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Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Monday, October 16, 2017
More Operation Unfathomable Comics Pages
Here are more of the comics pages that will appear in the Operation Unfathomable Player's Guide, coming soon.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
The Art of Over the Garden Wall
I've talked about my love of the 2014 Cartoon Network limited series, Over the Garden Wall. Last week I got the gorgeous The Art of Over the Garden Wall put out by Dark Horse Books. It's 184 pages and covers the show from initial concept up through the comic book spinoffs.
The Nerdist had an exclusive preview, so head over there to check out so of the pages, or just take my word for it and buy it. Not convinced yet? Ok, here's a picture of a bunch of frogs, many of whom are playing musical instruments:
Thursday, September 14, 2017
French Talislanta Art
While the English language Talislanta books are (currently) out of print (but official available for free here) the French translation of the game is still going strong, and apparently has some pretty cool art. Check these out:
The Ur
Phantasians
Mondre-Khan
The Ur
Phantasians
Friday, September 1, 2017
Hohmmkudhuk and Hwaopt
I presented these two races for 5e about a year ago, but since then I've colored the images by Jason Sholtis so I felt like I should highlight them again:
The smelly and scholarly hwaopt.
And the subterranean craftsmen, the hohmmkudhuk.
The smelly and scholarly hwaopt.
And the subterranean craftsmen, the hohmmkudhuk.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Hydra House Ads
The Azurth Adventures Digest (and hopefully more products to follow where appropriate) will have some house ads in the style of those you might see in comics books of the Bronze and Silver Age. Here are the preliminary versions of some of those that will be in the digest:
Artwork here by Jeff Call and Luka Rejec.
Art you may recognize from Weird Adventures by Adam Moore, newly colorized.
Artwork here by Jeff Call and Luka Rejec.
Art you may recognize from Weird Adventures by Adam Moore, newly colorized.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Now in Color
I've been working on coloring the pregen portraits from Mortzengersturm, mostly to practice for coloring things for the Azurth Adventures Digest, but also just the have them in color. Jeff Call (the original artist) has not seen or approved my coloring job on his images, so blame me!
Here's Minmaximus the Mighty:
And here's Astra, Princess of the Star Folk:
Here's Minmaximus the Mighty:
And here's Astra, Princess of the Star Folk:
Monday, July 31, 2017
And now...Zarak!
Those of you of a certain age may remember the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toyline line and a certain half-orc assassin by the name of Zarak. I found a nice image of Zarak from 1983's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Characters coloring book that had a bit of a Jack Kirby-esque vibe about it. I believe the artist is actually Jim Mooney.
I thought it would be cool to color and give him a logo:
I might do a few more of the characters in a similar style, if I get the time.
I thought it would be cool to color and give him a logo:
I might do a few more of the characters in a similar style, if I get the time.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Adventure Environments
Here are some animation backgrounds and concept art from the He-man and She-Ra cartoons suitable for game inspiration:
An almost Seussian forest:
A cave with loot:
This statues sword has a starway up it. Interesting twist on the PHB Demon idol:
Rocky castle:
An almost Seussian forest:
A cave with loot:
This statues sword has a starway up it. Interesting twist on the PHB Demon idol:
Rocky castle:
Monday, March 20, 2017
Midnight on the Prismatic Peak
I've been working on Mortzengersturm, Mad Manticore of the Prismatic Peak all weekend--and Jeff Call has put in some awesome work too. Check out the illustration of the Prismatic Peak above. Jeff does a really good Mary Blair, don't you think?
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Clankers & Darwinists, Illustrated
I first mentioned the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfield a while back. I just stumbled across a companion to the series The Manual of Aeronautics that is essentially a technical manual to the series, lavishly illustrated by Keith Thompson (who also does illustrations in the novels).
Westerfield's divergent World War I where the Entente Powers are Darwinists (utlizing “fabricated” animals as technology) and the Triple Alliance are Clankers utilizing mechanical technology far advanced of our real history, provided a lot of vehicles and devices for Thompson to illustrate. Here's a German war walker in cutaway Osprey books style:
And here's the British leviathan airship where the heroes spend much of the series:
It also has pictures of uniforms of the major armed forces involved:
Westerfield's divergent World War I where the Entente Powers are Darwinists (utlizing “fabricated” animals as technology) and the Triple Alliance are Clankers utilizing mechanical technology far advanced of our real history, provided a lot of vehicles and devices for Thompson to illustrate. Here's a German war walker in cutaway Osprey books style:
And here's the British leviathan airship where the heroes spend much of the series:
It also has pictures of uniforms of the major armed forces involved:
It's a great companion if you dug the series and interesting even if you haven't read them books. The only faults I can find with it is that it is only a slim 64 pages long and it's a portable 7x9 instead of something in more of an artbook 10x12 range.
Friday, February 17, 2017
Designing for Hydra
For the Hydra Products that I've been able to work on/contribute ideas to covers for, I like to play on nostalgia, but not strictly nostalgia for rpg books of the past. Weird Adventures was meant to evoke the original AD&D Player's Handbook, sure, but also the covers of pulp magazines.
In working with Jason Sholtis on ideas for a cover to Odious Uplands, I did a rush promotional cover without a lot of thought. It was fine, but neither of us were think of it as a potential final cover. In brainstorming later, I suggest we try a cover evoking the WPA Federal Art Project National Park posters made from 1935-1943:
In the meantime, though, David Johnson had done a great job of coloring the Fossil Forest image. That seemed like the cover version to use, so I made this mock-up riffing off a Fodor's Travel Guide design:
I don't know what the final cover will be, but it's an enjoyable process working with talented artists and trying out new designs.
