Road to BlizzCon Drawing Card Process

¡ WARNING !
THIS BLOG CONTAINS LOTS OF IMAGES AND LONG.

In a couple weeks will mark my third year being with the TeamLiquid family. I was gonna write a long blog about my BlizzCon, but after 1 and a half pages after, it wasn’t a good read. Instead I decided to show you all of the process of my drawings for the Road to BlizzCon coverage we did featuring all of the Ro16 players of the WCS 2014 Global FInals (and a little bit of Blizzcon.) The SC2 coverage team started two and a half weeks before Ro16 started and every night before the next article release I was drawing the card for the player. I was pretty much working on one card per night/morning and I never caught up in line art till the week before BlizzCon. Drawing these cards was quite the experience it was a lot of work, but the end was rewarding. I my drawing skills got better, which was something I have been wanting to do for awhile. If you ever look from the beginning to end see how my line art sorta evolved especially with Classic and Zest was a very big jump.

Classic was the first and lichter suggested he would hold a pylon scale, so that’s what I did since I was kinda new to knowing more about the major arcana it was sorta hard to think of ideas for the cards. Drawing the faces of the players were the biggest challenge of them all because I was not particularly good at it (nor human bodies.) Having most players in robes helped me get the cards done in time or else I would have been drowning.








Life’s card was quite the hard one, knowing I had to draw a huge chunk of it twice after losing progress on the file. Luckily it was the weekend, but the night before I was trying to make a new keybind to “Create Smart Object” and I accidentally unassigned the save shortcut. Having files as me why did I need to save that night was kinda confusing me cause I did the save command before closing the files I was dealing with. The night before it’s release I decided to go to sleep and had my file open then in the morning woke up and continued working on it. I knew I was saving cause I do the save command a lot when I do a lot of progress. Then I had to pull up a reference image and after awhile photoshop was acting up so I was greeted with two prompts, but I did it so quick saying no I thought the first was the reference image (which I usually dump) and the second was the card, but the prompt for the card game first and then I just started at my computer closing photoshop I reopened life’s file finding NO progress was saved. I lost all my progress of last night and in the morning. So I had to pretty much redraw majority of life’s card that morning. Luckily we were able to release on time. I guess you can say the drawing experience of his card was pretty close to the theme of his tarot card.








This one was kinda different I had to draw the body without any robes as you can see his arms was like chicken drumsticks. Nothing gave me too much trouble other than his arms and the very hard to tell what they are roaches were ambiguous. Though I forgot the left roach’s arm thing.








Stardust card is probably one of the few I find really awkward, just because I based it off of the tarot card and the fact he is pouring cheese dust (as suggested by lichter.) His face is a bit off putting and his stance kinda weirds me out. But I am okay with that.








MMA was probably the fourth hardest drawing out of them all. Trying to draw the medivac was really challenging for me as well for what he was gonna wear. I saw some God of War armor as I was googling for something to go off of and I just went with that, kinda weird he’s half naked, not really one of my favorites this one probably made me panic as much as life (just not on the I lost a lot of progress on file panic.)








This one was fun because this is where I got to play with the lightning. I was going for this marionette idea since that’s kinda what I thought of when it came to the devil. Then lichter suggested he should have been in a murloc suit since MC liked to wear his murloc sweater a few times. Though it started to get weird for me and went back to the first idea, I am quite happy how that one came out.








Bomber’s card is when I started to see my line art starting to change. I drew his card kinda quick, but it wasn’t anything complex, but I felt at ease when I drew this one. Lichter had his input of having him hold a can of redbull and a widow mine instead of the dog that’s on the card. This one is probably my second favorite.








Jaedong’s image was probably the most simplest since I think I was hurting on time and this is what I came up with. I wanted him to feel like this dark thing that had a evil spirit of some sort to get you since he was themed death after all. I actually liked how this turned out. It took me a bit to get the the way I wanted, but it got there.








