New t-shirt! Tree-shirt?

Craig and I recently did a road trip to Vancouver. We met up with yet another friend we met in World of Warcraft (five so far, three to go!) and to commemorate the occasion I made him this t-shirt! Being handy with silkscreening has its advantages :).

A little while back my work was featured on popular WoW news site WoW Insider. It showcases a bunch of the other Warcraft stuff I've done, as well as a lengthy interview about my process and how I came to be a freelance illustrator.

I mention in the interview that for my fan art creations I don't draw the designs (my freelance professional work is 100% me, though!), but I do fiddle with my reference images a good deal before they are ready for silkscreen printing. Here is the picture I used for this t-shirt. It's all about picking out the right lines and emphasizing the shapes to make sure it prints clearly, not to mention processing the screen properly so the design transfers well. Especially all those picky little leaves!

Here is a link to my Warcraft-related stuff.

I've done a couple non-Warcraft related t-shirts, to see those and more, click here!

Featured on WoW Insider!

Disclosure: I play World of Warcraft! Not as much any more, but in the good old days it was all about the raiding and the sweet, sweet, epic gear. I've even crafted my own gear in-game, but the best gear I've ever crafted has been a series of in-real-life Warcraft-themed t-shirts for my friends and family.

I have a tag on this blog for all of it, but I'm really excited to share it with fellow players on WoWInsider.com, the BEST site out there for Warcraft articles, commentary, and news. I've visited their site pretty much daily for years, which makes it even cooler that I've managed to get on there!

I also have some other video game art too.

Thanks to Anne Stickney at WoWInsider for the feature and for editing my wall o' text answers to her interview questions :)

Happy Birthday Emily!

So the birthday card I mailed to my sister on July 4th finally got there yesterday. It was domestic letter mail! Argh. Anyway, it's a little tribute to her mage character in World of Warcraft. She can conjure all types of tasty foods, cake being one of them. Pretty nice trick!

Sometimes I wish I could actually incorporate watercolours into my professional work, but I can never make it look quite right. One day...

Here is some more of my ridiculous Warcraft fan art.

Warcraft Paladin or... THOR!!

I mentioned earlier that my boyfriend plays a female draenei paladin in World of Warcraft. I even made him a shirt with his toon on it. So for another gift, I decided to do the Warcraft paladin logo. Some people interpret it as Thor's hammer, which also works!

Gnome Rogue T

I made this t-shirt for a gnome rogue our guild met online and then in real life! We totally did a guild meet-up with the five of us at an Indian buffet and it was so much fun.

I mailed this to him later for xmas (along with some xmas cookies) to thank him for meeting us and although he doesn't play Warcraft any more, we still keep in touch. In fact, I've met FOUR guildies who we initially met online in real life and they all turned out to be super-cool individuals. And we still do fun email chains and share life news. I never thought I'd enjoy the social aspect of WoW so much :).

xmas Warlock t-shirt

I designed this for my brother-in-law for xmas. He's an evil warlock! I printed it using opaque yellow ink on a navy blue t-shirt but unfortunately I can't find the pic anywhere.

So far I've made my boyfriend, sister, friend, and now brother-in-law each a t-shirt with their character on it. Strangely I haven't gotten around to doing my own :P.

Two Expansions Ago

I started playing World of Warcraft at the start of the Burning Crusade Expansion. Back then, the big baddy was a dude called Illidan and he had this pair of swords called The Twin Blades of Azzinoth. Getting on of these swords or the other, let alone the set, was the coolest accomplishment in the entire game. Very rare and hard to obtain, it was almost an honour to be cut down by these swords when another player had them! Their green glow and eye-catching shape and size are so distinctive that I think they remain the signature weapons in WoW.

World of Warcraft has since moved on to other evil villains and legendary weapons, but the warglaives will always hold a special place in my heart. Which is why when I stood in line to pick up Blizzard's newest WoW expansion, I was inspired to put my favourite weapons of all time on the back of a t-shirt.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has been lots of fun so far. But it is a little sad that the game world has changed so much and I'll always miss the way things used to be. Change happens and as Illidan used to say, "You are not prepared!"

Julia Minamata site/blog

Paladin!

Another t-shirt for the boyfriend, using a pic of his main toon. A female Draenei paladin. Yeah, I know.

mrrgluruglgurlglr

Thought I'd buckle down and post the other Warcraft-related stuff I've made over the years. In case WoW Insider actually posts my submission, I want people to have more to look at than the one t-shirt!

T-shirt I made as a gift for my boyfriend. Who can resist a murloc? No one? Didn't think so!

Anyone hungry?

I enjoy a bit of sculpting from time to time, here is a mage table I made for my sister.

Mage!

Here's a gift for my sister, of her mage main!

Save on airfare

I stared long and hard at the little hearthstone icon in the game. I wanted to make my sculpted version look as much as possible as the "real" thing!

Mage n' Lock silkscreen prints on paper

Here is a pair of World of Warcraft symbols I screenprinted for my sister and her husband, the mage n' lock as a wedding present. Getting the symbols to look good is actually a little bit tough because I grab the images off of a google image search and they're usually pretty pixellated and not that contrast-y or clear.

Each print is something like ten inches in diameter and nicely framed. They put these up in their computer room / WoW lair, along with this one. I think they add a nice pop art flavour to the room!

Mage n' Lock

Here is a present I made for my sister! I silkscreened it on paper as a poster. It's a bit hard to see stuff because I still haven't gotten the technique quite right on how to make the game graphics clearer, but still fun nonetheless!

She's a mage and he's a warlock and it's pretty funny because they are often wearing the same clothie dresses :P.

Mmmm, Bear Claws!

I've never actually eaten a bear claw. They sound good, though!

I cast flare

I'm not a big fan of World of Warcraft hunters, but a big ball of flare is pretty awesome.

Belated Valentines!

World of Warcraft has a seasonal event called "Love in the Air". Can't argue with chocolate and candies!

The ugliest hunter helm in the world

My boyfriend's first toon was a night elf hunter (yeah, I know. But I did pick it out for him, so it's partly my fault). Oh, the lovely Burning Crusade clown suits, the ugliest gear colour combinations known to mankind. And that helm. It really doesn't get much uglier than that. A weird technicolour dragon-fish? Does he work at a fast food restaurant?

This was his Valentine's card for 2009. He now rocks a female draenei paladin who stars in his "Love in the Air" themed 2010 Valentine's card!