Guild Wars 2

I love the new leaf hair because… It’s not just leaf hair, it’s a flower! Massive flower as hair! It’s so unusual and at home. I don’t like how it uses so much of my characters skin colour though, but if you play around with the red skin tones then there is actually a lot of tone and depth to it, colours that are bright wash out the hidden depth of the leaves. But I did have to change my whole colour scheme to make it look awesome though.

Toli Rosca.9041:

I love the new leaf hair because… It’s not just leaf hair, it’s a flower! Massive flower as hair! It’s so unusual and at home. I don’t like how it uses so much of my characters skin colour though, but if you play around with the red skin tones then there is actually a lot of tone and depth to it, colours that are bright wash out the hidden depth of the leaves. But I did have to change my whole colour scheme to make it look awesome though.

I like it but the colors holding me back. I don’t wanna change my Sylv’s skin color.

It should just keep the stem/vein skin color and change the rest. ;s

Is the bug that cancels out your glow intensity when using one of these kits still around? Because I would very much like to give one of my Sylvari a new style but don’t want to lose the glow :-/

Doggie.3184:

Toli Rosca.9041:

I love the new leaf hair because… It’s not just leaf hair, it’s a flower! Massive flower as hair! It’s so unusual and at home. I don’t like how it uses so much of my characters skin colour though, but if you play around with the red skin tones then there is actually a lot of tone and depth to it, colours that are bright wash out the hidden depth of the leaves. But I did have to change my whole colour scheme to make it look awesome though.

I like it but the colors holding me back. I don’t wanna change my Sylv’s skin color.

It should just keep the stem/vein skin color and change the rest. ;s

Personally I like how it’s allows most of it to be based on skin color for that flower one, because now I can have the splash of blue that I want In my hair color w/out having to have it dominate the entire style

Riot Inducer.8964:

Is the bug that cancels out your glow intensity when using one of these kits still around? Because I would very much like to give one of my Sylvari a new style but don’t want to lose the glow :-/

Dear Riot Inducer, does this answer your question? I LOVE this new hair

Riot Inducer.8964:

Is the bug that cancels out your glow intensity when using one of these kits still around? Because I would very much like to give one of my Sylvari a new style but don’t want to lose the glow :-/

no the bug has been fixed- used a kit on one of my Sylvari last week and her glow is still perfect

I really love the new fern hair style – only I have a super hard time to decide on colors, without being able to “test drive” the character in game

Well although I am all happy that they added new styles, they are just kinda… well… meh to me. Still waiting to see a style that I really want for my sylvari… right now I just settled with one, but not entirely happy with it.

So yeah. Keep up the good work and make even more styles for the future. Maybe there will eventually be one I can adore.

Kristen Perry.5260:

-snip-
Other textures I’d like to play with are long grasses, curly vines, weathered leaves and more flowers. The flower hair design was changed up for the male and female versions: I know it’d be a shame if the strapping young lads were denied flowers! However, the blossom design alone really wouldn’t sit well on them. So I thought the more tarzan/rockstar bud design solved that issue… still a flower, but tailored for him. ;}

Keep up the great posts and sketches, guys! I love seeing what you guys do and it’s always a great window into some of what sylvari players want.

Most of my characters are Sylvari (male) mostly because the artwork for them is among the most stunning I have ever seen in a game. All of mine wear cultural armor as well. I was very excited about the new hairstyles and bought a hair change thingy a couple days before the new hairs came out.

That being said, the flower bud one that from the front looks kind of long and rockstar-ish, I noticed a good bit of clipping with the shoulder piece on the cultural T1 armor. That was the only set I looked at though so not sure about the other sets. I have always been partial to long hair on male characters, (I have very long hair myself,) and not many games out there have ever really pulled it off well. The other new style is too pulled back for my taste, yet it does have a decent long hair feel to it.

The long grass concept you mention sounds very interesting. It could take an appearance that is a bit closer to “hair” and could open a lot of design possibilities. You would have to be careful though so that it still looks like grass and not just thick hair. Long strands of leafy ivy would also be a nice twist for long hair.

Random thoughts while reading Kristen’s last post.

