Death Knight - Anaaru
By pulyx
152 Favourites19 Comments5K Views
What's up dudes.
This is my own WoW character i used to play, Anaaru Razorwind, he was a captain in the Highelf Guard when the scourge poured inside quel'thalas.
That nasty scar on his face is because he took an undead-orc cleave to the face. He's a frost Death Knight. Haven't played him in ages. I quit wow in the first months after Cataclysm launched.
Some folks have been asking me to do comissions again, and i try to explain why i avoid WoW comissions now a days, and t his picture might be an example of why.
People come to me with all the same cookie cutter looking characters, the same gear and stuff... But when i ask them to flesh em out so my job becomes less boring, they get scared and back out.
You see, wow's graphics improved quite a bit in the past years. When i did comissions, it was to help people visualize their characters when WoW's textures were really bad and low-res.
The game doesn't have that problem anymore. So my work became kind of obsolete. But only if you want the character EXACTLY like it is in game.
But there's PLENTY WoW's engine doesn't do or allow. WoW's customization is really really limited. What differentiates a character from other, is the talent tree. And that's just mechanics.
Visually...everyone comes to me with the same stuff. So it became very very boring for me to draw the same faces, hairstyles and armor over and over again. Ugh..so many elves. I can't fill a hand with how many undead, troll, orcs, draenei i was comissioned to paint. So i began every request with this little disclaimer.
But this picture serves to show how far you can take your character visually, beyond the game's capabilities. Look at all those important NPCs.
What makes them so cool ? Uniqueness. And that's what i try to preach to my clients...but most of them don't listen.
Anyway...Anaaru Razorwind, ladies and Gentlemen, clamp your noses, he's kind of rotten.
Art comment:
So, this was my first time painting in Black and white and then putting color over it. I usually paint with color, but i began noticing that most of my favorite artists do black and white painting and THEN do colors over it. It's serving as an exercise to break a very bad habit of mine. Skimping on layers. I used to work on some pretty weak PCs, and that created a pesky habit of keeping the file small to be handled with speed. But since i got my new one, there's not reason to do that anymore, and it was making my paintings looking poor of detail and shallow. I think i fell behind the curve quite a lot comparing it to some fellow artists who started taking strides the same time i did, and i wan't to close that gap. Even if i sort of relinquished my lifelong dream to work with videogame art. (The business is too Cutthroat, too competitive, in my opinion, makes me respect all my favorite artists even more, but made me realize that it would take the fun out of painting for me).
[UPDATED]
Added some detail.
I dunno, but i thought frosty air coming out of his mouth/nose would look good. added more blemishes/rot to the skin, painted some finer strands frosty hair.
This is my own WoW character i used to play, Anaaru Razorwind, he was a captain in the Highelf Guard when the scourge poured inside quel'thalas.
That nasty scar on his face is because he took an undead-orc cleave to the face. He's a frost Death Knight. Haven't played him in ages. I quit wow in the first months after Cataclysm launched.
Some folks have been asking me to do comissions again, and i try to explain why i avoid WoW comissions now a days, and t his picture might be an example of why.
People come to me with all the same cookie cutter looking characters, the same gear and stuff... But when i ask them to flesh em out so my job becomes less boring, they get scared and back out.
You see, wow's graphics improved quite a bit in the past years. When i did comissions, it was to help people visualize their characters when WoW's textures were really bad and low-res.
The game doesn't have that problem anymore. So my work became kind of obsolete. But only if you want the character EXACTLY like it is in game.
But there's PLENTY WoW's engine doesn't do or allow. WoW's customization is really really limited. What differentiates a character from other, is the talent tree. And that's just mechanics.
Visually...everyone comes to me with the same stuff. So it became very very boring for me to draw the same faces, hairstyles and armor over and over again. Ugh..so many elves. I can't fill a hand with how many undead, troll, orcs, draenei i was comissioned to paint. So i began every request with this little disclaimer.
But this picture serves to show how far you can take your character visually, beyond the game's capabilities. Look at all those important NPCs.
What makes them so cool ? Uniqueness. And that's what i try to preach to my clients...but most of them don't listen.
Anyway...Anaaru Razorwind, ladies and Gentlemen, clamp your noses, he's kind of rotten.
Art comment:
So, this was my first time painting in Black and white and then putting color over it. I usually paint with color, but i began noticing that most of my favorite artists do black and white painting and THEN do colors over it. It's serving as an exercise to break a very bad habit of mine. Skimping on layers. I used to work on some pretty weak PCs, and that created a pesky habit of keeping the file small to be handled with speed. But since i got my new one, there's not reason to do that anymore, and it was making my paintings looking poor of detail and shallow. I think i fell behind the curve quite a lot comparing it to some fellow artists who started taking strides the same time i did, and i wan't to close that gap. Even if i sort of relinquished my lifelong dream to work with videogame art. (The business is too Cutthroat, too competitive, in my opinion, makes me respect all my favorite artists even more, but made me realize that it would take the fun out of painting for me).
[UPDATED]
Added some detail.
I dunno, but i thought frosty air coming out of his mouth/nose would look good. added more blemishes/rot to the skin, painted some finer strands frosty hair.
