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!

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.

Tuesday Art Day: Blizzcon Badges

Firstly, thank you to everyone who wanted a Blizzcon badge on the basis of my other watercolour work and the quick badge of Millya I did. (I’ll be re-doing one for myself at some point, using actual references and a good transmog!) I am still working through my list of folks who signed up for a badge. If you’ve sent references, you’ll hear from me when I’m ready to get started on yours!

I’m really loving doing these so far, because it’s such a small painting it’s very fresh and immediate. You focus intensely on it for a few hours and then it’s done! Here are the first two I have done so far. They both have orange backgrounds because they are both druids. The next one I’m doing is a shaman!

Beru

This first one was for my friend Beruthiel of Falling Leaves and Wings. She has the extremely fancy (and elaborate) challenge mode druid armour.

Arielle

This next one was for Arielle of The Inconspicuous Bear, also known as @riftmaker on Twitter.

If you are interested in a badge, you can send me your info via my post here (please use the form! it has been making it really easy to keep track of everyone’s info and I like that). The line isn’t too long yet and I’m getting them done pretty quickly so far, so the wait time should be fairly decent. I may wait to mail them until I have enough to print out a bunch of name tags at a time, but before mailing you will receive a high-resolution scan of your painting.

Thanks to everyone who has had positive things to say about the badges so far, I look forward to doing many more of them!

Watercolour Blizzcon Badges

On the heels of the news that we’re going to Blizzcon, I became really excited about the idea of doing commissions for badge art. I am now accepting commissions for Blizzcon badges! With a twist: I’m not going to be doing them digitally, as lately I’m really enjoying working in watercolour. So the way that we (Rades helped) devised for the badges is like this: each watercolour will be a complete painting without any lettering on it. Included with your badge will be a name strip that will be placed overtop of your painting in its badge holder. Once Blizzcon is over – remove the name badge, and you’re left with a little piece of original, handmade artwork.

This is what they’ll look like, cut out and placed in a badge holder. The background will correspond with your class colour. 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

Watercolour Blizzcon Badges

Price: $40 USD – includes:

–miniature 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).
-digital file of your painting sized for use as an avatar or just to keep

The above price includes shipping within North America. For shipping outside of that area please add an additional $5 USD.

This price includes 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.

I’ll assess demand and if a list is necessary I’ll put a list here to keep track of the commissions. If you are someone who was on my other commission list, those are on hold for a little while, but if you wanted a badge you will be given special priority for your patience.

If you’re interested, please fill out the form below and also e-mail me your character reference at puggingpally@gmail.com. Character references should be one or more screenshots of your character taken in good lighting and zoomed in on the torso/shoulders/face. I require payment up front (Paypal preferred). I’ll contact you about this as I begin work on your commission!

Name(required)

Email(required)

Badge Type (See Above) Alliance - Type 1 (Character Name, Guild, Server) Alliance - Type 2 (First Name/Last Name, Character Name, Guild, Server) Horde - Type 1 (Character Name, Guild, Server) Horde - Type 2 (First Name/Last Name,Character Name, Guild, Server)

Character Armory Link(required)

Character Description/Desired Expression

Any additional character information (ways in which your character might differ from the armory or special requests).(required)

Submit

Δ

I don’t have a wide range of samples for these because I haven’t done them yet, but if you’d like to see some of my other watercolour work you can do so here to get an idea. Below are some more Warcraft examples, please keep in mind these are much bigger (4″ x 6″) and so have a bit more detail. (I can draw things other than draenei, I swear). ETA: I have added the three badges I’ve completed here as well.

Arielle’s badge

Beruthiel’s badge

Timbersham’s badge

Tuesday Art Day: Kinnavieve and Shianti

This is a pair of avatars I did for the inestimable Ratters of Needs More Rage fame. It is Ratters’ character Kinnavieve (who I’m sure you all know) and his wife Julie’s character, Shianti. He asked me to make them so that they could go together and would be looking at each other, like so. Accordingly I did the background in one long piece and then pasted it behind them. They do also exist as separate avatars, though.

I was happy with them! More importantly, I think that Ratters and his wife were happy with them as well. Ratters just recently hung up his (Warcraft) blogging hat, you should go and read his last few posts. Bring tissues though.

Tuesday Art Day: Matty

These were done for Matty over at Sugar & Blood – she wanted two portraits! Here’s the first one, an avatar.

Matty! If you are a reader of her blog you may spot something I added after we’d discussed the image.

The second one was a watercolour, and I was trying something a little different with it – I tweeted progress pics at fairly regular intervals.

Just getting started! (I’d laid the first wash the night before and then let it dry). You can also see my lightbox, tracing paper, etc.

