Glenn Rane, an artist formerly with Blizzard, posted an image last night on his Instagram showcasing the art that was supposed to be used for Fire Mage Jaina.
Quote From Glenn Rane After two years, I’m finally able to post this one… Firemage Jaina created for Hearthstone. This one was meant to be the alternate hero artwork, but the HS team decided to go a different direction. Prints available at glennrane.com
Here is the full art that never made it into the game by Glenn Rane.
Ultimately, the Hearthstone team decided to go in a different direction with a different piece of art created by James Ryman, a freelance artist who has also been a long-time contributor to the art of Hearthstone. The older piece of art isn't as fiery as the one we received in-game, though it has more detail and a background filled with awesome cannon towers. Personally, I do think the simpler appearance of the Fire Mage Jaina we received works better with Hearthstone, but love them both for different reasons.
Here's the full art for Fire Mage Jaina as seen in-game for comparison.
If you love the "original" version of Fire Mage Jaina, Glenn has prints available in his shop for $20 USD. James Ryman also has prints in his shop, though the selection of Hearthstone prints is much smaller and does not include Fire Mage Jaina at this time.
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Comments
Its spicy what? :)
He clearly has tremendous talent, though I think this piece hardly does him justice. I think the chosen pose is perhaps too ambiguous which is why we have the 1000 win portrait Jaina as we do now.
That does not look like Jaina at all. I can see why blizzard didn't go with it.
Why are her fingers on her right hand so pointy (in both versions)? Looks unnatural.
She wears a black and red metallic gauntlet on her right hand.
Wow, I never appreciated all of Glenns work together before, be sure to check out his website.
Some incredibly iconic pieces, he's been a huge part of the Warcraft universe, so cool that he's still working on it in 2020. :)
On a side note, funny to see the old un-nerfed boob Jaina on his website!
I personally prefer the in-game version but this one is very raw and wild
Looks like a guy. Both versions suck tho.
is there wrong with her neck alignment? seems a bit off in regards to her waist and upper torso. anyways, both arts are good, but this one seems more hardcore and serious where the one that they implemented is more lightoned as per HS theme so i understand
Looks like Jaina if she was secretly a black dragon, especially with the fire dripping through her fingers like lava more than normal fire. It's a great bit of art, though I agree with Flux that the one we ended up with works better in HS.
metal
The alternate art is cool and I like the Kul Tiran background, but she looks more like a black dragon in human form than a Fire Mage IMO :P. I can see why they went with the chosen art.
Aww shucks. I was so sure no one would write a comment about her looking like a black dragon while I dawdled on the wording. Have a +1 for beating be to it :)
This is another perfect example of why I'd like to see options of seeing the full artwork of heroes. A perfect time for this would be the challenge screen just before you see which cards to toss back for your first hand.
Alternate Art is pretty cool, but not digging the purple/black streak where her original blonde should be.
Glenn Rane's art is perfect always. Every time I think "Wow this looks amazing" it's him.
Not that most other HS artists are bad, I love most of them and follow on every social media I use.
Glenn Rane is easily one of my favourite artists. Though that isn't why he was spotlit today for record's sake.
Some of his earlier work with World of Warcraft was The Burning Crusade box art and the Lich King Key Art which are both amazing pieces. Then of course, one of the most iconic pieces of all time, The Lich King which was done for WoWTCG and made it into Hearthstone.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/m956Y
Also a huge fan of Wei Wang (I have a huge 56 CM x 120 CM of this piece)
Wow, I like the alternate art way better