How about fir tree branches to make Liberty Spike mohawk?

Maple leaves could be drawn into bunches in pig tails (mini afro puff). This should play into the natural clustering. I personally would like to see the head mostly bald with these two clusters of maple leaves on the head. Each would have various stems coming from the head and pulled together and bound with a ribbon to make the fuller maple leaf puff.

My personal request would be for birds of paridise flowers. I think it would make a really cool look of they were arranged along the front of the hair line to create a spikey bangs sorta like this hair style

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/suwarnaadi/hair/HarryJuddfrontspikyhairstyle.jpg

I personally think grass is a bit of a cop-out and worry it could end up looking like retextured human hair. Although I also admit that from a ‘lore’ point of view a tree making creatures to look like humans would probably use grass as it could be styled similar to human hair.

I’d like to see more flowers and tree like hair, maybe evergreen trees for inspiration or at least a more filled out version of the tree stump style we already have. I did see a drawing of someone who used dandelion fluff to make a semi stylised Afro which was cool.

Also I really like the medium armour cultural helms as they look a little emo style like hair brushed over the face almost, and I like the idea of a few large leaf type plates giving the illusion of hair instead of lots of little leaves.

Thank you Kirsten
Always great to hear from you

Since I can’t draw
I will just leave some suggestions for flowery vines:
Star Jasmine
Granadilla vine
Morning Glory
Trumpet Tree vine
Chillean Bellflower

For long trailing flowers maybe something like Wisteria?

For a more structured branch type hair with flowers and leaves how about a Frangipani?

for the grasses what about meadows in general?
in a meadow you have a combination of long grasses and wild flowers
Pampas grass also comes to mind

I would like to see something like crape myrtle or amaranth hairs for both genders. I love that the new hairs are shared among the genders

Or maybe corn silk~

First of all: Thank you Kristen Perry for your amazing Sylvari styles! My main issue is that I wish there were more options (which, thankfully, you’re fixing)! But then again, I love the design I have. I looked at the new hairstyles and still kept my current look because I think the original design I chose was great! They’re just a lovely race, design-wise. On one of my Sylvari, though, I am considering that fern, long ponytail hairstyle.

Regarding Maple leaves: What if they were clumped onto branches? Maybe have a pig-tail or afro sort of look to them? I suppose they could potentially hang down near their ears like “earrings”

Regarding vines: There are a few ways to go with them, I think.
For one, there are the rope-types, that would twist around each other. This could give a dredlock or braided sort of appearance. Braids made of thick vines would look really cool!
For the thin, curly type vines, they probably look best twisting around something and/or hanging off of something. What if there were curly vines that hung down as tendrils in the front, but they twisted around branches (or a pinecone like structure) in the back to give sort of a “formal up-do” type look. You could also add a flower or more to this look. Also, I suppose you could twist them around just about anything or even braid them while still having some stray curly tendrils.
There could also be the look of “hair down” with a more leafy type vine, likely with flowers in it, too. Kinda like the fern, except the leaves would be bigger, and there would likely be some flowers interspersed.
What about a viney headband?

Long Grasses: I noted that someone said they could appear human… one way to reduce the human appearance would be to add something like the cat tails in Caithe’s appearance. Certain grasses have really unique endings to them that could be cool. I would look into more unusual styles of grasses.

Weathered leaves: Sounds like a really neat idea. Perhaps have them on twisted branches.

More flowers: Absolutely! I note that human and Norn stykitten th have flower options, but oddly enough, there isn’t really a “leaf style” with a blooming flower in the midst of it (except perhaps now the new one). I would like to see things like trumpet- and bell-flowers involved. I consider Sylvari a very unique plant, so the more unique the flower, the better(IMO).

Regarding fruit… I don’t think Sylvari need fruit to look great. And then you don’t have to worry about the anatomical question.

Keep up the great work! The new (and old) styles look great!

On another note… I love the Heavy armor helm. I’m not sure it should be put as a hairstyle, but a twisty branchy hairstyle would be cool.

