Watercolour Mini-Paintings/Badges for 2015

2013 badges.

Last year’s badges!

*Edit: All of my initial slots are now filled! Please check back or keep an eye on my Twitter as I will open more later.

‘Tis the season for convention badges! As you probably remember, I’ve done Blizzcon badges for two years now. First I tried my hand at it in 2013, and then continued to do it in 2014. This year, there are a few changes.

First, I’ll have options for if a person wants an actual convention badge. The price remains $55 USD as from last year, which includes regular mail shipping. Registered letter mail costs extra. The second option is by popular request, because there are folks who want the painting but aren’t going to Blizzcon. Often they tell me “I don’t want to take a spot from someone who…” No. Your commission is equally valid. And mini painting commissions (same painting, without name tag or badge holder) will be $50 USD so you save a little bit, too. Please note that additional items (e.g. mini pets, hunter pets) are $5 extra.

Secondly, I am changing my name tags in all likelihood but I don’t have the new versions to show you yet. I hope to have them soon. But I think the name tags are really secondary, anyway, which is why I make them removable! Whether you’re going to Blizzcon or not, ultimately you have a piece of lovingly handcrafted art to call your own. Many people frame them afterwards:

The Godmother created this frame specifically for her painting!

This is Beruthiel’s framed painting.

Here’s a photograph of Liz’s framed piece!

These are what the name tags looked like formerly. Basically, the only thing you are choosing is your faction, and whether you want your real name on it plus your character name, or just your character name.

The next change to this year’s process is that I’ll be taking on commissions in batches, starting out with six. I’ll regularly re-open these when I’m able, and possibly pause or stop them if I have a lot of other work to do. These are a fun side thing that I love doing and I want to be able to give your art my full attention.

Here’s what the badges look like physically.

Badge action shots.

Larger images of many of the badges are featured on my art site, staceylandry.com, if you’d like to see them.

Here’s what to do if you’d like a painting of your own!

1) Fill out this form and submit it. You’ll get an automatic confirmation e-mail.
2) I will e-mail to let you know I received your request (please allow 1-2 business days).
3) You will see your name added to this list.
4) Take some reference shots for your image. I can work from the armory but I prefer shots taken in-game. Please take them in a place with bright, daylight lighting. (e.g. Orgrimmar, most of Pandaria, Nagrand or Talador, not Shadowmoon Valley). As you can see from previous examples, some of the best paintings result from unexpected angles. 3/4 is dynamic for portraits, but I can also do profiles or others. Don’t feel you are limited to just head on/with a neutral expression!
5) Send your references in and clearly label the e-mail with your name/character name etc. so I know who they belong to.
6) When I’m ready to start your commission, I’ll send you a Paypal request. Once payment is received I’ll get started! I’ll send you one sketch image to make sure you’re happy with it, and then I’ll finish the painting itself.

Because of the way I do these commissions (I paint several per page of watercolour paper and then cut them out) you won’t receive your painting until I have finished a few more commissions past yours, approximately a few weeks. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask me here or on Twitter (@_Vidyala). Thanks for your interest in my art.

Tuesday Art Day: Gracie

The other day I had some spare time and felt like painting, so I did a quick painting of one of my Wildstar characters and then started another of my friend Grace’s character. Hers ended up being a bit more involved and I just finished it today. It’s 7.9″ x 7.9″, watercolour with an undersketch done with watercolour pencils. This was something it had never occurred to me to use them for, and I like it pretty well so far compared to regular pencil. The major downside is that there are sometimes places where you can see the colour of the original pencil (such as her left cheek highlight) and for that it’s less than ideal. But if I’d used regular pencil you’d see the sketch all over, so I don’t know. I think I’ll keep experimenting with it.

Vidyala’s Watercolour Blizzcon Badges 2014*

IMPORTANT EDIT: Please note that commissions for 2014 badges are now closed. I may or may not reopen them over the next month but it’s unlikely. Thank you to everyone who commissioned me!

Millya

Hooray! We know when Blizzcon is coming this year! I have an announcement of my own: I’ll be doing another round of badges! So if you missed out last year, now is your chance. My badges are all hand-painted with love on Arches watercolour paper with artist quality paints. Long after you’ve gone home from Blizzcon, you will have an original and unique work of art. The badges have identifying info, but it’s printed separately and removable after all is said and done. Here is what they look like in action:

Also shown: From Draenor With Love stickers.

A few more badge action shots.

The background will correspond with your class colour unless otherwise indicated. The name badge, as you can see, will be specific to your faction in one of four formats:

Alliance – Type 1

Alliance – Type 2

Horde – Type 1

Horde – Type 2

Ordering Information

Price: $55 USD – includes:

-2 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ watercolour painting of your character to fit in a 3″ x 4″ holder, (shoulders up) with separate name badge printed on heavy cardstock, and a badge holder to keep it all together. (Lanyard is not included).

