#Made in WhiteWolfBurrow

[born-in-ascalon]

Oops, forgot to upload this here.

Come join Dominion, they said. It will be cool, they said...

(cover for Frostbound)

[kaapora]

Commission I made for the great @/WhiteWolfBurrow

[born-in-ascalon]

"See, love of water does run in the family." 

His brother made a face as if his omnomberry pie had traces of risen in it. "Mine limps at best, thank you very much."

"Maybe you Irons just need to start earlier."

Firetwins ended up having their own cubs this year, so it felt only right to send them to the Labyrinthine Cliffs together. Not to mention, Kirruak can now stick to his brother without getting all soggy and wet. All in all, it was a pretty great year for these two.

(I mean, besides me not playing them as much as I'd like to, so poor Scar is delegated to opening a daily chest in the Kaineng JP and that's about it.)

Sequel to Heyday.

Full resolution and short story: https://www.patreon.com/posts/calefaction-70806681

Progress video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/timelapse-70863701

[born-in-ascalon]

"Scald this, we need to wait for backup! Come back, soldier! Howl! That's a bloody order!"

Happy Howl-o-ween!

Have fun, beware of Steve and remember: Risen are people, too!

Full resolution freely available here: [link]

Starring in various order of importance: Howl the Brazen, Reeva, Euryale, Clawspur, Ragenar, Rytlock Brimstone Zhaitan, cursed statue of count Barradin, angry Ascalonian Fighter three (3) worms

[born-in-ascalon]

This is totally how Guild Wars 2 fishing works when you're attempting to ascend to codhood. There's no other reason why you catch everything else in so many duplicates that you would fill four other collections, but that one last cheeky git eludes you for h o u r s.

Full resolution freely available here: [LINK]

[born-in-ascalon]

Koruscar straightened back up and looked around. He found his brother still waist-deep, just a few feet from the shore, tail raised almost theatrically high to keep it dry. "Come on!" he yowled.

"Yeah, yeah," Kirruak grumbled in lieu of answer. "Just taking my time, that's --" He suddenly bolted a few inches sideways, glaring at something under his feet.

Koruscar watched on, amused. "Don't tell me they don't teach you Irons how to swim."

The dark-furred charr rolled his eyes. "I know how to swim. I just don't like it."

The young elementalist huffed and dove underwater, heading back to shore. He surfaced back at his brother's side, which, he noted, was about an inch deeper in the waves than when he'd left it. He stood back up and shook off the excess water clinging to his mane. "It's fine," he said, shrugging. "We can just stay on the beach. Maybe there's a few leftover coins from the treasure hunt --"

Before he could finish the thought, Kirruak sighed, his face suddenly hard to read.

Koruscar's ears fell backwards. "What?"

"Nothing." He turned to look at his sibling for a moment, then bumped his shoulder and smacked his tail on the water with a decisive splash. His grin was a bit less easygoing than usual, but honest nonetheless. "Wanna make it a race?"

Koruscar smiled back. That was the brother he knew.

"Lets race then," the darker charr said and, taking a deep breath, jumped into the waves.

His older brother laughed and turned to follow.

Kitty hates getting wet. Kitty also has an elementalist for a sibling for whom he'd turn the world. Life's not fair, is it.

I recently started polling my Patrons to see what should I focus on next. September poll results were a tough battle, but the resulting win was pretty clear, and so I present the festivalgoing charr my Patrons asked for and which I started over 2 years ago.

I love my Firetwins.

Artwork sponsored by ArenaNet. Full version: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42246961

[born-in-ascalon]

Tyrian Tarot illustration 3/3 - 2 of Cups

We?! There’s no “we”, twiggy. I’m not interested in a waterlogged Ash deserter.

While last to show, this is actually the first card I had (and the one I spent an eternity bugging the moderation team about - bless their patience, really). When I said Almorra and Kalla are not my most favourite charr in the game, these two are actually who steal their spotlight.

