Guild Wars 2

Hi everybody!

In my opinion, Tyria is one of the most imaginative fantasy worlds, providing room for fantastic art and creativity! I´m especially fond of the various landscapes with their own light and mood (hoping for new Maguuma maps soon!!)

Since i´ve seen so many excellent paintings/sketches here, i decided to share some of my own ideas with you…

Would be great to receive some feedback!

Kind regards

Ben

Some new stuff created during the last week ;-)

Great job

Wow, great work!

Hi guys,

did some new artwork, greatly motivated by your comments! :-)

Enjoy!

Norn Colour-Studies

Started with blues, blacks and pale grays, only to realize that the Shiverpeaks offer much more. I´m growing fond of the colour and texture, especially the various snow effects.

Raven Shaman

Like the combination of the misty and a little gloomy forest and the raven shaman. I call him Halfdan Blackfeather.

Dawn

Magic colours capturing the otherworldly atmosphere and the subtle bond which still ties the Norn to the spirit animals. Hope they refocus on their ancestors and the primal, vigorous life force they once called their own. Guess they´re going to need it to defeat Jormag and reclaim the Northern Shiverpeaks…

Ours is the North

Another panorama with proud Norn travelling the mountains.

Dolyak Caravan

Drawing the furry bulk of these primal beasts of burden was fun. I also like the heavy snowfall.

They are all very beautiful, I especially like Spirit Of The Bear.

Thanks for the nice comment Subutex :-) There will be more soon… these days i´m back to drawing!
And if you like the style and don´t want to wait, check out my Sylvari-art post:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/creations/Maguuma-Magic/first#post4357497

Best regards
Ben

Top of the World

Grawl Attack

Battlescene! My approach to capture the wild, hopping attacks of Grawl savages. The odd movements of these apelike creatures fascinated me from the first moment on. Please mind their crude clothing made of woven leather, hide and bones. The shaman-chieftain is wearing a skull and reddish warpaint.
Also the intertwined Norn tattoos were a lot of fun (and a lot of work! ^^).

hey, these are really great. I love that there’s a lot of environments showing and the athmosphere they show. You’ve put a lot of thought on composition and light/dark and it really shows.

I hope you don’t mind a little bit of critique though… I notice you use black/grey for shadows, but in case the object is brown, you could try using a more saturated darker color of the object instead of desaturated gray/black. : )

I hope you add more soon !

Norn Colour-Studies II

What I usually do to relax. No special aim or idea, just experimenting with colours, textures and brushes until the various Norn environments take shape on their own…

Single pieces depicting:

Snowdrift Dens
Frostgorge Sound
Icebrood Colossus
Skovtrolde Hearthstead
Glacier Cave
Mountain Ranges

Reply to Onis:
Currently realized your nice comment. Thank you very much!
I really like to generate a whole “setting” or to tell a little story within my works instead of just drawing a character.

And of course I appreciate some critique! You´re right, sometimes (especially in the “drawing-rush”, when I want to have quick results ^^) I tend to darken the shadowy parts by using some black or dark grey brush. Takes a keen eye to realize such details. So thx again, i´ll do my best to improve.
This might be a good point to encourage everybody who is also interested in art to share some thoughts or post some critique/what you like an don´t like about my drawings and artwork in general. Don´t feel shy, i think we all have improvement potential and would benefit from some constructive suggestions :-)

I think i´ll add more soon, indeed. Yet it will be Sylvari-themed stuff most likely (in my other post) since i´m warming up for the expansion and the Maguuma jungle!

Best regards

Benjamin

Savage Svanir

A Svanir Berserker grabbing the severed head of a helpless victim in his frozen fist. The scene symbolizes the cold grip of Jormag which is getting stronger with each passing winter, with each norn village burried under the snows and with each norn slaughtered by some merciless icebrood.

I love seeing your work and the story behind it! <3

Resistance!

