{"id":7340,"date":"2025-08-04T19:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/?p=7340"},"modified":"2025-08-05T13:18:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:18:53","slug":"caydren-paintover-august-4-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/2025\/08\/caydren-paintover-august-4-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Caydren Paintover | August 4, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7349\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7349\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7349 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.png\" alt=\"Side-profile painting of a Nightmare Court sylvari elementalist from Guild Wars 2. He has long, bare branches for hair, and a red bioluminescent glow. He wields a &quot;Fiery Greatword&quot; over his far shoulder. \" width=\"950\" height=\"629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.png 950w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web-768x508.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7349\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Spellweaver Caydren&#8221; | 2025 paintover of a 2017 painting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Felt like doing another <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/tag\/paintovers\" rel=\"\">&#8220;paintover&#8221; practice<\/a> of one of my older paintings as a warm-up today &#8211; which I inevitably spent more time on than I intended. I wouldn&#8217;t consider this a &#8220;finished&#8221; painting, but I&#8217;d considered it &#8220;finished&#8221; as far as its intended practice. :D<\/p>\n<p>This is my &#8220;spellweaver&#8221; <strong>Nightmare Court<\/strong> sylvari from Guild Wars 2, who is one of the main characters from my not-yet-released <strong><em>&#8220;Nightmare&#8217;s Embrace&#8221;<\/em><\/strong> project (a future short comic, separate from <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/harbinger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Harbinger&#8217;s Path<\/a> Trahearne &amp; Malyck comic). His loyalty to Nightmare is what the quote refers to &#8211; like <a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.guildwars2.com\/wiki\/Dream_and_Nightmare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cadeyrn <\/a>before him, he believes Nightmare represents the &#8220;true&#8221; nature of all sylvari, and that the Dream is a corrupting force separating all sylvari from their true selves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-7340 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-webB.png'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"757\" height=\"950\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-webB.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-7351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-webB.png 757w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-webB-239x300.png 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 757px) 100vw, 757px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-7351'>\n\t\t\t\t2025 Paintover; vertical crop.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old2-web.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"556\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old2-web.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-7343\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old2-web.jpg 556w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old2-web-209x300.jpg 209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-7343'>\n\t\t\t\tOriginal 2017 version; vertical crop\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The full version of the original in the full post:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7344\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7344\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7344 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"950\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web.jpg 950w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web-768x542.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7344\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Original version from 2017; full composition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The original version has one of his older quotes, which is for a version of the character I&#8217;ve since updated &#8211; in his initial iteration, his backstory involved his escaping the Flame Legion, with the help of my (charr) mesmer character, who I had a vague notion of her also being a Flame Legion defector. Caydren&#8217;s fire magic was somehow related to either the Eternal Flame, or the Flame Legion fire shamans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His character has since developed a life of its own, since then &#8211; his backstory no longer involves the charr, and instead is fully-enmeshed in sylvari-specific lore.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Also a bonus in-progress step for this paintover from earlier today:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7341\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7341\" style=\"width: 950px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.01.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7341 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.01.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"950\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.01.png 950w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.01-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.01-768x542.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7341\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In-progress version of the 2025 paintover from earlier today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This step uses the original A4 composition before I changed it to a wider composition (11 x 17 ratio), as the A4 ratio felt slightly squished to me in this one. This is also before I decided to make the Fiery Greatsword more recognizable (hopefully), as well as tune some things in terms of focus (the sword was drawing the eye away from Caydren&#8217;s expression, I thought).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And also just the two paintings again below, side-by-side, because I like flipping through the two compare the changes:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-7340 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.png'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"629\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-7349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web.png 950w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025.08.04-Caydren-2025-Paintover-web-768x508.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-7349'>\n\t\t\t\t2025 Paintover; full composition.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"670\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-7344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web.jpg 950w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2017.08.09-spellweaver-caydren-old-web-768x542.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-7344'>\n\t\t\t\t2017 version; full composition.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>You can sort of tell how the 2017 version started out in greyscale. Especially with the lack of vibrancy in the Fiery Greatsword&#8217;s flames. I was much less comfortable using color directly, compared to 2025, whereas this year I&#8217;ve been practicing using color directly more &#8211; including for this paintover.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I also really enjoyed updating Caydren&#8217;s expression to better reflect his current personality &#8211; his original iteration had a much more subdued temperament, relating to his initial and outdated backstory. Whereas now, he is far more vicious than his original incarnation. A proper devotee to Nightmare, haha!&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Felt like doing another &#8220;paintover&#8221; practice of one of my older paintings as a warm-up today &#8211; which I inevitably spent more time on than I intended. I wouldn&#8217;t consider this a &#8220;finished&#8221; painting, but I&#8217;d considered it &#8220;finished&#8221; as far as its intended practice. :D This is my &#8220;spellweaver&#8221; Nightmare Court sylvari from Guild<span class=\"excerpt-ellipsis\">&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/2025\/08\/caydren-paintover-august-4-2025\/\" itemprop=\"url\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,423,340,422],"tags":[731,386,387,729,618,732,388],"class_list":["post-7340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-art","category-digital-painting","category-finished-art","category-guild-wars-2","tag-caydren","tag-guild-wars-2","tag-gw2","tag-nightmares-embrace","tag-paintovers","tag-spellweaver-caydren","tag-sylvari"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Landy","author_link":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/author\/liz\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/digital-art\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Digital Art<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/digital-art\/digital-painting\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Digital Painting<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/finished-art\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Finished Art<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/guild-wars-2\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Guild Wars 2<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Felt like doing another &#8220;paintover&#8221; practice of one of my older paintings as a warm-up today &#8211; which I inevitably spent more time on than I intended. I wouldn&#8217;t consider this a &#8220;finished&#8221; painting, but I&#8217;d considered it &#8220;finished&#8221; as far as its intended practice. :D This is my &#8220;spellweaver&#8221; Nightmare Court sylvari from Guild...Continue&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7340"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7377,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7340\/revisions\/7377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}