Jjakji stumped a lot of writers to match him with what card so he ended up not having a card and we called him the rebel. This one got to be silly after it was suggested he should have a bandit mask and hat and I added a mustache for a fun factor. He is the only card wearing their jersey.








herO’s card was pretty smooth going I don’t have much to say besides I had a hard time how bright I wanted the archone in the back to look. I didn’t want the yellow glow to get too white or else the archon silhouette would have been lost. The icon I made for it is probably my favorite as well.








Polt gave me so much trouble, he was the second hardest out of the top hardest cards I was doing. Some reason I could not get is face down. I drew his face twice, but the old one was still better even though the other. The way I had to draw the hands gave me some trouble and I ended up taking a photo of my hands for reference! Then meru was able to help me on coloring wtih this one, she also did this really cool effect in the middle!








San till soO is when I caught up with line art over the weekend before BlizzCon. San was originally gonna be holding up a carrier with interceptors going around him like a those science atoms kind of graphics, but licher suggested it should have been the Khaydrian Amulet, so I went with that since the carrier was giving me some trouble.








After San it was pretty much smooth sailing so I don’t have much to say about Taeja except I was told to put a champagne bottle in his hand instead of the walking stick which gave it some humor, which I like. He kinda looks like parting in this image too.








Innovation’s image was kinda weird since originally I wanted to be hanging from a swing, but it would have been straying away from what the hanged man was I guess. So I hung him from a medivac as someone suggested and I made him wear his Acer green well a a bit bright, but it’s green.








Poor soO This one was kinda funny, though his left hand was giving me trouble. He is wearing like the head part armor part of the queen’s head. Did any of you notice the II in the back? Meru also helped me color this one as well!








This was the last card drawing so I had to go with a bang. After drawing card it made me reflect back on the rest, and funny enough it was probably among the hardest to draw, but there was no stress involved when I was drawing him. I felt very comfortable when I drew him in his getup. Based off the high templar his shoulder/head piece was very complex. Most of the lines I drew were clean and coloring as a joy. Even his face looks like zest being small and all.








It was very accomplishing drawing all these cards within such a short amount of time while going to work during the day and dealing with a total of two hours of commuting being part of my morning/evening as well. Most nights I was still sleeping around 9:30-11, but I would wake up early as 5 to finish the work, so I was still getting in my sleep. Also during this I bought myself a Surface Pro 3 which I love very much. I haven’t gotten to draw on it lately, but I try to draw on it when I can probably later this month and december I will be able to enjoy it more since BlizzCon is now over.



(The progression of me trying to draw faces on my Surface. Drawing those cards are certainly shaping how I draw faces even though I am not there yet.)

This year’s BlizzCon was probably the best yet getting to see a lot of TL staff there with new faces being: Meru, GMarshal, Hayl_Storm, Seeker, Strelzik, XXTN, and Erby along with old faces Heyoka, Waxangel, Monk, Bumblebee & Naz (I don’t know if I remember seeing them there last year or they went), itsjustatank, silverfire, ghostclaw, kiett (and Liquid Ken, but I’ve seen him before so kinda old face). It was so nice to see many people along with some community people like CarltonBeener and shindigs and I am already forgetting people. TT But it was quite a lot of people to meet. ^^

Majority of my time at BlizzCon I was watching Starcraft 2 holding up my “Liquid Taeja” cheerful along with the next day these two.



Last year I didn’t watch any Starcraft 2 besides arriving right when sOs won and picked up his trophy. I didn’t do much of the floor this year since there was no Mega Block booth. I got to play Overwatch beginning of the second day and end of the day with some staff, it’s a good game and cannot wait till that comes out. ^^ It’s only been a couple days after BlizzCon and I miss everyone with all of us having to return to reality and I now have a closer freelance job that I can just walk 15 min before having to be there.

This year has been so amazing it has definitely been a good year starting freelancing at my brother’s work to fill in while someone was on maternity leave, but after those 3 months were up I was doing nothing till August till they asked me for to freelance again. Then I decided to leave and freelance at my cousin's work when I was offered (technically I could have worked at both places, but this one was way more convenient for me.) It’s less work now, but I get a bit more time for myself which is nice cause I am struggling with trying to stay up late at night and waking up early in the morning between the hours of 2-4:30.

