well no it's not exactly freehand... I used a screenshot as a base for proportions and then did a painted layer over the top. I don't think screenshots of models look good as icons, they need to be hand drawn to fit in with the rest of warcrafts icons. At the same time tho I wanted to keep it looking as much like the model as I can, and it's much faster and more accurate to work off a good reference layer. If you check out the skin you'll see it's more then just a CnP