Mr. Jack hired by Blizzard

Sorry to steal Webnet's thunder, but sc-source is reporting that Mr. Jack recently became hired by Blizzard. Anybody that's familiar with his work surely has an appreciation for his talent and how cool his depictions of many SC units are. This should end up being a great addition for Blizzard, and I'd like to congratulate him for this wonderful opportunity!

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html...83732&sid=3000
http://www.starcraft-source.com/arti...s/view/?id=341

Hell, its about time.

Amazing!!!!!!

http://starcraft.incgamers.com/galle.../Ultralisk.jpg

http://www.misplaced.net/stfu/srsly.jpg

Ten bucks says we see his zerg illustrations in the manual.

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Originally Posted by DemolitionSquid

Hell, its about time.

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Seconded.

I've always liked his artwork. I'm glad to see that Blizzard has hired him.

Speaking of art, this has inspired me to start working on making coloured StarCraft art. Now if I could get my computer and tablet...

Divine Justice man...

Finaly! His art style fits SC way better than anything Samwise make.

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Originally Posted by KadajSouba

Divine Justice man...

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Estuans interius
ira vehementi
Mr. Jack

That is nice to hear :)

I'm just wondering does anybody maybe have a link to more of his artworks, maybe on Deviant?
Thanks.

http://mr--jack.deviantart.com/gallery/

Nice! His drawings are excellent!

Edited: Well, DemolitionSquid beat me to it.

That Lurker and 'alternate' Infestor are just the best - and those Ultralisks are already classics. However, this far down the road, I have to wonder what they are going to put him to work on exactly - and if they have any big graphical changes in mind. (?)

They most likely hired him to do artworks for Diablo3, he made some great Diablo pics :D
Or for the next secret project?

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

They most likely hired him to do artworks for Diablo3, he made some great Diablo pics :D
Or for the next secret project?

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Hes working on SC2 according to Webnet.

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

They most likely hired him to do artworks for Diablo3, he made some great Diablo pics :D
Or for the next secret project?

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Oh right....those games. In all my SC2 zeal, I forgot they do other stuff too. :)

EDIT: Yeah, I see what you mean; the Andariel is really good.


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So...
Why the Hell wasn't he on the team in the first place?

My first post here, hello i'm the lurker hydropillow ;)
Seen mr jack's work recently and was wondering why he wasnt in blizzards art team yet!
Good to see a talent join them, mass props and love to see him stun us with his hard work!

I really believed it was only a matter of time until this happened :P.

He seems like a cool guy, and I look forward to seeing his stuff in future official Blizz media :D.

I guess this explains why he's been relatively quiet with the SC art on his devart account :P.

My guess is that Mr. Jack will invent new zerg strains for Hearth of the Swarm. :)

Starcraft 2 delayed 1 more year so Mr Jack can work some of his magic.

I REALLY hope he gets to work on SC2 expansions.

I just hope they get him to work on the Roach Warren and the Spine Crawler.....Like...stat.

His Lurker model would work out pretty good.

Yeah same, I hope they hired him ‘cause of his zerg work (and that they really needed to boost the zerg because IMO right now it fails)

Yeah...
I doubt any of the "Core" zerg units would get revamped, but I would love to see him rework the Lurker and the Baneling.

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Originally Posted by Quirel

Yeah...
I doubt any of the "Core" zerg units would get revamped, but I would love to see him rework the Lurker and the Baneling.

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Wtf is wrong with the Baneling? If any unit needs to be redone, its the Brood Lord again. If its going to evolve from the Corruptor instead of the Mutalisk, it should look the part.

Finally, REAL NEWS!

And not only that, the BEST SC2 news in a long time!

I really hope he makes Zerg the living, thriving, terrifying swarm it can be... and FAST!

I'm trying to figure something out.

Mr. Jack draws pictures, yes?

So here's a question: how do you expect someone who does no modeling, texture work, shaders, or animation to, "[make] Zerg the living, thriving, terrifying swarm it can be?" Because it seems to me that the commentary against the state of the Zerg is focused on, you know, the modeling, texture work, shaders, and/or animation.

You can draw all the concept art you want. It still must be filtered through modelers, texture artists, shader programmers and animators. All of them have specific needs and limitations on what the final product will be. Concept art is the beginning of the process, not the end. And, particularly for an RTS game where each polygon and shader is precious, it's not even the most important part.

