Artwork for Gygax Magazine #2

A month or so ago, a chance note on the Old School Gamers Facebook group put me in touch with Jayson Elliot, editor-in-chief for Gygax Magazine. After a very interesting 90-minute chat with him on Skype, I volunteered to create a full-page illustration for an adventure that appears in issue #2. This is for The One Ring RPG, entitled 'The Hare and the Hill Giant', and is written by Shane Ivey. 

The plot for this interested me and a couple of ideas for a composition immediately sprang to my mind, primarily because trolls feature strongly in the plot. Here's a scribble of an initial idea:

However, I was cutting things a little fine. I had around 3 days to create the image and get it signed off, as the deadline was fast approaching. That's a rather quick turnaround time. Not only that, but the weather here in London decided to take a turn for the worse - at least, as far as creating artwork is concerned. Temperatures were around the 33 degrees C mark (that's just over 90 degrees F), which isn't at all good if you're working with gouache and ink in a room that has no air conditioning. I wanted to get back into working with pen and wash, although the conditions weren't ideal, but your brave author indomitably slaved away regardless...

Anyway, once I'd had a few tries at the overall composition, things started to fall into place. I'd also managed to work up two other sketches more fully with the goache/ink treatment. So here is the final full-page piece:

And here are the two spot illustrations:

Everything came out okay in the end, I'm happy to say. It was an interesting challenge, to say the least. I wanted to keep the main image fairly neutral. Rather than depict a combat scene - as it's not a given in the adventure - I chose instead to have a troll surveying his new-found residence as dusk closes in. I had a variety of options for my depictions of the creatures, and this came out in the smaller drawings.

Hopefully the weather will be better when I work on my next piece! Oh, and for the record, everything was done on Bristol Board using Pilot DR and Unipin pens, Windsor & Newton inks and gouache, and a Faber Castell water-soluable pencil.

Even more Fortean stuff...

Further to my own dabblings in Forteana (via my timelines here and here), here are a few more places of interest online:

Passing Strangeness

Strange Company

Beachcombing's Bizzare History Blog 

Atlas Obscura

All contain a wealth of interesting articles on a variety of subjects with a Fortean angle: archaeology, the paranormal, history, science, folkore, etc and are very much worth a look!

Nice dice...

3D printing is rather cool, and seems to be improving all of the time. Some interesting dice designs can be seen here at Shapeways. Okay, some can be a bit pricey but there are a variety of cheaper options which are just as pleasing to the eye. Worth a look!

Sheep-eating plants and Medieval comic strips...

'It's coming straight for us...!'

According to this BBC report, a sort-of carnivorous plant called Puya chilensis is about to bloom. This is a rare thing for UK-based examples. The above image doesn't really do the plant justice - there's a better photo here. The idea of carnivorous plants has always been of interest to me, especially how they'd factor into a D&D setting. The way that Puya chilensis gets a meal could possibly work in D&D, although perhaps with some more active way attacking. Or maybe it's just very good at snaring the beards of passing dwarfs who've had a few too many drinks...

Meanwhile, over at the Medieval News blog there's an interesting 12th century 'comic' on show. By having a larger figure overlaid onto the text and smaller images, the page above looks almost modern in it's design.

How to make armour...

Further to my most recent post about Medieval armour, there's an interesting blog called How To Make Armour. This provides some insights into how various types of objects from the period can be made, which could come in quite handy when trying to draw such things. I've always found that it's much easier to draw something if you know how it's constructed - that includes the human body, armour, cars, etc.

Similar information can also be found at Age of Armour, which also includes a some great photos of compeleted commissions.

Medievalists.net may also slake your thirst for further knowledge about the Medieval world.

Helmets from the Age of Armoured Combat

There are some great photos of weird and wonderful armoured helms to be found at this page over at io9. Some are of the rather showy ornamental type, but all could provide inspiration for anyone who wants their plate armour to stand out in a crowded dungeon...

'Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary' Kickstarter

This Kickstarter has just passed the mark for including illustrations for 300 monsters. There are only a few days to go before funding ends - more cash means more illustrations!

More info can be found here...