At the tail-end of formatting the Duskbirds zines – indulged briefly earlier with some imagination-drawing anatomy-practice with my sylvari reaper. I think I’m slightly more comfortable drawing torsos from imagination now.
I need to do more neck studies in the future.
Ended up adding a bit more to this Cerus painting I originally sketched during the launch week for Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure – which launched on August 23, 2023. According to the filename, I did the original sketch on August 29, 2023. I have a vivid impression of the starting parts of this expansion. There was an introduction scene with Cerus I was particularly enamored with. I was intrigued by the darker direction this expansion began with, and I remember having the immediate urge to draw Cerus’s formidable presence with my reaper main.
That drawing was technically always unfinished. I happened to see it again yesterday, and I was reminded of what I wanted to fix with it at the time. Which I told myself I’d do at a later date.
I ended up painting it a bit yesterday for fun, and I think it is nearing a more finished state. I don’t think I’ve posted the full composition anywhere yet. I want to do so when it is finished. In the meantime, above is a sneak peak crop showing how it’s looking now. While below is the original sketch from during that launch week, in 2023.
Bit of “sketch-painting” I haven’t posted in a while! I wanted to try a few techniques I haven’t used in a while. Mainly just the combination of a very soft and harder brush.
It’s Lorcan, my sylvari druid in his ‘Untamed” elite spec form.
Taller crop (Edit March 12, 2026: Slightly updated version). The full composition is full-body, but this one was fairly unplanned, and I’m not sure the full composition is worth furthering. I titled this post “work-in-progress” as it wouldn’t take me that much longer to refine the smaller crop, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do this.
Also, I hope it’s obvious his waist area is covered by foliage. What is the point of my drawing those it if it ends up looking phallic either way! Haha. Well, in any case, I’ve been thinking lately about how artistic nudity used to not be considered so “risqué” as it is today – really old posts on this blog include artistic nudity back when that was widely understood as not titillating.
Slightly earlier version of the taller crop in the full post:
Commission for Skylark finished for this past Valentine’s Day, as a surprise gift for their partner! Above is the mesmer virtuoso, “Tarcisio Chiavetta,” who is Damedarosa’s character! (Names mentioned here with permission.)
Above and below are detail crops.
Process sheets below!
For this piece, we began with a general range for the budget. I was given a fair bit of artistic freedom, and I offered to draw a series of thumbnail during the initial sketches, across a range of complexities within their budget. This way, the client could choose the idea which both appealed to them most, and matched their desired budget. The original sheet lists quotes underneath each thumbnail idea, which I’ve omitted here for the client’s privacy.
First-round revision after the sketch idea was chosen.
Here is blocking out the background more before the painting stage began.
And here is the finished piece once more! This illustration has two versions – a “mesmeric magic” version at the top of the post, and this version above which places the focus more on Tarcisco’s figure.
Thanks so much again to Skylark for this commission!
March 4, 2026
