Stranger (not verified) on April 13, 2008 - 06:15.
Frankly the screenshot being used to justify this post reminds me much more of LOTRO. As well, we're looking at a screen that is not final art. It's quite clear that the atmospherics and lighting have not been implemented (at least for this screenie). That could and would change the mood drastically and is just as important as the actual design piece itself.
I will concede that the style of the roaming hill (WoW goldshire hills) in the background and the jewels remind me of the blood elf artwork. The rest of it, as someone posted above, harkens back to game workshop's pre-existing art. The rest of it is simply too generic to attribute it to being of WoW conception.
I see some similarities in some screens but the similarities to warhammer art is much stronger than the similarity to WoW artwork. The same way I see similarities between some of the art, and yes there are, in lotro and DAOC post catacombs. It's there and any artist, and I should know, and the art & design community in general, will tend to inspire each other no matter how hard we try not to be or try to distance ourselves from someone else's artwork. It's a very small circle as is the MMORPG developer community. Things go round and round.
From what I have seen, I think it's pretty premature to claim an outright lie or disingenuity on anyone's part tbh. WoW was influenced by warhammer was influenced by WoW. Art & design tends to work very much in that manner...and many times with the creators themselves being none the wiser (usually takes a viewer/3rd party to spot the similarities). Unless something is a direct ripoff/replication (ala iphone & it's china knockoff), then that's a different story. In this case, I'm not seeing the ripoff except for a couple similarities.
Re: Nope, this isn't about cartoonish style
Frankly the screenshot being used to justify this post reminds me much more of LOTRO. As well, we're looking at a screen that is not final art. It's quite clear that the atmospherics and lighting have not been implemented (at least for this screenie). That could and would change the mood drastically and is just as important as the actual design piece itself.
I will concede that the style of the roaming hill (WoW goldshire hills) in the background and the jewels remind me of the blood elf artwork. The rest of it, as someone posted above, harkens back to game workshop's pre-existing art. The rest of it is simply too generic to attribute it to being of WoW conception.
I see some similarities in some screens but the similarities to warhammer art is much stronger than the similarity to WoW artwork. The same way I see similarities between some of the art, and yes there are, in lotro and DAOC post catacombs. It's there and any artist, and I should know, and the art & design community in general, will tend to inspire each other no matter how hard we try not to be or try to distance ourselves from someone else's artwork. It's a very small circle as is the MMORPG developer community. Things go round and round.
From what I have seen, I think it's pretty premature to claim an outright lie or disingenuity on anyone's part tbh. WoW was influenced by warhammer was influenced by WoW. Art & design tends to work very much in that manner...and many times with the creators themselves being none the wiser (usually takes a viewer/3rd party to spot the similarities). Unless something is a direct ripoff/replication (ala iphone & it's china knockoff), then that's a different story. In this case, I'm not seeing the ripoff except for a couple similarities.