Starting on the background and the lighter areas. You can be a little bit sloppy with washes if they fall where shadows are going to be, but when it comes to colours like yellow you have to be pretty careful not to muddy them up.

You can see that I realized the handle of the right axe had been wrong – well, technically it’s the pommel that was wrong. I had to try to cover it up, you can still see it a bit here but I think in the final painting it was covered pretty well. I’ve also added a wash to her gloves, most of which will be covered after. With watercolour you really need to think in sequential layers – so I’m always asking myself “What will this need to look like after, and what needs to get done first?”

And that’s it! This was an actual scan of the painting, rather than a photo taken on my phone like the others.

So those are two of the commissions I’ve recently finished! Matty also has them on her blog both here and here. I think she was happy with them, and that’s the most important thing for me! My commission dance card is pretty full at the moment, but please remember if you want to be added to the list, do e-mail me; it’s puggingpally AT gmail DOT com! It’s the easiest way for me to make sure you don’t get lost in the comments.  You can see my commission entry for more info.

Hoard of the Rings

A month ago, in the culmination of an epic year of decluttering and cleaning, I hired a maid to come to our house for one day. A bunch of folks were coming for a pot luck before the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, Rades was going to be staying with us, and the peace of mind that someone else would come and do all the hard work was worth it for me. So I planned to be out of the house for the day (with the dog in tow) and went over to my parents’. Before we left, I said to Voss, “What should I do about my wedding rings? They are the only thing I own that’s really irreplaceable. I think I’ll take them with me just in case.”

The next part is a bit fuzzy. I think he said, “There’s no need to do that, just hide them somewhere,” I might have said, “Okay, you’re right,” or I might have said, “Nah, I will just bring them with me.” You see, the thing is, I can’t actually wear my rings right now. In the eight years since my engagement ring was made, I have gained a bit of weight (which I think is pretty common). So I kept the rings in a jewelery box, occasionally taking them out to see if they fit any better (recently I could get them past my knuckle, so they really did almost fit again). Little did I know, that by trying to keep them safe I’d somehow manage to lose them. The problem is that I can’t remember exactly the events of that day. Did I take them in my purse? (They aren’t there, or in any other purses I own). Did I hide them cleverly someplace? I’ve torn the house apart looking. I emptied my sock drawer. I unfolded each and every sock just in case I’d tucked them into a sock. I’ve looked in teapots, bowls, taken all my clothes out of all my drawers, dumped the contents of my night table drawer onto the bed and sorted through it. I looked in Voss’ backpack and cleaned out the hall closet in case it was with my mittens, hats, shoes or jackets. You can see where this is going.

Voss was never for a moment upset at me, because as soon as I realized I couldn’t find the rings I started panicking, and looking, and panicking, and looking some more. It’s been three days now and I am not any closer to finding them than I was. These rings were indescribably precious to me. When Voss proposed he didn’t buy a ring because he knew that my tastes were unpredictable and probably not like his own. We went jewelry shopping together. I tried on so many rings my finger was sore afterwards, and not a one of them felt right to me. So we went to a goldsmith and she and I designed this ring. It is white gold with a vibrant blue star sapphire and a fluid design. Initially I hadn’t intended to get a wedding band, but I later changed my mind and the goldsmith designed one of those for me, too. I chose the stone for all of the things it symbolizes – truth, fidelity and clarity of mind. My ring was like a little piece of something intangible that was just mine with Voss and I. I can’t believe that I lost something so important to me. I’ve been pretty much inconsolable since, passing from the loudly upset/angry phase into a dull funk that made me withdraw from everyone. I just want it back, but I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that this might not happen.

Unfortunately, it’s a pretty large unplanned expense. But I figured I have two options: keep whining and feeling sorry for myself about it, or shut up and start working harder to save up and replace it. The goldsmith who made the original is still in business, and I have pretty detailed photographs of it. I think she should be able to reproduce it. If there’s a lesson for me to take away from this, it’s pretty simple: I held onto my ring without wearing it for YEARS without having it sized to fit. People had told me I shouldn’t have it sized because I’d lose weight and it would be too big, or it would fundamentally change the ring itself and it wouldn’t look the same. That scared me, so I just kept it in a box. If I had my rings in my hand, I wouldn’t wait. I would go to the jeweler TODAY and have it sized to fit me the way I am now. I wouldn’t wait for that magical day when they would fit again. As a friend pointed out, the difference between a ring fitting and not fitting is miniscule. It’s millimeters. I let myself feel miserable because the rings didn’t fit (which made me feel awful about myself), but more than that, I didn’t get to enjoy something I truly love, something that is meaningful to me. So I’m not going to wait around and hope I can get my rings back (although I’m going to keep looking). I am going to do what I can to have a replacement made, one that fits me. I truly believe if I’d been wearing my rings, I wouldn’t have lost them. They were made vulnerable because of their tentative status as ‘non-rings,’ waiting for the day when I would put them on again, and because of that they slipped through my fingers.

