Hearthstone Cataclysm Concept Art Spotlight

We're now into the fray of the reveal season for the second set of the year, Escape from Violet Hold.

One of the most iconic parts of any card game is the artwork, and Hearthstone is absolutely no exception. It has thousands of artworks that have captured the hearts of all of us for ages. To close off the season of Cataclysm, let's look at some concept art that helped define some of the cards we saw in that set.

Sandfury Aura - Fuayan Tee

Which arm should be extended further? The left or the right? It took a couple tries before Tee finally landed on which one to use for Sandfury Aura.

Azshara's Triumph - Fuyuan Tee

At one point in consideration, the artwork for Azshara's Triumph used a red sky instead of the green one used in the final artwork.

Raincaller (Signature) - Fuyuan Tee

The signature artwork of Raincaller ended up being a complete reverse of the process of Azshara's Triumph, with a version with red and green sky used, but the red sky was the one used in the final artwork.

Magmaw (Signature) - Ivo Campelo dA Silva

Magmaw went through a few different color variations before ultimately going with version A. There were a number of different ways its appendages were laid out before going with version B.

Lo'Gosh's Land Stand - Dmitry Bolotov

Lo'Gosh's Land Stand had an interesting history. Version D appears to be a further iteration of version C without the elemental's arm but is otherwise exactly the same. At some point though, this was scrapped entirely and settled on version B.

Cho'Gall, Mastermind - Juan Calle

Cho'gall, Mastermind went through a number of fairly similar poses over the course of its development, the final artwork uses the one that bring his hammer to the front of the action.

Soldier of Cho'gall - Juan Calle

Just like his master, Soldier of Cho'gall went through a number of iterations, settling on the one that brings the corrupted side of his body to the front.

Armored Bloodletter - Juan Calle

Armored Bloodletter went through some iterations. The final art uses the one where the shell arm (I'm not a Warcraft person, so I don't know if that thing has a name) has the most physical impact.

Eldritch Tentacles - Juan Calle

Somehow I don't think the name Eldritch Tentacles really does much to distinguish it from other tentacles. There's quite a number of changes that happened over the result of conceptualizing the art. Notable is the fact that the third iteration depicts the victim as a much less humanoid dragon than what would be chosen for the final artwork.

Roving Sailor - Ira FirOy Fidler

We don't only have Constructed art though. We also ended up getting some art on the Battlegrounds side of the expansion. Here we see Roving Sailor going from a responsible captain to a drunk one.

Void Pup Trainer - Ira Firoy Fidler

The age old question again. Is Void Pup Trainer a leftie or a rightie? Or is he ambidextrous?

Assorted Artwork - Yewon Park

Yewon Park provided us with a bunch of concept art depicting Magmaw, Arisen Onyxia, Commander Geddon, and some other pieces to capture the aesthetic of the expansion.

Artist Credits

Links take you to the artist's main homepage if one exists. If they don't seem to have one, it will link to their ArtStation page instead.

• Fuyuan Tee

• Ivo Campelo Da Silva

• Dmitry Bolotov

• Juan Calle

• Ira FirOy Fidler

• Yewon Park