Tag: guild wars 2

Guild Wars 2 Speedpaintings | March 24, 2026

Posted on March 24, 2026

Speedpainting of a fiery charr surrounded by flames and wielding an oversized wrench-like tool over his shoulder. — Guild Wars 2 “speedpainting” commission

I’ve been meaning to occasionally update this blog with some art I haven’t posted here before! Starting with a few Guild Wars 2 Tier 3 “speedpainting” commissions from a while back. These are 3 of my favorites from 2023!

The other reason I wanted to post these is because I took timelapses of several pieces from the 2023 batch of “speedpaintings.” I’m planning to post the timelapse for the first and third artworks in this post (the fiery charr and the confident-looking sylvari).

Speedpainting of a Guardian-like character wielding an Ascalonian greatsword erupting with blue flames. — Guild Wars 2 “speedpainting” commission

I recently finished editing the timelapse videos for those two, and will post them to YouTube soon. I’ll update this post when those process videos are up!

Speedpainting of a sylvari engineer wielding an angular sword accented by a red glow. — Sylvari Engineer | Guild Wars 2 “speedpainting” commission

Timelapse video above

I’m undecided about whether I’ll post the timelapse for the middle artwork (with the Ascalonian sword – one of my favorite weapon skins!), even though this is personally one of my favorite speedpaintings (I learned much about brushwork doing this one). I discovered while editing the clips that there’s a small portion in the middle that didn’t record. It’s very short, but it’s one of the parts I personally would want to see drawn (it’s when I draw the shoulder shapes), and I feel like it’s less interesting without this portion in there.

I searched all through my frames and sadly it is nowhere! It’s just lost. I’ll look at the video again to see if it’s still interesting to watch, but argh! I wish I had it there, because that one was so fun to draw, and I’d have liked to see that part drawn too.

I’ll again update this post with the process videos when they’re up!

March 25, 2026
- Added the timelapse video for the “Sylvari Engineer” Speedpainting.

Landis playing the tin whistle | March 17, 2026

Posted on March 17, 2026

A sylvari reaper merrily playing the tin whistle, surrounded by drawn musical bars of one of my favorite Irish traditional tunes. — Messy 2026 paintover of my 2019 painting of my sylvari reaper | Cropped

In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, I was reminded this year of the time I drew my sylvari reaper playing a tin whistle (which is also known as the “Irish flute”).

The original painting is from 2019, and was part of a collaborative project organized by Angelique van der Mee. Several artists drew our own characters in support of the “#Love4ArenaNet” hastag, which to my memory was a spur-of-the-moment way to show a little support for the devs at the studio who were laid off at the time. It was a rough time for the studio, and a very sweet idea by Angelique and everyone else who was involved with the idea. Angelique then made a lovely composition involving everyone’s contributed artwork.

For this 2026 paintover warmup, after I drew the musical notes (which aren’t in the original), I idly thought perhaps I should have drawn “Fear Not This Night.” But for the holiday, I wanted to draw one of my favorite tunes I enjoy playing on tin whistle, instead. I would be very impressed if anyone can recognize it from the music notes, and I mentioned on socials that if anyone does guess it, I’d do a sketch for the – because it’s such an esoteric bit of knowledge, I would marvel if someone could recognize it!

Tin whistle is my favorite instrument, though sadly I rarely play it now since moving into an apartment. It’s why I moved more into practicing guitar – I’ve always liked guitar, too, but used to play tin whistle more often. Guitar has the benefit of being able to play at quieter volumes, as necessary!

In the original 2019 version, I drew my reaper, though this paintover is only showing a crop of the full-body art. I did add more to the full-body in today’s paintover, but it’s not really presentable. Maybe if I have a chance, I’ll add it to this post at a later time.

2019 version in the full post below because I’m not keen on how it looks when I saw it again today, haha:

GW2 Cerus WIP’s | March 5, 2026

Posted on March 5, 2026

Work-in-progress crop showing my sylvari reaper, wielding the Heart of the Obscure, next to Cerus from Guild Wars 2. — Current WIP crop from yesterday.

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.

Early work-in-progress crop from 2023. — Original WIP crop from 2023.

Lorcan WIP | March 3, 2026

Posted on March 3, 2026

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:

Guild Wars 2 Commission: Tarcisio | February 25, 2026

Posted on February 25, 2026

Digital painting of a custom Guild Wars 2 mesmer virtuoso. He levitates above the waters of the Lily of the Elon while surrounded by mesmeric magic. — Finished illustration commission; mesmeric magic version.

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.

Sketch 02: Revised sketch, pose block-out

First-round revision after the sketch idea was chosen.

Sketch 03: Revised sketch, background block-out

Here is blocking out the background more before the painting stage began.

Digital painting of a custom Guild Wars 2 mesmer virtuoso. He levitates above the waters of the Lily of the Elon, mesmeric magic subtly glowing around him. — Finished illustration commission; character-focused version.

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

Added detail crops.