- Author: lettara
- Date: October 28, 2022
- Updated: October 28, 2022
- Expansion: World of Warcraft
The World of Warcraft Student Art Contest returns for its 11th time!
Participants will have a chance to win prizes such as a mentorship with a Blizzard artist, a $2000 drawing tablet and more.
Artists will compete by designing an image or animation in four distinct categories:
- Environment
A diorama of trees, rocks, grass, and props, plus a small structure. - Character
An NPC wearing clothing or armor. - Player Ability
A spell or attack that looks as though it could be added to one of WoW’s existing classes. The rules specify that the animation must include the buildup, impact and aftermath of the ability. - Combat Animation
A combat animation featuring the weapon of your choosing.
To find out more and to see last year’s winners, read the article below!
Blizzard Entertainment’s university relations and World of Warcraft development teams are proud to present the eleventh annual World of Warcraft Student Art Contest! We’re calling on college and university students to submit original artwork or animations that would be a great fit for World of Warcraft.
Share with us your creative vision of something we’ve never seen before that still fits within the World of Warcraft universe. You can view previous winning submissions here.
Online submission forms are available on our contests page as of October 17 and entries will be received up to 11:59 PM PST on January 29, 2022.
PRIZES
Four Grand prize winners (one from each category) will be chosen by the World of Warcraft art team, and will receive the following epic prizes*:
- Wacom Cintiq Pro 24
- 1-hour mentorship session with a Blizzard artist
- A one-year subscription to World of Warcraft
- One (1) Blizzard Entertainment Sketchbook
- A Blizzard Entertainment T-shirt
*Blizzard reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any prize.
Please note that only current US and Canadian college and university students are eligible to win. Residents of Quebec, Canada, are not eligible to participate.
To learn more about student programs at Blizzard, visit the careers page.
Good luck to all entrants!
CATEGORIES
ENVIRONMENT ART CONTEST
Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, create a small environment diorama that would fit well in the game world. Your quest: Concept, model, and texture an environment piece that you could imagine stumbling upon during your travels across Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, Northrend, Pandaria, the Broken Isles, or Argus.
Required elements are trees, rocks, grass, and props, plus a small structure (such as a shrine).
Your final piece should have a structure similar to the example provided below. We’re looking for lower poly-count models (e.g.: around 1,500 polys for a mature-sized tree), so keep that in mind when creating your environment.
The final submission should be a high-resolution JPEG file no larger than 5MB.
Daphne Fiato
College of Creative Studies
Read the complete contest rules then submit your entry here.
CHARACTER ART CONTEST
Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, concept, model, and texture a non-player character (NPC) or creature that you could imagine roaming the plains of Durotar, exploring the depths of Deepholm, or just sitting in the Pig and Whistle Tavern knocking back a mug o’ Thistle Tea.
Required elements are the character or creature, along with some sort of clothing or armor. Feel free to go further by adding weapons or other accessories.
The final piece should have a structure similar to the example provided below. Stay within a budget of 6,000 polys with one 1024×1024 texture for the finished character.
The final submission should be a high-resolution JPEG file no larger than 5MB.
Hwa Min Jung
DigiPen Institute of Technology
Read the complete contest rules, then submit your entry here.
FX CONTEST
Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, create a player ability that could be added to the kit of one of our existing classes. You could conjure up anything from the power of the void for a massive flying ball of death, call upon the elements of nature to ensnare an entire mob or wield the power of the Light to rip a giant fissure through the ground.
Required Elements
- Buildup of the ability, impact of the ability, and the aftermath.
- Feel free to go further by adding characters, creatures, props, or other 3d assets if needed.
- No frame length required.
- Submit a movie file (format can vary) as your final submission.
“Soul Shiver”
Annie Hanson
DigiPen Institute of Technology
Read the complete contest rules then submit your entry here.
ANIMATION
Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, create a unique combat animation from one of the three choices listed. Imagine entering a dungeon and battling against the Lich King and his undead army or traveling deep beneath the Firelands to take down Ragnaros.
Required elements:
- Weapon (rig) of your choice, can be a character or creature.
- Feel free to go further by adding weapons, additional characters/creatures, or other accessories.
- Provide video(s) from 3 different angles: side view, back view (player view), 3 quarter view.
- Must be animated at 30 fps and set to meters.
- No frame length required.
- No motion blur or camera movement.
- Submit a movie file (format can vary) as your final submission.
Animation Choices: Please choose one
- Two hit (combo) attack
- Must start and finish in the same pose.
- Model can end away from starting area if need be.
- Weapon spell attack
- Must start and finish in the same pose.
- Should include a charge up/precast and release/spell cast.
- Model can end away from starting area if need be.
- Summon and transition
- Example: Emerging from the ground or entering a room.
- Should transition into a passive or combat stance.
- Should have lots of personality.
“Ninja Two-Hit Combo Attack”
Jinju Bang
San Jose State University
Read the complete contest rules then submit your entry here.
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