Friday, April 13, 2012

Female Monk concept art vote

[:1]Update: Actual female monk revealed! Go ahead and vote for the fan versions here anyway; we'll run a vote next week with the official version vs. the top fan ones, and see which you guys prefer!



As you guys are surely aware, Blizzard has not yet revealed the Nun, AKA the Female Monk. We've not seen her in action or even in concept art, and with fans talking about her constantly, Blizzard asked fans to submit their original art designs for the character. Not as a contest, or with any idea of influencing the actual game devs, but just for fun, and to see who gets the closest to the look when it's finally revealed.

Nearly 40 drawings were submitted, all of which can be viewed in our image gallery. We looked through all of thsoe, and picked out the ones we thought were 1) the best looking, and 2) reasonable predictions of what the character would actually look like.

Beauty is subjective, but we do have a few hints as to what the character will look like.

There have been a few hints. The male monk is a big one; with his Western features and Eastern garb. Lots of the early fan submissions ignored his ethnicity and drew basically Asian females, but since the female Wizard is very Asian in looks, and the male Monk is European, that seems a more likely prediction. Here's a good look at the male monk:



Does this mean that the female monk will be just the same? A white woman with no hair. And a beard? The male monk in a dress? Let's hope not. Here are some other hints, courtesy of Bashiok:

[BLUE]Jan 21, 2010 -- the female monk got a haircut not terribly long ago. She's looking good. Much closer match to the concepts now.

Jan 25, 2010 -- @ddaimyo She's not bald.

Jan 25, 2010 -- She doesn't have long hair either. [/BLUE]

Here are the fan images we selected as the best/most predictive. Vote on your favorite, and comment why, or why not. You're free to make other suggestions as well, of course. We're going to use this thread to narrow down the options, and then we'll post the top 4 or 5 in a main page vote next week; assuming Blizzard doesn't go crazy and reveal her before then.

You may vote for multiple images!



#1: Kung fu pose: The best of the classic kung fu movie outfits, even with one of those Japanese pointed Pandaren hats, this was drawn by UF, then colored by Miraikage.





#2 White girl in a robe: KZ's effort very closely adheres to the "European woman in Eastern clothing" concept that the male Monk encourages.





#3: Girl in Monk's Armor: Another faithful adaption of the known clues was created by Aehbon. She borrows nicely from the male Monk's armor, especially that odd shield thing on his arm, and the bindi, veil, and hair jewels provide a nice Eastern touch.





#4: Bald is beautiful: HolyMane provided a nice pair of images, showing how the femonk could still look good while almost bald, or with attractive shoulder-length hair. Very functional, clothing as well, though probably too asexual for the Blizzard artists to settle for?





#5: Crazy colorful clothing: Laloo617's effort is one of the most colorful and dramatic, but it doesn't strike me as particularly predictive. Too many tassels and braids and loose pieces of cloth hanging around to be functional battle gear?





#6: Assassin returns in a robe: There's a reasonable argument to be made that the FeMonk is basically a D2 Assassin in a new robe, especially given that the Monk character class will have blanded "fist" weapons much like the Assassin's claws. GoliatGladius took this approach, but gave her blonde hair and a much different face, and I think the look works well.





#7: The Mage monk: This is a pleasing look by D3BN, but she seems more mage-like than a battling Monk. The male monk looks serene at times, but the Blizzard version isn't some peaceful warrior Dali Lama; he's controlled murder, as described in the official lore.





#8: Cloaked and determined: Knight Wolf turned out 3 versions of this outfit, with a variety of weapons and styles to her cloak and other garments. And he did them weeks before Bashiok asked for submissions to this nontest. His is a nice mixture of function and attitude, with a cute-but-determined face on top.





#9: Fiercest Expression: Though most of our evaluations were based on the clothing and overall style, faces mattered too. Some looked too soft and fragile, while others were hideously ugly. Of all the faces, this piece by Sergiof might have best captured the character's nature. Aggressive and powerful, but not raging.





Now scroll back to the top and vote. You may vote for multiple images!|||I'd like to see a very long pony tail, bound with rags but that she could add things to so she could use it as a weapon, like a whip. Or it could simply be imbued with magical properties that she could whip onto her target.

I would shortlist number 4, 6 and 8.

I like the build of 4 and I would even be happy if she were bald but with a long tail. Hair on 6 is good color, earth tones.

I think 7 is too modern looking.|||Awww... mine isn't here ...

I vote for number 2!|||I'm not a big fan of the facial features of #5, she reminds me of Janice Dickinson (I think that's her name) but the clothing is nice and long hair.|||This seems uncharitable, but I'm oddly gratified that no one is voting for #5. I disliked it personally, but I'm not sure why. The art quality is fine, but I found the face very ugly, and the whole design (not the art itself) unpleasant.

I included it in the 9 choices anyway, because it was technically proficient, and I figured maybe it was just me... guess not!|||i get you dude, number 5 doesn't even really resembles a monk, to many colours, and the weapon ,it somehow resembles me of some crazy Buddhist death godness ...the art is okay, dang i'm hell of regreting not putting more effort on those concepts

i 'll go with mine, number 6(i like the outfit in general) and 8(this one too ,but i must say the claws kind of sucks ,and red is alkward but i'll just pretend it is orange or something!|||I personally like the second and last one, and also the bald one. Even though the second one is a little too sexy imo, it appeals to me more than the others.|||Still 4 in style even over the official version of a female monk.|||I vote #3.

I love the official female Monk though. Which is great, since the male Monk is unplayably ugly.|||It is very good thread the images are the best sample of animation and graphics

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