interested, I will also offer critiques of paintings and stories, giving constructive advice from an experienced** artist and writer.
But enough talk. Let's start this party out right, with some beautiful World of Warcraft fanart gleaned from the depths of the Deviant Art community. Allow me to share with you the work of Llanir, a skilled portrait artist that has turned her hand to a few familiar races:
Llanir's beautiful, semi-photorealistic style combined with lots of interesting angles and dynamic lines really makes these portraits feel natural, graceful, and engaging at the same time. I enjoy looking at them, picking out the carefully-placed details that really elevate the relatively simple backgrounds and uniform skin tones.
* In this modern age, it's seldom really paper. Let's just use the phrase as a euphamism for 'any shareable form'.
** Experienced does not equate to perfect, so don't worry on that account. Critiques will be by request only.
1 comment:
Vix speaking-
I am a Fan of FanArt. It's so sad- My dream is to someday have my house decorated by My own photography (you can see some in my site) Wow FanArt and black and white abstracts. This are gorgeous! kudos to the artist! It's so sad i hate dirty alliance because the Draenei one is really quite striking!
Post a Comment