Emerald Dream Owl: Q'onzu - Dave Greco - Senior Visual Development Artist
Q’onzu was one of my favorite pieces done in the visual realization of the Emerald Dream. I wanted to create something that really showed ancient wisdom and power. I pitched this idea from a few initial sketches and the idea caught on fast. This final design had some amazing collaboration from my character team peers, and I am super happy with how it came out.
Aurostor the Hibernating (World Boss Concept) - Dave Greco - Senior Visual Development Artist
The Emerald Dream world boss concept was an idea I wanted to try where the entire environment formed into one large being that stomps around the zone. I love the idea of bark and rock crashing into each other… and when the dust settles, a large bear appears.
Nymue, Weaver of the Cycle Concept - Daniel Hiew - Character Artist
Emerald Dream Post Card - Gabriel Gonzalez – Lead Visual Development Artist
The Emerald Dream has been an ancient realm of balance where not much ever changes. With this image, we wanted to capture the feeling of the new world tree as symbol for change and hope for the future, as well as a bridge between the realms of life and our world.
Emerald Dream Bear (Creature Concept) - Bernardo Cristovao – Senior Character Artist
The main question we asked ourselves in approaching all Emerald Dream creatures was “How can we get as many ‘forest’ elements (like roots, branches and leaves) into the design, whilst making them feel like they belong there?”
In this case, we ended up using leaves for the mane in a way that blends naturally with the flow of the fur - as if, in a way, they are all the same element.
Emerald Dream Stag - Antoine Dupuis – Character Artist
When concepting a new form of stag, we thought it would be cool to have the creature with antlers that would intertwine like tree roots or branches.
Emerald Dream Faerie Dragons - Dave Greco – Senior Visual Development Artist
This creature is a Faerie Dragon re-imagined: larger, more ancient. We’ve had Faerie Dragons in World of Warcraft for years, so it was a ton of fun to try to scale them up into a much older, thicker version of itself. I wanted to show in the concept that they are still whimsical and fun, and still showcase a ton of personality.
Emerald Dream Moonkin - Shawn Witt – Senior Artist II
This was the first Visual Development task I was given was to explore the lifestyle and cultures within the Emerald Dream. This included Moonkin - the shapeshifting form taken by balance druids -which happens to be my preferred specialization of my main WoW character. I came upon the idea of stacking stone cairns being a pastime of the Moonkin. This alludes to their environmentally friendly culture and their history of the balance druid shapeshifting form, as well as providing a fun visual juxtaposition between the hulking form of the creature paired with the delicate nature of stacking stones.
Emerald Dream Amirdrassil Seed - Forrest Imel – Senior Concept Artist
This concept was created during the blue-sky visual development phase of trying to figure out what the platform for the raid encounter, Central Seed of Amirdrassil, would look like. Our challenge was to find a platform for the encounter that feels like we are in the heart of the tree, but still feels vibrant and fantastical. The idea of the shelled layers of the blossoming seed being actual platforms players stand on for the encounter was something we all gravitated toward.
Emerald Dream Firelands Portal - Forrest Imel – Senior Concept Artist
The Firelands portal was super fun to explore! Early on, we were a little uncertain as to whether players would enter the portal, or if Druids of the Flame would simply come to you, so there was a lot of early exploration. The juxtaposition between the Firelands and the Emerald Dream made for a compelling moment, and it felt important to show how much they were impacting the Dream and its structure.