Practice drawing from today I spent a little more time on than I meant to. This is also another construction drawing from memory to practice my recall and mechanical understanding, which I’ve always needed to improve. And what I hope I’ve improved a bit somewhat this year!
Other than construction practice, this is also practice for Corveil’s hairstyle. His hairstyle hasn’t been consistent for a while, but recently (within the past few months) I think I’ve decided on something like this. I need to draw it a few more times and from a few more angles to see if it works. The main thing is I want to give him slightly longer hair, but when combined with his outfit/what i have in mind for his character, it’s a balance between what I want to draw versus not making him look foolish, haha.
Here I’ll begin logging all of chapter 3’s page previews! This is mostly for myself, because it was convenient having a single post with all of chapter 2’s page previews I ended up posting to socials. It saved a lot of time having that post to reference for posts to more than one platform (because I am still stubborn about not using bulk posting tools). I also wouldn’t have been able to be as diligent with alt text otherwise.
It always surprises me how much time these small posts to socials sometimes end up taking me – having this sketchblog to reference this year has made it so much more manageable. One of the reasons why I’ve been able to be more active this year, compared to some years prior.
Plus, I think it’s sorta nifty seeing the chapter at a glance, after the chapter finishes and all the previews will be below.
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 2, page crop
The second half of this two-page chapter-opener spread!
Next Monday’s page has a mild advisory for violence. It is nothing graphic, and doesn’t go beyond what you’d see in a Star Wars movie.
I’ll mention this again for page 3’s update, but wanted to give a heads-up viewer discretion advisory. I’ve also added content descriptions for “fantasy violence” and “suggestive themes” to the comic’s existing PG-13 rating (at the top of this index page). It’s important to me that you have a general sense of what to expect in the comic, and are not unpleasantly surprised by something unexpected (of course, I do aspire to pleasantly surprise you!).
Thanks as always for being here, and I hope you’re enjoying Chapter 3!
Next page on Monday. Enjoy your week and weekend, and the first day of October!
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 3, panel crop
As mentioned in the previous update, mild advisory for violence for this page. Again, nothing graphic or beyond what you’d see in a Star Wars movie. But please use your discretion, as it might be considered a little more intense than previous pages.
Next page on Wednesday!
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 4, panel crop
I’ve been anticipating when I could finally show this page! Malyck brings up a few points here that I was eager to portray in the comic.
I suspect the point he mentions in panel 3 might be a smaller detail within the wider scope of things – but it’s one that’s important to me within the comic’s context. I always knew I wanted him to address it somewhere.
Malyck’s choice words for “Nightmare Commanders” is also one of the more overt indicators this is a headcanon story – it’s a very old callback to the original concept art Caryln Lim created during Heart of Thorns development! In those artworks, what we know as the “Mordrem Guard Commanders” in the canon story, were described as “Nightmare Court Commanders” in those earlier concepts.
Next page on Wednesday!
*Edit: Made slight touch-ups to this page later during the same day.
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 6, panel crop
This page touches upon one of my favorite fan interpretations/speculations – the one involving Trahearne’s “last order.”
The way the canon story treats this event always left me wanting more exposition. Possibly because, during the lead-up to Heart of Thorns’ original release, a few fan theories were floated around. A certain one lit up my imagination, and has remained my headcanon ever since!
There have been a few hints this chapter about which theory it is. I’ll be curious if you can predict it!
Next page on Monday, enjoy your week/end!
*Edit: Made slight touch-ups to this page later during the same day.
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 7, panel crop
With this page, I have to remind you to please trust me that I admire these characters – whatever I put them through, there is intent behind it that will have payoff later. This will (hopefully) be clear when reading the pages together. I really only have to note this now because you can’t yet turn to the next page.
Speaking of, next page on Monday! Enjoy contemplating what the next page might be until then. ;D
Tomorrow is Heart of Thorn’s 10-year anniversary! 10 years we’ve had to wonder what happened to Malyck! When I began the comic early this year, I did not realize 2025 was HoT’s 10-year anniversary. I realized after starting. As I continued drawing, it felt quite fitting. This comic, among other things, is an expression of the fondness I feel toward that original expansion, and all involved in its development – and drawing it during its 10-year anniversary year seems an appropriate way to celebrate this!