Thayel.1236:

That being said, the flower bud one that from the front looks kind of long and rockstar-ish, I noticed a good bit of clipping with the shoulder piece on the cultural T1 armor. That was the only set I looked at though so not sure about the other sets. I have always been partial to long hair on male characters, (I have very long hair myself,) and not many games out there have ever really pulled it off well. The other new style is too pulled back for my taste, yet it does have a decent long hair feel to it.

I threw the new flower bud hairstyle onto my male Sylvari who wears the T2 light cultural and it clips a bit as well. Mostly because male Sylvari seem to have a phobia of holding their head straight and always stand with their head turned it to the side, which leaves the hair sticking through the smaller “wings” on the top of the back instead of through the space in the middle.

I don’t really feel its a problem, though. Well, its a minor problem, but I don’t think its something that should really go into account for making hairstyles or anything. Eliminating clipping issues altogether is a tall order, especially in cases where its only certain armors / hairstyles together that cause the problem in the first place. I’d rather have the variety of hairstyles and deal with the clipping than have the hairstyles be limited to avoid that sort of thing.

And the T2 light cultural clips with bloody everything anyway, so I’d say the fault lies more there than with the hair. Weapons, back items, you name it. It clipped with my old hairstyle as well (was using the mushroom hair). At least when its leaf clipping with leaf (or flower) you can kind of imagine the two leaves are just bending around one another.

RE Kristen: Yay, good to see you posting in here again. I was afraid you’d gotten scared off after the livestream. Some good insights as always, and some good ideas that sound interesting going forward.

Honestly, I totally wouldn’t mind a hairstyle that looked like a “raked pile of leaves”. A messy, really full-bodied bedhead style would actually be kind of unique compared to the other styles (sort of like that one female style with the huge leaves, but with smaller leaves and less structure).

Alternatively, as I think someone else may have said, branches with maple leaves. We’ve only got one branch style thus far (well, one per each gender) so adding a second one wouldn’t be all that redundant. Maybe have a more spread out branch structure (so it’d look like a full head of branches) as opposed to the fairly streamlined branch structure of the current style, and maple leaves on it.

For grasses… definitely look at the “seed” tops of grasses to keep it from looking too much like human hair. A long bladed look at the base of the head flowing down, and widening out to a bushier “wheat grass” look at the bottom might be kind of nice. Tall grass that stuck up instead of going down might be nice too, maybe “mowed” into a sort of buzz cut (but keeping the seedy pods at the top again to keep it from looking too hair-like).

I never really got the mushroom hair… Reminds me of the lightning guy from mortal kombat, I’ve always thought that should be a culteral armour really. But mushrooms do create interesting shapes and rows of mushrooms would make an interesting Mohawk, or even funky poofy style pigtails haha

I’m still hoping for a cascade of ivy leaves. I just love the look of that stuff. Honeysuckle is also great for being a lot of leaves with visually distinct tiny bell shaped flowers. And here’s a random thought — bottlebrush. The stuff hummingbirds like. (Maybe we could also get hummingbirds in game, if only as environmental grace notes like the butterflies in some zones. They’re so magical, and having some darting around a sylvari’s head would be glorious).

For now I very happily put the fern hair on my necromancer. Thank you for the work on that and the other styles. I’m looking forward to more face options.

What about a long, seaweed style hair? Maybe have some of it drape over the shoulder, also. There are lots of different types of seaweed, also. It could also potentially give an aquatic plant-type look. Though I’m not sure that would make sense given they’re fruit of a land-dwelling tree.

Edit: I like the idea of the “in-between” of pretty and creature, as it were. If I make another character or completely re-do one, I think I’ll go for less of a pretty face and more for an “in-between”. I think it’s just hard to balance the in-between and people tend to gravitate to “pretty” faces for similarity and “creature” faces for either playing the “evil” character or for being different. But that’s just my opinion.

Lorelei.7809:

What about a long, seaweed style hair? Maybe have some of it drape over the shoulder, also. There are lots of different types of seaweed, also. It could also potentially give an aquatic plant-type look. Though I’m not sure that would make sense given they’re fruit of a land-dwelling tree.

