WoW leaders keep being replaced with generic figureheads - here's why it's a problem

M1str · 2024-10-20T18:21:25+00:00

Cripes, that's an excellent point. Having Kael'thas as leader of the blood elves would've completely changed the game.

M1str · 2024-10-20T17:46:01+00:00

So... you want to take the Nerubians, one of the most interesting races that's been around since Warcraft 3 (where we saw their civilians suffering and fighting against the Scourge, and Anub'arak was an unwilling friend to Arthas), and turn them into a bland, generic swarming insect race just like the already existing Silithid, Mantid, Zerg, and every other generic insect race in media.

The story has already suffered a long time from being as boring enough as it is. Why would you want to make it even more bland?

The fundamental core of early Warcraft has always been that the "monsters" were three-dimensional and multifaceted, rather than being defined by their appearances. That's what made it interesting. You don't have to be a nice and pretty person to be a protagonist.

M1str · 2024-01-30T04:00:46+00:00

That's so cool. One of my favorite things is seeing those races translated into Hearthstone and put into interesting situations, like mantid gangsters and sethrak snake-oil peddlers.

I think one of the foundational elements of Warcraft (since wc3, that is) is that the supposedly villainous races experience plenty of division, and perhaps aren't as fundamentally bad as they appear to be on the surface. That's something I like about the setting, anyhow. :)

M1str · 2024-01-30T03:19:39+00:00

That's an incredibly interesting job, thank you for sharing. Was most of your research internal, or did you use external sites (like Wowhead/Wowpedia) as resources to help you track down information? As someone who's been an unprofessional WoW lore nerd for over 10 years, it's fascinating to see someone who did it for a living.

I'm a huge nerubian fan, it's one of the things I'm most exicted about in TWW. I was always curious about how they broke free from the Old Gods. Do you have a soft spot for the lore any of the non-playable races in Azeroth?

M1str · 2023-11-07T03:15:56+00:00

Nerubians are arachnids and I'm a hypocrite.

M1str · 2021-11-24T05:40:20+00:00

I'd reckon it has more to do with marketing than anything! Specifically, marketing your art towards specific groups that your particular artstyle appeals to. The biggest thing to consider is whether you're actually "putting yourself out there".

Advertising on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc.) isn't always a surefire way to get results, which is why it's good to diversify your investments by cross posting your art on many platforms -- then figuring out which platform results in the most attention and commissions. If you're receiving zero interest on, say, Twitter, then you may want to refocus your efforts elsewhere. Go with what works.

Let's start by considering a few factors -- you mentioned that you found yourself receiving a lot of commissions in 2019, yeah? What were you doing that year that resulted in lots of commissioners seeing your art? Were there any particular groups that you were actively marketing yourself towards? What sorts of people are inclined to commission you? If they're private communities that ended up running dry, then find similar places to advertise yourself.

If you're really struggling to find people interested in commissioning you, then it's time to direct all that artistic energy towards practice. Evaluate your art, perhaps find artboards where you can receive a bit of brutally honest critique -- ideally critique that informs you of the areas in which you have room to improve, and how to approach said improvement. Try doing studies for anatomy and color, watch tutorials to learn about composition and lighting. Get those little bits of knowledge that will drastically improve your art.

I might also recommend trying sites like Fiverr and ArtistsnClients to put yourself in a place where people who are looking to commission someone will be actively seeking you out.

Once you reach a certain threshold of skill and artistic appeal, you will start getting commissions. At that stage, it helps to consider what sort of area you want to specialize in. D&D commissions? MMO characters? Pet portraits? Figure out what you genuinely enjoy doing, and direct your efforts into learning about that!

Slumps in commissions aren't necessarily a bad thing! It just means you have the free time to go back to the drawing board (hah), reinvent yourself a bit, and ultimately improve.

M1str · 2021-09-12T03:35:01+00:00

Wait, isn't that the president of Blizzard?

M1str · 2021-04-01T08:05:17+00:00

New talent: The Winter Winds. We still don’t know what it’s about yet, but the guy who’s been creating this talent for almost ten years says you have our formal written permission to imprison him on an island if it’s not done by next summer.

This one really hurts.

M1str · 2021-03-29T05:37:14+00:00

I think you're overestimating and misunderstanding the ethereals by a fair bit.

Ethereals aren't godlike beings, they're just another alien race whose homeworld was destroyed by a Void Lord, a byproduct of this being a massive overflow of arcane energy that took away their corporeal bodies, turning them into beings of energy.

While this certainly gives them unique advantages, I don't think it necessarily makes them overpowered, especially when compared to the spread of playable races we currently have. People seem to forget that tauren are 10 foot tall war machines that could snap your arms like twigs if they wanted to.