*Edit: Added edits to this page later during the same day. I had forgotten to add Trahearne’s thorns! I was enjoying drawing his pose too much, perhaps. ;p
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 9, panel crop
Advisory for sylvari “sap blood” this page. If you saw the previous page, this likely isn’t surprising. In my opinion, the depiction leans more “artistic” than “violent” – but as this is subjective, please use your discretion for your personal comfort level.
Next page on Wednesday!
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For Heart of Thorns’ 10th anniversary last Thursday, I also made two things to celebrate – both related to this comic! A Trahearne and Malyck 2D animation, and a small addition to an earlier page of the comic, which I remarked I might do back over the summer. I haven’t mentioned I added this addition anywhere yet – a little mystery, but I’ll mention it soon. I applaud your diligence if you find it earlier!
*Edit: Touched-up this page later during the same day – I had less time this weekend than expected. I also had trouble cropping this one in a way that worked for socials, while also not spoiling the page. I ended up taking some extra time to clean-up parts of the art underneath the speech balloons hidden in this crop. I normally don’t do this, because thinking of the speech balloons as part of the page helps me to think of the page as a “comic page” and not an “illustration,” if this makes sense.
But I’m pretty proud of this page, and I think it’s an important one for the comic, especially after page 8. I think it warranted a little special treatment!
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 10, panel crop
Aha, the return of the “fan speculation/theory” mentioned way back on page 6 ‘s update for this chapter, last month on Oct 15! (The link there goes to the archive for that page’s update, if you’re curious to read it and compare with today’s page.)
Next page on Monday! I hope this slightly longer chapter has been pleasant to read compared to the two earlier chapters – it’s certainly a pleasure having an excuse to draw even more Trahearne and Malyck this year. :D
Similar to the November 12 update, two preview crops to archive here. The version featuring both of them would probably be more ideal, but I was shorter on time for this week’s pages, and don’t think this panel is refined enough to show on its own as a preview crop.
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 17, panel crop
A question I’ve always wondered, and that I like to think Trahearne wondered, as well. I wish we could have seen him learn the answer.
The potential for what was teased in Heart of Thorns’ launch trailer seems to live rent-free in my mind at this point. :p (If you’re not clear on what I’m referring to, watch the opening lines of that 10-year(!) old trailer after reading to the final line of this page, especially coupled with the previous page 16.)
Next page on Wednesday!
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 18, panel crop
This page references one of my absolute favorite quotes from the game – said by Cadeyrn to the Pale Tree:
“Let me destroy the tablet, and we will see what it truly means to be sylvari.”(Source: “Dream and Nightmare”)
I tried with the original “destroy,” but “smash” seemed to read more naturally for this page when I read it back to myself. But let me know if the difference distracts you. I was between the two, and am open to changing it if the difference detracts!
Next page on Wednesday. Happy December!
*Edit: Added slight touch-ups to this page the same day. I couldn’t resist adding a little more to Cadeyrn. :p
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 3, page 20, panel crop
I have a different announcement today. I was hoping I’d be able to continue the update schedule until Chapter 3’s conclusion, but I unfortunately have to put The Harbinger’s Path on a short hiatus until January 2026.
You can read more in the full announcement post here, but I’ll list the main points below.
Updates are tentatively planned to resume January 19, 2026.
This hiatus is for page updates, not page progress. I will be drawing the remaining pages during this hiatus. These next pages are more complex for me to draw, and they need more time than I unfortunately have available this month.
I’m very sorry about this hiatus, but I’m confident this additional time is the best decision for the comic to maintain its quality (and hopefully, your enjoyment!).
Thank you so much for reading The Harbinger’s Path this year! Truly, it means the world to me.
Please look forward to Janaury 2026 to find out what happens next with Trahearne & Malyck!
In the meantime, enjoy your holidays, Wintersday, and New Year’s! I’ll still be around on my sketchblog and socials during this time, and you are also welcome to email me about the comic if you have questions or feedback!
*Edit: Added various touch-ups the same day.
*Edit December 10, 2025: First-pass touch-ups (added Malyck’s beard).
And we’re back, happy new year! These next updates will cover chapter 3’s conclusion.
Also some exciting news! The Harbinger’s Path is getting a limited print run for Manga Ichiba this Fanime 2026. More in the sketchblog post if you’d like to learn more here.