I remember during a interview, might have even been the live feed about sylvari hair but it was said that they were focusing on Forrest style plants as the sylvari come from a tree and seaweed would be out of place. But I think that would be cool

Well, there are some really unusual forest-style plants. It does make sense not to have seaweed. Perhaps there is a vine that would give that feel. Thanks for the info!

Thank you Kirsten
Well it is not that the new styles are not well made, they really are ofc. but they just don’t fit the style I wish for my sylvari.
I like to make my characters sort of a mirrored image of me, taking on something I can identify with. I suppose I wanted short “hair” for my sylvari since I got short hair, and well mohawks are cool. How to best make one though… honestly I am not sure. Mossy and grassy just came to mind with that, but then there may be better materials for that.

On a side note, maybe work with some of these http://www.smashinglists.com/10-lovely-flowers-which-bloom-only-at-night/ perfect for the night cycle sylvari

The moon flower got a really interesting shape before blooming.
Water lilies are among my favorite flowers, but I can see them being difficult to make into a good hairstyle.

Mohawk or not I think moss could be very interesting.
Just a few different kinds: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Moss.jpg
http://askpari.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/moss8.jpg?w=111&h=150
http://www.aquamoss.net/Java-Moss/images/Java-Moss-03-s.jpg
http://files.myopera.com/debplatt/blog/reindeer-moss-IMG_6836.JPG

Sort of ultra short, without being bald

Toli Rosca.9041:

Lorelei.7809:

What about a long, seaweed style hair? Maybe have some of it drape over the shoulder, also. There are lots of different types of seaweed, also. It could also potentially give an aquatic plant-type look. Though I’m not sure that would make sense given they’re fruit of a land-dwelling tree.

I remember during a interview, might have even been the live feed about sylvari hair but it was said that they were focusing on Forrest style plants as the sylvari come from a tree and seaweed would be out of place. But I think that would be cool

I think I saw the same interview. While oceanic was said to not fit well it was also said aquatic was not necessarily ruled out but would be more of what you would find in riversstreams and lakes

I really like all the Sylvari hairstyles except for the mushroom head style which simply doesn’t make any sense at all because mushrooms are fungus and denote a plant that is rotting and dying and likely to infect and destroy all its sister plants.

As for the faces, most of them are simply unacceptible as they just have weird components that don’t really make any sense. They don’t so much look like a cross between a human face and a plant as they look like an actor had a really bad makeup job. Some of the faces even look like they belong to different animals which is completely the wrong look.

Then you have Trahearne’s face which looks like the next Lionsgate heart throb. except for the weird floating hair.

Ellisande.5218:

I really like all the Sylvari hairstyles except for the mushroom head style which simply doesn’t make any sense at all because mushrooms are fungus and denote a plant that is rotting and dying and likely to infect and destroy all its sister plants.

As for the faces, most of them are simply unacceptible as they just have weird components that don’t really make any sense. They don’t so much look like a cross between a human face and a plant as they look like an actor had a really bad makeup job. Some of the faces even look like they belong to different animals which is completely the wrong look.

Then you have Trahearne’s face which looks like the next Lionsgate heart throb. except for the weird floating hair.

Then I would really suggest the Sylvari aren’t the race for you to play then.

I personally think most of the faces are cool, they fit in with the “trees interpretation of a face” theme. Some are more human looking and elegant to please those that so wish a human looking Sylvari, some are more tree and bark/plant like to please those that so wish a more nature ‘tree ent’ style Sylvari.

And the modifier sliders do add a touch of personality to each face if you have the patience to tinker around with them.

I mean really what do you want from them? what would be your idea sylvari face? I’m really happy with my Sylvari characters, I just want that one face from the live video stream to make my Sylvari Ranger complete!

Omg! Yes! More human-looking faces for sylvari. Like Caithe’s one!

Toli Rosca.9041:

Ellisande.5218:

I really like all the Sylvari hairstyles except for the mushroom head style which simply doesn’t make any sense at all because mushrooms are fungus and denote a plant that is rotting and dying and likely to infect and destroy all its sister plants.

As for the faces, most of them are simply unacceptible as they just have weird components that don’t really make any sense. They don’t so much look like a cross between a human face and a plant as they look like an actor had a really bad makeup job. Some of the faces even look like they belong to different animals which is completely the wrong look.

