Tag: guild wars 2 - Page 13 - Landy’s Sketchblog

The Harbinger’s Path: Panel Previews | April 9, 2025

Posted on April 9, 2025

“The Harbinger’s Path” | Preview panel from Chapter 1

Note: This post may contain spoilers for the story in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.

Here are the first previews for some of the panels from The Harbinger’s Path, and a little more about my thought process behind what inspired this project.

Two questions I always wished Guild Wars 2, and Heart of Thorns specifically, could have explored are:

What happened to Malyck?
What might have happened if Malyck and Trahearne had encountered each other during the events of Heart of Thorns?

Two questions we have never received (canonical) answers for. One question has a chance of being answered again, while the other’s chances are exceedingly slim (though not impossible). Despite this, the possibilities for how these two questions could have been answered – especially during or just before the launch of Heart of Thorns – continued tickling my mind for years.

The Harbinger's Path | Preview panel from Chapter 1. Line drawing of the sylvari character Trahearne from Guild Wars 2. The drawing is mostly monochromatic and with flat shading, with a piercing, amber accent color for the eyes. — “The Harbinger’s Path” | Preview panel from Chapter 1

For whichever reasons, these two questions continued piquing my interest, long after the official canon had (seemingly) moved on from these story threads. I didn’t ponder them continuously, but every now and then, invariably, idle ideas for how these two questions might have been answered bubbled to the surface.

Most of all, I found the ideas which arose from attempting to answer these two questions endlessly inspiring – which I credit entirely to the brilliant writers who first created these wonderful characters, and set up their initial backstories and lore. These two characters were written with such care and nuance, that it made their placement in the world’s setting feel uniquely rich and alive.

I always wanted to see these two characters again – and especially for them to interact. That’s part of the inspiration behind starting The Harbinger’s Path – I hope I can capture some of that inspiration, and convey it to you in the form of this short comic.

Cover for “The Harbinger’s Path” | A Trahearne and Malyck Guild Wars 2 Fan Comic

Posted on April 9, 2025

Cover for "The Harbinger's Path," a Trahearne & Malyck Guild Wars 2 fan comic. The cover shows Trahaerne with arms open wide, as sylvari below extend their hands toward him. We can see Malyck in the crowd of sylvari, among other characters from the franchise. — “The Harbinger’s Path” Cover (not final)

“Pact Marshal Trahearne spent 43 days captured by the Elder Dragon Mordremoth. What happened to the Firstborn during this time?”

I’m excited to announce The Harbinger’s Path, a new project I’ve started and have been wanting to do for a while! It’s a Trahearne and Malyck short Guild Wars 2 fan comic, taking place in an alternate, non-canon, fan-take on “what could have been.” I always thought it would be fun to explore this with these two characters.

The Harbinger’s Path is a completely fan-made project, unofficial, and not affiliated with ArenaNet – it’s a small passion-project I’ve toyed with in scattered artworks here and there over the years. I’ve contemplated doing a longer project about it for a long time, and now, I’ve finally decided to do so!

To start, above is the cover reveal! This cover is still in-progress and not final, but hopefully it’s in a mostly presentable state. I’ll add a few earlier process images and share some additional to the this post soon!

Because this project is a little more personal to me compared to Guild Wars 2 art I’ve done in the past, I’ve decided to leave the ArenaNet Creative Partnership while I work on it. I felt more comfortable working on something more personal to me while not sponsored, especially as I’m not sure how much interest there might be in this project beyond my own specific tastes.

Here’s an earlier version with the cover art in an earlier stage, and before adding Trahearne and Malyck’s names to the subtitle.

Guild Wars 2 Commission | April 4, 2025

Posted on March 26, 2025

Guild Wars 2 commission commemorating the characters' owners' anniversary! Shows two characters standing beside each other, one wielding Bifrost, the legendary staff, and the other holding the Flameseeker Prophesies, the legendary shield. — Guild Wars 2 Anniversary Commission

Guild Wars 2 commission to commemorate the characters’ owners’ anniversary! This one was commissioned several months ahead of time for a surprise gift, and I’m excited I can show it now.

It’s painted in the “Speedpainting (Tier 3)” style.

Initial sketches to choose the idea. Several thumbnail ideas with notes are shown. — Initial sketches to choose the idea.

After reading the commissioner’s description for what they’d like to see, I had four initial sketch ideas.

In-progress stage after the initial sketch idea is chosen.

The painting in an in-progress stage after the initial idea is decided upon.

With support from ArenaNet.

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.

Trahearne Sketches | March 7, 2025

Posted on March 7, 2025

Trahearne sketch ideas (character from Guild Wars 2).

The idea was, I wanted to see how Trahearne looked if he held Caladbolg in the “modern fantasy” greatsword style, where the weapon is slung (probably impractically) over the shoulder. I suspect (though could easily be mistaken) this pose was once popularized by FF7’s Cloud Strife player character, and has since become a standard fantasy pose. I think GW2’s in-game male humans and norn also take inspiration from that pose, instead of the more practical carried to the side, as GW2’s in-game male sylvari characters wield them. Incidentally, this was one of the early things which endeared me to my male sylvari character – and eventual new main – over my original female charr main.

While I cannot help but think the pose is impractical whenever I see it, there’s no denying it looks slick, in an anime sort of way, haha. It admittedly also probably looks more practical in this case, as I made Caladbolg smaller than I would have otherwise, to fit in the composition. If I take this further, I’d need to push Caladbolg’s perspective more, to appear its proper size.

Earlier versions, plus a rough color test.

Random Trahaerne sketch from last week. I think it became unintentional practice for the sketch from this week.

With support from ArenaNet.