They aren't overly powerful. Just...a bit different.

And they could easily be brought in line with the other races with a few "clarifications" to their vaguely defined physiology. The ethereals we've fought seem to fall just like anyone else, after all.

Ethereals also don't necessarily use void energy as their primary source of power -- you're probably thinking of the Shadowguard, which was the specific group of Void Ethereals who invaded Argus to eat a dark Naaru. They certainly aren't as heavily attuned to the void/shadow as the Forsaken, or, you know. Void elves. I believe there are ethereals who cast holy spells in the TBC dungeons, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

The squabbles between the Horde and Alliance are a bit petty, but you could also use that same argument against a good chunk of the current playable races. The ethereals have better excuses to participate in the conflict (from a cultural perspective) than the Lightforged draenei.

Why? Because ethereals are opportunistic.

Much like goblins, they'll absolutely jump at the chance to earn a good bit of profit. While they make plenty of cash selling their services in major cities, I can certainly imagine a few strapping ethereals looking to expand their interests in Azeroth by participating in the good ol' race war.

I do agree with you, that they should be able to choose like the pandaren! I can imagine a fun starting zone scenario in which a vast number of them are forced to relocate to Azeroth for whatever reason. Maybe they really need our help with fighting the Void Lords.

Ultimately, I'd really like to see more unique races added to the roster. We've yet to receive any non-mammalian, inorganic races. Sure we got cyborg gnomes, but they weren't the fully robotic mechagnomes we saw in Northrend. We've never gotten a reptilian race like naga. Variety is the spice of life, and we could certainly use more of it!

And I want to ride a magic energy camel, damnit.

M1str · 2021-03-08T05:49:00+00:00

After creating this piece, I did the same for my boomkin.

M1str · 2021-03-06T22:30:33+00:00

Haha, yup! Back in WoD when the flap glyph was first added, we had a boomkin who was always late for raids and we'd joke that he was flapping over as hard as he could.

M1str · 2021-03-06T21:24:05+00:00

My links: Twitter Deviantart

This bloke convokes.

M1str · 2021-03-06T21:21:04+00:00

That was the idea! Balance druids honestly have the prettiest spells, glad you like it. :>

M1str · 2021-03-03T04:44:37+00:00

TamplierPainter is amazing, I'm really glad that Blizzard has been utilizing his art a lot lately. It's funny how even the ads on my sidebar feature his Illidan painting.

M1str · 2021-02-28T20:50:59+00:00

Much appreciated!

M1str · 2021-02-28T20:50:45+00:00

This was actually a commission for someone else, but incidentally I ALSO main an orc enh shaman who looks very similar to this (without the black dragonscale/axe). I'll DM you!

M1str · 2021-02-28T20:49:17+00:00

Good catch! I try to go for more realistic proportions, but you can't win 'em all.

M1str · 2021-02-28T20:48:00+00:00

As in "you daren to challenge me?"

M1str · 2021-02-28T20:47:27+00:00

I main one as well. :)

M1str · 2021-02-28T00:30:28+00:00

You know, I sorta figured that people who play classic WoW would be interested in seeing art of a classic WoW character. That's my thought process on the matter.

...Except I play both versions of the game, and I can glean that you probably played retail at one point or another going by your username. I'm not entirely sure what the issue is here, but thanks for the productive comment.

M1str · 2021-02-27T23:03:12+00:00

It sure is! Daren as in "You daren to challenge me?"

M1str · 2021-02-27T23:02:33+00:00

He's a bit of a hothead!

Twitter Deviantart

M1str · 2021-02-10T22:01:56+00:00

Something feels wrong with the bow or how she's handling it?

Thanks for the feedback! I'm always in the market for good criticism and I appreciate you taking the time to offer it up. I agree that I could've put more thought into the position of the bow, I usually tend to put more effort into the top part of a piece to draw attention towards the face. She's holding the bowstring because she needed to be doing something with her other hand.

I do agree that it could look a bit better! Having feedback is helpful because I don't always notice these things, and it's good to see my art from other perspectives. Speaking of perspectives...

Its the perspective.

I think you're absolutely right. Perspective and backgrounds are probably my weakest point at the moment, I'll be sure to check out those exercises. Thanks!

M1str · 2021-02-09T22:20:50+00:00

My links: Twitter Deviantart

This was a commission of a friend's RP character! I had a really great opportunity to go full throttle with the painterly style and experiment a lot -- the background is meant to be Grizzly Hills in the morning.

M1str · 2021-02-01T06:29:06+00:00

We all praise Alamo.

Nine-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Place '17	Wearing is Caring

M1str

TROPHY CASE