Then you have Trahearne’s face which looks like the next Lionsgate heart throb. except for the weird floating hair.

Then I would really suggest the Sylvari aren’t the race for you to play then.

I’ll have you know that almost of all my characters are Sylvari and I love them to death. My problem isn’t that Sylvari are plants that were made to look like humans, but that some of the faces are just ridiculous and unnecessarily ugly. They don’t look like a cross between a human face and a palnt but a human with a bad costume makeup job as I already said. It’s pretty clear that Sylvari are meant to be standins for elves as they have most of the same qualities that we associate with MMO elves: they are very slender, they are very intune with nature especially plants and trees, they live in a forest home, they are mystical in nature and very peaceful, and they are aesthetically pleasing and generally all quite beautiful.

That’s what makes the faces with the ugly components so antithetical with every other part of the Sylvari design. Those parts don’t serve the purpose of making you “Oh yeah Sylvari are really plants!” rather they serve to make you go “what the heck was the artist thinking!?”

Ellisande.5218:

Toli Rosca.9041:

Ellisande.5218:

I really like all the Sylvari hairstyles except for the mushroom head style which simply doesn’t make any sense at all because mushrooms are fungus and denote a plant that is rotting and dying and likely to infect and destroy all its sister plants.

As for the faces, most of them are simply unacceptible as they just have weird components that don’t really make any sense. They don’t so much look like a cross between a human face and a plant as they look like an actor had a really bad makeup job. Some of the faces even look like they belong to different animals which is completely the wrong look.

Then you have Trahearne’s face which looks like the next Lionsgate heart throb. except for the weird floating hair.

Then I would really suggest the Sylvari aren’t the race for you to play then.

I’ll have you know that almost of all my characters are Sylvari and I love them to death. My problem isn’t that Sylvari are plants that were made to look like humans, but that some of the faces are just ridiculous and unnecessarily ugly. They don’t look like a cross between a human face and a palnt but a human with a bad costume makeup job as I already said. It’s pretty clear that Sylvari are meant to be standins for elves as they have most of the same qualities that we associate with MMO elves: they are very slender, they are very intune with nature especially plants and trees, they live in a forest home, they are mystical in nature and very peaceful, and they are aesthetically pleasing and generally all quite beautiful.

That’s what makes the faces with the ugly components so antithetical with every other part of the Sylvari design. Those parts don’t serve the purpose of making you “Oh yeah Sylvari are really plants!” rather they serve to make you go “what the heck was the artist thinking!?”

Beauty is in the eye of beholder.

sheep.9064:

Omg! Yes! More human-looking faces for sylvari. Like Caithe’s one!

I actually really don’t like that face because it is too human.

I would love to see more Sylvari faces since I have my favorite ones but I have too many Sylvaris and I always want to make more.

Personally I would like to see more faces with plant elements- the face in the live stream was a very good example of a face that uses layers of different materials to create features.

The current plant faces have a very mask like quality that I do not find that appealing because it looks too stiff to fit my Sylvari petal/stem theme and seems more suited to barklike Sylvaris
Edit: talking from a female Sylvari perspective- I really love some of the male faces that we don’t have.

I was just thinking I like the idea of a Spanish Moss beard for Sylvari guys (probably going on a more, knotted, barkish face), but honestly… why couldn’t there be a female face with it also? As they are plants, maybe a lady would like to grow a “beard”. What would be cool would be to see bark “knots” also involved in design.
It would also be kind of neat to have some tendril off-shoots of the face. imagine a tendril that comes off from where an eyebrow would be.
And these ideas are partly why I like the idea of a very branchy sort of hairstyle like the oaken armor. But perhaps the twisty branches could have something else involved either leaves or blooms or vines.

Toli Rosca.9041:

Beauty is in the eye of beholder.

That depends on what type of beauty we are talking about.

There are two types of beauty that humans recognize, universal beauty and learned beauty (which varies from culture to culture, locality to locality and generation to generation).

Generally video game characters, who need to appeal to a wide global audience, are created according to precepts regarding universal beauty and not learned beauty.

