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.
I decided to refine the Malyck drawing a bit more, seen above! I since wrote on the following page, and there was quite a bit of see-through. I tried to remove it as best I could digitally, but it makes me consider acquiring a pencil board in the future. There is a Hobonichi pencil board I was eyeing the other day, and looking for an excuse to justify its purchase… haha.
Anyway, since I ended up adding more to it today, I changed the date on the drawing to today’s.
Original post below:
Malyck pencil sketch, pictured with my beloved Staedtler 0.3 mm drafting pencil
Did a warm-up sketch of Malyck earlier today, initially with the intention of inking it. I’m very out of practice with clean pencil drawing – I mainly use one for jotting a quick note or a rough sketch idea, nowadays – but I was enjoying using it a lot today. And ended up adding more to it in pencil instead, which may or may not have been to its detriment. I’ll try an ink test another time. :)
Earlier version of the sketch
I was going to leave the sketch like this, before deciding to draw on it a little more and ending up with the sketch at the top of this post.
I love working with mechanical pencils, and it used to be the medium I used the most often. I still use one (the Staedtler 0.3 mm drafting pencil is a thing of beauty, and incredibly durable), but it’s more infrequent than I’d like. I mainly use it for jotting down quick ideas, and not finished drawings. Maybe I’ll try doing some cleaner sketches this year.
Similar to the Trahearne & Malyck compilation post, I thought it might be fun to compile a post to house the Guild Wars 2 artwork I’ve made over the years. Like the previous post, this will be kept updated. Hopefully this might become a little archive that’s easy to browse.
My sylvari warrior from Guild Wars 2! Crop from the full painting.
I was inspired to paint after seeing the new mount option in Guild Wars 2! It’s a “roadrunner mount,” but I was very excited because it reminded me of a mount idea I had a while back:
Mount idea based off a “greater prairie chicken” from a while back!
This mount idea is based off a greater prairie chicken, which is one of my favorite chickens! They are beautiful creatures.
I tried to recreate my mount idea in-game using the dye system, and though I did not really succeed, I am happy with my turkey mount, haha:
My sylvari warrior with his turkey mount!
This screenshot is heavily edited, as I’m currently on a laptop with integrated graphics. GW2 runs surprisingly well on it, but I wasn’t able to find an area that lit the character models well enough for us to see them. I’ll post the original screenshot below!
Original screenshot! It’s fun to compare the two.
Anyway, here is what I ended up sketching!
It’s a bit of a chimeric melding of my greater prairie chicken mount idea, the GW2 roadrunner skin, and the greater prairie chicken itself. The painting manages to look nothing like either my sketch or the in-game mount, haha, but it was really fun to paint tonight.
Here’s how the rest of the painting looks.
And now for the thoughts about cynicism in today’s media entertainment!
Thoughts about cynicism in today’s modern shows
While painting the above tonight, my mind started to idly wander about general thoughts regarding media entertainment. We finished the season finale of The Boys earlier tonight, and I’m sure this what prompted tonight’s meandering thoughts.
The primary thought is this: I can’t get into shows that revel in celebrating the worst in humanity.
There is a certain cynicism that pervades many of today’s popular entertainment media. I suspect this is why many modern shows haven’t clicked with me. The ones I do enjoy seem to be fighting for a widespread audience (Cobra Kai being a welcome exception). My two other recent favorites, Person of Interest and Dark Matter, were both cancelled after only 3 or 4 seasons! (“Recent” by modern standards – both are several years old now.)
Let’s take Cobra Kai as an example. Cobra Kai introduces itself in a very deliberate way. In our current media climate of “dark and gritty, humanity is irredeemably evil,” you think it will go in a predictable way.
The show shatters this expectation. (At least, it did for me.) Instead of taking the predictable route of a villainous, irredeemable main character – as he is introduced – the show invites us to ponder the idea of bettering ourselves. And in doing so – at least this is my interpretation – possibly even bettering the world.
It allows us to contemplate this in a way media like Westworld, Game of Thrones, Black Mirror, The Boys, or The Witcher feel like they want to choke out this desire in its audience. They arguably disavow the notion of any good in humanity. They also seem to disavow the idea that people might be redeemable, and might become better versions of their past selves.
These shows appear to desire bludgeoning their audience under the premise that humanity has little to no positive qualities, and that humans are overwhelmingly, irredeemably flawed creatures.
Humans are unquestionably flawed – it is those flaws that probably inspire the majority of our literary history (at least the most interesting works!). Our flaws – and our striving to conquer them – seem to be a central part of what it means to be human.
Possibly I’m an overly optimistic Star Trek fan, but as long as we aren’t naive about or excuse these flaws, I don’t see negatives to aspiring to be our best selves.
Random Trahaerne sketch from last week. I think it became unintentional practice for the sketch from this week.
