You can’t make digital art with a pencil, so no matter how technically challenged you are, you eventually find a way to transfer those lessons learned from unforgiving pencil and paper - to unforgiving Wacom and pen. Getting realistic textures into digital art is important for a hand painted feel, so mixing traditional and digital techniques whenever possible is a bonus. The textures on this guy were blocked out in Photoshop, then layered with hand painted acrylic textures to add depth, and finally finished in Photoshop. Also, a benefit of referencing existing art - I originally created this concept for the Nerubians in ‘Wrath of the Lich King’. We decided to go in a different direction, so I held onto the concept and dusted it off when it came time for the Mantid in 'Mists of Pandaria’. While most of the design veered away from this overall direction, the overlapping stomach plates were one of my favorite parts and eventually showed back up on the Mantid. His pecs also got much larger, but that’s mainly because the Mantid work out.