Multiple sources has already reported this, like StarCraft 2 Forum:

Brian Morrisroe, the lead Diablo 3 Art Director apparently quit last week, according to a statement released by Blizzard to game blog Kotaku. The announcement comes on the heels of criticism from Diablo fans about the style of the new game’s art, but according to Blizzard Morrisroe’s disembarkment is unrelated. Blizzard also stated that the game art would not be changed and that they “are pleased with the look and feel” of the game, and it won’t change after Mr. Morrisroe’s departure.

Still, the timing of the event leaves one to wonder if the Diablo community has offended. Blizzard is now seeking new talent at the Art Director position. It doesn’t look like they’ll have a tough time of it.

Regarding Brian, he recently resigned to form a startup company “outside the game industry”, which is why we posted about the open position. That change won’t impact the game…we’re really pleased with the look and feel that Brian helped create for Diablo III, and the new person we bring aboard will work with other artists on the team to maintain the art style moving forward.

IGN managed to get an interview with Leonard Boyarsky, the game’s lead world designer, on the importance of lore in the game and the decision to give the character classes voices, among other things.

Australia,  July 24, 2008 - BlizzCon is likely to be the gaming world’s next chance to see some more on the highly anticipated Diablo III, but to tide you over just a little, we had a quick chat with Leonard Boyarsky, the game’s lead world designer, on the importance of lore in the game and the decision to give the character classes voices, among other things.
IGN: What do you do as the lead world designer, and what have you worked on in the past in that respect?
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My HKW friend Luzbel raises a interesting question regarding a possible change in Diablo 3 and its art…

Just read an article in yahoo! about the uproar several fans are causing due to the “colorful” and “rainbow brite” aspect Diablo 3 was presented with. Seems there’s even a petition page complaining about the game graphics being too colorful that has already gathered OVER 50 THOUSAND signatures! (And those are only the 50 thousand that know they can sign a petition online, or that take the precious time to fill it).

Blizzard is currently looking for a graphic designer… and the stuff in the parenthesis seems exactly what they would need to do to modify the current aspect of Diablo III. Who knows? Maybe the Diablo community was indeed displeased with the game presentation. For what I’ve seen on the forums at Battle.net, the longest debates don’t revolve around excitement, but concern about the graphic quality of D III being “too WoWish”. I’ve read some people even worried there’s such a “stupid class like the witchdoctor”, and on top of that they didn’t even like the clothing of the character…

The official Diablo 3 website has updated their website with some new graphics. Its 3 new pieces of artwork, 2 new screenshots and one new wallpaper.

On diii.net Flux has taken time to organise a series of replies posted by Bashiok on the battle.net forums which answer a few questions, but also raise some more. Here is Flux’s summary:

Bashiok only made one post on battle.net today, but he used it to cover a lot of ground. I’ll briefly summarize the questions, while quoting his answers in full:

How can other characters get over that broken bridge the Barbarian leaped in the WWI gameplay?

	Blizzard Quote:
	While the crumbling bridge could be taken quite literally, it was intended to get the idea across that Diablo III will have more interactive and responsive environmental hazards. Of course if such obstacles existed in the way they were displayed every class would need some way to proceed. At this time we aren’t announcing any additional class abilities though.

Is the Tristram dungeon shown in the demo a dungeon we’ll see in the game?

	Blizzard Quote:
	It used the same “tile set” as the Tristram Cathedral dungeon including a specially made entry room. It was a static and specifically crafted dungeon especially for the demo, so yes it includes the look for Tristram Cathedral, but it’s not a true piece of the game as you would play through it.

What will the remaining characters be? New or returning?

	Blizzard Quote:
	Hey, are you kind of kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Who pesters the magician to tell you his tricks? Who sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents? Nooooo… of course you’re not. That’s why I’m noooot goooonna teeeeell yoooou!

No class-specific equipment?

	Blizzard Quote:
	What I said was: “… we don’t plan nor have any armor items at the moment that are class specific - although the bonuses and stats may be better suited to a certain class - anyone can pick up any chest/shoulder/leg/etc item and wear it. However, there are some weapons/off-hand items that are class specific.” No changes to this yet, there just weren’t any drops that were class specific. We essentially “hand placed” every drop that happened in the video. We knew people were going to dissect and scrutinize every detail, and everything that drops in that video was purposefully and specifically chosen to be dropped… everything. Fun fact: I played as the female barbarian for the recording.

The decapitation by Siegebreaker in the demo; in the game or just a special for the demo?

	Blizzard Quote:
	Well the way we imagined the final fight going down when thinking about the flow of the presentation was to have a few heroes killed off, and thought it would be cooler to see someone get ripped in half by a giant demon than just fall down. While it was an event made for the presentation it could definitely be worked in to the actual end-product. We try not to spend time on anything that can’t be incorporated in some way. If there’s a mockup or some cool flavor added in somewhere to show something off, we want to build it so that it can actually be used.

Are outdoor areas random or static?

	Blizzard Quote:
	They’re for the most part static. With the outdoor environments we felt we could get a lot more out of them by crafting large and visually impressive scenes, which random map generation really just doesn’t allow for all that well. By that same token one of the main goals with Diablo III is to flesh out Sanctuary, to make it feel more like you’re in this living and breathing world. With towns shifting around everywhere you do sort of lose a sense of cohesion, and an attachment to the places you’re visiting. On a very slight technical note - for random map generation you’re essentially creating a bunch of rooms that can all fit together in various ways. It works quite well for a dungeon which is essentially a series of rooms any way. For an outdoor environment though it tends to make it either fairly bland, or fairly linear just by how the edges have to line up. You’re either running zig-zag patterns to find the map edges, or you’re running down a narrow pathway. Neither are extremely compelling, and at the same time you’re losing the visual grandness that could come from a fully hand-crafted and artistically realized environment. That said, the outdoor areas aren’t completely static.

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