Storn

I'm about to reveal a truth about 'bricks' in general in both comics and rpg art. And it is so pragmatic, that you slap your forehead (hopefully, gently). Bricks are large and tend to be taller (and often wider) than there teammates. So, as visual design elements... they go in the background as you can overlap the smaller teammates in the foreground. Yet because of their height, width, the viewer can still recognize him. But when it is specifically about Ironclad... I must admit I have a tough time drawing him. Greg's version is very lithe, a bit too much so for me. Someone that strong should look it UNLESS it is a specific and declared character trait ('She looks like a teenager but she can lift a tank!")The little bumbies on the head, the small nose (which is really tough to pull off if I.C. is small and in the background). I want him to look alien, yet also with some "humanity"!?!?! Somehow, those two features don't quite do it for me. The egyptian motif takes some thought when he is twisting in action. That is the long answer. The short answer. He is tougher to draw than some of the others. As for Nighthawk, I didn't care for the charcter till I painted him and drew him for the first time on the cover of Champs. Now I kinda like him. I think his gauntlets need a bit of re-design, they are kinda klunky... Eric Lofgren did a nice job in U.S.P.D with N.H. dodging a teke's attack. I think of the helmet in the beginning very much Ninja Science Gatchaman... now I actually think of it more like Seattle Seahawks... which is based on the tribes statues and art from that area (blanking on the tribe's name). I think it would be cool if there was a connection for N.H. to that kind of background (I'm not suggesting he is a Native American all of a sudden, that would be jarring... but perhaps he went to college in Seattle or Vancouver... hey? at least it is different...)

Why not? both images are on my website. FREE, absolutely FREE advertising for Hero games. I gave appropriate credit. Who in their right mind would turn down FREE advertising? If anyone should bitch, it should be Green Ronin for my using their boards to advertise for Hero. But my game uses M&M, so i'm advertising for them as well. And I hope we can be accepting of cross pollenation here. It is good for both companies, good for my campaign, good for fans of both systems, good for me. But c'mon! This falls under FAIR USE. I wasn't really advertising my art or Hero or M&M. I was talking about my game. Which isn't for profit. I'm using Grond(s) in my storyline as a hobbyist in this industry. If an avatar can be used from all sorts of sources... including yours, MONO, from Green Ronin on these Hero boards... this is a stupid line to draw.

The Mutant and Masterminds thread that I have has updated story and a couple of pics that I'm not loading up here, because they are old and y'all have probably seen them. But just so ya know. You can pop over there and read the continuing UNTIL Black Op adventures. this link will take you to the latest adv: http://www.greenronin.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1570&start=350

>>>It went along the lines of 'spare me the angst and suffering make them better artists' stuff. What does van Gogh's ear have to do with what he does with his hands? <<<< I always counter the Van Gogh model with Pizarro. He was broke his whole life, he had something like 11 kids, but he was by all accounts a happy chap, loved his wife, loved painting and loved rescuing Cezannes paintings. Cezanne's back yard pressed up next to Pizarro. Cezanne would get angry at his work and throw his paintings into the pasture. Pizarro would go out in the middle of the night, collect them all up, store them in the attic and give them back in a couple of months. Cezanne would always prefusely thank him. Now.... .... that is a nice guy. Parrish happily painted til he was 91, he died one year later. That is a pretty happy and full life.... but gosh, he was an illustrator! Artists do not have to be miserable sods. For every Picasso, there is a Dali (who had a great time in his life). For every Goya, there was a Ruebens (who was a freakin' spy for the Dutch, made tons of money and had adventures to boot). For every Carravaggio (killing a guy over a tennis game is not well-adjusted), there is a Manet or Monet...both who had good, relatively normal lives. I could go on and on and on... but I won't. I reject the idea that you have to be only about angst to succeed at art. That is sheer bullpucky.

>>Sorry for the rant.<< How was that a rant? Your post was a nice, sweet, calm story. I,too, have had the pleasure of talking with Larry Elmore about art a couple of times. It has always been a very comfortable and interesting conversation for me. While not a huge fan, I am a huge fan of certain paintings of his, and seeing the last ocuple of originals of his, rocked my world. I was very excited to see that he continues to improve and push himself forward.... that is cool. On the "illustrator" tag... I, for one, do not mind it. Yes, I'm an illustrator. I don't want to be a Fine Artist. My definition of illustration is a visual that tells a story in a commercial venue... certainly Fine Art paintings and sculpture can tell a story. And sometimes, illustration transcends its project and becomes Fine Art (Sistine chapel anyone... its a story on a ceiling!)_. But not all fine art projects do, some are political statements, some are art statements. Maybe the difference between a statement and a story is a fine line distinction for some, but for me, it makes all the difference in the world. So yea, I'm an illustrator, and I'm proud to be an illustrator.

I think he means the various characters I've posted over some time at this thread: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=463 That might help clear up confusion.

sure. I wanted to be a comic artist before discovering I loved to paint in art school. And have quite a bit of theory and practice in comic pencil craft. If i can get someone to hire me to pencil, paint my own comic, I'm there.