This is the part where you come in. I don’t usually solicit or even advertise my art services on the blog, but this is a pretty strong impetus to start. Now, I’m not asking for charity from anyone. I’ve always done custom avatars and other commissioned artwork at this price. I’m just increasing my reach, and if I can make more art than I have been doing, I hope that I can reach my (possibly lofty) goal of 100 custom avatars (or other art) in the next few months. Again, as I said, this isn’t charity. And who knows, maybe my rings are not lost forever, and if I find them you will still have my gratitude, and some art that you like. So it’s really win/win for both of us. Here is what I have to offer you.

Custom Avatars

$30 CAD

-One avatar (600 x 600 pixels) in full-colour of a character of your choice from any franchise; World of Warcraft, SWTOR, LOTRO, Diablo, etc. Original characters are also welcome! Heck, nobody has ever wanted it but there’s no reason you couldn’t have a cartoon version of you, the really original character. (Your true ‘main.’)

Watercolour Postcards

$40 CAD + shipping

-One character of your choice rendered on a 4 x 6″ watercolour postcard, as shown in the postcards below (more characters would cost more, please contact me for more detailed quotes). A miniature piece of art to frame and put on your wall!

Note that these don’t have to be character specific. I’m also completely open to an image of an actual person, pet, or child. I might make them draenei blue, though. (I’m kidding).

Black and White Sketches or Avatars

$15 CAD

-One avatar (600 x 600) or sketch of a single character (more characters would cost more, please contact me for more detailed quotes). A great option if you want some art or an avatar of your character on a budget. These can be lineart with very minimal (black and white) shading, or simply lineart, or something more stylized.

Full-Body Character Commissions (With or without backgrounds, digital or watercolour)

I prefer to quote these individually as they vary depending on complexity, background and number of characters. I am available for these types of commissions but they take longer and are naturally costlier than any of the options above. If you are interested in a larger commission, do fill out the form below and contact me to discuss details. Examples of these are not shown here, but you can see many of them by viewing the “Art” category of the blog.

Egon Schiele homage.

How it works: If you’re interested in commissioning me for any of the above, please fill out and e-mail the following to puggingpally@gmail.com. Note, I have a section for more RP type info which may not be relevant to all people, feel free to leave it blank if it doesn’t apply to you, but I often find that even non-RPers have some idea about what their character is like!

Once I’ve received your information, I’ll add your name to a “first come, first served” style of list to be published on another page here on the blog. When I’m ready to start on your commission, I’ll send a Paypal request to your provided e-mail address. When I’ve received your payment in full, I’ll start working on your image! I’ll send you at least one sketch and you’ll have the opportunity to request minor changes. You can expect to have your image in twenty-one business days from the time I begin provided you answer me quickly if I have any questions. For watercolours, please allow additional time for delivery.

Character Commission Form

Commission type: Colour avatar, watercolour image, black and white avatar or sketch (choose one)

Please note: for watercolour images include your mailing address so that I can calculate shipping. I’ll assume you want “normal” shipping and not any rushed type.

Character Name:
Race:
Class/Spec:

Physical Description: Skin, hair, eyes, any other defining features. Particularly helpful if including any details which may differ from “in-game” models or screenshots. Write as much as you like.

Weapons/Armour or Clothing: Please be specific (e.g. item names) especially if you would like the character to be wearing clothing/armour that differs from armory profiles.

Personality Description: Whatever you care to share about the character’s quirks, history, etc.

Suggested Expression: Facial expression or general mood of the image.

Suggested Pose: Less relevant for a bust-style image but you can indicate a preference here for straight on, ¾ profile image, or profile image.

Desired Background: What colour background would you like? If you’d prefer a specific background (Nagrand, any area in Star Wars) please include a reference image for this as well.

Miscellaneous: Anything not covered by the previous topics that you think I should know.

Screenshots and references: Please include a minimum of two screenshots of the character; one close-up of character’s face and a second showing from the torso up or full-body for full-body drawings. Screenshots should be taken with a fairly plain background in good lighting (Sides of buildings work well for this and areas/zones where the lighting is fairly neutral. Think Stormwind/Dalaran, not Icecrown). If your character is using an in-game area as your preferred background, you can include a screenshot taken there.

Thanks for reading and your consideration, and if you so choose, thanks for your interest in my art!