Here's another WoW/virtual character portrait studio -- we've covered a few before -- but I think it's the first place we've ever seen that will actually create an oil-on-canvas portrait of whatever character you choose. Most folks do it with digital art or illustration, but Mondolithic Studios goes the extra mile -- not only will they actually put a painting together, but they'll show up to photograph you in your element, too. Lots of artists use reference shots that you send them, but Mondolithic apparently aims for "combat photography," which means they'll have a toon in world with you to watch you do your thing.

Interesting. There's only a few samples there at the moment, but they'll probably have more when and if business picks up. The style is quite interesting -- it certainly is oil paint, but rather than going realistic, it seems like it's designed more to mimic the actual look of the game, with a few weird polygon angles and designs.

Unfortunately, there's no mention of price at all (you have to email them for estimates), but odds are it isn't cheap. Then again, if you're in search of a one-of-a-kind oil portrait of the character you've sunk so much time into, this just might be worth the money you put into it.

[Via Massively]

Acaciaizm.com has a new gallery of character portraits commissioned by players on EU-Daggerspine and beautifully brought to life by artist Dalayur. The fanart on the official site is also breathtaking at times; the amount of talent in the WoW community never fails to amaze me.

What's particularly interesting about Dalayur's work is that he charges in-game gold for it; the topic of virtual currency for real assets is hotly debated by theorists and academics, and in this case the result is a real picture of a virtual character, complicating the issue even more!