The art of Sudenvarjo

I’ve been slowly working on this sketch of my main character in Guild Wars 2 for way too long now. I’d really like to turn it into a proper digital painting, but first - I’ve got no clue on what to do with the background and second - at this rate it’ll likely happen in about... maybe 5 years or so.

Guild Wars 2 - Lèonn (2) (2018) Wanted to paint my Guild Wars 2 character again in his current look. This was originally planned to be a wallpaper for my computer, but as I ran out of time with this project for the time being, it ended up becoming a wallpaper for my phone instead. It’s a bit rushed though, so I might revisit it again in the future. However, here’s Lèonn, an asura elementalist, my main character since Guild Wars 2 launched. <3

Guild Wars 2 - Scriptures of Grenth / Tarot card: Death (2018) “Came then Desmina, scorned and exiled by her people. And in her misery and wretchedness, did Desmina curse the gods for abandoning all who, like her, admired power and ambition. And asketh she, "Where is the god to whom I may give my undying devotion? Where is the god to whom I may beg revenge against those who scorn me?" And rumbled then the earth from far below, and with a terrible groan, split open. The ground grew white with frost and ice, and from forth the frozen earth spilled the rotted, skeletal minions of Grenth. Appeared then the god, and with bony hands outstretched, welcomed the girl into His fold. Saith he, "I am your god. Follow where I lead, come whence I call, and the rotted corpses of the dead will be yours to control." And swearing allegiance in life and beyond, did Desmina thence become the god's first follower. — Scriptures of Grenth, 48 BE “ Possible meanings of the Death card in a tarot reading: Change, opportunity, detachment, humility, the end of something. I found this particular quote from the scriptures of Grenth to fit the theme perfectly! This piece was greatly inspired by the Guild Wars 2 Tarot Club! Please do check them out! It is not a part of the project though. I did send an application, but as (I’m sure) there are tons of amazing other artists applying too, we’ll see what the outcome will be. Would certainly be exciting to get to be a part of it! :) Guild Wars 2, Grenth and Desmina belong to ArenaNet.

Now that the Guild Wars 2 Design-A-Weapon-Contest finalists have been revealed, I can finally post my three submissions, all together! Congratulations to all the finalists, your skills are amazing!

Guild Wars 2 - Leonn (2016) Adobe Photoshop Cc, Microsoft Surface Pro 4   A project I’ve been working on for months now! Let me introduce you my Guild Wars 2 character, Lèonn! He’s an absolutely fabulous asura elementalist. I started working on this piece back in… May, I think? I upgraded my tools for digital painting and this was the first test project. My first digital painting after years of doing stuff only in traditional media. Gotta say I’m quite satisfied myself. I’ve been playing Guild Wars since around the time the first expansion - Factions - was added to the original series. Tyria, the world in the games, has always been a safe place for me. That’s where I’ve had some of the greatest adventures of my life, naturally with friends. I remember the times when we were still waiting for Guild Wars 2! I was constantly drawing fan art about all the races, even though I never posted any of it online. I used to be an active participant in the Wintersday and Halloween art contests though, and even won a couple of honorable mentions. I’ve always been quite proud of them. And then my account got hacked, right before Guild Wars 2 came out. With the help of Arenanet’s great support team I was able to recover it, but the hacker had already managed to do a lot of damage. I lost a lot of valuable stuff and even a whole character. Since then I haven’t really played the original game at all, but lucky for me, Guild Wars 2 was released soon after the incident. The experience did make me a lot more aware of all the security risks of posting stuff about your characters online though. Guild Wars 2 has been a sort of a virtual home for me ever since the release. That’s where you’ll find me hanging out on my spare time, even if I’m not doing anything specific in there.

Markers over a pencil sketch I’ve always been very insecure about drawing portraits, so one day I decided to practice it with my own face. I used an old photo, taken by my best friend, as a reference, but slightly modified it for my then-current look.

A friend asked for a painting she could give for her newborn grandson for his baptism. I wanted to create something that would still have a significant meaning when they had grown up to be a child, a teenager and an adult man. Something he could look at any time in his life and think there would be something watching over and protecting him. I think I managed to do it pretty well.

Private, Shared and Public (2015) Colored pens, ink, aquarelles and markers These three pieces too were pre-task assignments for Aalto University. That year the assignment was to create three pieces about “Private,” “Shared” and “Public,” one for each. And again, I unfortunately didn’t get in. The competition was tough though, as all the people in there were amazing artists. My angle on the topic was “A secret you hold inside yourself, even though keeping it inside hurts so much.” My personal experience on the topic would be the times in my youth, when I had to conceal my sexual orientation. So yay, the three pieces are basicly about living in a closet and slowly opening up! <3 Please do notice the ingenious hidden symbols; a keyhole, a key, an opened padlock and a broken padlock.

I sent the original piece to the university. Unfortunately I didn’t get in. Never got the original piece back either, but it’s something I already knew while sending it there. I’m still a little sad about it though, years later.