{"id":9753,"date":"2026-06-11T22:43:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T05:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/?p=9753"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:13:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T19:13:44","slug":"lorcan-loose-ref-nightmares-embrace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/2026\/06\/lorcan-loose-ref-nightmares-embrace\/","title":{"rendered":"Lorcan Loose Ref &#8211; Nightmare&#8217;s Embrace | June 11, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9756\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web.png\" alt=\"Loose drawing of a blue-toned sylvari ranger. \" width=\"615\" height=\"950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web.png 615w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web-194x300.png 194w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m at the point while drawing <em>&#8220;Nightmare&#8217;s Embrace&#8221;<\/em> (which I&#8217;m realizing as I&#8217;m typing this I should create a webpage I can link to, so I don&#8217;t have to explain what it is each time) where I can&#8217;t rely on my haphazard mix of different ref screens and drawings of my characters &#8211; at least, not if I want them to maintain a minimum semblance of design consistency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t have a solid design for Lorcan&#8217;s outfit until now, because every time I&#8217;ve drawn him I&#8217;ve done so slightly differently. Which is acceptable for paintings, not as much for comic pages. This is a loose drawing tonight to figure out which design I want to use for him in the mini-comic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been able to get away with loosely defining everyone&#8217;s outfits so far, because the main features I&#8217;m up to for most of the pages is still the general poses\/panel clarity. And aside from screenshots, this older painting from 2024 has been my main outfit inspiration for &#8220;Lorcan,&#8221; a Nightmare Courtier from the mini-comic:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9755\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9755\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2024.10.23-guild-wars-2-ranger-spear-crop-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9755 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2024.10.23-guild-wars-2-ranger-spear-crop-web.png\" alt=\"Cropped painting of a Guild Wars 2 sylvari with a cool-toned color scheme. \" width=\"760\" height=\"950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2024.10.23-guild-wars-2-ranger-spear-crop-web.png 760w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2024.10.23-guild-wars-2-ranger-spear-crop-web-240x300.png 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9755\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lorcan WIP | Painting Crop | 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is a cropped WIP for a Lorcan painting I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve posted anywhere yet, mainly because there are issues with it I&#8217;d ideally like to fix first. But this painting is the closest to what I&#8217;ve been thinking about for his armor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His armor itself is most heavily based on the &#8220;Nightmare Court Guise,&#8221; from the medium Twilight Arbor armor set. Of course, I did some modifications, mostly for my personal enjoyment (haha).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My only potential reservation with his outfit at the top of this post is &#8211; during the main part of the mini-comic, Lorcan is a &#8220;recently-turned&#8221; Nightmare Courtier. He might look slightly too fancy, for being &#8220;recently-turned.&#8221; I think I can remedy this fairly easily by shortening some of the features of his outfit (mainly the waist skirts and forearm thorns\/branches).<\/p>\n<p>But I&#8217;ll try this version out first in the mini-comic drafts, and see how they look.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I also started the ref by drawing Lorcan&#8217;s underlying anatomy first &#8211; I&#8217;ll add it in the full post below:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9757\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web.png\" alt=\"Sylvari ref sheet showing both Lorcan's outfit and underlying anatomy.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"828\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web.png 1280w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web-1024x662.png 1024w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web-768x497.png 768w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.002-web-1140x737.png 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/a>Very loose drawings! I almost always begin drawing sylvari by drawing the human anatomy first, which you see on the left drawing. I then modify the human anatomy into sylvari anatomy, the above figure on the right. Then I drew the outfit on top. Lorcan&#8217;s design is intended as a combination of his underlying sylvari anatomy, combined with his &#8220;Nightmare Court&#8221; outfit sprouting out of his physique. This is one of my favorite parts about the sylvari lore and design, and it&#8217;s something I try and do whenever I draw sylvari characters wearing their cultural or Nightmare armor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9756\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web.png\" alt=\"Loose drawing of a blue-toned sylvari ranger. \" width=\"615\" height=\"950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web.png 615w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026.06.11-gw2-nightmares-embrace-lorcan-ref.001-web-194x300.png 194w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m at the point while drawing <em>&#8220;Nightmare&#8217;s Embrace&#8221;<\/em> (which I&#8217;m realizing as I&#8217;m typing this I should create a webpage I can link to, so I don&#8217;t have to explain what it is each time) where I can&#8217;t rely on my haphazard mix of different ref screens and drawings of my characters &#8211; at least, not if I want them to maintain a minimum semblance of design consistency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t have a solid design for Lorcan&#8217;s outfit until now, because every time I&#8217;ve drawn him I&#8217;ve done so slightly differently. Which is acceptable for paintings, not as much for comic pages. This is a loose drawing tonight to figure out which design I want to use for him in the mini-comic.&nbsp;<\/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":[5,422,6,10],"tags":[386,387,738,822,917,729,388],"class_list":["post-9753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-art","category-guild-wars-2","category-sketches-and-studies","category-work-in-progress","tag-guild-wars-2","tag-gw2","tag-lorcan","tag-nightmare-court","tag-nightmare-court-guise","tag-nightmares-embrace","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\/guild-wars-2\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Guild Wars 2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/sketches-and-studies\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Sketches &amp; Studies<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/work-in-progress\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Work-In-Progress<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"I'm at the point while drawing \"Nightmare's Embrace\" (which I'm realizing as I'm typing this I should create a webpage I can link to, so I don't have to explain what it is each time) where I can't rely on my haphazard mix of different ref screens and drawings of my characters - at least,&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9753","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=9753"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9766,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9753\/revisions\/9766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}