Guild Wars 2

Arrival at Drytop

Finally our ranger is closing in on Mordrem-infested areas…

Thank you pepper :-)
There´s more to come soon! These days i spent a lot of time with the graphic tablet to pass the time till “Heart of Thorns”. Can´t wait! ^^

Best regards
Ben

Really nice perspective and colouring!
Quaggan are probably the cutest little fellows ever designed ^^

Kind regards

Benjamin

In one word: OUTSTANDING!!
Overwhelming fur texture, great details and light effects. A masterpiece!

Best regards

Benjamin

Into the sunset

The last months had seen Llamaria turning her steps westwards. First it had been occasional forays, then elongated troll-hunts but recently the subliminal migration has become a journey.
In the beginning she didn´t admit it to her self, but something has changed. Deep inside her there´s an urge to go, drawing her like an insect to a venus flytrap. There are rumours amongst the Sylvari rangers that the “poisonborn” finally succumbed to Mordremoth´s call. But only the gods know whether Llamaria is striking the dark path to perdition or if she has decided to fight evil with evil…

Sylvari Faces

I like drawing Sylvari faces. The lines across their forehead and around their large eyes lend them a unique atmosphere. And of course skin texture, plant-inspired hair and other details are an inexhaustible source of possibilities for an artist.
A nice example for already existing characters interpreted in a more detailed way. It goes without saying that attempts to create new stuff owe everything to the original. All of us – submitting little bits and pieces of fan content – are standing on the shoulders of giants like Dociu or Kotaki! So thank you ArenaNet for creating such a masterpiece and giving us even the chance to play around and expand it further!

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

Single pieces depicting:

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

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…

Extremely cool! You just nailed the “cultural sense” of Tyria´s main races/professions and how they would deal with the problem!! ;-)

best regards

Benjamin

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! ^^).

Top of the World

Very nice of you to share the process :-)
Great to see a piece of art growing!

kind regards

Ben

Waterfalls

Here I was indulging myself in the sheer size of the scenery.
To me the Sylvari forest is a huge jungle of unimaginable scope. There are roots which arch and meander for miles, thereby determining the landscape. You can pick your way for hours through the vines and leafs of the rainforest and still be in the shadow of the same giant tree. Green-golden light is seeping through the leaf-canopy, trickling down the wet, moss-covered trunks and finally submerging in the cool, greenish shadows.
And of course the waterfalls: foaming, roaring beauty, several thousand feet in height; an effigy of Caledon´s untamed nature.

Forest Patrol

Wardens stalking the jungle. I usually depict my Sylvari very lithe and slender and in motion. Their posture should encompass pride (yet they know they´re the masters of the forest), inherent alertness and a tickling sense of danger.

Great project EremiteAngel!

I´ve seen a lot of awesome characters here. Pure inspiration for further drawings and character design!
Thanks all for sharing their pics!

Best regards to all players and contributors in the community corner :-)
Benjamin

Hi Ayuma,

very cool idea to create weapons based on ingame textures!
Personally, i likle bow number 2. The curved form made of single pieces with their gradually changing angle and the handhold of bristling pink energy – just great :-)

Kind regards
Benjamin

Hi Oreithyia!

Nice to receive some feedback ;-) Thanks for the praise and the artistic considerations!
Like the Tengu wall, too. Think i´m going to do more drawings of it in the future. One with Llamaria climbing the ruins yet already spotted by vigilant, exotic-looking Tengu sentries… or one with the first vista of beyond the wall opening up to us.
I´m really exited about this race and would have loved to see them introduced into the game via HoT… On the other hand we´ll come into contact with these new Hylek and Mursaat so i´m happy with it ^^

Kind regards
Ben

Purple-feathered Death

Llamaria is an exceptional archer.
Ripping a poisoned arrow out of the quiver, knocking, drawing and sending it towards one of the jungle´s many beasts is as natural to her as breathing. Her sleek tribal longbow is made of Ekku-hardwood and adorned with the purple feathers of prehistoric Moas. Once the razor-sharp obsidian tip of an arrow punches home in enemy´s flesh, he´s got but seconds before convulsing in pain. Llamaria is said to know every poison in existence – from shadow aloe and lung strangler to hideous mixtures made of poison dart frogs.

