Storn

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Yeah. I think the next one will be supers because I've done two fantasy in a row. Stay tuned. Thanks for asking!!!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. So, a couple of nights ago, I had insomnia. I have insomnia quite a bit, I'm afraid. And I'm not even a night person. Nope, I'm of the dreaded few, a morning person. Often, it is good things that keep me awake... like musing on art. I will turn and toss a piece of art around in my mind, bringing in colors and design elements, switching camera angle and thinking about setting and mediums. Inspiration can really keep me up nights. The other day, I got a facebook message from Matt Forbeck, a great game designer and all around cool guy, about his new Kickstart project called Shotguns and Sorcery. Stupidly, I didn't go the project website or do any research. I was going to do that the next day as when I read the message, I was almost done for the working day. So. I went to bed with Matt's Shotguns and Sorcery title kicking around in my noggin and awoke at 3 in the morning. And I came up with an image, the sketch below, which I thought was kinda cool. I manage to fall asleep for a bit, waking again at 7ish and went straight to the drawing board to jot down what I had worked out in my mind. I quickly scanned it in, jotted a few notes in photoshop and sent it to Matt. Problem is, it is TOTALLY wrong for Shotguns and Sorcery. Shotguns and Sorcery isn't a western-fantasy mash up, it is a Noir-Fantasy mashup. I should have read the site. But still, I like the sketch. Glad I did it. Maybe somewhere down the road a project might find a place for it to live. And I thought y'all might like to see a quickie preliminary cover idea sketched out, along with how I think about stuff written in the margins. And get a chuckle out of my knuckle headedness. Here is a link to Matt Forbeck's project: And here is my erroneous sketch: Also, on a different tact, another superhero (or villain, not sure, didn't get that distinction in the art direction) for long time patron Death Tribble. Pencils were done over a couple of our "working lunches". Ethan Young and Steve Ellis are both local artists who've I've been hanging out with quite a bit. I did working lunch in quotations because, 1) we go a lot longer than lunch, 4-5 hours. 2) We actually get a lot done. It is almost like working in an old 30s-40s studio situation. So nice to have another couple of eyes looking at your work. The camaraderie is really nice and keeps one motivated. And we learn a lot from each other. I think we will be doing a lot more of it in the future. Now, I just have to finish the 4-6 sketches that need to go to finishes! Here is Supersuit: See y'all in a few!

Re: Fantasy Art Thread

Re: Fantasy Art Thread

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Hope y'all can work it out for Obsidian.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Awesome!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Hi folks. Hope you don't mind some self promotion here. Trying to figure out a few things as I go along. I'm trying out an experiment with selling originals over the internet. I've got hundreds of sketches and inked drawings kicking around... and I sell some of them at conventions. But they do take up space and if they can find loving homes, and I can make a few bucks... that would be icing on cake!!! So bear with me as I throw up the occasional older piece to see what will sell and what won't. If you have an suggestions of what you would like to see for sale from art I've put up in the past, don't be shy and shoot me a comment or email. So, today, I'm putting up this fine inked drawing that I just did a few days ago for sale over at my Fine Art site. Site is here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html The art is this one, you will recognize from the color version I just put up recently. It is a brush ink drawing done on sketch paper. Nuthin' fancy. Also, while I'm being all self-promote-y, LPJ design just posted another one of my portfolios up. This time fantasy, containing some older stuff as well as some of the recent fantasy pics I've put up here. So, if you want good print quality images, instead of the 72 dpi guys you swipe here, check it out: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=99389 And a NEW pic certainly destined to be in a future fantasy portfolio is right here. Don't say I ain't givin' y'all sumthin' new to ponder!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Thanks for all the kind words!!! Hi folks. Hope you don't mind some self promotion here. Trying to figure out a few things as I go along. I'm trying out an experiment with selling originals over the internet. I've got hundreds of sketches and inked drawings kicking around... and I sell some of them at conventions. But they do take up space and if they can find loving homes, and I can make a few bucks... that would be icing on cake!!! So bear with me as I throw up the occasional older piece to see what will sell and what won't. If you have an suggestions of what you would like to see for sale from art I've put up in the past, don't be shy and shoot me a comment or email. So, today, I'm putting up this fine inked drawing that I just did a few days ago for sale over at my Fine Art site. Site is here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html The art is this one, you will recognize from the color version I just put up recently. It is a brush ink drawing done on sketch paper. Nuthin' fancy. Also, while I'm being all self-promote-y, LPJ design just posted another one of my portfolios up. This time fantasy, containing some older stuff as well as some of the recent fantasy pics I've put up here. So, if you want good print quality images, instead of the 72 dpi guys you swipe here, check it out: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=99389 And a NEW pic certainly destined to be in a future fantasy portfolio is right here. Don't say I ain't givin' y'all sumthin' new to ponder!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. yeah. It is a bit nerve wracking, having to do that guy's portait, with that energy gauntlet glowing right at me. Glad he likes it!!!

