Ben Thompson, the first artist to be brought onto the Hearthstone team 11 years ago, has confirmed that he left Blizzard shortly after BlizzCon last year. He set the artistic style for Hearthstone and became the Lead Artist when more artists joined the team.

Prior to joining Hearthstone, Ben worked on the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game as its Art Director and also contributed over 70 illustrations to Magic the Gathering distributed over 20 sets. After Hearthstone launched, Ben was promoted to the team's Art Director and was promoted once more to Hearthstone's Creative Director in August 2018.

This news was discovered by Imik and was confirmed in a series of tweets.

Quote From Ben Thompson

I actually left the company two weeks after BlizzCon last year and just didn’t make a big exit of it. I miss the team and of course the game as I saw it as my child after 11 years, but it was time to hand the reins to others and try something new again

The leave was discovered via the Descent of Dragons logo that Ben uploaded to his ArtStation profile with the following description.

Quote From Ben Thompson

The third and final logo for the trilogy of sets brought good and evil into direct conflict, fighting over the bones of an ancient evil (the hint of which can be seen in the skull at bottom center of the design). This logo was bitter sweet as it would also serve to close out my tenure with the Hearthstone team and the game that had come to mean so much to me over the last decade.

Notable Hearthstone Works by Ben Thompson

Here are some of the most iconic pieces created by Ben Thompson. You should check out his ArtStation profile to see more.

Curse of Naxxramas Game Board

Quote From Ben Thompson

While the team would go on to make many amazing boards in the subsequent sets, the Naxxramas board would be my last board that I was responsible from beginning to end. The Adventure had so much personality that we felt that a tonal shift for the board was important to help visually set the stage. As a result this was the first time we made major changes to the lighting and overall color scheme for the board. Besides, it really makes the slime glow! Many iterations were given to those spider eggs to assure that they weren't TOO disgusting…

Older Card Backs - Classic, Legend, Diablo, & More

Quote From Ben Thompson

The card backs in Hearthstone were always among my favorite things to work on. They were also one of the very first things a new artist on the team would tackle as even a single card back provided immediate insight into the design sense, surface treatment, proportions, color and lighting in the game as a whole. There were always specific foundational design beats to hit consistently across every card in the game, but once these were addressed it was an amazing opportunity for each artist to express themselves within the game.

Rexxar

Quote From Ben Thompson

As a dedicated Beast Mastery Hunter in World of Warcraft it was a real pleasure to get to paint the hero art for Rexxar, the grandaddy of all hunters! I am only sorry that I didn't get to add his pet Misha to the piece…

The Coin

Quote From Ben Thompson

Originally this was intended to be a placeholder piece while we worked out the mechanic on the coin in game. Ultimately we kept the coin and the art along with it. As a result, I am pretty sure I am the only artist who can say that they have a piece of art that appears in EVERY game of Hearthstone!

Tavern Doors

Quote From Ben Thompson

The Load Screen of the game was intended to make the player feel as though they are walking into a friendly tavern at the end of a long day. This piece in conjunction with the Blizzard logo/tavern sign below helps to set the mood right from the beginning.