Ex Blizzard artist EXPOSES SECRET painting style TRICKS

[@ActionHankBeard]

I like that even your hair has Blizzard shape language.

[@theducane007]

Hair looks great Trent. And so does your art! (This guy's wearin a hat 👒 this guy...)

[@ДаниэльБерезкин-ш9ж]

Loooool 💀😂

[@matthewmiller7887]

"Who would hold that?!" "It. Doesn't. Matter." I love it.

[@jon9509]

As a miniature painter, the WoW textures always looked like they were done by a mini painter or someone who understood miniature painting. Look at high end heavy metal or comic-book style minis and you'll see the a lot of the same dramatic edge highlights, texturing, and contrast. Love it.

[@Dezarc]

makes sense with the alleged origins of either warcraft or starcraft (i always forget which) being a GW licensed deal that fell through, also makes it kind of funny that people in the miniature community have relatively recently been complaining about 40k/AoS designs looking 'too close to WoW' when the earlier models were arguably the inspiration for WoW's style

[@jon9509]

@@mrosskne Oh you big meanie you. Look how strong and mean you are.

[@mildpanicmp4782]

@@mrosskne 90s comic book and Tod McFarlane style

[@atp19xx]

When it comes to unforgettable art styles, there's no-one on top of WoW/Hearthstone style. Thick lines and equally cartoony rounded shapes makes it beautiful to look at. All that wear and tear gets sucked into your memory like your native language and you're unable to forget any of it.

[@r.pizzamonkey7379]

I like how, not only are the sides of the candles concave in the same way, but the shading comes in to give the illusion that it's even more concave than it actually is. Same thing with the Cork.

[@ro9ue]

since you worked on both league and warcraft, would be interested to see how those styles differ. it seems like its subtle, but there's definitely a difference (I just cant tell)

[@TrentKaniuga]

League has more Anime/Manga influence, which Blizzard hated about my work, but Riot loved. However, once Overwatch was a success, they hired me back on contract to contribute to that.

[@madmantheepic7278]

They rejected anime art, only to come back to it lol /j

[@AnotherDuck]

I use the same texture trick (working in GIMP, usually character model/clothes for personal game mods). Overlay, grain merge, and multiply are my favourite layer modes, since depending on light levels, contrast, and other stuff it's not always the same one that works best, but usually one of those. Though it's easy to just switch around until you find the one you like most.

[@Archaneleo]

Same thing for me. Add, multiply, and noise are some of my personal favorite. Multiply can cover all types of shadows and levels of shadows, just correct the hue for light sources and you'll be set. Absolutely wonderful.

[@SketchedbySte]

Thanks for sharing. I have always loves the blizzard style, and have been collecting reference and books of the art work for a while to study and breakdown when I get some free time, but you just gave me a jump start and did most of the work! Keep it up

[@LittlePsycho]

Chunkify? I didn't know I was blizzard style

[@PerionTermia]

This is an interesting topic... usually when I look up "stylized" art style stuff, I end up seeing 90% WoW stuff, where then again some people might say "this isn't really original, it's just WoW". I'm having a hard time finding stylized styles that are not typical WoW style xD

[@pd9935]

I always loved the art style of the Luigi’s mansion games

[@shizotypical]

Yeah, nowadays every mobile game goes for this style

[@rasmachris94]