Could not really digest my own, dark foreshadowing… So I started drawing the Claw of Jormag, bringing its dreadful armies across the Shiverpeaks. I drew more Svanir, too, hundreds of them, corrupted and cold and surrounded by a chilling ice fog. An endless, relentless wave of frozen axes, maces and claws…
Only to place a sole, single heroine on that rock to face them! To draw her rune blade and shout at the top of her lungs: “We descend from Jora and Eir Stegalkin and the legends of old. We don´t forget, we don´t forgive and we don´t surrender! Ours is the strength of the north cause we are the Norn! Taste our steel, spawn of Jormag!”

Thank you for the comment Joyce! I always try to write down a few lines to accompany the drawings. On the one hand its fun and reflects what´s going on behind my forehead, on the other hand i hope it lends some additional atmosphere to the various sceneries from Tyria.
Maybe it would be worth to develop one of the characters from my threads into a fanfiction one day…

Best regards
Ben

Timberline Falls

I always liked the harsh nature of that map. Wish we could feel the rough weather a little bit more. Imagine a bleak day in winter: the treacherous snowslush and slippery stones making each step a risk, the ceaseless drizzle and thick fog obscuring potential dangers. And the thundering roar of the falls is drowning out the swift footfalls of hunting grawl-savages which are closing in…

Spearmaiden

Introduction of another strong Norn-character: Sjælla Sigrunsdottir, spearmaiden of the Snowdrift Dens, fabled jotun-slayer of Hrothgar´s Pass.
After travelling north with dolyak caravans and fighting svanir and icebrood monsters for more than a decade, she´s back on her original prey. Here she overlooks a dangerous jotun-mountain, wrapped in clouds. Her tattoo Ællegarth is an oath to fight the coarse brutes which once extinguished her entire igloo village, smashing her youthful dreams and the brains of her family alike. The skalds and storytellers call her spear Nidhængr, which means ´impaler´. The rune-encrusted weapon – forged in ancient times when the Norn and not Jormag ruled the Shiverpeaks uncontested – will live up to its name when she confronts her hated enemies.

Nidhængr is upon us

Angry roars and guttural grunts are echoing from the mountain flanks as Sjælla´s fury is unleashed. Her ancient runespear cuts through armour, leather and thick hide alike. The merciless bloodshed in the snow is mirroring the rising sun, pouring pink and red into the innocent morning sky. Even the battle-hardened Jotun hesitate, once confronted with Sjællas primal rage. One after one they die under the deadly spear-thrusts. Some of the brutes fight on, others flee, and yet others just cry out in shocked disbelief: “Nidhængr is upon us!”

Old Svanir Hunter

Garm Wolfsbane, an ancient, hard-bitten trapper and hunter. Hidden in the icy fogs he sets his traps alone. He despises huts, hovels and even caves and is said never to sleep. His solitary, endless hunt is cursed, yet he will never stop haunting the boreal forests, chasing the totem animals he once held sacred.
In rare moments a trace of regret shows in his seamed face.
Regret of leaving everything he loved.
Regret of becoming a Svanir.

Thorim Bloodaxe

A commission i´ve done for Kobibold. The request was: “Something based on this character + a wolf.” Well, considering the name of this Norn warrior it immediately suggested itself to draw him with an axe. I went for a rather dark colour scheme to get some contrast with the pale wolves and the blood of the slain monster.

Hi Gaile,

thx for the kind comment :-) Just feel free to to use any of them in the Community Showcase Live show. I´m glad to contribute to community events (and to be honest – proud that somebody takes notice from time to time ^^)

Best regards and have a nice weekend
Benjamin

P.S.: More Sylvari-based artwork´s on its way, too…

Absolutely right,

The æ of the old danish/english is quite fitting to appear within a Norn name, to enhance the nordic archetype and lend it a greater credibility in an imaginative context.

Best regards
Benjamin

Hi! I just finished going through all the art you posted in this thread and I must say that you have some really good stuff. I was also surprised to notice that in many of them you didn’t use opacity pen pressure settings for the brush (or at least that’s what it looks like to me).

I’m looking forward to seeing more!