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Tiger beat me to the punch!! Thanks guys for the nice comments... I finished the hobgoblin series for the Monster Art Kickstarter. I heard back from the client. I’m gonna get more! Wheee! Anyways, if you haven’t yet, check out the link to the Monster Art Kickstarter here, by last check, it has been funded, so I think they might add more monsters and art as they go along! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkwellideas/monster-stock-art/posts/170997 And I wanna share the hobs with you right now! I did other stuff yesterday too. I finished up another commission for Death Tribble, which actually comes from a long time Hero poster, Arc. The idea for a Victor von Doom-like Witch Doctor. I pencilled and inked this one during a working lunch with awesome artist Steve Ellis. I think hanging out with Steve inspired me. Even borrowed the brush from him to do the inking. I like this one a lot. Fun to do African themed heroes and villains! Last, but not least (at least as work went yesterday), got a crack at doing a Lich for another commission. Went kinda dark on this one… digital over pencil. And I like it!! Hope y’all do too. In hindsight, might have pulled out the front gauntlet a bit more… but love the color on the staff gem. Just wanted to remind folks that I am selling prints and originals over at Fine Art. I just put up this pencil sketch on vellum. It was done for Other Worlds. Want to see if folks might be interested in buying my original sketches. I do sell quite a few of them at conventions.. but I don’t go to all that many conventions. Plus there are a few other pieces, some more suitable for printing. Check it out: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Tiger beat me to the punch! Thanks guys for the nice comments... I finished the hobgoblin series for the Monster Art Kickstarter. I heard back from the client. I’m gonna get more! Wheee! Anyways, if you haven’t yet, check out the link to the Monster Art Kickstarter here, by last check, it has been funded, so I think they might add more monsters and art as they go along! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkwellideas/monster-stock-art/posts/170997 And I wanna share the hobs with you right now! I did other stuff yesterday too. I finished up another commission for Death Tribble, which actually comes from a long time Hero poster, Arc. The idea for a Victor von Doom-like Witch Doctor. I pencilled and inked this one during a working lunch with awesome artist Steve Ellis. I think hanging out with Steve inspired me. Even borrowed the brush from him to do the inking. I like this one a lot. Fun to do African themed heroes and villains! Last, but not least (at least as work went yesterday), got a crack at doing a Lich for another commission. Went kinda dark on this one… digital over pencil. And I like it!! Hope y’all do too. In hindsight, might have pulled out the front gauntlet a bit more… but love the color on the staff gem. Just wanted to remind folks that I am selling prints and originals over at Fine Art. I just put up this pencil sketch on vellum. It was done for Other Worlds. Want to see if folks might be interested in buying my original sketches. I do sell quite a few of them at conventions.. but I don’t go to all that many conventions. Plus there are a few other pieces, some more suitable for printing. Check it out: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

