Across the Timeways - Hearthstone Concept Art Spotlight

Art is one of the most iconic parts of any trading card game and also one of the most important since it easily distinguishes every card from each other and gives the cards their own sense of flavor. As soon as you see the artwork of a card, you instantly know exactly what it does before you even read the text because the art is a useful shorthand. It also fuels the fantasy of playing as whatever class you're playing, whether that be a spell-throwing magician or a brute that takes people down with their might.

The point is that art is important because it communicates so much and it's the most integral part of the immersion. The artwork of anything goes through many evolutions to reach the final product that it does before becoming the memorable piece of art that it usually does. This is why art books are so popular. With this in mind, let us go through the most recent expansion at the time of this article's writing, Across the Timeways, to see how the art of the cards evolved over time.

Each artist will be credited at the end of the article.

Anomalize by Stefano Spagnuolo

Anomalize went through two different designs. The finished card ended up using design B, but the magical aura around the whelp ended up being much different.

Azure Queen Sindragosa by Edgar Sánchez Hidalgo

Time-lapse video of Azure Queen Sindragosa in her Signature artwork.

Druid of Regrowth by Stefano Spagnuolo

Druid of Regrowth went through quite a few different iterations, though the final artwork ended up being most similar to design A.

Fatebreaker by Guillaume Beauchêne

Fatebreaker went through three preliminary designs before settling on the second one to use as the base.

For Glory by Dmitry Bolotov

For Glory! were quite a few iterations that swapped the positions of Broll and Valeera, but the finished design ended up using design C as a base.

Gladiatorial Combat by Dmitry Bolotov

Gladiatorial Combat went through a major overhaul with every design after A featuring the tiger being held in the air by Undefeated Champion, until finally settling on the first one, which features the tiger on the ground instead.

King Maluk by Juan Calle

King Maluk has three known preliminary sketches. The final artwork ended up using the second one as its base.

Mindflayer R'faam by Juan Calle

The freakiest of the Fabled Rafaam tokens, Mindflayer R'faam, ended up receiving quite a huge visual overhaul over the course of its design with the third one acting as the base for the finished art.

Precise Shot by Fuyuan Tee

Precise Shot, depicting Sylvanas alive and well as a ranger-general, went through two different poses and two different colorings during design.

Quel'dorei Fletcher by Fuyuan Tee

Quel'dorei Fletcher went through two preliminary sketches, with one of them featuring his using his teeth to make the arrows. It also went through two different colorations, with the finished artwork using the first design of both.

Ranger Initiate Vereesa by Fuyuan Tee

Ranger Initiate Vereesa ended up having two preliminary sketches, with the final design appearing to use the head of design A and the rest of design B. The idea of giving the whole artwork a purple hue was also considered at one point.

Tick and Tock by Guillaume Beauchêne

The Signature artwork for Tick and Tock went through a lot of iterations. - Nine to be precise, and some of them with much more dramatic backgrounds.

Tiny Rafaam by Stefano Spagnuolo

Here are two preliminary sketches for the tiniest Rafaam there ever was. Tiny Rafaam in his Signature artwork had two possible directions with the first one being used as base, whilst the finished artwork would dramatically change the shadow on the ground.

Troubled Double by Stefano Spagnuolo

Troubled Double had an alternate base design before settling on design A, though the additional details on the dagger found in the finished artwork did not exist yet.

Undefeated Champion by Juan Calle

Undefeated Champion in his signature artwork has three preliminary sketches, with the human opponent being gradually beaten worse and worse with each one that passed. The first design would be the one that would be translated to the finished artwork.

Cinematic Trailer Concept Art by Juan Gutierrez and Stefano Gil

Some concept art of the expansion's teaser trailer.

Artists

Links go to the artist's website if possible. If there isn't one, it will direct them to their ArtStation page instead.

• Dmitry Bolotov
• Edgar Sánchez Hidalgo
• Fuyuan Tee
• Guillaume Beauchêne
• Juan Calle
• Juan Gutierrez
• Stefano Gil
• Stefano Spagnuolo

What do you think about the concept art? Let us know in the comments below.