But sylvari is not supposed to fit into the human perception of beauty. I actually really like the last 2 faces with assymetri. Changed to the more human face, but kinda regret it, doesn’t feel quite right. Miss my old face.

Here is a little sketch I did at work of a hairstyle I would love to have for my sylvari. I do like the bud hair Kristen Perry (tarzen/rockstar) which is what I have currently. This one I like because my sylvari I tried to make all hard wood and some roots curling back from head would be cool.

Ellisande.5218:

Toli Rosca.9041:

Beauty is in the eye of beholder.

That depends on what type of beauty we are talking about.

There are two types of beauty that humans recognize, universal beauty and learned beauty (which varies from culture to culture, locality to locality and generation to generation).

Generally video game characters, who need to appeal to a wide global audience, are created according to precepts regarding universal beauty and not learned beauty.

This is the thing though, they can’t cater to everyone and there are many people, such as myself who don’t think there is anything wrong with the current line up of faces, I would just like more options.

And fitting in with the game lore they are supposed to be a plants take on humans so it makes sense they’re form is close to that of a human.

I personally really appreciate Kristen Perry’s attention to detail. Regarding the fruit, the idea of principle vs fashion (with the hairstyles being similar or different between the genders), etc.

Plants aren’t always beautiful and symmetrical, however. There are flowers that are certainly symmetrical. Some plants have symmetrical leaves. Some have alternating leaves… but think of trees that have asymmetrical knots. Or vines that hang asymmetrically. The asymmetry is a reminder of the disorder of nature. And you can certainly make a tree-like Sylvari. And if you’re trying to make a more tree-like Sylvari, a flower-like beautiful face is not going to look as good. There is a ton of variety in nature… the more variety the merrier, I say.

Hi! I hav’nt got a single sylvari character. They are Beautiful though. I’m a charr person all in. But going here once in a while gives me a hint of what might be going on in the costomization area. The Charr forum is very quiet despite me having started 2 threads (one on faces etc and one on armours) that have to deal with the look of the beings.

Kristen, I love the Communication u have with u’r sylvari players and It would be interesting to hear anything like “we are” or “we are not” currently working on more faces/horns for charr, from the charr developers… We know nothing at all in our cilent little charr corner :P It would be SO interesting to know where they get their ideas and inspiration from.

Its so nice to see how u take help from other players to get inspiration! I just love how this very thread works!! It makes me happy to stop by and read and look att all fantastic ideas sometimes

Hey All! I thought i’d tune in with some of my own sketches. I too was rather disappointed by the hairstyles released. Not because they were poorly crafted – not by a long shot. But compositionally i just didn’t find them very appealing to me. I play male Sylvari’s and the race is so unique and fresh, it’s by far my favorite in the game. With that said and with the release of the new hairstyles, i sat down and drew 3 hairstyles, and a semi-fourth. I just haven’t found a hairstyle i adore and cherish yet, and i decided to take up Kristens offer to keep drawing ideas.
In these drawings i’ve depicted some scars and also a single accessory tied to hairstyle 3, because i don’t think theres one hairstyle that has an accessory to it – yet.

- I just drew on top of some sylvari art from Arenanet. Hope it’s ok
These are hairstyles i’d love to see in-game.

Hairstyles:

1- This is a short hairstyle, and though i haven’t used any leaves or nature, by photo-bashing or texturing it, i’ve tried to create a pleasurable silhouette and style.
*I’ve added a scar over his nose, because as a race of plantlike nature, it would seem weird they have no scarring, being heroes and all and are of wood?and branches. It would also further their sexual difference from their female counterpart to be a bit more rough.

2-This is a hairstyle i thought would be implemented this time, and is actually derived from the intro-scene for the sylvari’s. Again i haven’t used any leaves, plants or such, only hinted at some leaves and such. The designers are better at the sculpting I.e Kristen

3- This character/hair is a bit of a mess and I’ve made a bandanna out of leaves which i think is really cool – and can act as an accessory in the customization panel i guess. His hair could be a collection of leaves, branches and such. Again i looked at reference pictures, but couldn’t quite be bothered to flesh it out with texture- i strived for a silhouette instead.