Just base your models off of his concepts. He doesn't necessarily need to do the work himself.

Good news indeed, I bet they did hire him to fix up the Zerg. Hearing this kind of this makes me want to start drawing :P

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

I'm trying to figure something out.

Mr. Jack draws pictures, yes?

So here's a question: how do you expect someone who does no modeling, texture work, shaders, or animation to, "[make] Zerg the living, thriving, terrifying swarm it can be?" Because it seems to me that the commentary against the state of the Zerg is focused on, you know, the modeling, texture work, shaders, and/or animation.

You can draw all the concept art you want. It still must be filtered through modelers, texture artists, shader programmers and animators. All of them have specific needs and limitations on what the final product will be. Concept art is the beginning of the process, not the end. And, particularly for an RTS game where each polygon and shader is precious, it's not even the most important part.

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You do realize everything starts at concept right?

hope he starts working with the terran units right away.

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

I'm trying to figure something out.

Mr. Jack draws pictures, yes?

So here's a question: how do you expect someone who does no modeling, texture work, shaders, or animation to, "[make] Zerg the living, thriving, terrifying swarm it can be?" Because it seems to me that the commentary against the state of the Zerg is focused on, you know, the modeling, texture work, shaders, and/or animation.

You can draw all the concept art you want. It still must be filtered through modelers, texture artists, shader programmers and animators. All of them have specific needs and limitations on what the final product will be. Concept art is the beginning of the process, not the end. And, particularly for an RTS game where each polygon and shader is precious, it's not even the most important part.

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Hidden Content:

[youtubehq]d2YiXVjPG0E&autoplay=1[/youtubehq]

Dang, he even makes the Scourge look extreme.

That's one thing I am VERY pleased with Blizzard for doing. They are making very good decisions as far as their hiring process goes.

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Just base your models off of his concepts.

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The particular point I was trying to make is that, just because you draw something doesn't mean that that's what it gets to look like in the game.

His "concept" art isn't intended to show what a model would actually look like. It's just nice pictures of Zerg stuff. Actual concept art needs to live at least somewhat within the restrictions of what can actually be done with the game.

If you draw more detail than the model can show, for example, then you're giving the modelers and texture artists poor concepts. The modelers and texture artists will have to do a lot of interpretation to get the model into the game. The result will probably look worse than it would have if you stuck to details that can actually be seen rather than ones the others had to cull.

I'm sure he'll make a fine concept artist for Blizzard. Just don't expect the Zerg to get a new set of models or textures over the next 6 months. And certainly don't expect for the Zerg art direction to drastically change to look like what he has on his website.

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You do realize everything starts at concept right?

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*cough* "Concept art is the beginning of the process, not the end."

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

I'm trying to figure something out.

Mr. Jack draws pictures, yes?

So here's a question: how do you expect someone who does no modeling, texture work, shaders, or animation to, "[make] Zerg the living, thriving, terrifying swarm it can be?" Because it seems to me that the commentary against the state of the Zerg is focused on, you know, the modeling, texture work, shaders, and/or animation.

You can draw all the concept art you want. It still must be filtered through modelers, texture artists, shader programmers and animators. All of them have specific needs and limitations on what the final product will be. Concept art is the beginning of the process, not the end. And, particularly for an RTS game where each polygon and shader is precious, it's not even the most important part.

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Nicol is right. In-game models won't necessarily become magically cooler by bringing in a person who does 2D artwork alone and who doesn't do 3D work. One prime example is the Stalker. Initially, the 3D model for the unit looked pretty bad despite having a reasonably good concept art to base off.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/st...SC2_Cncpt1.jpg http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/st..._SC2_Rend1.png

Now, I'm not saying Blizzard hiring Mr. Jack was a pointless move. However, his impact will not likely be as great as some are making it out to be. Instead, I suspect he'll mainly do stuff like official art, etc.

I don't think Blizzard took a look at his drawings and decided from there to hire him.

And I refuse to believe that someone that talented at 2D drawings lacks the ability to convert them into fully functioning 3D models.

Sweeet

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Originally Posted by Totzlol

I don't think Blizzard took a look at his drawings and decided from there to hire him.

And I refuse to believe that someone that talented at 2D drawings lacks the ability to convert them into fully functioning 3D models.

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I will agree with this one.