Blizzard Intertainment

Styleguide: World of Warcraft

The art design in World of Warcraft could be described as larger than life and he-
roic in scale. Colors are saturated, forms are exaggerated, contrasts are emphasised,
and the comic book style works to keep the overall tone of the series from becoming
too serious. The artwork is fun to look at and is inviting to potential players, rather
than catering to a narrow niche playerbase.

Rian Peterson GA327 Fall 2012

 Reference Guide

Saturated Colors:

Bright Multihue Palette:

Contrating Lighting Schemes:

Thick Pronounced Linework:

Painterly Art Style:

Disproportionally Sized Gear:

Exaggerated Character Forms:

Bright Highlights and Callouts:

Rian Peterson GA327 Fall 2012

 The Style

Stylistically, Warcraft looks painted and Thick line work meant to

crafted by hand, and this transitions highlight the character.
through to actual game play. There is no
disconnect between concept art and on
screen renderings, as if the art jumped
straight on to the screen. Line work
is thick and crisp, and highlights are
exaggerated to create contrast between
forms. You can see the brush marks and
almost feel the movements of the paint-
ers, which imparts alot of energy and
life to the artwork. Bright vibrant colors
are used. These saturated colors remove
the subject matter from the ordinary
world and move it into the realm of high
fantasy and adventure, where everything
is an epic experience.

The glowing green dagger becomes the focus of the scene, and tells the viewer that the
character holding it is a dezien of Warcrafts fantasy realm. Vibrant colors catch the eye and empart an
otherworldliness.

Rian Peterson GA327 Fall 2012

 Characters

Characters in World of Warcraft exhibit

oversized proportions and can look very
cartoon like at times, with large arm
muscles and hands. Gear like shoul-
der pads and weapons are very large
compared to the characters, and often
glows with a magical light befitting high
fantasy. The overall style tends toward
bigger is better, epic, and larger than
life, rather than going for any kind of
realism. This keeps the viewer from tak-
ing the subject matter too seriously and
makes it harder to break any suspension
of disbelief . The oversized scale also al-
lows the forms to be seen and read from Exaggerated shouldepads are a World of Warcraft hallmark, and
makes the character seem even more imposing.
a greater distance.

That is a huge hand!

Anatomical features are

disproportional and larger
than life.
Rian Peterson GA327 Fall 2012
 Environments

As its title implies, World of Warcraft A cool underwater

takes place in a vast fantasy world popu- dungeon.
lated by incredible characters, creatures,
and environments. These environments
are broken into zones, and each zone
must be a character in its own right.
This character is defined by a specific
color palette, and with keeping with
the overall theme of WoW, it is almost
always saturated and vibrant. Light and
shadow is very important as it helps
define what is important and what is not,
and bright call outs and terrain features
are advertized through contrasting val-
ues and colors. Each zone and dungeon
Environments are usually very saturated with vibrant
is a place to be experienced, and blizzard
colors to enhance how the place is meant to feel.
tries hard to keep their customers by
giving them something fun and vibrant
to look at.

A warm fall exterior shot. The blue elements would

seem out of place were the subject matter not so fantas-
tical.

Contrasting values and hues are used here to create an

otherworldly mood.
Rian Peterson GA327 Fall 2012