4- Just a little fun thing, i thought looked cool.

That’s it! I hope it wasn’t too long, and i hope it can be used for inspiration in some form or another. xD

- O

I think if a guy can have a scar over his nose, so should a female plant. I think differentiation between them should be minimal. After all, plants are asexual. I think knots would be neat in place of scars.

For the bandanna one, keep in mind, you’re working with a mop top of leaves. You could have thorns or vines or something for the bandanna, but I am not sure what would work well for the leaves. Maybe have the leaves kinda like the mohawk leaves? Similar issue with the first one. #2 seems way too hair like. I am not sure you would get the aesthetic you are looking for if it were transposed to leaves. Do you have any ideas for #2 in terms of leaf-style? Perhaps a grass? Or dred-like cat-tails? I like the fourth though. Though perhaps it is too close for bald?

It is a fun challenge trying to work with how plants would behave in nature and create a particular aesthetic out of it!

I completely agree with your arguments. But again, i was just trying to capture the general “style” if you will. I was kinda blank when i started to draw the third one, but you could incorporate a bandana of i.e thorns, bramble and such, but what sort of leaves and such, i have no idea. #2 does seem hairlike, but again it’s just the general silhouette i tried to depict. It could be made completely of normal leaves, some translucent beads spread in it too, for a better finish and cool-factor. And yeh, of course scars goes both ways, but playing as a male i thought it would make them a bit more gritty and warriors/heroes of their surroundings – goes for females too. The sexual differention is crucial for me, i don’t want a male sylvari to resemble a female asthetically and ofc physically – just an opinion of course, i’ve read alot that wants to blur that line.

Thanks for your critism, and yes the fourth is cool imo too, perhaps the bundle in the back, or leaves could be bigger or some leaves slicked back leading to the bundle and make it less bald?
I couldn’t be bothered to specify different leaves, and plants and hence draw a theme for them, but i do like all of them, and when i drew them, i instantly knew they were sorta human’isque but again it was just a sketchy thing

Just wanted to pop in and say you are doing amazing work, Kristen. Your passion really shows, in both your posts and the live stream. You are by far my favorite GW2 developer!

Translucent beads are an interesting idea, though in Sylvari they might be dewdrops instead? I’ve always liked random scatters of crystal woven into hair, though, so if something like that could be added to a style I bet it would be attractive. Perhaps they could be glow spots in the style. I still want a froth of flowers incorporated into a hairdo, however! Or ivy. Omg please ivy.

As to the faces, I agree that some are somewhat offputting to me. They look almost pustulent. But the main issue I have is with the most human looking faces. They don’t look plantlike to me, they look like flesh, perhaps due to having no surface texture. Right now I’m leveling a warrior just because I felt like making a male sylvari for once, and I’m very happy with his wooden face. The only problem I have with it is that in character creation it has a somewhat sly smile effect, in keeping with my feeling that his personality is a bit cool and calculating, but in game it’s become a constant goofy grin. (Which I want on my human conman thief, not on my sylvari, oh well). Anyway, more faces that look like plants just happened to grow into face shapes are what I’m rooting for.

Here is the wood-face:

need more hair for us, we don’t have any pigtails or long hair by itself and no real flowers in the hair either how come human got a cute hairstyle with a flower?! that should have been sylvari hair xD anyways i really want scarlet’s hair from the living story her pigtails are epic and i love the new screen picture from the event going on i really really want those pigtails <3 ah and i don’t like any of the new hair you made like maybe 2 but they both make me feel like my char is bald :< WHYYYYYY

I love the new long hair for sylvari, I almost change my current hair to it.

One problem through, It shows to much forehead.

I love really long hair, but I hate when all the forehead is showing.

Prefer it to be cover, so I like long hair that is messy in front type of thing.

yea i agree with you on the forehead thing i feel like that hair makes me bald xD so i use it then switch back because i cant handle it for a long period of time x.X if it had some strands coming down off the sides i would like it more or some bangs or just some strands falling out of the mass into the face i would love it. but yea it makes me feel like my char is bald in front.

