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Samwise Didier is an American artist who was one of Blizzard Entertainment's first artists and, for three decades, the main author of its bold, comic-book art style. He joined the company in 1991, art-directed Warcraft II, StarCraft and Warcraft III, set the look of World of Warcraft, named the Warcraft series, and created the pandaren. He retired from Blizzard in November 2023.
Joining Blizzard
Didier was working as an usher at a movie theater when he saw a newspaper ad that, as he later put it, said only "make art for video games." He brought his sketchbooks to the office of Silicon & Synapse, the company that became Blizzard, and was hired the same day. He started on December 1, 1991, and stayed with the company for 32 years. In a 2012 interview he said he had never worked for another game company and never wanted to.
His early art appeared in The Lost Vikings, Blackthorne and Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. He was a producer on The Death and Return of Superman and Justice League Task Force, art director and producer on Warcraft II, and art director on Diablo, StarCraft and Warcraft III, where he also helped write the concept.
According to Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham, Didier named the series. During a lunchtime brainstorming session before the first game, he shouted out "Warcraft," the name of one of his Dungeons & Dragons characters, which he had meant as the opposite of "witchcraft."
Art style and World of Warcraft
Didier described the Blizzard look in 2004 as over-the-top, over-proportioned and colorful, with as much comic-book flavor as possible. He traced it back to an orc enemy in Blackthorne that the artists liked so much they reused it for Warcraft's orcs. That style, with its huge shoulder pads and bright palette, defined Warcraft III and carried straight into World of Warcraft. Warcraft Wiki credits him with drawing many of the icons used in Warcraft III and World of Warcraft, and he provided voice work for both games. When he announced his retirement he signed off with the advice "Always draw big shoulder pads."
His face also appears in World of Warcraft's game files: it is the default icon for spells and abilities that have no icon of their own, which players can sometimes spot in the cast bar of quest NPCs.
The pandaren
Didier's best-known creation is the pandaren, the bear-like brewmasters of Warcraft lore. The idea began with his love of pandas: his brother once called him a panda bear when he meant a polar bear, and "Panda" became one of his nicknames. He often draws himself as a pandaren and slipped panda emblems into his art, including on the night elf demon hunters' glaives in Warcraft III. The pandaren first appeared in Warcraft III as a joke race and became a playable race in the 2012 expansion Mists of Pandaria. Their culture and weapons drew on samurai and Hong Kong martial arts films, both favorites of his.
Music and writing
Didier is lead singer of Elite Tauren Chieftain, the heavy metal band made up of Blizzard employees, in which Mike Morhaime plays bass. The band has played at many BlizzCons, its song "I Am Murloc" was released as downloadable content for Guitar Hero III, and the in-game band The Tauren Chieftains is based on it. Its frontman in the game, Samuro, is named after Didier, as is the blademaster Samuro of Warcraft III.
Outside Blizzard he painted the album covers for the Swedish metal band HammerFall from 2002 to 2009, starting with Crimson Thunder. He has written the illustrated story collection Grimbeard: Tales of the Last Dwarf (2017), the novel The Last Winter, and Strange Highways with Micky Neilson, as well as a drawing guide, How to Draw Mythical Monsters and Magical Creatures.
Retirement
Didier announced his retirement from Blizzard on November 10, 2023, after 32 years. A few days later he said he would still do some freelance work for the company.
In-game tribute
[[forever:npc:16226]] is a dwarf of the Brotherhood of the Light who appears in the Eastern Plaguelands in patch 1.11 and gives the quest [[forever:quest:9165]]. He holds a sword in one hand and a leg of mutton in the other, and tells players not to be afraid of the sword because it is the mutton that gets you. If the mules in his care are killed, he worries that "Metz," meaning [[forever:npc:16212]], will have his hide, a nod to Didier's longtime colleague Chris Metzen. Warcraft Wiki notes that the guard's name refers to Didier.
Sources
Categories: Developers