2 of Cups - Uniting the opposites, partnership, cooperation

AKA “More lovers than Lovers”. Brought together by pure chance, they first met testing (and arguing about use of) Iron Legion ghostbore weaponry (which Galina won. Sorry, Snarl, mate, but a giant doomcanon is just better). After that, they were brought together at the siege of Clarent hill, where Snarl went in over his head and got captured attempting to murder the Flame legion leader personally instead of waiting for a prolonged siege to gain results. He then successfully persuades Galina to take the fight to the Risen at Claw Island and beyond, entering the services of the Vigil (point for you, Snarl, but minus one point for getting captured, you dunce). Together in the services of the Vigil (and somehow still not killing each other), they fought in the Estate of Decay, betting whether Galina can or can’t take out a chicken in one shot (while it was Risen, so it’s not exactly fair, Snarl technically won the ten gold). Then beyond, to reclaim the source of Orr, kill Zhaitan and celebrate.

And through all this, they found respect and admiration towards one another, Galina being the “epitome of evisceration” in Snarl’s eyes, one he sneakily keeps protected from the shadows in case she gets overwhelmed, and Snarl becoming the loyal, smart and brave “true charr of the Khan-Ur” fighting at her side for Galina. This union of a giant ferocious Blood Legion warrior and snarky LA-raised Ash Legion thief is one to last.

I love these two, their constant bets, good-natured quarreling, Galina’s cheesy Iron Legion jokes and cheeky ghost taunting, the undead chicken shooting contests and hidden respect for one another. Personal story sadly abandoned them after Zhaitan campaign, with only a throwaway mention that they’re alive somewhere in Maguuma after the crash of the Pact. That does give me a lot of leeway to tell my own stories, on the other hand...

Tyrian Tarot was organized by @gw2collective.

[born-in-ascalon]

To a charr, blood comes as an afterthought. Your pride and joy runs with your warband, your brothers and sisters from the fahrar who grew up by your side, who had your back through thick and thin, who know you like they know themselves. When you carve out your story into Tyria’s ground, theirs is the hand giving you the blade. This is your story, but they shaped it, just like you shaped theirs.

The Forum is busy tonight; what is by day a quiet haunt that feels just a touch too large for a cozy pub always fills up by nightfall, brimming with chatter and roar of dozens of charr, clink of glasses and mugs and always just a few cub reprobates sneaking off from the fahrar to listen to one too many war stories.

Yet it’s still not hard to spot them in the commotion. One just needs to listen to the sharp bark of Reeva’s laugh or watch for Dinky’s form hunched over a table seemingly too small for his size or sniff out the faint whiff of ozone emitted by Euryale’s lightning whip whenever she feels like putting someone in their place.

“Hey, look who’s here!” Maverick rises first, his toothy grin that always seems a bit too large for his face to accomodate growing somehow even wider.

“Late!” Dinky bellows happily.

“Can’t ever be on time, even to your own party,” Euryale drawls. Flames from the candles lit in the middle of the table seem to dance a bit wilder at the remark.

“Come, sit,” Clawspur’s quiet, almost melodic voice says from the shadows, its tone warm and welcoming. “Before that sponge drinks all the booze.”

Reeva’s back straightens at the comment. “Hey!” she yowls, shooting her bandmate a glare.

“Truth hurts, eh, kitten?” Howl’s playful snarl rumbles through the air. He keeps toying with some amulet the way a well-fed stalker plays with a juicy rat, like he always does when he’s particularly satisfied with his share of card winnings.

“Don’t listen to them,” the ginger female snorts in mock indignation. “Here, I saved you one. Not the best brandy in the Citadel, but it’ll do.” Metal studs on her gloves clink as she raises a glass. “To us. The best damn warband in the whole Ascalon.”

One of the reasons for me being shamefully silent recently is working on this beast of a thing.

Want to win 800 gems? My collab partner is holding a giveaway on Twitter till Friday 25th! Join the fun and get a chance to win something shiny!