I'd look at a range of media and see throughlines of artistic direction. With wow - they have this thick chunky painterly look to them. The commonplace of those characteristics makes you think 'this is blizzard' because of how consistent it is. Some really good examples of this are; Darkest Dungeon - Thick lines, muted tones, entirely painted - there is no texture overlay here. Hollow Knight - Cell shaded, generally flat colour ranges with consistent linework - usually the same thickness everywhere. Lots of curved shape language. When people talk about 'style' or 'stylized art' what they're specifically referring to is art that has consistent ideas translated across pieces. It's a recipe for an artist or company to translate between works to allow them to be cohesive. Here are some basic questions to get an idea; Line thickness; Is it different for details within the character vs character border. Does it have line weight [lighter towards light source]? Is it smooth and round, or jagged? Is it a combination? Character shapes; Are there a lot of round elements? Are there a lot of square elements? Are there a lot of triangle elements? Do they have repeating patterns? Or are they irregular? Are they symmetrical? Or are they Asymmetrical? Colour choice; Do they use a wide range of colours? Do they use a limited pallet of colours? Are the colours highly saturated? Are the colours desaturated? Is there a wide range in values? Is there a small range in values? Is there no range of values at all? Shading; Is it cel shaded? Is it fully rendered? Is it rendered with texture? Additional; Are the environments Complicated in relation to character design? Do they match complexity? Are they less complex? Just asking these questions when looking at art [I find game art is easier to identify since by design it needs to be cohesive] will help you understand the formula the artists have concluded will be their art style. This is handy for artists, even amateur ones as from here you can decide what elements you want to incorporate and establish an art style. Maybe something clashes, but you can always make the conscious decision to swap it for something that you think looks better. It's also way less intimidating to establish as you go than to say 'figure out an art style lmao' as a lot of videos suggest. I should note that I stayed away from painted works specifically. This is because it's more cohesive and thus less clear. It's harder to look at a forest and point to a stump than it is in an open field. That is to say that painted works are far more complex as they integrate their decisions intuitively as they paint. Proportions are another big tipping point - wow likes big chunky items/gear/proportions. In more painterly works they may make a character more dainty for aesthetic purposes. Bounce some of these questions around and you'll be able to identify key markers for style in almost any work, as long as it's stylised in some way. In other cases where it's not stylised you may even see patterns, not because its a stylistic choice, but because it's the artists habits. In others it's a conscious decision. Neither are right or wrong, one is just suited towards commercial work than the other.

[@justmesue6139]

@@rasmachris94 thank you for this awesome Comment! Learnt a lot from it!

[@2Siders]

“Who would hold that?” A badass human warrior fighting 7 foot tall orcs all day

[@markxministeraumar3096]

Blizzard = No Balls.

[@IGarrettI]

I am on my handpainted journey. The timing of this video and finding this channel is a sign

[@GustavKnuttsen]

This style shape-wise was Mastered in the Secret Of the Monkey Island, IMO Monkey Island series is probably one of the best-designed and drawn games ever made, the legacy is huge. The artist used copic markers back then and they scanned backgrounds. Anyway, great video, very informative

[@Deathwish708]

Thank you for pointing this out. For me everything before WoW was Peak Blizzard and cool. I never played WoW, D3 was Trash, D4 never considered buying. I prefer the more realistic and mature styles

[@shrimp-y5c]

i remember when i was starting digital art in 2017, i always watched your sketchbook pro videos because it was always so satisfying to just watch and learn while i was beginning , i think nowadays i definetly find myself inspired by the painterly art you make, i hope one day to do game design and concept art, keep it up man

[@notarobot528]

I've been looking a video like this for the longest time!! I'd love to watch more videos about the principles of good stylization and shape design aimed to get that sort of look , specially in environment design!

[@antonina_r]

"Who would hold that?!" - я делала пару косплей костюмов по играм Близзард и это очень напомнило мне ситуацию с наплечниками :))) Близзард рисуют настолько выразительные наплечники, что в реальной жизни, нося такие наплечники, ты можешь заходить в двери только боком xD

[@puppethound]

If you played WoW for even an hour, you would never think "who would hold that?" or "How does that even work" you can throw logic out the window. I love their art style, so do many others. It ages well and the goofy over the top art style means you can make things actually unrealistically cool.

[@ValipPowa]

ive randomly drawn that shape in the thumbnail constantly when i was a kid lmao I can see why im addicted to blizzards stylized textures

[@georgecarter6978]

The art style has almost become a parody of itself in modern WoW. Look at frostmourne and then look at the huge inflated balloon swords we get now

[@asmodeodh]

This is gold. Thank you.

[@Uta-gz7jm]

One thing I learn from Blizzard art style is stop overthinking bout everything, just start to make cool stuff Btw nice style dude, especially your hair, image change? :3

[@tfk884]

Man ngl, as a concept artist working in AAA, i absolutely detest the WoW artstyle and always thought it looked corny and amateur as hell. A lot of the guys on the WoW art team left are the ones who barely understand accurate lighting mechanics and hardcore anatomy. They all have just "surface level" or even "fanart" level understanding of these concepts. The only good concept artist with a hardcore foundation to ever work on WoW was Wei Wang who left blizzard years ago.

[@TrentKaniuga]

I nearly did a spit take when I read this. The only artist you like is the guy that didn’t the marketing art. lol.

