Kim Jung Gi paints the Siege of Lordaeron in unbelievably impressive timelapse

One of the absolute most impressive displays we’ve ever seen out of BlizzCon was the surprise diorama depicting the Siege of Lordaeron. On top of winning a Guinness world record for the largest video game diorama, the display included more than 10,000 3D prints of actual in-game characters to show off the fight. It was an incredible sight to behold, and now we have another impressive work to marvel at: a painting of the event by Kim Jung Gi as well as a timelapse of its creation.

The real-life painting is massive — it easily spans several feet in height and double that in width. But there’s also a 1600×800 version available courtesy of Blizzard’s Korean World of Warcraft site. It’s definitely worth checking out in its full glory, and that applies even more so to the timelapse video. It’s mesmerizing to watch the work come to life, and it only becomes more incredible when the video occasionally slows down to show Kim Jung Gi’s individual brush strokes and shading techniques. You can watch the timelapse below or via YouTube.

Check out the timelapse of this masterful painting of the Siege of Lordaeron!

🎨 @kimjunggidirect pic.twitter.com/5wy5Gi2sWf

— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) March 20, 2018

This isn’t Kim Jung Gi’s first impressive creation — nor his second, third, or fourth — but it’s his first collaboration with Blizzard. His other works over a wide variety of scenes and subjects, and several are available on his YouTube page. What I found almost unbelievable was his method for creating his works.

On his personal website’s About Artist page, it says, “He has the ability to visualize the drawing before making his marks. With mental pictures, he can draw without a photographic reference.” If you’ve ever tried to draw something from a mental image, you’ve probably seen how much different your creation is than what you saw in your mind. With Kim Jung Gi, we’re getting that pristine mental image straight to the canvas.

I hope Blizzard works with him on more projects, if for nothing more than the fact that I’m fascinated with what sorts of scenes he’d be able to create from the Blizzard universe and his own — as he calls them — “visual resources.” If you want to check out more of his work, be sure to go to his YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages, as well as his website.