I joined the collab project, and a fellow (and totally kickass) artist Angelique asked me to join her on a charr illustration. As a predominantly charr player, the theme of Friendship that the collab project was supposed to tie into is pretty easy to relate: every charr player starts with a warband, brothers and sisters in arms, one of whom will always be your best friend and sparring partner. Each player has a different story, yet all the charr ones share a common origin, common childhood friends to stay by their side. And whether we lean on Reeva’s humor, Dinky’s great heart, Euryale’s quiet focus, Clawspur’s shadow arts or Maverick’s bravado, they are the friends we all get to share.

I’m eternally grateful to Angelique who decided to lend her great talent to this piece, agreed to the insane idea and was patient through all my shenanigans. Thank you, my friend!

And to the rest of you... see you in Tyria.

Artwork sponsored by Arenanet.

[born-in-ascalon]

        "At least I die knowing my sisters are free." Back in 2013, I did a painting of Almorra Soulkeeper, the most badass general of the Vigil.* And back then, I said she's not my most favorite charr in the game. * (before LS3 happened) And... neither is this one. But me long and convoluted point is, they both have what I love about ANet's little world: a totally awesome backstory (which I will delve into later). Kalla, unlike Almorra, doesn't really have an ingame design, so this was a fun challenge. There's only a few tidbits of lore to go by, some being heavilly contradictory (mostly the statue and the newly released elite spec art clashing together, which makes me believe – and don't quote me on this one – that maybe the "charr renegade legendary stance" was supposed to be her grandsire, Pyre). It would have been easy just to copy the mixed message from the game, but I wanted to take it a step further and practice my design chops a bit. To create a striking, visually interesting character, especially if it's supposed to be a story lead or a prominent figure, is a bit of an alchemy (not the eternal kind). So I took the hair, horns and overall skull shape from the statue, reinforcing it a bit with some more lioness-esque physique (to push forward the idea of a fearless badass fighting with and for her sisterhood). The latter, together with her afforementioned grandsire Fierceshot, provided me with the basic coat color. The Renegade spec artwork features a very prominent set of stripes, but I took a bit of a detour and instead of just going with dark black tiger stripes, I drew inspiration from skin painting and tattoos of various warrier cultures and turned the ordinary stripes into a bit of a warpaint. Bam, legendary renegade. (And I was also itchy to try out something that I could use as a "classical painting" for a background somewhere else...) Artwork sponsored by ArenaNet.

Original image: https://c-t-elder.deviantart.com/art/Kalla-717750651

Progress GIF:

[born-in-ascalon]

Inherent life lesson for today is: When you’re tired of being Tyria’s biggest and flattest doormat, dying in the name of the Pact and fighting gods and dragons and stuff, find yourself an ignorance-shaped gladiator pillow and just sleep for days. Taimi’s newest bombshell news can wait.

I also discovered several things:

That seeing Ves from this side without the eyepatch is weird.

That Galeax finally looks his (disturbingly young) age when he stops grinning like the smug tit he is.

That there is no such thing as “too cute” whan it comes to sleeping three-hundred-pound murder cats.

And that Galeax looks like the GW2 logo.

... Who knew?

[born-in-ascalon]

Gyrravain, aka Ginger doofus, aka Scaredevil, aka necrophobe necromanceromancer, turned four years old today.

Off to more years of failing at thievery, getting heart attacks from randomly popping up undead and lounging around the guild pub, failing to count his own offspring.

[born-in-ascalon]

Don’t mind me, just stashing a reference sheet somewhere I can easilly access it from later.

I put together this guide to my smolmesmer a while back for a giant commission you’re bound to hear about sooner or later (mostly when the artist starts moaning in despair...). Out of all my charr, she’s the teenage brat. And nutball I have to draw more often.

[born-in-ascalon]

“Stop it.” “Or what, you gonna punch me?” “... I might.” “So I’ll have one more scar, big deal. I swear, for the legendary smart Commander, you’re such a stupid old crow sometimes. Just... let me help, alright? There’s no shame in that. You don’t have to be alone. The world’s a big thing to carry on your own. And if anyone told you you should, screw ‘em. I’m here to share the load. So cut it with the brave-&-aloof face and let me.”

