I bought the collectors edition when I was into WoW when it came out and I have the Art Book that came in it. The book is actually pretty damn sweet. Even if you just forget that it's "WoW" and look at it as a Fantasy Art Book it kicks ass. From an artistic perspective I'd have to say some of it is indeed "Stylized". I did a lot of art and was in some shows in high school but when I went to college I aimed for getting my AA in Comp Sci and let my art dreams go by the wayside. Sometimes I regret that decision even to this day and wonder how far I could have gone with my art had I the time and inspiration to keep it going throughout my life.

@Uga-bugga

Talking about Diablo. Are you steaming knowing how Diablo 3 graphic looks like now? Using old games graphic (like Fallout, Commandos, etc) to compare with recent games has flaw in it argument. You still need to take account about game engine limitation. But character concept wise, you are not far off though.

You should post graphic screenshot from Dawn of War 2 while you at it.

No you were messing /w me.  D3 and Dawn of War do not have fuzzy bunnies with big googlie eyes bonnets and pink bows. Don't do that.  I was very concerned.

Honestly, some of the bigger considerations for developers to go "cartoony" are because it ages better and tends to be easier on the system requirements. WoW is almost a decade old now but it aged so well that it still looks good (in the technical sense, not necessarily personal taste). 

That's very true. I followed Borderlands pretty closely for a while during development and I was pretty saddened when they decided to go for the cell shaded look over the original gritty look they had to start with. Their main excuse for doing it they said was for "system performance". I think I read somewhere that was one of Bioware's reasons for doing SW:ToR like they are as well and I think they even mentioned because it would "age well" also.

I don't mind cell shaded or cartoon looking games if they're done right and not aimed at kids. There have been a lot of great cell shaded games over the last few years (No More Heroes for Wii). I do get annoyed though when something that could be incredibly cool if done in a realistic style gets cartoonified if it's something I'm really looking forward to.

Thephrase "Starvng artist" is a misconception that is tossed around a lot. On that note I have ultimately seen it tossed onto the painting community, I have never really heard the phrase being applied to the 3-D community, or even the animation community. On that note, I say it was a misconception because around the time that phrase started springing up, a lot of artist simply tried to make money off their painting, in this day in age it is not the case seeing how an artist can easily get a part time job, while trying to get their name known in whatever world they want to be in. Even with that said there are thousands of factors that can be influenced that so so called starving artist really, it could be anything from the fact that they have literally ruined themselves in the art community, to the point where there work just isn't meeting a standard. There are even techniques and lifestyles that veteran artist have written to help young artist come up to avoid the "Starving Artist" Cliche.

Of course you don't need to be making money to call yourself a artist? Many people have different views on what it takes to be a artist. Alot of people just thinks its painting/drawing what you feel. I for one don't go with that, as you know and understands the theories behind creating whatever piece, whether this be naturally or technically, you are a artist. With this said, everyone knows how to draw, we are all just on different levels, you don't learn how to do it, because you never forgot in the first place.

Sorry to be the barrier of bad news, but there is nothing wrong with photo realism, in fact its easier for the audience to sympathize and be on the same level of a photo realistic character than a stylized one. Especially in this day and age when stylization has become nothing but either A. the same graphic anime type where every sing character has the same4-5 body types and nothing realy changes, or B muscle anatomy is exaggerated beyond belief.

Wait, what the hell are you talking about? Whether fantasy or shooter, sports or whatever whether it is stylized, cartoon, or photo realistic as long as there is a good story and DECENT GAME PLAY WTF would it matter anyway? The difference between me and you right now is you are only looking at games, I am looking the whole entertainment art populace.  One of the many purpose behind stylization in the first place was because it was easier to animate, and even in the world of 3-D this remains to be true. One thing I respect photo realistic fantasy games for is the fact you have to create what doesn't exist and make the players believe that the creatures anatomy is so believable that it could exist. While this is not always true in stylization there is nothing wrong with a game being made in either, nor a film for that matter. The thing i can't stand about 90% of fantasy games, the majority are stuck in this Celtic ....European, or whatever you want to call it world where it revolves around the same crap. Elves, mages (i love all forms of spellcasters and dragons), and all that other stuff like thats the only fantasy in the world.  Now you can counter argue that sci fi fantasy doesn't follow this trend, while I will emit I am not a sci fi fan, I still see the same trend it follows, especially art wise. I can actually go into it but I have spent too much time not drawing already.

I've gotta say that I agree with Steven here- I like the art style. But, I do wish my Sovereign's avatar wasn't so thick around the waist. Food is supposedly hard to come by, but my guy looks like he eats McDonald's twice a day!

Elemental's world seems drab becuase the colors are mostly 'boring' earthtones... just like a desolate, dessicated landscape would be.

Would be nice if reclaimed land (or/and  cursed land)  became more colorful, and the buildings, etc were, too.

I believe Blizzard initially went for the "cartoony" look because that requires very low polygon game models, consequently enabling a wider range of customers since everyone can run the game, not just people with top rigs.

Since then, the style has caught on, not in the least because of the massive success WoW enjoyed. Developers (or at least managers of publishing companies which pay their salaries) seem to think that if it looks like WoW and plays like WoW, some of that magic will rub off and there will be plenty monies to be had.

Yeah, you do that.