#vanaliel

[blue-and-art]

This is part of a collab with my best friend Vanaliel for Guild Wars 2′s Friend/Ship event.

I met Vani when she joined the same role play guild as me.  Around that time I was falling out of touch with many friends I had known since middle and high school, and had a few college friends I had grown close to.  Trying to survive the day-to-day grind at work and keep an active social life, I found myself getting immersed in Tyria, and after some time in the guild together, Vani and I began talking one-on-one.  I had no idea that our friendship would grow so much or become so strong--I was flying solo and working retail in Maryland; she was a stay-at-home mom in Utah; there wasn’t much difference between us in age, but our lifestyles were definitely far apart.

But it grew.

We confided in each other, laughed and cried with each other, tried to understand each other better.  Every day we’d update each other on our lives, all the while defeating Nightmare Court and cleaving through Risen, Mordrem, White Mantle and Branded.  It got to the point that I trusted her enough to give her my cellphone number.

The first time she texted me was to tell me what gender her second child would be. “Hey, Blue, it’s Vani! We’re having a girl! I’m so excited!”  I was in the middle of my work shift and got the text on my break; my coworkers had no idea why I was so excited when I got back.  Honestly, I didn’t either; I was always happy for friends when they were expecting, but...I was absolutely overjoyed for Vani.  It was an unfamiliar feeling.  The more we texted and called each other, the more it began to echo in my head, “This is what friendship is always supposed to feel like.”

The first time we ever FaceTimed was when she was in the hospital, having just delivered her baby girl.  After the call, I felt like crying; I was so happy.  And I knew I had to keep being there for her.

I hope one day, we’ll be able to see each other in person.  We’ve exchanged birthday and Christmas gifts, texted, called, FaceTimed, and the next step is to hug her and tell her “thank you.”

#GW2Friendships #GW2Giveaway

[shaynafairbanksart]

A bit of a different theme from GW2, instead here’s a quickly scribbled together entry for Huion’s art contest #HuionMagic.  Unfortunately the timing had it so that this contest happened right in the middle of a very short notice move to an entirely different state, with my husband away looking for a new home and getting ready for a new job, and my very pregnant self and 3 year old left at home to try to pack everything.  XD  Fortunately I have help with the move, but it was hard to focus on anything creative, and I’m just happy I was able to finish this in time!  

[shaynafairbanksart]

I’ve finally worked up the courage to start streaming my art and I’m really excited!  Streaming is very new to me so please forgive technical hiccups while I figure things out.  Hopefully I’ll have everything looking (and sounding) pretty in no time!

Find my Twitch here:  https://www.twitch.tv/vanaliel

A couple notes: I usually paint in the middle of the night, 10pm-3am Mountain Standard Time (-7 UTC).   It’ll probably be a little while before I add my microphone to my streams because I’m already pushing my Surface Pro 3 pretty hard running Sai 2 and OBS at the same time.  The goal is to get a Wacom Cintiq in the next year and start painting on my very capable desktop that I’ve built, but until then, I need to take it easy on my trusty Surface tablet.  I had to put an ice pack under it as it is for this morning’s test stream. ^^;  Thank you for all of the support that has gotten me to where I am now!  <3

[staticcatfish]

vanaliel replied to your post “so i finished Ghosts of Ascalon this morning and KILLEEN DESERVED...”

OMG I read Ghosts of Ascalon last week and YEEEEEES. I was so sad about Killeen!

LIKE I KNEW IT WAS COMING BC I’VE GONE TO HER GRAVE/HP A FEW TIMES NOW BUT W O W IT STILL HURT

[delphiniumiris-archive1]

@vanaliel answered your question: to those who’ve been featured in GW2 community...

I really can’t imagine that she’d send an anon, but I hope it really is something positive for you and your beautiful art!

Right!? I figured that as well but, I messaged the official gw2 blog just to make sure ahahah.

ALSO. THANKS SO MUCH ;W;

[salad-mceyebrows]

vanaliel replied to your post: 3,333 drinks down

You can do it! *is chugging them too right next to you*

Same back at yoU! You can do it!

[blue-and-art]

My friend’s Vanaliel character’s late mentor, the elementalist Isolde.  I wanted to experiment with an original outfit (and with lighting--her hair’s not meant to be two tones of orange I swear!) and original hair--dear ANet, please make curly vine hair a thing.

The pose reference I got from a pose pack purchased from Kate-Fox on deviantART.

I used custom brushes by frostbo, ephedrina-stock, ForestGirl and Falln-Stock for the background.

[shaynafairbanksart]

Vanaliel’s GW2 Wishlist

Putting together my wishlist for Guild Wars 2 for those who’ve asked in regards to commissions and such, as I use my art to pay for my hobbies at the moment.  I take payment for art commission through PayPal, or as GW2 gems, Gemstore items, or in the Gems/Gold exchange rate at the time that you commission me.  

OOOOOORRRRR we can talk about trading my artwork for the below items.  (everybody likes options! :D )

Dyes:  Shadow Abyss Dye, Shadow Red Dye, Deep Glacial Teal Dye, Perseverance Dye, Crushed Bone Dye, Vintage Silver Dye, Golden Sheen Dye, Electro Blue Dye, Enameled Sky Dye, Enameled Perseverance Dye, Enameled Longevity Dye, Enameled Sacrifice Dye

Trading Post:  The Anomaly,  Merciless Pistol Skin, Chaos Trident Skin, Kaiser Snake Pistol Skin, Monocle (Light), Desert Rose Skin

Gem Store Items:  Total Makeover Kit, Transmutation Charges

Gem Store Style: Braham’s Heavy Armor Skin, Moth Wings Glider Combo, Magnus’s Eye Patch, Inventor’s Sunglasses, Wide Rim Glasses, Arcane Outfit, Crystal Nomad Outfit, Cook’s Outfit, Dwayna’s Regalia Outfit, Gwen’s Attire Outfit, Imperial Outfit, Nature’s Oath Outfit, Sentinel Outfit, Verdant Executer Outfit, White Mantle Outfit

Gliders:  Bubble Glider, Ironclad Glider, Classical Glider, Phoenix Kite Glider

Currently Unavailable (but here just for the record in case they come back):  Reading Glasses

This is also totally for me to just keep track of them in case they go on sale, cuz I’m kind of a space cadet lol.  ^^;  Just so many neat things in this game!  <3