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Wei Wang

This is revision 1, from Oct 29, 2026 04:23. See the current page.

Wei Wang, who signs his work "Glowei," is an illustrator who was a principal artist at Blizzard Entertainment until 2017. He painted much of World of Warcraft's best-known promotional art, including expansion and content patch key art, faction art and many trading card illustrations, and produced concept art for the 2016 Warcraft film. After Blizzard he founded Imagendary Studios, a game studio later acquired by FunPlus.

Joining Blizzard

Wang's route into Blizzard is often told as an example of the company hiring artists on the strength of their work. In a 2016 retrospective on Blizzard's 25 years, BlizzPro recounted how he approached Mike Morhaime at an event in China, showed him his portfolio and said he would love to work for Blizzard. He was hired and went on to become one of the studio's main illustrators. He was later counted as the eighth member of the Sons of the Storm, the collective of Blizzard artists that also included Samwise Didier, Chris Metzen and Glenn Rane. Engadget first speculated in 2009 that he was the group's unannounced eighth "Son."

Work on World of Warcraft

Warcraft Wiki describes Wang as the artist behind a large share of World of Warcraft's most recognizable official artwork, including expansion box art, the race leader loading screens and content patch key art. Works of his catalogued there include:

  • "Alliance vs. Horde," a battle scene between the two factions.
  • Burning Crusade era art, including Illidan Stormrage, Illidan with Kael'thas and Lady Vashj, and blood elves facing night elves and draenei, as well as the key art for the Black Temple patch.
  • The Lich King holding Frostmourne, used on the official site for Wrath of the Lich King.
  • "BattleCry," made for the game's fifth anniversary in 2009.
  • Key art for the Legion expansion, and a 2016 painting of Illidan on the Broken Isles.
  • Illustrations of Ragnaros, Jaina as Antonidas's apprentice, Genn Greymane and Grom Hellscream.
"Alliance vs. Horde," one of Wang's best-known World of Warcraft paintings
"Alliance vs. Horde," one of Wang's best-known World of Warcraft paintings © Blizzard Entertainment

He illustrated many cards for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, some of which were later reused in Hearthstone, and served as a cinematic artist on Hearthstone. He painted the cover of The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, the cover of issue 2 of the Curse of the Worgen comic, and illustrations for the second volume of World of Warcraft: Chronicle, including scenes of Ner'zhul and the Shadow Council and of Horde death knights fighting paladins.

For the Warcraft film, Warcraft Wiki, citing the BlizzCon 2014 film panel, credits Wang with much of the concept art, including an early concept illustration for the movie. A 2022 FunPlus press release summed up his Blizzard credits as covering World of Warcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Overwatch and StarCraft.

Wang's 2005 painting of Illidan Stormrage before the Dark Portal
Wang's 2005 painting of Illidan Stormrage before the Dark Portal © Blizzard Entertainment

Imagendary Studios

Wang left Blizzard on January 17, 2017, according to his own announcement on Facebook. He went on to found Imagendary Studios in Irvine, California. Sources give different founding dates: the studio's own press material says January 2021, while other reports say 2019 or 2020. FunPlus, a game company with offices in Shanghai and Irvine, acquired the studio in 2021 on undisclosed terms, and by early 2022 it had offices in Irvine and Shanghai, more than 100 employees and plans to hire about 100 more in North America. That year the studio hired former Blizzard composer Jason Hayes as its audio director.

In April 2024 Imagendary announced its first game, Astropulse: Reincarnation, a single-player science fiction shooter and role-playing game built in Unreal Engine 5 and planned as the center of a wider franchise of short films, comics and novels. The studio had already laid off staff the year before. In December 2024, PlayStation LifeStyle relayed a report from an artist on the project that the game had been canceled and the studio shut down; at the time of that report there had been no official announcement.

Sources

Categories: Developers

Last changed October 29, 2026: Written by QuestCore