“All these years later and I still hear its echoes in my head.”
– “Solitary Sylvari” from the Festival of the Four Winds [link to dialogue on the wiki page]
This is one of my favorite festivals in Guild Wars 2! I felt like doing some warm-up drawing yesterday with this paintover to celebrate the annual festival going live today. It isn’t quite a sketch, as I probably spent a good amount of time on the original – but I didn’t on the paintover yesterday, and I wouldn’t call it finished. It’s very rough in parts.
I remember always liking the general idea/concept for this drawing, though there were parts I was dissatisfied with, and I remember being unable to improve on at the time. It was fun seeing what I’d do differently now, compared to when I drew the original.
Enjoy the festival! I love meandering around the map and taking in the atmosphere. I can end up wandering aimlessly and not realize hours have gone by if I don’t catch myself!
The original 2018 version in the full post, to compare with the 2026 paintover above: