At Blizzard, we receive lots of great fan art from our talented players. We publish the best of these selections regularly in our European Fan Art Gallery. Now we are introducing a new feature to the Fan Art Gallery: Interviews with Fan Artists! Our first interview is with Romain de Santi.
- What are your main influences and inspirations? (I am thinking, for the most part, of the picture Tauren Herbalist but if you want to talk about several pictures, feel free.)
Most of my inspiration for my drawings comes from digital artists. I cannot list them all but two artists who have inspired me are Sparth, and Craig Mullins.
Concerning my WoW fanart, my main source of inspiration is the game itself. After many hours spent on difficult encounters with my guild (the Unskilled on Archimonde), I always want to immortalize the moment we have finally managed to reach. This was the case with the death of Vaelastraz, for example. Another source of inspiration, which I refer to often, is of course the Blizzard illustration book. When I have some doubts about the background color or I am looking for inspiration for the surroundings, I do not hesitate from opening The Art of Warcraft, which I got with my collectors edition. For the tauren herbalist, it was simply my own character and the image of this enormous tauren putting his axe down to pick a flower made me smile. I got to work quickly on the corner of a page and then coloring. I ended up spending more time than I had planned!
- Can you describe the different stages of creation necessary in the development of one of your illustrations?
The first thing I try to do it to get as much information together about it as possible. When I am drawing a player, I ask him how he sees his character, his personality, whether the character has a background or history, with which equipment he would like to see the character, or what kind of scenery. All of these things help me to build up a picture of the end result. The more precise my idea of what I want to try and do is, the easier the actual drawing becomes. After I have done this, I think about the composition and basic style of the picture, which I then try to put onto paper. Once I have something, I begin the actual drawing. Depending on my mood, I either draw directly onto the graphics tablet, or onto paper which I then scan afterwards.
The next phase is pretty technical but, without going into details, once I have chosen my software approach, I start the coloring. I often test new things at each stage but more and more I tend to paint in black and white, so as to add the lighting and volume more easily before superimposing the layers of color and adding a few textures. Here is a work in progress (W.I.P.) which although not related to WoW, was created in a short time (1.30 minutes) with a random theme generator (3CH, without naming it). The theme to be illustrated was: a levitating teddy-bear fleeing from a princess in a church. You can see the W.I.P. here.
- Have you got a little ritual before you begin your creative work, such as pronouncing a few words in orcish to give homage to Thrall?
I sacrifice a gnome before beginning. It is obligatory if you want to attract creative energies.
- What is your favorite illustration? I sense that you have a certain tendency towards the Horde or is it just that your graphics tablet isnt compatible with alliance characters?
I like my tauren herbalist a lot, but the last drawing which I have completed, a troll mage burning his enemies, is nice too. I have a lot of difficulty appreciating my artwork, as I only ever see their faults. Otherwise, I do not draw the alliance: as soon as I see one, I spam Frost Shock and I have a lot of trouble approaching close enough to see their faces. It is terrible really, but Ill try to catch up or perhaps not.
- We perceive without any difficulty the pleasure which you take in your numerous illustrations. Would you like to pursue drawing professionally or is it just a hobby for you?
It is first and foremost a hobby for me. I would like to produce more professional artwork but I am not yet confident enough to begin canvassing for buyers. That said if other opportunities arise
- Apparently you did not wish to confine yourself simply to illustration but you also work in video. What made you choose this and which medium do you prefer?
In fact it is more this which is my field: I am what is pompously known as a Multimedia Designer. Essentially, video (moving graphics) is my specialty. If there are some curious people or some prospective clients (you never know) you can see my show-reel here. You will also find some amusing references.
Otherwise with regards to World of Warcraft I have produced a short video for the Xfire/Blizzard, dance category.
- Who are the artists which you admire (comics, drawings, video-games and cinema etc?).
It is impossible to name them all but here goes For comics , Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), Hiroaki Samura (The Dweller of the Infinite), and Moebius. In drawing, Sparth, Mullins, Hyung Tae Kim, Bengal, and Vyle. For video games, Hideo Kojima. In cinema, Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyasaki, Takeshi Kitano, Ridley Scott, David Fincher, Tim Burton, and Tsui Hark. I have just realized how many of my influences are Asian!
- What advise can you give to people who would like to launch into everything that is fan-art?
Always sacrifice a gnome before beginning work. More seriously, fan-art remains a form of drawing and apart from applying yourself and working hard, there are no miracle recipes for success. You must observe a lot, be curious and motivated.