I do take commissions. I'm not cheap, $45.00 per figure, but it is color. And I have a lot of experience doing fantasy art. But when I run my own fantasy game, what I don't draw, I do find a lot of art on the net. Not great dpi, but it serves to show the players; "this is what you see". Epilogue is great for monsters and lots of fantasy women, including fey women (lots and lots of anime women). And every day, there is 10 to 60 new drawings ( I check it quickly ever 3 days or so). En World has a thread that has some really good architecture threads by a couple of guys who know CAD real well. Renderosity is 3d, but has a crude search engine. Want "wizards"? Type it in. Video game concept art is where I score both for superspies (think doom art or soldier of fortune series) and for fantasy (think Warcraft, many of the console fantasy rpgs). Now I tend to lurk on those sites because I play a lot of PC games, so I'm going to those sites with another purpose in mind. If I happen to stumble on an image that I like.... ...whenever I see artwork that I like, I right click and save into one of two files. One file is SCIFI/Supers images. The other is Fantasy Images. Even if I don't know why or how I'm going to use that image. I make an effort to try and find stuff my players don't know... so I don't swipe the main character from Devil May Cry or Vice City... too well known... but some of the supporting cast in the development sketches? That is enough seperation for me to put my personality into the NPC.

This is NOT the fantasy hero cover. It is a cover for a d20 product... but since it has a prototypical adventure party... maybe someone would find some use for it for one of their games. Client: Open World Press title: I'm afraid I'm not sure of the final title of the product.

Re: Artwork for FH campaign, where do I look Just to clarify, I retain rights to my specific visuals. So if I do a pic of Jack Candor of Venus, I don't get ownership of your Jack Candor... that is yours. As for lack of originals, since so much is now being done digitally these days, there is NO original beyond a pencil sketch sometimes. But I totally understand wanting to protect your intellectual property. But I do commissions substantially less than what I should charge (and less than what publishers pay), so I hope to make some money by using a commission here or there for a publisher. Some of the work in FRED was private commissions and when the call went out for "quick" artwork, I had a bunch of illos laying around ready to be used.

To back Steve up on this one, I remember the ol' ICE and Hero folk mentioning that 4th ed Allies was one of the worst sellers for them. Now, I have no numbers to back up that claim, but both ICE and Hero folk mentioned it to me back in the day.

8.5 x 11, landscape in this case, is the size of the print. I could send out for a print to be made (be more expensive), but I wouldn't suggest it. The original is only around 8" wide, 5" tall. I can re-scan at really high res and blow it up a smidge, but blowing up artwork is never a really good idea. I wouldn't recommend going past 10" wide

I can run you off a print for $12.00. I don't think you have to be insanely wealthy to afford that. If you want to buy the original, it would be a bit more, but nothing astronomical. The original is monochromatic blue. So you have a choice of monochromatic blue or the gray that it printed in. It isn't a huge piece, pretty compact. But it is a fav of a friend of mine too. It was for him that I drew the piano getting shot up. He's taking piano. In fact, if anyone wants a print of something, its 12.00.

Actually, the card theme came from the fact in the last ep, my character, an ex-stage magician (it was a stage in his life, pun intended, he is happier being a cabbie) used his "real" magic to give everyone a token. This token in game terms was an extra reroll much like a Hero Pt in M&M. In the setting, I gave each character a king from the deck of cards (actually doing it at the table). George (my PC) would not recover his Essense til a card was tossed, a token used. Each king suit sorta "fit" each of the pcs... including my pc. I just incorporated into the portraits, using Aces cause at that scale, it would be a hell of a lot easier to draw than kings. There is not a group identity as such. Each of the four pcs have become very good friends over the last few adventures... a band of brothers, so to speak. The friendship among them is some of the best and most rewarding roleplaying I've had the opportunity to be a part of. Very exciting stuff, not so much to write aobut, but to experience... it is a blast.

Thank you. Ninja Hero was a labor of love to be sure. Hope you like the fantasy hero cover that is upcoming too.

And lastly, here is Mark. Ex-ranger, dealing with post combat stress from Somalia, where something very fishy happened to the poor guy. Now bounty hunter and security head for Jon's architecture firm.

Here is Ken, transplanted from his native west coast of San Fran to the wacky, wilds of NYC. Master of eastern and western medicine, as well as the martial arts. He has the most superheroy look to him... sorta.

Here is Johnathon, follower of Tesla, master of architecture and the manipulation of ley lines.

The next four are from a monthly game I'm in. A horror campaign using Witchcraft from Eden Studios as the system, but borrowing many elements from Unknown Armies and tons and tons of other sources. This is the campaign my friend Rick has wanted to run for years... he is pulling out all the stops. While not superheroes, they are modern. Maybe someone can use them as supporting cast NPCs. This is my character George Phillappoussis, brooklyn cab driver, dabbled in stage magic and now is having visions.

I will look for it. It is archived somwhere in my mess of a room (we are refinishing floors in the house, 1/2 of the house is jammed into my office).

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=463 Here is the link to my thread. Has some art in it from my Mutants and Masterminds campaign, with a few tidbits of art from other sources.

Here is "Luke". A clone of Locke (pictured earlier in this thread). Locke only inherited one "power" from his template... that of eidetic memory. No telepathy, no mind control. So, Luke uncovers a great talent for building, gadgeteering and engineering. Just a supporting cast member, but I thought worth doing a picture.

tent minis [/i] An updated PDF of tent-minis has been sent to Ben. Storn, I gave each of us a bit of credit on the bottom of the sheet. Have a look and let me know if you'd like any changes to the next version. Cool. I haven't taken a look yet, but I will. I should upload another one tomorrow (I have to wait til I use him in tonight's game before showing him... he is kinda a visual surprise to the group)

Ha! Oh, that is funny. I can understand the confusion. yeah, since 95% of the illos you see have a 300 or even a 600 dpi version, a higher resolution, to keep them straight, I label anything meant for the web as file "X" loRes... meaning Low Resolution. Just my shorthand to try and keep my files organized... cause I have hundreds of art files.

>> A lot nicer looking than the Big Bang comics version.<< Wasn't aware that there was a Big Bang version. But I'm glad you like mine better!