I’d love to have an old-looking option for Sylvari – this could partly be achieved with colour selection (browns and grays instead of the more vibrant options) but also, textures such as moss or twigs or bark…

I’ll just leave this link here: old Finns with things on them

This thread is awesome!!

Sylvari is by far my favorite race in the game and I would love to see some of these awesome hair suggestions work their way into the game.

About the faces I would like to see more options. Personally, I would go for the more human/pretty faces that have some plant-like qualities. So not too barky, but not full on human either. Such as how Caithe, Pale Tree, the current faces that have emphasis/added detail to the eyebrows and cheeks. For example what I would like to see added would be

• A female version of the bark eyebrows (not quite as long tho)
• The face that has all the pricks on the nose/forehead changed to just the eyebrows
• Have a spotted face skin on the checks and hair line, similar to the body skin
• Asymmetrical wood pattern for the males
• Asymmetrical camo pattern maybe

As far as the hairs go down the line I would like to see more long hairs, just watch that hair line. As people said it look a little off with out some sort of “bangs” in the front.

I just want to say to the artists that have been putting their sketches in this thread they are awesome and have tons of great ideas.
I like them all but the ones that I liked the most/would so change to @Pikachoo Flower pigtails with mushrooms, @Pikachoo Tigerlily, @Murke Willow, @Murke Venus Fly trap, @Phirantyk Acorn Hat

I wish I could post my sketchs but my scanner is broke atm and I’m not so hot at graphic design :/ But here are some picture I’ve found that have the same basic ideas I have in mine, that could perhaps inspire others.

1. Final Fantasy, I like the one giant leaf/pedal for the hair in the back. Sort of like a upside down Calla Lily. If you want a male version you can go with the a sorter mop top look like the other guy.
2. The Dekus from Zelda- I like the bush buns that the butler has. Mainly I like the princess with her leafy vine with a flower bunch at the end, since it looks like it’s braided maybe it could be medium pig tails instead since we have a long ponytail already
3. For a male hair they can use a the spider plant to create a look like the boy in Treasure Plant, with the little pony tail out the back is one of the runners.
4. Digimon, mostly I just like the rose vines look for the long hair. None the less a tulip/flower bulb hair style could look nice.
5. From puffintalk.tumblr, found this and I it’s awesome as is, the fruit could be changed to a flower for lore-wise purposes if need be.
6. From kinkei.deviantart, another awesome find the asymmetric looks great to me.
7. Chia Pets & Grass hair obvious and plain hair no doubt but why not have a sylvari afro or have a side swooping buzz cut. Fancy hair doesn’t always mean better.

Again I want to state that I found this images and didn’t make/own them.

Morrigan.2809:

Thank you Kirsten
Always great to hear from you

Since I can’t draw
I will just leave some suggestions for flowery vines:
Star Jasmine
Granadilla vine
Morning Glory

For long trailing flowers maybe something like Wisteria?

Hehe, Star Jasmine and Morning Glory are drawings I started for sylvari just after Kirsten presented the redesign before beta.
Also tackled a butterfly bush. (Not sure on it’s scientific name only that my mother used to grow them when I was a child back 30 odd years ago.) They are a purple flower that grows in bunches, a “bunch” would rather suit a 1950s/1960s style beehive or afro.

I would totally support the use of granadilla or wisteria…. Maybe I should draw more sylvari.

i like these i know some are old design that was tossed but i still love the way the hair would have been…! i love the spikey ponytail and i love the hair on the pink ish girl and her armor!

ahh and the pigtails was just to show you what kind i love lol!

and the armor on the old designs i love it why cant you add those in they are sexy <333

ah forgot to mention im showing you all long hairstyles because i feel we lack the long hair on sylvari, its all short :< give us some hair girls will love long hair xD

Passion.4539:

ah forgot to mention im showing you all long hairstyles because i feel we lack the long hair on sylvari, its all short :< give us some hair girls will love long hair xD

:O
… Shut up and take my money!

I’d like to see some hairstyles with antlers, horns, or various branches. I’d like to make a “Wiccan” looking male Sylvari, and the options for that style feel a little limited.

I do enjoy most of the hairstyles so far, though, and the new fernbraids hairstyle is just beautiful.