Episode 31 out of ?? in “Galeax is a terrible moral support”. But he tries.

(Thank you, Kreit. For everything.)

When the world falls down around you and the hope is lost... when you find yourself alone, amid a lightless place, look to the distance. Know that I am there... and that I watch over you always.

Artwork sponsored by ArenaNet

[born-in-ascalon]

Tyrian Tarot illustration 2/3 - Wild Card XX

I got lucky and managed to sneak a third card into the deck, among the stretch goal Wild Cards. Altough we were technically free to do whatever we pleased with the Wilds, I styled mine as a companion piece to Pyre’s 7 Wands.

6 of Wands (unofficial) - Victory, pride, success

Kalla Scorchrazor is the single most epic success story among the charr. Grandcub of Pyre Fierceshot, she finished what her grandsire had started, united the charr females, beat the snot out of much younger Iron Legion leader Forge Ironstrike to prove females are no worse to fight than males, helped bring the 3 remaining legions under single banner and defeated the Flame Legion shamans, thus beginning the era of new charr society.

6 of Wands, which the wild card is based on, symbolizes exactly that kind of victory. Day in the spotlight, pride in achievement.

Unlike Pyre, Kalla provided additional challenge. There is no in-game reference for her design, as we only have a very shoddy statue (that puts her to be greatsword wielding heavy armor class) and a very wobbly icon from the Renegade elite spec (that happens to conflict with the statue a lot). I took elements from both, mixed in a few of the design ideas from the Renegade elite helmet that’s supposed to be styled after her.

In the end, it turned out to be my most favourite card from the three. I’m stupidly fond of the overall design and I’ll definitely find myself an excuse or two to utilize it for something bigger in the future. Organized by @gw2collective

[born-in-ascalon]

Tyrian Tarot illustration 1/3 - 7 of Wands

Shipping of Tyrian Tarot is almost concluded (just a few boxes dozen to go) and we're finally allowed to show these. It's been an absolute nightmare, but also one of the best things to happen to me this year, a total blast and incredible honor.

Organized by the GW2 Artist Collective and the ever-amazing Melanie Sayre / Zorav, The Tyrian Tarot was the surprise success story, and although some unforeseen production pains happen to it, the final product is the single best and most professional fan project I’ve ever seen and one of the highest quality items in my gaming memorabilia collection.

7 of Wands - Defiance, conviction

Pyre Fierceshot, charr ranger and renegade. 7 of Wands symbolises rebellion, firing the first shot, taking a stand. While Pyre was not the first to rise against the Flame legion, he was the first rebel to succeed and make a dent in the shaman caste system. While the successful defeat of the Flame fell to his grandcub Kalla, her victory was built on his shoulders.

Pyre was a challenge to adapt, since his in-game models are only known from Guild Wars 1, where charr anatomy is... wonky at best. I had to make some changes, including dropping the weirdo spike things GW1 charr had all over the place (because back when charr were the evil enemy race, more spikes meant more metal or something). I kept the overal leonine snout, somewhat blocky, sharp features and jawline (although I'm pretty sure that was mostly engine limitation) and the beard.

I never actually played GW1 that much (I got stuck in Borlis Pass, since you either need friends or a particular build, and I have neither), so there's no human caped crusader of mine who'd have history of helping Pyre free his charr brothers (no sisters back then, because... again, GW1 charr). And while his storyline made me roll my eyes at Gwen Thackeray a lot (seriously, does she have *any* dialogue that doesn't go "And btw I hate charr" with every sentence? Like... lady, we get it, chill), It was pretty fun to watch and layed interesting foundations for what later became Guild Wars 2.

[born-in-ascalon]

I got to do some avatars for Guild Wars 2 official forums. Since I was mostly working on the branded comic back then, I decided to ride that brainwave and do Almorra Soulkeeper and a branded charr. Not really happy with “branda” here, but at least I found out what not to do and learned how to do branded stuff for later. Progress, hooray. (Also, people seem to like him nonetheless, so who am I to complain.)

Artwork sponsored by ArenaNet.