Guild Wars 2

Uhm… hello and welcome to my little gallery!

So I’ve decided to do a small GW2 art project and since there are so many fan art topics here I’m gonna share my bit too. I’m going to draw portraits of mine and my friends’ characters. It’s supposed to be sorta practice for me too.

For each character I will be doing 3 drawings: a sketch, a shaded sketch on single color background and a full colored portrait.

Please tell me your opinions, I know there are many great artists here too, don’t be shy to criticize, it’s the only way for me to know where can I improve.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your opinions, here’s the first one!

P.S.: You can guess his race and profession if you feel like it :D

So because a bunch of people requested portraits of their characters too, I’m officially opening commissions and putting here a queue / waiting list for you to know what am I working on at the moment and what’s coming up next. Thank you very much for your support, means a lot to me :)

Commission Price

coloured portrait – 20g

I might be opening commissions for just the sketches or shaded portraits, maybe even full bodies if there’s the demand for them. If you have some special request, feel free to send me a PM and we will figure something out :)

The price(s) might also change in the future, but will not affect already arranged commissions.

The List

1. - Frin (special request, ETA mid April approx)
2. - Iona
3. - Rilke

That’s an asura mesmer! I’m sure of it!

Also, I think that’s wonderful. I love the weathered texture of the face and the non-solid line work.

Haha! But a mesmer will surely be coming in the future! :P
Thank you very much for your kind words, Iona He is quite the tough guy hence the face I was worried that I may not be able to express it well, but seems like I worried too much

Hey I like what you made! Would you be willing to make something like your first image for my Ele Asura? She has full T3 Asura Light armor with the colors Starry Night, Gold, and Chocolate.

Also nice Guardian Norn (shot in the dark if its a Guardian)

Close call Kaito, it’s a Warrior though!

Glad to hear that you like my painting and that’s one lovely Asura you have there!

As for the request maybe I could do something like that, I honestly haven’t thought someone would ask for it! However it’s quite time consuming and sometimes very difficult task so I’m not sure if I can take up such requests (as the spring terms is already starting, work etc.).

I will think about it a bit more (since I haven’t thought about something like a schedule for these portraits, I was just gonna do them when I feel like it), but I’d say it could work

Midget.6150:

Close call Kaito, it’s a Warrior though!

Glad to hear that you like my painting and that’s one lovely Asura you have there!

As for the request maybe I could do something like that, I honestly haven’t thought someone would ask for it! However it’s quite time consuming and sometimes very difficult task so I’m not sure if I can take up such requests (as the spring terms is already starting, work etc.).

I will think about it a bit more (since I haven’t thought about something like a schedule for these portraits, I was just gonna do them when I feel like it), but I’d say it could work

No problem and I can understand. Just thought I ask. If you do plan to do this later, send me a message in game and we can discuss maybe a price. Thank you for responding

Okay, I will figure out some schedule hopefully and then I will let you know Thank you for your interest in my art! Makes me very happy, honestly

Here is a few pics of my asura, it was night and the only good lighting i could find was over in Divinity’s Reach. If you need better ones I can wait till day to take them.

Additional Notes: It’s hard to get a full face close up of her so I tried my best for that. If you need to get an idea of height, she a small bit talker then Zojja’s model.

I have finished a rough sketch of your Ele, Kaito! How do you like it? Anything you want to change? :)

I like it! maybe add a little smiling grin. Other then That I really like it

It’s finished, Kaito! I hope I’ve met your expectations and you’ll like it :)

Hi Midget, if you are still considering drawing some characters. would you like to have a look at my characters? Simply browse my previous messages and you will come across army of my and my wife’s characters. I would be honored if you find any of the toons interesting and worthy your time and skills .

Hey there Mid, I really like your work, if you still taking on a few projects and would like another character to draw, my Guardian Arista Skyfall is here =p

Gallery

Wanted to thank you again Midget! Using this as my steam image and it looks great!

Wow so many new comments, thanks! :) As for the requests, I have to figure out when will I have time for them, but I think I could spare some hours at weekend.

To Fringilla: An army of characters indeed! And they look beautiful too, I’ll have a hard time choosing :D When I decide on one, I’ll need a few close up screenshots :)

To Natsu: Gladly, I cannot tell you when will I start though. If everything goes well I could do maybe both at weekend, but no promises :)

To Kaito: Thank you as well for the “tip” :) Was an honor drawing for you :)

Ok, so here is a couple of screenshots for Calypso Vigo. All of the details in PM :-)

And another few with one of my wife’s rangers. I hope you will have fun with them!