If it wasn’t for working at the place I was early this year I wouldn’t be in a happy mindset, I would be in a very dark place (nothing bad just sulking I would assume.) Being around TLnet and chatting with my friends has always kept me in great spirits (along with IRL friends of course.) I love this community very much even though I technically don’t know all of you, but you guys what make this site great. Working here has been an absolute pleasure and I have no plans disappearing (till I absolutely have no more time for it, but I will of course state it and not just vanish. ) I want to keep on moving forward with TLnet and also keep on improving myself. It’s been one an amazing experience.

Also here are some photos of the Road to BlizzCon cards, I printed and cut and packaged.



I did try to raffle on TLnet’s twitter, but that didn't go down so well so I just gave them to my friends. If there is enough want I might get some printed later when I get the time and sell them if there is a demand for it. Or if you want you can print them on your own with these PDFs! Though you have to figure out how to align the cards yourself if you plan to print on one card stock, all printers act differently.



I cannot really help all of you, but you have to figure it out if you plan to print these on your own. But like I said if there is a demand for me to sell these I will get an amount printed and sell them on etsy or something.





And last but least shoutouts!

juicyjames: Of course if you never linked me that thread I would have never been here. Yes you get to take the credit for that, I know you like that.
HawaiianPig: Always thank you for giving me that second chance.
Nazgul: Thanks for letting me apart of the Team Liquid family. :D
tree.hugger: Thanks for taking me under your wing to do graphics for TLpro it’s where it all started!
Waxangel: Thanks for giving me stuff to do when you were in charge of SC2.
Lip the Pencilboy: Thanks for bringing me onto Pony Tales! An issue shall come D< Soon (TM)
Plexa: Thanks for managing the Pony Tales I contributed and helping me when I needed it. :D
Heyoka: Thanks for everything! You are always a pleasure to meet IRL! XD Tell me if you need any LD I kinda miss it.
Bumblebee: Thanks for all the TLpro stuff I get to work on!
Lichter, DarkLordOlli, Zealously: Ever since Wax stepped down I have never would have thought the coverage would have been like this. It’s so amazing how you three work so well together and I’ve never seen you guys snap at each other. You guys have something special going on. ^^ Thanks for letting me be apart of your SC2 team. (I technically had no choice haha.)
Monk: Thanks for pulling me on board to do LiquidHearth stuffs and lunch, cya next year! (Hope your stomach didn’t explode on you.)
Hayl_Storm: Thanks for letting me do LiquidHearth banners it’s always refreshing to do something different, plus I have a lot of images to choose from. :D It was nice meeting you at BlizzCon!
itsjustatank, Ghostclaw, Silverfire, CarltonBaneer, kiett, Shindigs: It’s always nice seeing you guys at the events, ^^ California power!
KadaverBB,Jer99, Zeromous, StorrZerg, JBright: Heores ho!
Meru: Thank you for being so awesome! It makes me feel happy I am not alone on SC2 graphics. ; ; It was nice meeting you at BlizzCon!
GMarshal: It was finally nice meeting ya at BlizzCon, shall our urge for Heroes take us to max level!
Seeker: It’s such a different experience meeting you IRL (it’s a good thing!) It was nice meeting you at Blizzcon!
XXTN: I approve you going past writing trial. :D Nice meeting you at BlizzCon probably we will bump into each other at another So Cal event.

riptide, LiquidSheth, LiquidKen, fusefuse, Sirjolt, wo1fwood, Desciple, R1CH, Teoita, SC2john, dravernor, ZodaSoda, Zere, flamewheel, Lovedrop, hotbid, Salle, Kupon3ss, QuanticHawk, endy, Ares[Effort], Shock710, KOFgokuon, Grobyc, Tofucake, ArvickHero, Smix, CreatorGX, Firebolt145, ianmallinson, Azera, Aerisky, TheMango, torenhire, moktira. Too many people and I am sure I am forgetting a lot of people. ; ;