IMAGE DETAILS
Image size
919x1300px 391.17 KB
Published:
© 2013 - 2021 pulyx
Comments19
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Awesome job! Does he serve the Scourge or has he gone rogue?
He's an Ebon Hold one.
You're Welcome! I see, good for him! Keep up the good work and sorry for the late reply!
Love the story behind the picture almost more than the picture! Think the lore I've created for my characters is what has held my interest in the game for so long. I can't finish the game until I finish their stories and I'm not done yet!! Love to see your work. <3 Post more soon!
i like it, i think the fact that you want to flesh the toons out in a manner that is so much further than what wow's graphics allows is awesome 
i'd love to see what you would with an Undead priest named Drbadtouch, lol. if you ever start doing Warcraft commissions i would totally look into them i love you work.
i'd love to see what you would with an Undead priest named Drbadtouch, lol. if you ever start doing Warcraft commissions i would totally look into them i love you work. I still do them. But like i said in the description, it takes something inticing for me to do it.
i hear that lol.
lol.You interested in one ?
yeah, i like the style that you use mainly, i think its lovely. I would love to have a piece done by you
I would love to have a piece done by you 
When I initially looked at this pic and saw that he used to be a high elf, I was like 'oaaaaaaah! Unique high elf character 8B' Cuz most of everyones' OCs are all hawt and very much not very unique from one another XD Like you said.
Then I read your description and I was like 'yeah. were on the same level. I get you. I get you |B' That's cool. You are a cool man, dude, with very respectable views that I like. XD
I am one of those peeps to blame for having non-unique, super pretty characters though, I think XD
Though some are ugleh.. ... I just hardly ever draw them xDD;
So yeah all in all: Awesome fdsafdsafsd
Then I read your description and I was like 'yeah. were on the same level. I get you. I get you |B' That's cool. You are a cool man, dude, with very respectable views that I like. XD
I am one of those peeps to blame for having non-unique, super pretty characters though, I think XD
Though some are ugleh.. ... I just hardly ever draw them xDD;
So yeah all in all: Awesome fdsafdsafsd
you would absolutely love to do my blood elf characters because none of them are cookie cutter elves. never have been never will be. My priest is facially scarred, is missing an arm, is half-human, homely and 550+ pounds. He also loves eating inexcess. XD
haha man, that is one UNIQUE Half-elf
Yeah, he is. I don't like the cookie-cutter characters. I write a backstory for each toon I play ... and my death knights look like death knights.
I adore the facial details and textures! It's nice to see a more grim (and realistic) depiction of a death knight.
I feel the whole "looks like everyone else" problem with WoW themed art. A lot of players, when asked to visualize their characters do cling to what the game shows them instead of thinking outside of the box. When I played, I found myself only liking a limited choice of facial features, hairstyles and colour. I hated that, and because of it, my characters outside of game media have unique appearances and people who ask me to draw their characters, I encourage them to think outside of the limitations in-game. It's not like our characters would shop at the same place for clothing and armour.
I feel the whole "looks like everyone else" problem with WoW themed art. A lot of players, when asked to visualize their characters do cling to what the game shows them instead of thinking outside of the box. When I played, I found myself only liking a limited choice of facial features, hairstyles and colour. I hated that, and because of it, my characters outside of game media have unique appearances and people who ask me to draw their characters, I encourage them to think outside of the limitations in-game. It's not like our characters would shop at the same place for clothing and armour.
I know the feeling. Not enough people put thought in their WoW characters beyond the spec. =/ Backstory and looks are often completely ignored... So it's good to see that some people put their imaginations to better use. Great painting!
Wow, this is amazing. Your style has matured a helluva lot since I started watching you way back in 2007 or so. I would honestly love to see more work done like this. All the detail added to his face is something you would never see in WoW but there's no reason it can't be there in art. I've never really understood people's fascination with limiting their fanart or commissioned work to the exact hairstyles/gear sets found in the game.
I've always visualized my characters with whatever I wanted them to wear. Adding the transmog feature in Cata allowed me to make awesome custom outfits, which helped, but in the end your characters always end up looking the same.
I left WoW because I became bored. It makes me sad since I still love the world itself, all the characters and the amazing story.
Wonderful work.
So epic. I love the scars and lack of right eye, love his... necrosness. He's not looking like queery sweeet 'darkboy', like most of DK characters that people make. They are like this vamfairy Edward from the 'Twilight' compared to Dracula or Nosferatu. And your death knight look really good, scary, but with shades of former beauty. I really wish that Sylvanas' model look similar, with many scars, sewings on face, dark blue veins and more, more necro features, because now she looks too pretty. She has just grey skin, but everything else looks like she would be alive, for example like Dark Elf from The Elder Scrolls world or something. Not like the Queen of the Forsaken.
But this was digression. Backing to your art, this is awesome. And I agree with the description in 100%.
But this was digression. Backing to your art, this is awesome. And I agree with the description in 100%.
Amazing <3
Way cool! And I find the fact that the customization is so limited quite annoying. So many of my characters look the same, I have to resort to addon descriptions to add differences. Great job on this dude, though.
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