Well I couldn’t stop myself from doing at least sketches, so here’s your mesmer and your wife’s ranger, Frin :) I hope they are to your liking, if you have anything you’d like me to change, feel free to send suggestions (PM or here). I won’t have time until Friday at earliest for coloring too, so these will likely be finished at weekend :)

We really like it!
You might be Midget by nickname but you are quick as a snake and giant of quality :-)
It is just weird to see my mesmer without make up and lighting… It changes her face so much… Almost like in reality :-)
We are really curious how would you handle Margot’s eyes (that’s the ranger) and Calypso’s make up plus lighting (so she may get her cheekbones back :-).
So we are waiting impatiently for the final effect :-)
Thank you again.

Thank you both for the sweet words, I too am honestly curious how will it turn up, I never know until it’s done :D But I shall give it my best :)

So a little surprise for Frin, I finished both the portraits way earlier than I thought (some unexpected free time and my own eagerness to finish this happened).

I’m looking forward to your and your wife’s opinion about them rather impatiently I sooooo hope you’ll like them, because you praised me so much, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you If you want anything changed, just let me know

Hi again Mid.
And yes, that is a very pleasant surprise. Especially that I just finally managed to find somehow my hotel in Belgrad without working GPS and driving through whole Serbia based on (faulty) directions from google maps. I got copletely lost at least twice but I finally did it :-)
And voila, something to cheer me up after the stressful trip :-)
It’s so funny that you are waiting for my opinion, because… last time it happened quite often on my ex-guild music thread that my guildmates were waiting particularly for my opinion on presented music just because… I used to have a lot to say on the subject and… my opinions quite often were pretty harsh :-)

But coming back to the subject – yes, we both like them very much.
I generally like your semi dark-comic style (which was arguably stronger in your, ha ha, asuran mesmer) and how it leans more towards realism with our girls.
What you handled extremely well is:
-The interpretation of all of the armor details – they came up from boring, blurred pixels back to life
- Lighting… how did you make an impression of white on my mesmer being more white than the white background is beyond me. Whichever way it was done – result is really impressive.
- General outlines of the face and the silhhouette – It is absolutely flawless.

Well, I wouldn’t be myself if I didnt find anything to point out – but don’t take it as a criticism – rather something that I simply noticed and what might be simply indication of your stale rather than anything else. So its not something that I would like you to change – I’m just more curiuos whether you do it because you like to have it that way or simply it just turned out the way it is.
And these 2 thing I’ve noticed –
a) The characters are generally “darker”. Not only by color, but also by the expression.
b)You tend to make their lips thinner (which may explain above) as well as the rangers nose .

On the other hand though – the mesmer’s eyes look way more attractive than on the screenshot provided.

Overall – very nice job indeed and once I come back home back to my desktop I’ll commision you for sure – and I’m eager to see the results.

Once again – thanks for your time and skills, I’m absolutely honored. And I’m sure the portrayed girls are very grateful as well :-)

And I’m looking forward to see more of you :-)

Oh my gosh, that’s a huge critique, but I am very honored that you took the time to write this all up :) Thank you very much, really, I appreciate it :)

And I certainly don’t take this as criticism, on the contrary :) Yeah I noticed, it’s not as I do it on purpose that the characters look darker, it may very well be because of the lips as you mentioned. I always try to catch the expression as precisely as possible, but one small “mistake” usually leads to a whole different look :) On the other hand if this happens to appear on more of my stuff (we shall see with more GW fan arts :D) it may be that I’m doing this unconsciously :)

It was my pleasure drawing this for you, your and your wife’s characters are absolutely beautiful and I am looking forward to drawing for you again :)

And thanks again for this huge post, I can see why your ex-guildies would wait for this :)

Before that Natsu’s Guardian is next, expect a sketch tomorrow or on Friday :)

Midget.6150

your and your wife’s characters are absolutely beautiful…

Especially my psychopatic serial killer – Norn warrior and my mentally unstable Charr necromaner They are incarnations of beauty for sure :-)

Midget.6150

And thanks again for this huge post, I can see why your ex-guildies would wait for this

Nah, I’m pathetic using English, I’m only decent in my native language :-)

Natural beauties surely :D But a serial killer and mentally unstable necro… sounds worthy of a story or two… :)