[@Maurilustrador]

I love the artstyle between your style and Joe Madureira. Some of Glenn Rane. Totally awesome, World of Warcraft and now some of League of Legends/Arcane, has definitely shape up all my art!

[@blargflarg]

I've always loved and adored Blizzard's art style. Thanks for the video!

[@gatleonhart]

Maybe I missed it in your video, but a good artist to call for WoW out is Fanny Vergne. It's worth knowing too that a lot of the lighting information can be borrowed from lightmaps from 3D sculpts. Concept art in this style is one thing but I don't think anything (as far as I was able to find out) goes into the game without being sculpted beforehand and then painted over. A lt of this is the nature in which the 3D models in WoW have mirrored textures. So you really only need to sculpt and texture half of a stone slab, or half of a sword, etc. And for you 3D sculptors out there, a lot of the style comes from Orb brushes in zBrush, especially for stones. It's my opinion that Fanny is the reason WoW looks like it does today. She joined During Cata and MoP and if you look a the art you can see her influence everywhere.

[@TrentKaniuga]

This is the art style we used on Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich king when I worked on those projects. I don't know Fanny's work, because I left Blizzard after Diablo 3 shipped.

[@gatleonhart]

​@@TrentKaniuga Oh really? Well I stand corrected then, although that kinda sucks cause I can't really see any of it in BC :( which is disappointing cause I think if it would have been more apparent I would have enjoyed those environments a lot more. It's obviously a lost detail from concept to game asset. I definitely see it in Glenn Rane's early stuff, albeit nowhere near as chunky as Cata and MoP. I can kinda see it in Lich King, more towards the later patches and at times it's a bit impressionistic. The concept art I have from that era is a lot more sharp ended. Not super chunky until you look at the Death Knight stuff? Especially when looking at Peter Lee's environments. They're all gorgeous of course, but they almost look like a different IP. When I really noticed this was Legion. Almost as if they went from 256/512 to 1024/2048 in texture resolution. Either way I'm def checking out the Gumroad after work! They've been getting me to do a lot more of this kinda stuff at work and I landed on your vids by searching for inspiration. Definitely a new sub and thanks for the history lesson!

[@De_Gecko]

Still such a underrated and useful Channel. PS: Cant wait to play Twilight Monk!

[@PoorlyMadeSweater]

Cool vid, but "Nobody else paints like this, nobody else textures their models like this" That's a 2005 take. From 'Torchlight II' to 'Wildstar', Blizzard style knockoffs have been common since WoW took the market by storm.

[@TheNudeBrewer]

Wildstar probably isn't the best comparison, since it was mostly ex-Blizzard employees that made it. +Of course+ it's going to look like WoW/Blizzard game. lol ;)

[@D3Z3R7]

Man, art looks so fun.

[@sentientmeatcomputer8097]

That stone slab hack is OP

[@Niko_3D]

"Who would hold that?! I've been in some discord groups where I got asked this question, and when I said same as you did "it doesn't matter" it's stylized . This specific lady got so mad.😆

[@EvilMP5]

The new grease pencil in Blender can do some of this stuff so easily with modifiers. You should check some of the animations people make with it and even still art.

[@aliceberethart]

Straight out of the textbooks of 80s fantasy comics.

[@97pappersflygplan]

I remember Overwatch had a nice texture technique where they used a texture brush for consistency

[@thegreathowdini]

just one to point out that this is also the foundation of your style Trent, so I would say in a way you gave the blizzard this style.

[@Grockstube]

"Who would hold that?" I mean... Have you seen the type of guys Samwise draws? xD

[@artinfarazfar3902]

Truly appreciated sir!

[@kernsanders3973]

Blizzard had much better art before the over stylistic cartoonish look demonstrated in this video. I could page hours through their old manuals from Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo2, Warcraft 2. Then around Warcraft 3 they went all in on the cartoonish style

[@ZootOfficial]

I don't really agree that War3 went full on the cartoonish/Disney style. A lot of the art still has this epic feel and looks more solid/hard and unique. The modern art of blizzard looks really goofy, soft and bland.

[@lighthawkgames5805]

Warcraft was always cartoonish.

[@ZootOfficial]

@@lighthawkgames5805 there are different levels of "cartoonish" between warcraft and blizzard games in general. even the youtuber said in the comment section that after overwatch, blizzard adapted a more anime-ish style.

