The newest expansion for “World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth”, was recently announced to be arriving August 14th, 2018. It’s been awhile since we’ve gotten a new expansion – need to be reminded why you gotta love this game? Here are 25 pieces of WoW art that’ll help jog your memory:
25. GlennRaneArt – Battle for Azeroth Box Cover
The story line for the next expansion, Battle for Azeroth, attempts to bring the franchise back to its roots with conflict centered once again on Alliance vs. Horde. This work by GlennRaneArt does an amazing job bringing to life the tensions between the two factions. You can really feel the animosity behind the eyes of these two warriors.
24. Pevec – World of Warcraft Bigger
The characters in the Warcraft universe have such rich background stories and among these, Illidan’s definitely stands out. Here’s a guy who was essentially the major antagonist for Burning Crusade because we all thought he was a power mad bad guy. During the events of Legion, he is revealed to be pursuing power only to be able to use it to defend the world from an even greater threat – Sargeras. By the end of the expansion, he proves himself to be the key hero in saving the world! How can you not get the feels when you hear Illidan’s story? This piece of art by Pevec truly captures the idea of Illidan as the lone, often misunderstood character that he is.
23. SiaKim – Tyrande and Malfurion
And here we have Illidan’s brother, Malfurion, along with Tyrande. An elf with demonic powers, a druid, and a priestess of the moon – the classic Warcraft style love triangle. As much as I’ve always preferred the Illidan/Tyrande ship because I just prefer Illidan over Malfurion, I gotta admit that in this picture by SiaKim, the two do look good together. I dunno, maybe I just have a thing for rooting for underdogs.
22. GlennRaneArt – Behind the Gate
Here’s another piece by GlennRaneArt which, if I remember correctly, was used as a loading screen back in the Cataclysm expansion. There’s a lot of worgen hate in the WoW community for a variety of different reasons, but for me, the only thing that really bothered me about them was the huge difference between the promotional artwork and the actual character models. As this picture illustrates, the promo art always makes the worgen look pretty intimidating. The in-game models, particularly for females, look meh.
21. SiaKim – Worgen
Come on, feast your eyes on how cool this pic makes worgen look! If Blizzard releases a worgen model update that makes them look 1/10th as awesome as these pictures look, I’d be more than satisfied.
20. GENZOMAN – Nethermaven Donna
GENZOMAN does some epic work here with Nethermaven Donna. Lots of interesting effects here really make this warlock look magical.
19. TamplierPainter – Rexxar
There are so many characters populating the WoW universe that it’s hard to give them all enough screen time in game. Rexxar, like Illidan, is one of those characters that I love lore-wise and am always happy to see them make more in-game appearances or just see them brought to life through art. Props to TamplierPainter for creating this great pic of my man Rexxar. How can you not love a beastmaster who basically solo traveled throughout all of Draneor and Azeroth with just a couple of animal pals?
18. Sandara – Going home for the holidays
Night Elves, worgen, beasmasters, warlocks, death knights – there are so many fantasy elements in World of Warcraft that sometimes it’s crazy how it somehow all works. Death knights became a thing in Wrath of the Lich King and I would say till this day, remain among the top 3 character models in the game. They just look so cool to play and the whole “GET OVER HERE” death grip move never gets old.
17. Sandara – Elf
Here’s another one by Sandara. Probably the most beautiful male elf on the internet? Though I prefer looking at beautiful female elves, a man’s gotta give respect where respect is due. This is a fantastic piece of art.
16. GENZOMAN – Siaranna
Much like GENZOMAN’s Nethermaven Donna, there’s a lot of fun magical effects in this one. I really like the colors used to do the blue aura around the spellblade and the pinks used to do the swirl of magical energy. Good stuff!
15. GlennRaneArt – Hellscream vs Bloodhoof
My favorite race/class combo? Orc warrior. So it should come as no surprise I really like Garrosh. He’s the quintessential warrior obsessed with the concept of physical of strength. Sure he may have done a lot of messed up things throughout the Warcraft lore, but I still gotta respect the guy’s unwavering determination in the pursuit of absolute strength.
14. TamplierPainter – Tauren Warrior
Ok so I’m going to be honest, despite the fact that orc warriors are my favorite race/class combo, my first main was a tauren warrior. I can’t remember exactly why I even went tauren, but I feel it had to do with them being the biggest playable race ha. Back in vanilla wow though, I was nonstop regretting my decision once the battlegrounds were released because that orc passive stun resist was way too good for PvP. Anyway, it’s not easy going orc because well, just look at this picture! Nothing embodies the concept of tank as well as tauren warriors do.
13. Sandara – Worgen Warlock
Another one by Sandara. I really appreciate the attention to detail in this picture like the little spikes on the chains, the markings on the skull, and the little bands around his hair. This worgen just looks like he’s decked out in full epics.
12. Sandara – Illidan Stormrage 2
Yes, it’s pretty clear that I really like Sandara’s artwork and the fact that her favorite video game character is Illidan gets her bonus points. Gotta love those glaives. I remember how rogues in Burning Crusade could delete fully plated up warriors in 2 seconds with those things. Fun times! <- warrior main. 😥
11. Nightblue-art – Arvos Jadestone – Dwarf Shaman
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like within the Warcraft Universe, dwarves are among the least popular main races. I think they’re quite fun and a lot more interesting than generic humans. When it came to adding another shaman class for the alliance, dwarves always made the most sense to me as they always seems more in-tune with the elements compared with the other races. This picture by Nightblue-art really conveys that idea well.
10. noah-kh – death approaching
There’s a lot going on in this work by noah-kh. Lots of attention to detail and a great image of an orc warrior doing what he does best, makes this an easy top quality WoW art piece.
9. TamplierPainter – Kel’Thuzad
WoW has some really memorable villains and Kel’thuzad is no exception. Look close enough at this picture long enough and you’ll get real chills down your spine.
8. Altana – Deathwing’s Arrival
And my personal favorite WoW villain – Deathwing. He looks ridiculously intimidating in this picture and it’s pretty clear that only Azeroth’s finest would be the only group crazy enough to stand in front of him.
7. GENZOMAN – Essence of Mending
That outfit is quite… intricate. GENZOMAN has a way of drawing the ladies that is pleasing to the eye.
6. GENZOMAN – Warcraft – Erindae Firestrider
GENZOMAN once again demonstrating his particular knack for illustrating the female form.
5. Zsoltkosa – World of Warcraft fanart
The movement effects on the magic as well as the glowing gems really make this piece of artwork standout to me.
4. SiaKim – Malfurion
While not my favorite of the two brothers, there’s something particularly special about the concept behind this Malfurion picture. The lighting is very well done, as well as the multitude of owls flying all over the place in the background. Great stuff!
3. TamplierPainter – The Burning Rage
These last three were so awe-inspiring I’ve got no words to describe them. Just look and join me in sitting here dumbfounded at the epic level of these pics.
2. SiaKim – Pandaren
Lots of panda hate, but even haters gotta respect the talent and creative ability of SiaKim in this panda pic. It’s glorious.
1. SiaKim – Protector
If this doesn’t evoke some emotion, you gotta be a robot. WoW imagery at its finest!
Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m definitely feeling pumped after going through all these fantastic pieces of art. I’m already counting the days for Battle for Azeroth’s release. 😀
