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Art Blast: Mannoroth by Senior Texture Artist Samuel Alicea

posted 2021/03/15 at 2:19 AM by DiscordianKitty

Samuel AliceaArtstationMannoroth - World of WarcraftHi everyone, today I'm posting another monster, Mannoroth! Yay! Who doesn't love monsters and fire hair?! If I remember correctly he was just the second character I did for Blizzard back in 2014. So please be kind, I was still learning a lot about making creatures haha. With the knowledge that I have now if I had to go back and upgrade him, I would be very excited to do so. But it's great to post this and see for myself how much I've grown throughout the years.

One of the biggest challenges on Mannoroth was how big he was. His file would slow down a lot since he had lots and lots of UV domains and a lot of Geo loaded into the scene. That aside, the other challenge was that he had been done before for a cinematic in Warcraft 3 back in 2002. I loved the game, and I had studied every cinematic, frame by frame when I was a kid. So imagine being told that I would have the chance to upgrade him now and work on him! I was beyond excited.

Let's talk scales. I believe texture painters don't level up until they've done scales lol. It's really hard and time consuming. I did all the scales on Mannoroth in Mari. For scales to not look out of place you have to make sure they have a flow, that they change in size depending on areas that bend, and that they all look different so it doesn't look like you're making the same 6 scales over and over again.

I'm including another fun thing for you guys, it's a before an after image of his front shield. This is something I love doing, and it's something that I had a lot of practice with over at Blizzard. I was very lucky to gain the trust of my peers, and they would give me free reign a lot of times to do my own take on things. The before image is a first pass of the shield, close to what the original was, about a day or less of work. We were asked to upgrade it with what we thought would look good, and a day or 2 later you'll see the result after Kenson Yu took a stab at a new sculpt, and me at the textures and shaders.

Hope you guys like Mannoroth! Cheers!

What I did: Texturing and Shaders (Lookdev)
Modeling: Kenson Yu
Art Director: Chris Tunig
Director: Marc Messenger

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

Comment by IllanyssThe demon on that crest has its legs covered, clearly covering the hint at their tips: hooves.Comment by MoshiR1224I want to know exactly what is meant by those shapes engraved on Mannoroth's armor?Comment by Cr00xYFirst time seeing Chris Metzen in orc form!Comment by UB3RFR3NZYI want to know exactly what is meant by those shapes engraved on Mannoroth's armor?Comment by DahurgTheDragonwow that wing anatomy makes zero senseComment by MistvesselThat armor is a kind of so called "gorget". I still consider W3 costume art department superior, ever.Comment by MaximusPMwow that wing anatomy makes zero senseComment by UmberenLots of artists in these comment sections. Dude did sick work.Comment by KenjiT28Looks cool.

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