I admire the new design; the big, stacked half-timber buildings and the more populous feeling of some areas. The port entrance is quite impressive. Though i miss the rickety “marine-themed” architecture of the former “pirate-nest”, i see the promising developments. Fort Marrineris lives up to its name now, a terraced bulwark bristling with walls and canons.
Not sure about the “modern” asuran-inspired parts like the crayfish-harbor with its cargo cranes and the fancy roofed structures around the craftsman area.
Fond of great details like the kraken-shaped candle holders in the Black Lion headquarters (nice piece of remaining “marine-theme”)
To sum up: a nice blend :-) Hats off to the design-team of ArenaNet! I´m really looking forward how they are going to develop the yet unfinished areas!

Kind regards to all players
Ben

Nightmare Sylvari

Wow, really cool! I especially like the warrior with the Vigil helmet and the greatsword!

Best regards

Benjamin

Nightmare Court

A ghastly vision from the torture chambers of the Nightmare Court. The sadistic Cruelágh is in charge of this place and some say one day she might challenge Faolain herself for domination at the Court.
Thoughts after a night of drawing and immersing myself in sinister artwork: The fallen Sylvaris` lair is a damp, dark grotto full of thorns and twisted, strangling vines. Its cankerous pink bioluminescence doesn´t really want to mingle with the sickly green glow, adding to the disturbing effect. The floor is slick with venoms and acids and poisonous vapors waft above the treacherous ground. It echoes with the cruel laughter of Nightmare Defilers and the horrified screams of their victims.

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

Thank you all for the interesting and entertaining comments! I really have to play the Malyck story branch one day… :-)

Dolyak Caravan

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

Hi folks,
anyone else who thinks the monstrous villains with the mordrem weapons in the new reaper video are super awesome??!! Dark, savage, threatening… fantastic piece of design!
Are they random mordrem beasts like leyleechers or teragriffs or is this our first glimps on twisted sylvari from another pale tree? Is this what our favourite plant-race was supposed to be by the elder dragon?
What do you think?
Kind regards to all players
Ben
P.S.: I´m getting more and more excited about “Heart of Thorns” with each day ^^

Interesting thought!
Would add some drama and a feeling of danger if they´d kill of someone of relevance (and part of Destiny´s Edge!) instead of a recently installed and (in the long run) rather unimportant character like Belinda.
Always nice to speculate a little bit about future plot developments… ;-)
Other thoughts about the topic?

Regards
Ben

Hello fey!

Great work! Atmosphere, colours, detail… a masterpiece. Would be nice to see more of your work soon :-)

Best regards
Benjamin

Either as a skin or as a new class of weapons (but in the latter case, please accompanied by new, intriguing abilities/skills to distuinguish them from hammer/greatsword), two-handed axes would be great!!!

- Some weapons and armor looking rather “antic” than “medieval”. All sorts of Paragon/Elona-stuff would do for example…
- And more “tribal” based pieces, especially now with the new Hylek/jungle races approaching.
Reven´s beaks, spears, lances etc.

Just beautiful!

Hi Sammea!

Just wanted to tell you that your works are great and beautifully capture the spirit of GW2. The recent sketch of your mesmer is very impressive. Like the mood and the dark atmosphere. Don´t add too much colour… ;-)

Best regards,
Benjamin

Hi Glyss!

Really nice work. Would be great to see more from you on the forum in the future :-)

Best regards

Benjamin

The weapon and overall expression are great!

Looks great indeed!
Interesting new landscapes, dense jungle filled with amazing beasts, hetek-like creatures and Mursaat. And of course the most awesome kitten-blindfold ever: Rytlock, back from the mist to chop some Mordrem ;-)
Really looking forward to explore all the new content!!!

