Weaver of Light and Shadow – The Art of Yanmo Zhang

From superb illustrations to original videos, Blizzard Communities from all over the world have showed their unique understanding of Blizzard games by sharing an ever-growing number of fantastic creations. Today, we’d like to introduce you one of those passionate artists. He created the “Running Murlocs,” “Raynor” and most importantly, the original illustration of “Martar the Not-So-Smart” in Mists of Pandaria, he is Yanmo Zhang (注册君).

Yanmo Zhang was born in an artists’ family and inherited his parents’ talents. He started drawing at nine and graduated from the affiliated middle school of China Academy of Art and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute oil painting major. When he was 23, he was promoted as the 2D concept artist and chief artist of the company. After his resignation from this company, he became a freelancer artist and has created lots of fine art for international game companies and publishers.

He started playing Warcraft III in middle school and World of Warcraft since 2006. The beauty of Nagrand, the rain of Ashenvale and the guild he established, all of these makes him a passionate fan of Blizzard. In 2008, he applied for the drawing competition about the Lich King. Although he didn’t win a prize, this very opportunity opened a door for us to see his unique art.

Next, a member of our Chinese community team sat down with Yanmo Zhang to share his stories with us. Here’s the translated interview:

Q. You are really a productive artist in foreign and Chinese communities, so you must be a passionate fan of Blizzard games, can you tell us your stories?

I started playing Warcraft III in middle school. It was funny that at first the only tactics I knew is Archmage’s water elements and footman rush. And in 2006, I became a player of WoW, my first character was an Alliance but slain over and over again by horde players, so I made up my mind and set up a horde Shaman. After that, I created my own guild called ‘暴怒（Rage）’and used 2 years to make it the fourth best guild in my server. I have started playing StarCraft II and Diablo III in college to this day, and of course the newly launched Hearthstone.

Q. I see, you are a veteran player. So when did you decide to create art of Blizzard games?

It was not only the game itself which attracts me, the art style in each game attracts me more. I still remember my first time in Azeroth, the background music, the stories, every leaf and every stream, all of these made me think, how did those artists in Blizzard bring such life and epic feeling into a game.

Q. But it is not every player has the ability to express his own world by drawings, so how do you do that?

When I was 4 or 5, I liked painting everywhere, so my parent bought me a large blackboard and lots of chalk. My father was a Chinese painting artist and he bought me a book as well. Once, when my parents were out, I tried to imitate art from the book out of boredom. And when they came back, my father was shocked and got me a great teacher the next day. I was a grade 4 pupil and others were high school students. The teacher didn’t want me at first, but my father gave him the picture I imitated. Then the teacher looked at it for a while and said：‘Ok, let’s give me a try.’ My father came to pick me up in the evening and asked how did it go, the teacher said that I was a genius and he took me in. He’s really a great teacher and taught me a lot.

It was a very hard experience but I won’t give up.

"12 Years Old"	"14 Years Old"

Q. So it requires both talent and hard work. Can you tell us about your first Blizzard fan art? Does it mean something special to you?

It was in 2008 and there was a drawing competition about the Lich King here in the China area. A friend of mine taught me how to use software like Twistedbrush to make CG art. At that time I didn’t have Wacom bamboo so it was all done by mouse, it was really hard for me.

This was my first art about Blizzard games, although I didn't win the contest, it still means a lot to me.

"My Work in 2008"

Q. Maybe it was this competition that caught other players’ eyes. Can you tell us which one is your favorite among all of your works?

My favorite is "The Fallen Soul" which I created for Cain’s Corner (a Chinese DIII Fan-site) to unveil Reaper of Souls. It was inspired by the ice breaking post of Diablo III in 2008.

This picture was reported on and used by many international Diablo III fan-sites and websites. It made a great impact in both foreign and Chinese communities. One of the European fan-sites even used it as the background of Reaper of Souls counter.

"The Fallen Soul"

Q. The Fallen Soul is very famous. You also have many fascinating illustrations . For example “Martar the Not-So-Smart.” What’s the story about him?

I was lucky and was chosen to participate in a Chinese community contest for the design of “Martar the Not-So-Smart.” I decided to represent him in a casual way and gave him a very short story:

Martar the Not-So-Smart was holding a gun hunting for animals, suddenly he found his target and used a magnifier as his aiming scope. However, his target turned out to be a hornet hive. You can imagine the rest.

And luckily it was adopted officially.

"Martar the Not-So-Smart"

Q. Last but not least, as an experienced artist, what can you share with us?

Keeping creating and thinking, always learn from those masters. I only sign on my works when it’s 100% complete. Even if I found a mistake on that work, I won’t fix it. The last step before completion, which I call it the Final Step is very important to me.

Usually from this step, you can learn a lot. To review the whole layout, to do some minor adjustments etc. It takes 2 to 3 hours or even 1 to 2 days. Completion is not the end, it’s your responsibility.

"Fordring vs. Arthas"

"Tyrael"	"Varian Wrynn"	"Pandarian Mage"

"Raynor"

"Arthas"	"Arthas"

"Deathwing Comes"

"Whitemane"	"Run!"

"Keep Going"