In working with Jason Sholtis on ideas for a cover to Odious Uplands, I did a rush promotional cover without a lot of thought. It was fine, but neither of us were think of it as a potential final cover. In brainstorming later, I suggest we try a cover evoking the WPA Federal Art Project National Park posters made from 1935-1943:
In the meantime, though, David Johnson had done a great job of coloring the Fossil Forest image. That seemed like the cover version to use, so I made this mock-up riffing off a Fodor's Travel Guide design:
I don't know what the final cover will be, but it's an enjoyable process working with talented artists and trying out new designs.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
The Hermetic Manse: Meet Your Ghastley Hosts
A side project I'm (slowly) working on an expansion of a locale in Jason Sholtis's Bewilderlands settings called the Manse Hermetic. Here was part of the brief:
A manor house dominates the only hill on a small island in the middle of the slow-moving Lazybones River, barely visible behind a perpetual bank of heavier-than-normal Bewilderlands haze. A noble family and all their servants, rendered into a hideous undeath millennia ago by a sorcerous curse, carry on as if nothing has happened.This brought to mind (intentionally, I'm sure) something like Castle Amber, so first off I decided to make up an eccentric noble family to inhabit the manor. Here they are:
Thursday, December 22, 2016
More Covers That Weren't
Here are some counterfactual covers I did a while back for some AD&D classics:
A Players Handbook using the art of Gideon Brugman.
A Dungeon Masters Guide with a Jesse Santos cover.
and a well-used Monster Manual with a Sanjulian cover.
A Players Handbook using the art of Gideon Brugman.
A Dungeon Masters Guide with a Jesse Santos cover.
and a well-used Monster Manual with a Sanjulian cover.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Random Images from Baroque Space
Art by Mel Birnkrant |
Art by Bailey Henderson |
Leviathan rises from the thick clouds of Jupiter.
A fop seen in a Jovian gaming house.
Pirates of the Belt in debauchery.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
A Classy Cover I Forgot
In doing covers for Hydra Projects in the Penguin Classics style, I forgot to do any of my own projects. Here are two possibilites for a Weird Adventures cover:
Art by AAmezcua |
Art by Adam Moore |
Friday, November 11, 2016
Hydra Gets Classy
Working on a mockup for the cover to the upcoming What Ho, Frog Demons!, I got the idea of doing Hydra covers in the style of one of the Penguin Classics design. Here's what I came up with:
And an upcoming project:
art by David Lewis Johnson |
Art by Jeremy Duncan |
Art by Luka Rejec |
And an upcoming project:
Art by Jason Sholtis |
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Odious Uplands
The Operation Unfathomable Kickstarter is going strong! We reached the first stretch goal last we: Odious Uplands. This describes the upper world of Operation Unfathomable: Stonespear Province, Upper Mastodonia. There's a sample layout spread and more info on the Kickstarter page.
Here's a vaguely mid-Centory travel ad I made for it a while back:
Thursday, October 13, 2016
In Case You Forgot
The Operation Unfathomable Kickstarter is "go." Check it out and lend your support! The full list of stretch goals is now available.
Also, on an unrelated note, here's another one of my counter-factual covers, this one with art by Earl Norem:
Also, on an unrelated note, here's another one of my counter-factual covers, this one with art by Earl Norem:
Sunday, October 9, 2016
On Venus
Wet where Mercury is desert and as fecund as that world is barren, Venus is covered by warm, shallow seas and dense, tropical forests. Its natives are women--or creatures in the semblance of women. They are seldom surpassed in all the Cosmos in beauty, if one can abide their inhumanly colorful skins and their hair the texture of flower petals. They go almost entirely naked and chastity is not counted a virtue among them.
There is a ruler on Venus, recognized by Earthly and Mercurian powers, called the Doge, who is always from another world. This title may be held by a man or woman, but in either case, the floral and lovely native Venerians are the Doge's solicitous wives or concubines. The Doge's identity is always hidden behind an ornate mask of that durable Venerian fungal matter that resembles teak. The ruler scarcely wears any more clothing than the Venerian women, save for the notable exception of an impressive phallocrypt, decorated and enlaided with gold, for public ceremonies.
A Doge’s rule lasts only a Venerian day, as measured by the fixed stars, which is hundreds of Earth days. When the sun sets, the Doge is taken by the Venerians into the forest and is seen no more.
I posted this before, but it's been nearly two years and it beared repeating with Luka Rejec's gourgeous art. It is a follow up to this post.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Chances Are Walter Velez Has Illustrated Your Game
Sure, it's the Frazettas and Fabians, or Blanches and Buscemas--or even Elmores and Caldwells whose art fueled most of our gaming imaginations, but at least for my game, the works of George Velez hit a bit closer to what the reality is at the table.
Exhibit A. See that? That's a pudgy wizard running from a dragon that looks like it doesn't have a whole lot of hit points.
This is all the PCs trying to parley with the leader of the NPCs at once.
The fight didn't go exactly how you planned? Quelle suprise.
Hassled by annoying little people? It's been known to happen.
Exhibit A. See that? That's a pudgy wizard running from a dragon that looks like it doesn't have a whole lot of hit points.
This is all the PCs trying to parley with the leader of the NPCs at once.
The fight didn't go exactly how you planned? Quelle suprise.
Hassled by annoying little people? It's been known to happen.
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