[@domenicopentangelo4549]

Very useful tips , thank you Mr Trent

[@mastermill79]

I always liked Darksiders' (2010) graphic style, because it seemed a slightly more realistic version of WoW style which alway looked a bit too potato-ey for my taste, for my lack of a better word. Joe "Mad" Madureira really did a great job on it ant part 1 is still my favourite.

[@NostraDavid2]

Darksiders was the first (and AFAIK, only) game that somewhat felt like Blizzard, without being Blizzard. And they are still different enough to be clearly different.

[@ergernoni]

Thanks dude, that was really helpful ❤

[@GabeDelaSoul]

He even chunkafied the haircut, very nice touch

[@ClacksonHale]

Oh wow! This is so cool! Thanks for the neat insights, man.

[@Herrgommel1]

I love your hair.

[@Tahasikeri]

Yeeee

[@puppethound]

@Herrgommel1 you have bad taste lol

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

@@puppethound You have shitty opinions.

[@kevinanderson6367]

Even his hair is Blizzard

[@dorkyshark2911]

thank you sir,i needed this

[@charliemartian8720]

I love this! Awesome Tutorial. ((KABLAMO!!) Thanks, Trent!!!

[@Mini-kyu]

I personally liked the less 'chunky' weapons in WoW, except maybe for legendary weapons like Thunderfury.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Ironic that "no balls" is the opposite of having no balls in your design.

[@JulianaBlewett]

Yeah, can't get away without talking about blizzards Warcraft shoulders either. Those things can be absolutely massive.

[@LeysBackup]

When I scrolled down the comments, I had the video still playing and you sometimes sounded like Mordecai from Regular Show :D

[@fosty.]

1:20 that WoW factor 😂

[@TowerSavant]

So this is why I'm never getting a faithful update to the Warblade of Caer Darrow.

[@RedGallardo]

Very curious and so simple. Thanks for the tips!

[@BornToBeCrimson]

Since you mentioned it in this video, would you be able to do a Diablo painting style tricks video?

[@Uro_Boros]

4:40 "so stoney..!" 😂👌🏼

[@loofy530]

That poison bottle's curves have me acting unwise.

[@chebubela]

Thank you, really good and helpful video!

[@buzinaocara]

Dude even applied that style guide to his beard.

[@kevin_horticulture]

legendary video for only being 7 mins.

[@ShadrolGER]

If you look at early World of Warcraft you can clearly see, that this style hadn't manifested yet. It took a few years for that style to be fully applied across the board and the art direction to be less haphazard and more focused, but at some point i think they overshot the goal. The style has become a caricature of itself. Just compare swords over the years. In Classic there were straight swords that don't follow this at all and even the real chonkers, that in their outline follow it, seem petite and realistic compared to modern WoW Style. A modern WoW sword is more like a block of stone that you clobber someone with instead of cutting them. As an example take Ashkandi (Classic) and its two later iterations Reclaimed Ashkandi (Cataclysm) and Ashkandur (Dragonflight).

[@luaeneve-j2n]

i believe joe madureira has a pretty similar style, i like his work as much as i like the blizzard style

[@Zikepv]

Thank u for sharing! ❤

[@timz9862]

2:55 - that is the thickest map I have ever seen. How would someone be able to even roll/unroll it?

[@ElvenEarthTenders]

Parchment technically is skin, not paper. So, it can make sense!

[@BusinessWolf1]

Trent, you're the best

[@lnt2265]

I really love your videos and advice. You always motivate me, so thanks for that. :) I was wondering. Do I need Photoshop for you Workshops on Gumroad? Currently I draw in Procreate or on paper and I thought about Clip Studio Paint. I used Photshop only for phot editing but don't have it currently. Can I adapt your teachings of the workshops and bring the concepts over to Procreate or Clip Studio Paint? Or would you recommend Photoshop only? Thanks in edvance.

[@TrentKaniuga]

Yes. Everything I do is with most tools like clip studio or sketchbook pro which also has most of the same features and functions.

[@kasiako355]

Awesome vid, thank you!

[@zion1633]

Joe madureira kinda reminds me wow/hearthstone art Darksiders have much in common with wow when it comes to aesthetic

[@Nashfanfl13]

great video lots of helpful tips question thought you have Twilight Monk crossed out in description? Are you still working on it? Game looks promising and I just found out about it lol..

[@a_blue_chicken1093]

this is very goood man!

[@a_blue_chicken1093]

Is there something for 3D artists? Many artists mainly do 2D! I am a hobby 3D artist and I always loved the warcraft and world of warcraft art style! If that is what you are teaching, I want to learn!

