Lorcan Loose Ref – Nightmare’s Embrace | June 11, 2026

I’m at the point while drawing “Nightmare’s Embrace” (which I’m realizing as I’m typing this I should create a webpage I can link to, so I don’t have to explain what it is each time) where I can’t rely on my haphazard mix of different ref screens and drawings of my characters – at least, not if I want them to maintain a minimum semblance of design consistency. 

I didn’t have a solid design for Lorcan’s outfit until now, because every time I’ve drawn him I’ve done so slightly differently. Which is acceptable for paintings, not as much for comic pages. This is a loose drawing tonight to figure out which design I want to use for him in the mini-comic. 

I’ve been able to get away with loosely defining everyone’s outfits so far, because the main features I’m up to for most of the pages is still the general poses/panel clarity. And aside from screenshots, this older painting from 2024 has been my main outfit inspiration for “Lorcan,” a Nightmare Courtier from the mini-comic: 

This is a cropped WIP for a Lorcan painting I don’t think I’ve posted anywhere yet, mainly because there are issues with it I’d ideally like to fix first. But this painting is the closest to what I’ve been thinking about for his armor. 

His armor itself is most heavily based on the “Nightmare Court Guise,” from the medium Twilight Arbor armor set. Of course, I did some modifications, mostly for my personal enjoyment (haha). 

My only potential reservation with his outfit at the top of this post is – during the main part of the mini-comic, Lorcan is a “recently-turned” Nightmare Courtier. He might look slightly too fancy, for being “recently-turned.” I think I can remedy this fairly easily by shortening some of the features of his outfit (mainly the waist skirts and forearm thorns/branches).

But I’ll try this version out first in the mini-comic drafts, and see how they look. 

I also started the ref by drawing Lorcan’s underlying anatomy first – I’ll add it in the full post below: 

Very loose drawings! I almost always begin drawing sylvari by drawing the human anatomy first, which you see on the left drawing. I then modify the human anatomy into sylvari anatomy, the above figure on the right. Then I drew the outfit on top. Lorcan’s design is intended as a combination of his underlying sylvari anatomy, combined with his “Nightmare Court” outfit sprouting out of his physique. This is one of my favorite parts about the sylvari lore and design, and it’s something I try and do whenever I draw sylvari characters wearing their cultural or Nightmare armor. 

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