The character artists on Diablo 2 per game credits:
Phil Shenk (Lead), Michio Okamura, Kelly Johnson, Chris Root, Michael Dashow, Bob Steele, Cheeming Boey, Evan Carroll, Eric Sexton, Anthony Rivero, John “The Kid” Kubasco, Kris Renkewitz, Patrick Tougas, Ben Haas
Many of you have no doubt already seen a ton of work by these guys so there is some stuff added from recent twitter feeds or portfolio work. They’re pretty prolific - this is just a sampling from the bolded artists above. Enjoy!
Kelly Johnson
“Of the many elements that made the “Diablo” series a success, Kelly’s contributions need to be at the top of the list. It isn’t just the incredibly memorable characters he created which made his models and animations iconic - the Paladin, the Fallen, Deckard Cain, the exasperating midget Fetish - it was the passion and gamers’ sensibility he brought to the overall design which made them classic. Other games may try to steal his ideas - “tanking” Paladins, defensive auras, component monsters - but they’ll never succeed at capturing the style and wit which animated them in every sense of the word.”
“We were offering two fans the opportunity to get their names into the game. The names that won were “Deckard Cain” and something “Messerschmidt”.”
“At first we laughed at such a crazy name: Deckard Cain. We weren’t sure if it was made up or not. In any case, the name grew on us, and by happenstance, came at a great time, right after we identified the need for a narrator-type [character] to drive the story along.” -Erich Schaefer
“With the storyteller’s name set in stone, all that was missing was the storyteller himself. Kelly Johnson, by that time finished with his work on NFLPA Superstars, eagerly volunteered.”
“Erich Schaefer said, “We need a guy in town who’s going to be a storyteller.” The only thing I was told was, “He’s a storyteller.” A lot of times we just went off a word. We’d get a word or two that described what Dave, Max, and Erich wanted, and they trusted us to come up with something. And we did.” -Kelly Johnson
Cheeming Boey
“Cheeming Boey is a Malaysian artist of Chinese descent. Primarily known only by his last name Boey, he is best recognised by his illustrations on foam coffee cups, his daily webcomic I Am Boey, and his autobiographical graphic novel When I Was A Kid.”
His art on styrofoam cups:
His book:
His awards:
Phil Shenk
Shenk was lead artist working on Amazon and so on.
Amazon per the original crew was described as Nordic with pale skin-tone, i.e.:
He seems to have done all the the class characters in the B&W manual:
Signed hero cards that MrLlama got:
“Shenk’s name lives on in Diablo II, given to the monster Shenk the Overseer.”
Michio Okamura
“Michio Okamura is a computer game developer and artist. He was the lead artist for the popular computer game Diablo, and senior artist on Diablo II. He designed many of the game’s characters, including the title character. He is currently the art director for Rumble Entertainment.”
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“He designed the original Diablo and most of the monsters.”
Anthony Rivero
On Diablo II, Rivero worked on Druid, Mephisto, Giant Mosquito, Death Mauler, Tentacle Beast and so on.
“This is where I was originally headed with the Druid. Much more savage and raw. Probably should have stuck with that angle.”
“Ok, ok, here’s the most ridiculous lycanthropy design ever. I found it! Wings are busted but enough info here to see this was headed to the trash bin. Feast your eyes on this! Druid bird form!”
Giant Mosquito
Michael Dashow
Worked on the sorceress and so on.
“As was his customary approach, Erich supplied Mike with a few descriptors to get him started. A female magic user, Egyptian in appearance, and wielding mastery of fire, lightning, and cold, the disciplines that would comprise her three skill trees.”
“This older piece was done for a CGSociety Challenge, the theme for which was "Strange Behavior.”
“Chef Demetrius Gumbo, master of New Orleans cuisine. Hope you like it spicy!”
“My final painting for Comicon’15, the theme for which was to fuse two super-heroes. Here them is my mash-up of Hawkeye and Hulk: The Incredible Hulkeye!”
Evan Carroll
“From 1998-2005 I worked at Blizzard Entertainment (Blizzard North) as a character artist. My responsibilities included concept art, 3d modeling and animation, third party merchandise (action figures and film), and motion and print graphics.”
