Blizzard Showcase Garrison Artwork in Artcraft - A First Look

Back in January Blizzard launched a new series of articles entitled Artcraft - A First Look. The first article in the series covered the upcoming human model revamp being designed for Warlords of Draenor. Part one was written by Chris Robinson, senior art director, and gave us an inside look at the process involved in the character revamps, discussing issues Blizzard are addressing and providing some insight into future plans.

The next article in the series is entitled Artcraft - Building a Garrison. Although the article does not go into specifics about garrison's functions it gives an amazing level of detail about what to expect from them.  Chris Robinson describes it as:

A behind-the-scenes glimpse into our art process with two of our groups: our dungeon art team, which is responsible for all the Garrison's large buildings, walls, gates, and so on; and our prop art team, which is focused on the profession buildings and all of the awesome details you’ll find inside of them.

- Chris Robinson, Senior Art Director

As you can see from the image below the art team have taken some of the amazing old buildings we found in Elwynn Forest and Redridge and re-imagined them to create a familiar yet new look and feel.

 We are told that the buildings will grow over the course of the game. As you level your garrison and raise your professions the buildings will evolve with you, granting a sense of achievement and accomplishment.

In Warlords of Draenor, your Garrison is your fortress—a foothold in a savage world, and ultimately a place to call your own. One of our main goals with the Garrison was to really bring some life and sense of purpose to the characters who inhabit the world, and to make them feel like they belong in their environment.

—Eric Braddock, Associate 3D Artist

 

The article itself is full of many more images of Garrisons, mostly Alliance based, but we do get this sneak peek at the Horde equivalent.

 If you weren't already interested in the idea of garrisons, maybe this edition of Artcraft will change your mind.