In a tweet this evening, Hadidjah Chamberlain, the Lead VFX Artist on Hearthstone, announced their departure from the team. They remain at the company working on another project.

Hadidjah Chamberlin Card Image

We've transcribed the image statement that was included in their tweet down below.

Hadidjah joined the team back in 2016 as an FX Artist before moving up to Senior VFX Artist two years later, and finally, Lead VFX in April 2019. The most recent public appearance from Hadidjah was on the September card back design stream with Luke Mancini where they helped answer viewer questions about the various design processes on the team. 

You've very likely encountered Hadidjah's work if you've been playing Hearthstone, whether it was creating all the "enter play" effects from the Knights of the Frozen Throne Death Knight playable heroes, the Volcano animation which was "pretty much exclusively" created by them, or the Means Streets of Gadgetzan pack which was the first pack they got to work on. We were very lucky to have a member of the Hearthstone team be active within the community whether it was answering questions on Twitter or writing walls of awesome on reddit which detailed things such as why the animations have gotten so much better in Hearthstone recently.

Thank you Hadidjah for communicating with the community, teaching those that were interested, and overall being a positive force.

You'll be missed, but never forgotten. Good luck with the new project and see you in the tavern!

Quote From Hadidjahb

From the bottom of my heart, thank you guys.

Recently, I left the Hearthstone team to join another project at Blizzard. I'll talk about that another time, because it's super exciting - but for now I want to talk about how much I'll miss Hearthstone, and say thank you.

I've spent much of this year focusing on my mental health - something I've struggled with my whole life but generally tried to 'tough out' - and in doing so I've realized I need to take some very big, scary steps back to be able to focus on really, truly bettering myself.

There is no part of Hearthstone that's easy to leave. I love helping to make a game I care so deeply about. Many of my best friends, my chosen family, are on this team, and working with them has always been both a privileged and an absolute joy. And being able to interact with a segment of the community as passionate as I have here, to learn as much as I have from you guys and get to b become friends with some of you, has been a truly unexpected and daunting honor. I am, in so many ways, so much better for having been a part of Hearthstone.

And it's an incredibly, heartbreakingly hard thing to walk away from. But I owe it to my friends, my team, and myself to be better.

The VFX artists that remain on Hearthstone are nothing short of amazing, and even with as little as I had to do with any of their development or art, I'm incredibly and undeservedly proud of them. If your favorite effect is from Rise of Shadows or later (or if it's Gral, which it should be), I can basically guarantee it was made by one of them. If you've marveled at  how much better the VFX have gotten lately - that's their work. The game's VFX couldn't be in better hands.

Thank you for letting me be a part of such an amazing game, team, and community. There are many people I still hope to meet, and I hope when we do meet or even just hang out next I'll have a lot more joy to offer you.

Until then I'll see you online just another patron in the tavern.

Hadidjah in Announcement Trailers

Hadidjah made quite a few appearances over the years in Hearthstone media, and had the opportunity to lead the Saviors of Uldum trailer last year.

Hadidjah in Developer Talks

Hadidjah was also present on the Art of Hearthstone Comic-Con panel back in 2018. It's a great listen for anyone interested in this sort of stuff!

They were also on a panel at GDC in 2017 alongside Riot Games' Jason Keyser.