Fringilla Vigo.8594:

Nah, I’m pathetic using English, I’m only decent in my native language :-)

We’re on the same boat then! But don’t worry, I think you’re a bit harsh on yourself regarding that matter :) Sadly enough I probably wouldn’t understand your native language :/

Midget.6150:

Natural beauties surely But a serial killer and mentally unstable necro… sounds worthy of a story or two…

All of the characters I’ve created have “personalities” and some story behind them in my mind… I’m an old-school roleplayer, it’s hard to get rid of some habits :-)

Midget.6150:

We’re on the same boat then! But don’t worry, I think you’re a bit harsh on yourself regarding that matter Sadly enough I probably wouldn’t understand your native language :/

Unless you are Polish there’s a good chance that you wouldn’t understand a bit of it :-)

I think it’s awesome, I love stories and have huge respect to roleplaying though I’ve never tried it myself :) Would be a waste to get rid of that in my opinion :)

Close enough, I’m Czech though, so I could understand a bit maybe, but not much more I’m afraid :D

Wow, I’ve been to Czech Republic 2 days ago :-) That was Jicin and Brno. Luckily, I didn’t get shot by Rumcajs :-)

Hey, I live fairly close to Brno! But you sure travel awfully lot :)

Anyways, here’s the sketch of Natsu’s Guardian! Anything you would like me to change or am I good to go? :)

Hi, Midget. Out of curiosity, are all of these so far commissions or requests?

Iona.6307:

Hi, Midget. Out of curiosity, are all of these so far commissions or requests?

I was left wondering how such a good artist vanished from your radar? :-)
And I’m also guessing that Askeptykal for sure has been locked in his basement by mistake or so…

Well I haven’t really thought about commissions at the beginning, I just wanted to share my works and hear opinions from all of you :) But then Kaito, Frin and Natsu came asking if I could draw for them too. They were also mindful of the time and effort the portraits take and gave (or promised) me “little something” for it :)

But seeing that community here is interested in my art maybe I should consider regular commissions. However as I already thought and the recent “pricing” topics confirmed, it’s quite difficult to set the right price. And I am quite the newbie in GW2 and have no idea how much is gold really worth (it’s usually different when leveling and on max level)

Oh Frin, you’re flattering me again! :D I am blushing right now :)

Fringilla Vigo.8594:

Iona.6307:

Hi, Midget. Out of curiosity, are all of these so far commissions or requests?

I was left wondering how such a good artist vanished from your radar? :-)
And I’m also guessing that Askeptykal for sure has been locked in his basement by mistake or so…

Well, I don’t automatically make requests from every artist posting on the forums is all, it just seems a bit rude. (And Askeptykal? Haven’t seen them. Nnnnnope… http://s29.postimg.org/57n3wngfb/giphy.gif )

And to Midget, I’m almost tempted posting the screenshots of my character, but I think I may wait for everyone else’s requests/commissions to be completed before I do anything.

Iona.6307:

And to Midget, I’m almost tempted posting the screenshots of my character, but I think I may wait for everyone else’s requests/commissions to be completed before I do anything.

Thanks for your consideration Iona, I am working on Natsu’s Guardian now and I believe Frin has a huge challenge for me up his sleeve I don’t know yet how much time will all of that take me, but once I have an estimate I’ll let you know Is that okay? I would be honored to draw for you too

Midget.6150:

Thanks for your consideration Iona, I am working on Natsu’s Guardian now and I believe Frin has a huge challenge for me up his sleeve I don’t know yet how much time will all of that take me, but once I have an estimate I’ll let you know Is that okay? I would be honored to draw for you too

That sounds perfectly fine, take all the time you need!

Midget.6150:

But seeing that community here is interested in my art maybe I should consider regular commissions. However as I already thought and the recent “pricing” topics confirmed, it’s quite difficult to set the right price. And I am quite the newbie in GW2 and have no idea how much is gold really worth.

By no means should ‘the right price’ deter you. You’ve got the demand, and I’d wager the tips you’re receiving would make a fairly good indicator of what sort of price range you could garner. I’d say lay caution to the wind and just go with what you feel is appropriate if you really want to.

I am curious how you would do this portrait, I have no clue how much you would want as payment but…

To Invertation: Yup, that’s what I’m gonna do probably when I finish the requests I have already taken up :) Thank you for your input, very much appreciated!

