Artist Post #2- Chris Metzen

Artist Post Number Two:

Chris Metzen

Chris Metzen is a digital artist, game designer, animation guru, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He works for Blizzard Entertainment and is responsible for many artistic choices within the company such as designing concept art and video game plots for World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. Currently he is vice president of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard Entertainment, and, among many of the duties he holds, specifically does character design. He has a history of doing illustrations, concept art, and scenarios for the company as well. Chris Metzen has been creative director of many of the enterprises of his company. He also has published an independent graphic novel.

In an interview with MTV Geek Chris Metzen comments upon his favorite mediums: "I’m a paper-and-pencil guy. I hate drawing on the computer. I used to enjoy using inks and colored pencils for my colored work, but pencil’s always been my favorite. I’m only missing the digital boat by about 17 years or so, so I still hold out hope..."

Here are some more examples of his art:

Yeah. I think they are cool too! Here are some examples of the video game versions of his characters:

Chris Metzen's work is awesome. It represents the inner nerd within us all; the nerd who got the break and capitalized that imagination into creating video-game characters. He creates alien, demonic, and fantastical creatures on paper and converts them to playable characters, NPCs, and bosses. 

With regards to Metzen's work, I think it's amazing. He puts a lot of attention into details within his graphite/paper works. He is a fantastic artist. Though he is not nearly as good at digital art as his co-worker artists he is still incredible. I admire him because he is an example of an artist who took his work and dreams past the studio and into the real world to make it come alive in a money-making way. The fact that he capitalized on both imagination, innovation, and made a bucket load of money is an inspiring success story. 

Here are his coworkers digital art. They are pretty cool too. I might need to do a blog post on both of them.

BUT I digress,

Just as an extra, I was experimenting with Metzen's style. Here are the results:

Regards,

Keely

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1068321/

http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2013/02/19/brushing-up-on-the-art-of-blizzard-with-chris-metzen-and-sam-didier/

www.wowwiki.com

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/File:Tassadar_SC1_CineDeathOvermind2.jpg

http://www.outofoursystem.com/2012/08/03/fantasy-artist-spotlight-chris-metzen/

http://www.deviantart.com/photography/journalism/?view_mode=2&order=9&q=videogames

http://www.taringa.net/posts/imagenes/13112813/Top-10---artistas-conceptuales-de-video-juegos.html

http://www.wikipedia.org (IMAGE)