As with any real-life portrait, all the magic begins with the Photo Shoot. Unfortunately, character poses are limited to the animation of the emotes or spell-casting, so multiple screenshots are required to get the right "unique" pose.

Sometimes it can take nearly 100 screenshots in order for me to have enough to work with.

Screenshot 4

Screenshot 17

Screenshot 36

Next, the character is taken to what I like to call "The Chop Shop."  This is the part where I evaluate all the screenshots and piece them together into a unique pose you don't normally see in game.

Here, you'll see Amrod in his new pose - a pose you will only find at the Art of Azeroth!

Next is where I give the character a face-lift. I clean up the edges, blend the pieces together seemlessly and adjust colors so that all the pieces of armor match. I typically get the character to about 90% polished in this stage, leaving the final polishing until the end.

After that, I find a good background scene to place the character in. I take into effect the character's pose, his attitude and his background before choosing the perfect background image. Sometimes though, even the background image can be a combination of different screenshots (even from different games).

Now we come to my favorite part :)  For the next few hours, I carefully add the special effects and give the portrait multiple rounds of polish. I dig into every nook and cranny, paint new details and fix bad pixels. It's the most rigorous part of the process, but also the most rewarding.

Amrod takes a trip to the hair salon.

His hand surges with magical power.

His weapon comes to life. Can you say Legendary?

Click above to see the final version of Amrod