we've always gone for the same sort of goals: we try to keep everything over-the-top, over-proportioned, and really colorful, then we add in as much 'comic factor' as we can." The Pandaren race in the Warcraft universe are also a Didier creation, a result of his personal enthusiasm for pandas. Among other things, panda icons also appeared accompanying much of Didier's art, and could be seen in Warcraft III as the emblem on the Night Elf demon hunter's glaives, his name is written in the Paladin's book, when he casts a spell, and an unused Icon and two Models have the face of Didier's face, visible only in the Map Editor. In Starcraft II there is a multiplayer portrait, containing a "Panda Marine". Music Swedish heavy metal band HammerFall frequently turned to Didier for album covers from 2002 to 2009. Didier created the album covers for all of their studio albums in this period (Crimson Thunder, One Crimson Night, Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken, Threshold, and No Sacrifice, No Victory) as well as for five other releases (the 2002 EP Hearts on Fire, the 2005 EP Blood Bound, the 2006 EP Natural High, the 2011 single Send Me A Sign, and the 2014 single Bushido). Didier also created the cover art for HammerFall lead vocalist Joacim Cans' 2004 solo album Beyond the Gates. Didier is the lead vocalist for Elite Tauren Chieftain (ETC), a band composed of Blizzard employees. ETC has performed at several BlizzCons, playing songs based on Blizzard games. In addition their appearances in Blizzard games, their song "I Am Murloc" was released as DLC for Guitar Hero III. In turn, the Heroes of the Storm character E.T.C. is based on the band, as well as the Hearthstone cards E.T.C., God of Metal and Elite Tauren Chieftain. Writing In 2017, Didier published an illustrated book of short stories, Grimbeard: Tales of the Last Dwarf. He is the author of the fantasy novels The Last Winter (solo) and Strange Highways (as co-author to Micky Neilson), as well as an illustration guide, How to Draw Mythical Monsters and Magical Creatures. Several Blizzard art books also include commentary from him. Bibliography References External links Samwise Didier gallery on ArtStation Samwise Didier gallery on DeviantArt Samwise Didier art on Instagram Samwise Didier art on Twitter 1971 births American art directors Blizzard Entertainment people Living people People from Tustin, California Video game artists