[@NevetsTSmith]

I'm not the biggest fan of Blizz style, though that's partially due to overexposure from the innumerable styles that have been inspired by it. But one precursor to it seems to be the Joe Mad's Battle Chasers approach combined with WH Fantasy subject matter.

[@ladyethyme]

How did you do that symmetrically??? Are you working in Photoshop?

[@duntemdraws310]

He works in Ps, but any decent drawing app will have a symmetry tool

[@HazeTheFifth]

Is there a way I can get the My ULTRA SECRET Watercolor Techniques Photoshop tutorial? I thought it was included when I bought Trent's ULTIMATE BRUSHES COLLECTION. The thumbnail was a little misleading. ^^;

[@johnbandadesigns4605]

The hair adds alot of edge, time to go hard on the branding

[@Thiagohanusch16]

Blizzard stole all of the ideas of my 2000`s sketchbook. That was 100% my art style back in 3rd grade. lmao

[@madmasterhouse6700]

The secret is breaking the symmetry of the geometryc figures, look at the buildings in world of warcraft

[@cde3003]

Loving the Creed cut

[@thefoolishkat]

"no balls" my brain: me: don't

[@totinobonito]

Wow ive been using google images as textures for years i had no idea professionals also did that :D

[@paradoxvuim8562]

Ty master❤

[@VicenteRaiol]

0:34 ah yeah, Big Noodle Too Oblique. Aka The Overwatch text font.

[@tymekgowacki4280]

actually a good summary of blizzard's artstyle comes down to its origin: copying warhammer minis. When designing a character, can i cast it in resin in ~1:28 scale? a scroll needs to be thick, otherwise it will break. all the details need to be chunky and exaggerated, otherwise it will be hard to cast and not very visible in this scale. Same goes for the textures, games have lighting models, but minis have specular highlights that are handpainted

[@chickenbroski99]

I liked the grittier and subtler SC1 and Diablo 1/2 art style. You can see a lot of this in those games actually, it's just a lot more toned down. I appreciate you going into the details of art style though it's very beneficial to understand the thought process. After Burning Crusade I started to dislike WoW's art style though, just a little more subtlety would be great.

[@UnkyJosh420]

Blizzard making some of the most unrealistic cumbersome goofy weapons ever. They haven’t adapted since the beginning and to be honest the art style got old through the years. Now every sword and armor looks the same.

[@DukeWooze]

Yeah pretty much, and to me their art style is so generic looking. Guy says no one else does this art style, but I see it all over the place. I'm tired of it.

[@UnkyJosh420]

@ lots of copycats wanted a piece of the pie. Not sure how well Blizzard is doing these days. Jumped off that train years ago.

[@snatchr2451]

The glut of ridiculous looking paddle swords is why I never play melee classes. Vanilla had plenty of normal looking swords but now its all about making things as cartoony and stylized as possible.

[@UnkyJosh420]

@ yeah it got old fast.

[@DiablitoKawaii]

Realism is soooo boring great art takes you away

[@zanagi]

Dude made a cool sword in less than 10 seconds lmao

[@riku6146]

One for the old League of legends style as well?

[@GrotesqueN]

Dude what PC build do you use my Photoshop is lagging as hell.

[@zodayn]

This is why I personally don't like Blizzard's style at all. It's all sup[er cartoony and the weapons look more like pool floats than anything sharp. But it IS an iconic style. And if you want a toy figure of epic dragon slaying might. Yeah that's Blizzaard for you.

[@crutch_bicycle]

Forget painting. I need a hair style guide from you

[@Maurilustrador]

Hey man, I saw a guitar behind, have you posted some music? what do you like to play?

[@Oblivion4eg]

Here at 10k views, before it becomes your most watched video on the channel

[@manasheen]

Interesting tip!

[@kevinanderson6367]

The thumbnail makes me laugh because now it's so obvious!

[@wayze_one]

Great video would love to work in Blizzard creative team

[@TheBlackbirdii]

BLIzzard is no more blizard and we can see that they lost their unique artstyle with overwatch 2 hope you correct me if i m wrong here

[@onionjedi]

Yes I too have no balls in my art.

[@lawrence9713]

Wildstar, Wayfinder?

[@TrentKaniuga]

Very different!

[@simpson6700]

that's not a sword, that's an anchor