Kind regards to the ArenaNet team and all players
Benjamin

All the things you mentioned :-) And a removal of the race only armor restrictions would be really nice!

kind regards

What an ending! Felt just epic!!

Think this is not just the point of no return but also the turning point ^^
After a lot of buildup the overall story gathers momentum. The sylvari mystery is (at least partially) revealed, pact is attacking mordremoth, and most important of all: different factions show SERIOUS conflicts (Charr declaring war on sylvari) at last!
Hope this will bring interesting changes to Tyria. For example: Sprawling mordrem tendrils entangling western maps, Nightmare court openly collaborating with Mordrem, schizm within mighty organisations like Lions Guard, Vigil, Pact etc. due to the Sylvari´s “taint”, Destiny´s Edge breaking apart. It´s time to put some emotional pressure on the main NPCs, to force them to make decisions which are really influencing the future of their world! Imagine Rox and Braham taking different sides and facing each other on the battlefield, when Rytlock/Charr legions calling for loyalty. Or Logan/Eir & Co forced to hunt down Caithe before she succumbs to the Dragon´s might…
I´m just running wild ^^ But i hope you got the point… There is so much POTENTIAL in it!!!

And if this huge story/lore-wise step would go along with the wistfully awaited addon offering new content in form of new maps, race, class, dungeons it would be just awesome.

Thumbs up for Heart of Thorns :-)

Kind Regards

Benjamin

Pro Expansion!!! ;-)

Strongest cutscene so far! Fast, tense, impressive, dramatic, dark!! Really well done!!!

Hi Oreithyia,

thank you so much for this kind and detailed feedback. You seldomly receive something like that here in the forum ;-)
I´m still considering the many points you mentioned and i hope they´ll help me to enhance my drawing skills. You keep me motivated to further improve!

Best regards

Benjamin

I completely agree with Seabreeze! Would be awesome to have not one, but TWO types of spear-weapons.

1) Something lance/halberd-like for heavy combat (i imagine a skill to prevent the enemy from getting close enough to use close-distance/meleé weaponsholding by piercing him and holdin him off…)
2) And then throwing spears/javelins. Would add some diversity to the middle-distance fights. Could be introduced along with the Tengu… would perfectly fit i think.
And in general spears would go along perfectly with everything Antic/Middle-East/Africa inspired. So the very moment we are approaching Elona, spears will becoming business! :-)

Best regards to all players

What do you think of the drawing? Anybody interested in such a kind of character? Or is this too dark for typical high-fantasy? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions? :-)

Kind regards to all players

As a newborn, Freyja Frostdottir had been abandoned in a cruel blizzard as a sacrifice to Jormag by her parents, who were secret dragon worshippers. The first few hours of her life were an ordeal yet somehow she survived the cold and was finally found by a snow leopardess. Growing up amongst her savage cubs meant to sleep naked in the snow and to tear at the bloody meat of prey with bare teeth. She developed instincts beyond imagination and could run the mountains for days without rest. With fourteen she was as wild, savage and unforgiving as any beast of the Northern Shiverpeaks. When she encountered other Norn for the first time it nearly ended in a massacre. After a ferocious fight with the young Knut Whitebear (a standoff in the end!) she could be persuaded to join her brethren.
During the following years she forged a legend that could be heard in every met hall, every norn settlement and at every campfire in the north. It was Freyja Frostdottir who hunted down the great mountain minotaur Nidhængr. She drove off a whole jotun tribe that had been pleaguing the Snowdrift Dens for decades. She travelled with the walruss hunters at Frostgorge Sound and fended of the attack of icebrood kodans. And there are rumours that once her journeys led her back to the village where she was born. Her parents and the other villagers apologized frantically and denied their collaboration with Svanir´s Sons but Freyja could sense their corruption. Here the stories differ. Some say Freyja drew her swords and killed her parents at the spot, others claim that she turned away in disgust. But all legends agree that only hours later she was climbing the icy cliffs above the village with crowbars and staffs and in the same night a mighty avalanche buried the entire settlement under the snow of oblivion.
From then on she was fighting Jormag´s servants with strengthened resolution. She brought down the svanir marauder Heimdal Hjarkathson in single combat. During the fight his axe snapped and a sliver of the cursed weapon buried itself in her flesh. She was never free of the icy pain afterwards and has become even more brittle and violent. It is said that dragontaint is kreeping through her veins like hoarfrost and will turn her into an icebrood one day.
On the rare occasions when she emerges in Hoelbrak in the middle of the night she is evaded and people shut their doors. There are whispers of ‘kinslayer’ and ‘dragontouched’ and some swear that they have seen the blue tattoo-patterns on her body twitch in an obscene life of their own. However, she is received by Knut Whitebear in secret but only the spirit animals know what they are talking about in the seclusion of his private chambers…