To Rilke: Wow that’s one cool Asura! Once I have finished the requests I’m gonna sit down for a bit and think of this pricing stuff :) I’m generally bad at this sort of things, but as Invertation said I already have some data as a basis :) I’ll let you know when I come up with something :)

Midget.6150:

Hey, I live fairly close to Brno! But you sure travel awfully lot

Anyways, here’s the sketch of Natsu’s Guardian! Anything you would like me to change or am I good to go?

Can’t resist to add my 5 cents on that one.
a) Did you take my advice into consideartion? You didn’t make her lips thinner this time. You actually make them a tiny bit thicker which leads to…

b) the character on the sketch looks better than the character on the picture, hands down. And that speaks for itself.

Yep, I was paying extra attention to them :D

My impression of her was kinda… I don’t know how to explain, but I think she has sort of “empty look” in her eyes so I was trying to draw her more… lively :D Hope Natsu’s okay with that and that it didn’t change her too much :)

Midget.6150:

but I think she has sort of “empty look” in her eyes so I was trying to draw her more… lively

Funny, I was about to say that she became more of a “living person” in contrary to the sort of “wax figure” that I get the feeling off the screenshots … :-)

I suppose I may as well upload these now for future reference, while I remember to. I’ll need to make some that are a bit easier to see, though.

To Frin: Yeah, “wax figure” describes it pretty well, I am glad I managed to bring her to life then :)

To Iona: That’s perfectly fine, I could use a few with a better lightning though (so I can get the colors accurately) and maybe different angles / poses if you want :) You have plenty of time until I make my way through to you :D

Midget.6150:

To Iona: That’s perfectly fine, I could use a few with a better lightning though (so I can get the colors accurately) and maybe different angles / poses if you want You have plenty of time until I make my way through to you

Here you are, I’ll edit in more when I get a chance!

The sketch looks great, I would love to see it coloured =p

Although, the left shoulder guard looks a bit off when compared with the Orrian shoulder armour.

To Iona: Okay, looking forward to them!

To Natsu: Roger that! I’ll try to get the shoulder guard right, thanks for the name :D

So I’ve finished the Guardian! I hope I managed the shoulder guard somehow :) If you want anything changed, just let me know, Natsu! I hope you’ll like it :)

Everyone else feel free to comment and share your opinions too :)

I have also edited the first post, so there’s a waiting list now for you to know what am I working on and where in the line are those of you who requested something :) For those who are deciding whether to request something I’ll be opening commissions once I figure out a reasonable price :)

Criticisms ho! (And my apologies in advance)

You’ve got pretty good line art and proportions, but the one detail that’s sticking out the most to me is your use of what appears to be dodge/burn to build in value, which gives a somewhat ‘dirty’ look to a character. I would instead recommend using values of a different hue to build in lights and darks, and blend those into the values for the character’s features. Arbitrarily googled example of what I mean.

As a second recommendation, I think you can make a few improvements in building texture. As per your last piece with Natsu’s guardian, you could enhance the composition by adding some strong contrasts in lighting, particularly among the chest and shoulder pieces, akin to the lighting you see on metal. Additional arbitrarily googled example.

Those two changes, as a primary, should give your color work a bit more realistic feel.

Thanks you do not need to apologize by any means! :)

Well I am not using dodge/burn :) I am indeed using different colors/hues to shade. I can see what you mean (at least I hope) and I believe that is thanks to the fact that for the “highest” layer of shading I use one dark color I choose at the beginning (and do the sketching/lines with). I wasn’t aiming at a realistic painting with these portraits in the first place, I was trying to come up with something between realism and comic style.

As for the armor… you’re very right, I have indeed huge lack of skill in that area. I am generally quite afraid of doing especially plate pieces, so I rely on provided screenshots, which can mess up a lot of things (sometimes it’s hard to see all the details, how is the piece constructed etc and even when I try to search for more references, it’s hard to find any helpful). The lightning on metal is a terrifying thing, your “googled example” shows that very well.

Thank you very much for your opinion, constructive criticism is always welcome :) It’s helping me improve after all :)

Ok. so here is the challenge no 1.
Go to this post (I’m quite happy with the screenshots there)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/fangen/But-no-seriously-I-have-no-slots/3578261
And If you are up to it, try to make the full body (or at least uppershot) portrait, preferably with the (might be very simplistic ) background of your choice. You may copy one. You may copy pose on the 1st or 2nd picture or come up with your own.

Once I agree I’ll send you payment according to the one that i promised in PM :-)