-quality digital scan of your painting for use as an avatar or just to show your friends

-Regular mail shipping to any location in North America. For shipping outside of that area please add an additional $5 USD.

-This price is for a basic painting of a single character. If you want something more elaborate (including weapons or a pet or etc.) the price will increase by $5 per weapon/etc.

-Bonus: I still have From Draenor With Love stickers from last year and I’ll include a few with every badge painting I ship out.

If you’re interested, follow these steps.

1) Fill out the form below and submit it!
2) I will e-mail to let you know I received your request (please allow 1-2 business days).
3) You will see your name added to this list.
4) Take some reference shots for your image. I can work from the armory but I prefer shots taken in-game. Take them in either the Vale of Eternal Blossoms or Valley of the Four Winds, they have the best lighting. Zoom in on your character’s torso/shoulders/face. These aren’t full body paintings and the more detail I can see the better your painting will be!
5) Send your references in and clearly label the e-mail with your name/character name etc. so I know who they belong to.
6) When I’m ready to start your commission, I’ll send you a Paypal request. Once payment is received I’ll get started! I’ll send you one sketch image to make sure you’re happy with it, and then I’ll finish the painting itself.

Because of the way I do these commissions (I paint several per page of watercolour paper and then cut them out) you won’t receive your painting until I have finished a few more commissions past yours, approximately a few weeks. I promise you will receive them well in advance of Blizzcon, though.

Examples

Here are some examples of what folks did with their paintings after the convention was over!

The Godmother created this frame specifically for her painting!

This is Beruthiel’s framed painting.

Below, you can see a gallery of all the badges from 2013.

Aerix88

Ana

Maelianna

The Godmother

Skarn

Beruthiel

Gwyna

Arielle

Elfindale

Kaleri

Elunamakata

Reesi

Tassager

Soanix

Jed

Marconin

Watercolour from 2013, that I took to Blizzcon with me.

Fontis

Hexlucis

Mataoka

Zerena Hoofs

Timbersham

Rhidach

Antigen

Sunnier

Tikari

Vosskah

 

Testimonials

“The part I enjoyed the most about having a custom badge is the effort you put into understanding the character you were painting.  I really feel like it captured the personality of my character, not to mention others I saw.”
-Ari

“I could not be happier with the Blizzcon Badge I ordered from Stacey for Blizzcon 2013. In a digital world where artists have the ability to create a template and simply change faces and colors, Stacey took the time to offer each of her customers a unique, hand-painted, original piece of art in watercolor. Additionally, she went above and beyond by contacting me to specifically talk with me about what type of facial expression I would like to see on my character. Then, during the process of my badge artwork being created, Stacey was very proactive in making sure I could see the progress being made and inviting me to provide feedback throughout.

This was a fantastic experience overall and Stacey’s personal attention to detail shows just how great of an artist she is and how each piece of art she creates means something to her. While wearing my badge at Blizzcon several people recognized it as Stacey’s work and I was proud to be displaying a badge that was attracting attention from others.
I would absolutely order artwork from Stacey again & I highly recommend her to anyone who is interested in having a custom Blizzcon Badge created.”
-Kristy

“I contacted Vid (Stacey) for a BlizzCon badge the last time she offered them. It was my second BlizzCon and I was so jealous of the badges people had custom made so I knew I had to have one. The appeal for me was that I could take my badge home and frame it because it’s actually a little piece of art! The ordering process was easy, and my commission status was always accessible. I had a little hitch in getting my badge to me, but Stacey was very communicable and let me know right away and it got sorted out.

I love my badge because Stacey managed to capture “who” my character is while injecting a little bit of me as well. I had so many compliments on my badge and it was a joy to tell people where I got it. It was really wonderful seeing other people with the same style because then we had a connection and something to chat about while waiting in line.”
-Kal

Contact

I’m really looking forward to doing more of these paintings this year. They were really rewarding to do last year and I loved them all. If anything here isn’t clear or you have questions for me, you can reach me via twitter or e-mail puggingpally AT gmail dot com. Thanks for your interest and support in my work!

Tuesday Art Day: Draenei

Okay, it’s not Tuesday any more. But have some paintings anyway. I’ve been painting more than anything lately, on top of doing From Draenor With Love. To be perfectly honest, life has been pretty overwhelming in the past while and I have been taking a breather from most things, only doing art for myself or as gifts. I thought that leaping back into doing a lot of commission work would help me bounce back from layoffs at WI, but it turns out that wasn’t the case. I may take a few months off from official “work” to just focus on my health and personal stuff. I appreciate the patience of folks who have inquired about art or etc.

