One of the things about being avidly into the character and storyline of my Warcraft characters is that I get rather attached to them.  They get fleshed out, and they get descriptions and histories that make them more than just the pixels on the screen (in a way).  One of the ways that they become unique is through actual physical descriptions – which has always been something that I and other people that interact with me have had to use our imaginations for (since all of the Warcraft models for Female Human are exactly the same).

That is, until today.

You see… one of my new guild mates happens to also be a fantastic artist. And he’s offered his artistic talents to the guild in the form of black and white character portraits in exchange for in-game gold (something most people would have to pay real life dollars for).

I got to look at some of his earlier work, and was totally blown away – so I sent him my gold and a character description for Aelflaed. What I got back was way beyond anything I could’ve expected, especially for someone that I’ve only just met, and who (to my knowledge) doesn’t read this blog.

Meet Aelflaed:

I could easily go on and on for paragraphs about how well this captures the character I’ve created, and how her personality shows up in that half-grin and cocked eyebrow, and how she’s pretty like the “girl next door” without being “hawt”… but I think it pretty well speaks for itself.

So thanks Lans (who is really Joe Rinaldi, and to whom I give ALL credit to this picture) – you’ve totally made my week.