Hi everybody,

wanted to post this outstanding 20 hours artwork in my Norn-thread first, but then I realized that she deserves a place of her own. So here she is, Freyja Frostdaughter, a name that is only spoken in awe-filled whispers and mumbled curses. Below I have written down what the skalds and storytellers say about her and it is truly a legend in line with Jora and Eir Stegalkin…

Hi everybody,

i would definitively like the Largos as a playable race. Since they ARE indeed a mysterious people, it would be crucial to create a good story or open with a “big bang” moment to bring them into play/force them to interact with Tyria´s other races.
I am convinced that they have a huge potential and that a lot of people don´t like them for gameplay reasons (fear of clipping, limited customization, underwater combat etc.)… but story- and lorewise they would be great!
Including them into the game would add new topics, environments, plotlines and of course “bubbles”. So thumbs up that we will get them some day!! ;-)

Best regards to all players and ArenaNet
Benjamin

I´m dreaming to ^^
Thumbs up for an expansion!!
New maps, races etc. would be just great!!!

I think it its a fail because its not what most players are waiting for (and i´m really sad to admit this…)

Indeed, seasons start usually quite strong but tend to a letdown after some time. Regarding character drawing, story arc and its clarity its no comparison to GW1 any more. I really try to focuss on the good things and i´m willing to engage with the “big overall concept”, but somehow all the details feel so disconnected. Maybe they aimed a little bit too high and and are facing the limitation of the artistic tools now (in the end its only a game, you simply DON`T HAVE the possibilities of a novel or a film…)

I fear ANet has either an elaborate, but tremendously slow overall plan concerning the story (to make as much money as possible with the product in the progress) or has just taken it into its head to deliver content that way wheter its working or not. I really aprecciate the thought and spirit behind – the attempt to do something new in the highly competitive MMORPG-field, but why stick to it when it is disappointing for so many fans?

Personally, i think its possibility no. 1. They will presumably bring out an expansion during 2015 yet even this would mean new races, maps (a bunch of them, not the patchwork we got so far) professions, classes etc. after aprox. three years!! for the first time (something i hoped for during the first 12-15 months). Given that pace it will take us a decade to defeat the elder dragons (and spent fortunes in the gemshop in the meanwhile…)

Season 2 is certainly better than season 1 and they made some improvements but i can´t get rid of the feeling that they play the long run, stetching the already thin concent out for as long as possible, before finally giving us the expansion we crave for…

Besides, i really respect what ArenaNegt is doing and hope the best for the game cause it has such a huge potential. Fingers crossed that they find a way to build on the foundations of the fantastic GW1 lore (ideally in form of an addon ^^)

kind regards to all players

Ben

Hi LadyPecs,

welcome to the FanGen corner of the forum ;-) Would like to see more of your art soon. You do especially well drawing the different layers of clothing. And the “cosmos” background is just superb!

What sort of Graphic tablet do you use?

kind regards

Benjamin

Good job! I´m looking forward to see more of your work soon ;-)…

kind regards

Benjamin