Category: Digital Painting

Caydren Paintover | August 4, 2025

Posted on August 4, 2025

“Spellweaver Caydren” | 2025 paintover of a 2017 painting.

Felt like doing another “paintover” practice of one of my older paintings as a warm-up today – which I inevitably spent more time on than I intended. I wouldn’t consider this a “finished” painting, but I’d considered it “finished” as far as its intended practice. :D

This is my “spellweaver” Nightmare Court sylvari from Guild Wars 2, who is one of the main characters from my not-yet-released “Nightmare’s Embrace” project (a future short comic, separate from The Harbinger’s Path Trahearne & Malyck comic). His loyalty to Nightmare is what the quote refers to – like Cadeyrn before him, he believes Nightmare represents the “true” nature of all sylvari, and that the Dream is a corrupting force separating all sylvari from their true selves.

The full version of the original in the full post:

Corveil WIP | July 18, 2025

Posted on July 18, 2025

Progress shot of Corveil from a longer painting. I have a few personal work paintings/illustrations that have been hovering at this ~90% progress state for a while. I keep telling myself I’ll finish them after I make some progress with the comic, but I’d like to try and figure out a way to work them alongside the comic, as I am becoming impatient with how long they’ve stayed in this not-quite-but-almost-finished state, haha.

“Impale” Work-in-Progress | March 21, 2025

Posted on March 21, 2025

Corveil and Arquel. Corveil stabs Corveil under a red moon. They are below an archway, greenery growing around them, with water streaming by their feet. — Corveil and Arquel

There seems to be a theme between this and the last post. Haha.

This was a sketch idea I wanted to jot down yesterday. I started trying out some vague decorative background ideas. Still deciding which way to take it. Other than the general pose, I didn’t plan the rest out. It felt nice to just scribble-wander for a bit. Backgrounds are secretly one of my favorite things to paint – but I oddly don’t end up showing too many here. Maybe that’ll change this year!

Initial sketch. Messy line drawing showing Arquel impaling Corveil. — Initial sketch.

There are some things about the sketch I like better than the current version – mainly the angle of Arquel’s head. The way it was changed probably reads slightly more clearly – I think – though I like the intensity of the sketch. That might also just be by virtue of being a sketch, though. That sketchy energy! Why sketching is still probably my favorite part of the drawing process.

Earlier background idea. The two characters float in front of a red moon. — Earlier background idea.

GW2 Illustration Work-in-Progress | March 19, 2025

Posted on March 19, 2025

Current version (in-progress). A forested scene with three sylvari characters and thorned vines winding throughout the background. One character stabs his Mordrem Saber through another character, while the third character summons thorns in the background. — Current version (in-progress) | From left to right: Caydren, Landis, and Lorcan

Had an idea with my sylvari characters I wanted to jot down! It turned into a book cover composition, somehow. It’d be reversed if I used it as one – but I mainly wanted to sketch my three characters together, since I haven’t drawn them all together in an illustration in a while.

The left character is my Nightmare Court elementalist, Caydren; the middle character is my sylvari reaper/necromancer, Landis; and the right character is my Nightmare Courtier ranger/druid, Lorcan (who has yet to have his outfit added).

My Nightmare Courtier ranger/druid’s favorite pet Iboga, which he affectionately named “Mordremoth.”

Close-up of two sylvari characters, a Nightmare Court elementalist piercing his Mordrem Saber through an uncooperative necromancer's chest. — Close-up of the current in-progress version.

Close-up of my necromancer before I begin adding sylvari features to his anatomy.

Geissler Concepts (In-progress) | March 11, 2025

Posted on March 11, 2025

Geissler design concept. A male kemonomimi character stands in a display pose. His color scheme is light browns, orange, and teals. — Geissler design concept.

I’ve been meaning to try some different designs for Geissler for a while – here’s a recent attempt! I’m not sure if I’ll finish this one, but it felt good to draw him again. The “in-progress” of the title refers to the design – he’s meant to have an accessory by his wrist, and probably sandals with some sort of leg wraps. But, since I’m not certain whether I’ll finish this drawing or do another one with the design, I wanted to post it as-is for now!

Geissler’s previous design was much more monochrome – essentially dark hair, dark or gray eyes, pale skin. I have a lot of characters with darker-toned hair – including the character Geissler is meant to foil – which is another reason why I wanted to explore a potential redesign. So, here I tried adding more color to him. In the image at the top of the post, I brought back some of that monochrome aspect, by darkening his hair and subduing the color contrast – which I’m not sure whether I like yet or not. Hopefully seeing it here on the blog will help me with deciding which fits him best!

Looking at him now, I sort of lean toward going with the lighter/redder tones.