Blizzard Announces Diablo 3 - Reaper Of Souls Fanart Contest WInners

Following a multi month contest leading up to the launch of Diablo 3's mildly anticipated expansion called Reaper Of Souls, Blizzard has finally announced the top three entries of the fanart competition. The competition attracted 3,619 submissions, which were wittled down to twenty five semi-finalists before these three were selected. While the quality of all these pieces is top notch, there's one thing that all of these had in common. Highly symmetrical compositions with centered protagonists.

After browsing some of the semi-finalists I was a little surprised that they didn't go with something with a little more dynamism to it. On the flipside, centered compositions do represent stability, perhaps a nod to the fact that these warriors are steadfast in the face of overwhelming odds. The winning entries were New Evil by Kuzinsky Andrey, which shows a Barbarian coming back with a trophy of felling Diablo, only to realize something is amiss..Again.

Among The Dead by The Rafa features one of Reaper Of Souls' new characters getting ready to face off against death himself (Called 'Mathael' because lore). The subtle, implied ethereal wings pay homage to the fact that Mathael is a fallen angel himself.

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Out of the top three, Fist Of Conviction by Korean illustrator Yong Jun Cho was my favorite, showing off a monk reacting to the presence of the force of death near him. Using the numerous candles around as a means of silhouetting Mathael's presence, it's probably the most creative piece out of all of them, as well as wonderfully atmospheric.