Meantime, here are some draenei. I posted them on Tumblr already, but here they are for anyone who missed them there. I wanted to just do some draenei that were a little outside the usual. I was free painting (no sketch beforehand).

Not Millya. Similar-ish I guess, though.

Random dude draenei. I’ve been trying to get better at male draenei in general.

Old lady draenei. We know draenei DO age at least in appearance, sometimes, after a really long time. At least, Velen doesn’t look like a spring chicken. This draenei has seen more than she really wanted to.

Probably my favourite of this bunch. She’s so happy.

Finally (but certainly not least) I did a painting for my friend Sara’s birthday. Unlike the previous ones, this one had a sketch first. It ends up looking like a fairly different style. Although obviously I also spent a bit more time on it than the quick, freepaint ones.Probably about two hours total, which is still not bad.

I’m going to be in Seattle this time next week, meeting some new folks, some friends-from-before folks, and hopefully having some therapeutic art time. I’m also planning a collaboration with Loreli (LoreliAoD on Twitter). She’s going to do some pencils and I am going to paint them! And I will either bring or do a sketch for her while I’m there and she’s going to colour it digitally. It’s going to be fun, I am excited.

Tuesday Art Day: Vid and Voss

Click for larger version.

Often on Tuesdays (for maintenance time) I’ll post some art I’ve been working on. This is something I did for myself last week (ie not a commission). I think it is actually the first time I’ve ever drawn Vid and her father, Vosskah, together. I figure that since the two of them are both really physical by nature that the way they relate to each other is sometimes roughhousing. So he’s giving her a noogie. Their roughhousing sounds like a blacksmith’s shop rolling downhill.

Millya, of course, doesn’t understand this at all and just leaves them to it.

As far as the drawing itself, I was trying out my new Copic markers. I was hoping I could possibly use them for From Draenor. I don’t think they’ll work really well for it, though, and I’ll probably stick to my ink and brush for now. I might use them to add finer details, but the problem is that when I erased my pencils underneath the Copics, the marker itself faded significantly. It’s a bit disappointing. I might do something more with this image like add colour digitally, etc. If I do I’ll post it again.

Tuesday Art Day: Surprise Wedding Present

I love commissions that have a story behind them like this one. I’ve done at least one other painting of a couple as a surprise commission. This one was a bit of a last-minute affair and I had to rush to get it done for February 2nd because the couple was getting married! It was commissioned by Rachel as a surprise gift for her husband of their two characters together. I’m told that he was very happy with it. Congratulations again to the two of you and all the best for your life together.

An Epic Secret Santa Gift

So way back in November, I signed up for the Secret Santa gift exchange on Twitter. It was a lot of fun in 2012. I can’t show you what I sent to my Secret Santa this year because it has her actual name on it. I can, however, show you what I received in the mail today…

I made this post with Millya’s paperdoll image in it ages ago. Here’s the image, anyway, if you don’t want to click over there.

That’s just a preview size; the full-sized print ready image is linked in the post itself. But you get the idea. I made up a bunch of fun outfits for Millya before transmog even existed as such. Later, when I wanted to use an avatar from the image, I made this one:

Because what mage wouldn’t dress up as Howl if they could? So that’s been my profile picture off and on for a few years now. Little chibi-Howl-Millya. Little did I know that when my Secret Santa present arrived, I would open it up and find THIS:

Please excuse my terrible photography. I was excited. I took another picture too:

It is a cross stitched MILLYA. AS HOWL. Be still, my heart! Upon opening the card it was revealed that my Santa was the very talented @Kialesse from Twitter. Needless to say, I love it and I am so impressed. She even had it matted and framed up so that I can pop it right on the wall. I’ll do that as soon as I decide where. I’m thinking pride of place right above my computer monitor so I can look at it often.

So that is the story of the SS gift I consider myself very fortunate to have received. Well worth the wait! Especially after delivery snafus. Apparently UPS put the package on my doorstep last night, but I didn’t know until this morning and poor Kia was freaking out. I’m really glad it was there, it would’ve been too awful if something had happened to it. Who knew they delivered things that late!? Anyway, crisis averted. Draenei delivered. The wrapping paper was even a sort of shiny draenic purple, haha.

Thank you, Kia!

Tuesday Art Day: Millya

Folks who’ve hung around my blog for awhile know that I (often) post art on Tuesdays. This Tuesday is a little different though because it’s mostly not art that I have done, it’s art that I had commissioned by other artists or that was done for me in art exchanges, etc. I’ve wanted to share it on the blog for awhile and kept forgetting so now I have amassed quite a collection.