This concludes Chapter 3! Click forward on page 26 for an “author’s note” about my next plans for The Harbinger’s Path, and my next comic project. I’ll also write a summary below:
What’s next for the comic? And future plans:
The Harbinger’s Path: Limited Print Run
My main focus for The Harbinger’s Path right now is editing it for print until the book is finished (which will be by May 2026 at the latest).
This includes formatting all 3 chapters/55 pages (current pages were only intended for web), adding general touch-ups to the art, and creating bonus material.
If you’re interested in a print book, there’s an interest-check poll sent to those receiving Email Updates. The poll link is also currently sent to new sign-ups.
The Harbinger’s Path: Future Comic Pages
After the print book is finished, I’ll have a better idea for what I can do next with The Harbinger’s Path.
If you already receive “Email Updates” or the RSS feed, you’ll be conveniently notified when there’s something new!
Nightmare’s Embrace Mini-comic
While I’m formatting Harbinger’s print edition, this is the next comic project I plan on drawing! It involves my sylvari oc’s, and is smaller in scope than The Harbinger’s Path. I’ve been eager to try practicing a few things learned while drawing Harbinger in a shorter comic story.
*Edit: Slight touch-ups the same day.
*Edit February 3, 2026:
Chose a different cropping for the preview image. Added both above!
I’ve been meaning to send out a mailing list email this week for this upcoming chapter (planning to sometime today), and I also had the random idea last night (or this morning?) to try drawing a small graphic for the mailing list, in general. This would need a lot of refinement, but jotted down the quick concept – it’s my sylvari reaper, Landis, sending off his “Mini Oxidecimus the Shadow Raven” with a tiny letter affixed to its leg, carrier-pigeon style. Maybe I will try to finish this sketch for Halloween – this is my favorite mini from the game, and it’s part of the annual Halloween festival starting next month.
I also feel like sending a few work-in-progress images for chapter 3 of the comic to the mailing list today – these will just be for the mailing list for now. And, like Landis sending out Oxidecimus, this email to the mailing list will go out later today!
I have this sketch of Malyck I drew last year, which I thought the composition might look interesting, and which I just haven’t had a chance to get around to doing more with it since. Largely because I since decided to draw a comic with him instead of doing more paintings, haha.
I would still like to finish this drawing at some point, though – indulged myself a bit this week and worked on it a little more. Just a portrait crop, for now.
I might not have posted the original sketch here – I wasn’t using this blog last year – just in case, here’s the original sketch below:
I will also show 2 bonus crops at the end of this post – one that I posted yesterday on Bluesky, and a bonus version here with color flats added.
Bluesky Censorship
Though before showing the images, I want to briefly mention the widening scope of censorship currently going over on Bluesky. This isn’t something that has only happened on there – it’s been a recent occurrence across several platforms in recent years. Most notably, for this year, are the Itchi.io and Steam bans. But before then, it was Patreon and Gumroad, as well as others. Bluesky, however, is a little unique in it is one of the most far-reaching among these recent censorship pushes.
These are important topics to me, but (at least, for now) too wide in scope to broach entirely in this post. I’d want more time to word everything properly, as it’d likely be an essay’s-worth of words, if I tried and tackled it now.
But what I want to note about Bluesky for the time being, is something I thought about posting there – and maybe I still will, depending on how this week goes, and if the admins there react to the backlash or not.
What I want to say is this:
General thoughts on the widening scope of censorship in recent years
Some years ago, it used to be widely understood that if you wished to protect the art you like, you must also defend the existence of the art you dislike – or even find repulsive. You are free to be disgusted by anything, not look at and filter it, and move on.
It was when people began forcing everyone to censor anything uncomfortable that lead to where we are now. Where multiple platforms are widening their scope of censoring artistic expression, which used to be widely understood as a key aspect of what it even means to be human.
Social platforms have spent years inciting the dehumanization of their own users toward themselves and each other. These recent censorship crackdowns are a reflection of this. Platforms would prefer censoring expressions of sincere humanity, in favor of the most banal visual products, aka “content”
Bluesky specifically
With that, I’ll just write what I posted there, with some expanded thoughts since I am not limited to a wordcount here (I’ll link to the social post itself afterward, if you’d like to see the original, much shorter thread):
Practice drawing from today I spent a little more time on than I meant to. This is also another construction drawing from memory to practice my recall and mechanical understanding, which I’ve always needed to improve. And what I hope I’ve improved a bit somewhat this year! 