You might wonder why someone who is an artist commissions other artists, it’s such a great experience though! I love seeing my characters in different ways and every artist has their own style.

The first one is going to be art by me – I finished my own Blizzcon badge!

By Amalythia

This first piece I am ashamed to admit I don’t remember the circumstances in which I got it – I want to say it was an art exchange. Fortunately I do know it was done by Amalythia, though.

By Fyreuni

One year, Fyreuni (the artist of the Daily Quests comic) was doing avatar portraits and donating the proceeds to Child’s Play. This was the one she did for me!

By Axolotl

This sketch was done by Axolotl, the artist of the Out of World comic. She was giving away sketches and was gracious enough to do this one for me.

By Shizukera

This art was a present from Shizukera for a Secret Santa art exchange we did on Twitter!

by Aly Flock

This was art that I commissioned from Aly Flock. I love her whimsical style.

By Ginny Higerd

Another Secret Santa exchange piece of art, this one was done by Ginny!

By Kim Swan

This is the most recent piece I commissioned, by Kim Swan. You can check out her tumblr here. I think she only opens up commissions periodically though, I just jumped on it really quickly.

Writing this made me realize I actually have had a lot of art done of Millya, sheesh. This doesn’t even include a sketch Fyreuni did for me at a convention one year. It’s really fun to see your characters come to life, if you’ve never done it I’d recommend it. (Which is not a plug, I am actually too busy to accept commissions at the moment. But commission any artist! It’s worth it!)

Speaking of things that are keeping me busy, I’ve wanted to write here about a new place you might see me writing… Yep, I am the new mage columnist writing Arcane Brilliance at WoW Insider. So far it’s been an incredible experience, although humbling. I’m trying to do a good job. I was a bit nervous starting out, but commenters have been really nice so far without exception. It’s been a fantastic reception. Right now I am just writing biweekly. Not this week, though – which is good because I’m going to be out of town for my brother’s wedding. Otherwise, my articles publish on Fridays.

I still have a hard time believing that I am writing Arcane Brilliance; I’ll see the tab in browser and go “Arcane Brilliance? …That’s ME!” Anyway. I hope not to neglect Manalicious though I know I’ve been spotty with updates here. The new From Draenor combined with getting the hang of writing at WoW Insider and real life stuff has been critting me pretty hard. I imagine Manalicious will be a bit more personal than it has been but the blog is still important to me and I haven’t forgotten it!

Blizzcon Badge Commissions – Last Chance

Hey! I just wanted to post a heads-up here that I will only be accepting commissions for Blizzcon Badges up to and including September 30th. So if you’ve been waffling or meant to contact me and didn’t, you still have a chance but the window is closing fast! I reserve the right to close commissions if I get more than I think I can reasonably complete and mail during the month of October. I want everyone to be sure to have them before they head to Blizzcon.

Above is a compilation of all the badges I have done so far. They’ve been a blast to do and I really enjoy them. I kind of wanted to complete a class set – I didn’t receive commissions from any warriors, warlocks or priests. I’ll be doing a death knight painting for Voss so that’s at least one for the set! It doesn’t matter what your class is, though, I enjoy doing all of the paintings anyway.

If you’re interested in a badge painting, please fill out the form on this page.

Badges are $40 USD which includes shipping, a name-tag that slips into the badge holder and the holder itself. They look even better in person. Thanks to everyone who commissioned me for these, I hope you like your paintings and maybe I’ll see you at Blizzcon!

Tuesday Art Day: More Badges (Bears, Bears, and Bears)

ETA: It’s not Tuesday any more, but I’m posting this anyhow! I’ve been doing more of my Blizzcon badges. Here is a sampling of the ones I’ve completed since I started doing them!

Aerix

@Aerix88’s Pandaren hunter. The first Pandaren I have done!

Tikari

For @TikariofET! The first rogue I’ve done. Which is probably good because it seems I am popular with the druids!

Kaleri

Kaleri of Power Word: What? and @Kaleri_ on Twitter. One of my favourite bearbutts!

Sunnier

For @SunnierBear of Sunnier’s Art of War. I confess I especially enjoyed doing this one, probably because of the deep indigo colour of Sunnier’s armour and the HOT PINK of her hair. It’s nice to break out colours like that sometimes. I’ve never used that particular shade of pink almost straight from the tube before.

I’ve been really happy with the response to these badges so far, and I just love painting them. As always, if you’re interested in commissioning one, you can fill out the form here. My commission status is in the right sidebar. I’ve got a bit of a line-up but it moves fairly steadily barring any exceptional circumstances.