Re: Fantasy Art Thread I thought I would share my continuing growing family of… Hobgoblins. Now a trio, soon to be a quartet. the Hobgoblins are for a pretty interesting kickstarter program of a collection of Monster Art. It looks like my client is pretty close to meeting the kickstarter goal. Y’all should check it out. Here is the website for that: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkwellideas/monster-stock-art/posts/170997 And we’ve got some more private character concept commissions to show. First up are two from that longtime patron, Death Tribble. An American Moriarity and a “Skyshark” plane. American Moriarity described to me as “pulp, villain”… DT wasn’t expecting the mask, but I wanted to show some visual hinting at the american part of his description. For Skyshark, of course the p40 for the Flying Tigers was a big inspiration. Lastly, we’ve got Tahiti Tex. And interesting take on a bunch of classics… the classic superhero brick, cowboy, hawaiian shirt and bullwhip… all combo’d into one hombre.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I thought I would share my continuing growing family of… Hobgoblins. Now a trio, soon to be a quartet. And we’ve got some more private character concept commissions to show. First up are two from that longtime patron, Death Tribble. An American Moriarity and a “Skyshark” plane. American Moriarity described to me as “pulp, villain”… DT wasn’t expecting the mask, but I wanted to show some visual hinting at the american part of his description. For Skyshark, of course the p40 for the Flying Tigers was a big inspiration. Lastly, we’ve got Tahiti Tex. And interesting take on a bunch of classics… the classic superhero brick, cowboy, hawaiian shirt and bullwhip… all combo’d into one hombre.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread The Showgirl is another supervillain concept from Death Tribble. He wanted a demure costume if possible, but all the reference I could find had a lot of skin. She certainly is super doing a jump in heels... but hey, supers are fantasy. Do not try at home. And here is another fantasy commission for the "party of 5". Fantasy takes a bit more time than the superhero stuff.... I used to think it was just because of the level of detail, folds in clothes, lots of accoutrements like bags, weapons, belts, buckles. But while doing this one, I came to think that it is also the different textures things are... so it is not just the bags, belts, weapons and buckles, its those things have different "feels" to them visually... or should. This one took a bit longer than I would have liked and I'm still feeling like it's missing something.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. ? The Showgirl is another supervillain concept from Death Tribble. He wanted a demure costume if possible, but all the reference I could find had a lot of skin. She certainly is super doing a jump in heels... but hey, supers are fantasy. Do not try at home. And here is another fantasy commission for the "party of 5". Fantasy takes a bit more time than the superhero stuff.... I used to think it was just because of the level of detail, folds in clothes, lots of accoutrements like bags, weapons, belts, buckles. But while doing this one, I came to think that it is also the different textures things are... so it is not just the bags, belts, weapons and buckles, its those things have different "feels" to them visually... or should. This one took a bit longer than I would have liked and I'm still feeling like it's missing something.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Compounding the issue with Runa is that she was described as "square jawed"... that eliminates so much femininity from the face and chainmail just lies there. It really is heavy and falls off the body, it does't conform at all. I kinda took liberties with the chainmail as is. the one suggestion to move the hand, I thought of that too, but unfortunately, I was already in the paint when I thought of it. Having the other waist side in LOS would have helped. To change it would have added substantial amount of time and I just didn't have it to spare. Still, I'm rather happy about Runa.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread First up, another Death Tribble commission. This one is Skin Devil. Bodybrowser from Googlelabs was a huge help on this one. I think this one is really kinda creepy. And here is the first of five for a fantasy adventure group... Always fun to try and make a big bruiser of a woman and still look like a female. Especially wearing chainmail. Not sure I succeeded... I *think* I have... but y'all have to be the judge.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Well, geez, thank you!!!

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Its pluggin' time. I've got a few projects that I want to talk about. First up, my own LPJ Design Portfolio stock art keeps marching along. If you want good print quality and have need of art such as this one below (and the 3 fantasy pics I did for Swords of a Dying Empire earlier in this thread). So. Check it out and the other 11 Portfolios! And growing!!! I suspect the next portfolio will be superheroes. Not sure, but that is the way things are leaning. http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=98436 Next, a kickstarter program for Inkwell ideas, below is their marketing blurb: Monster Stand-Ins are a set of 200 plastic card (same thickness as most credit cards) miniatures of creatures for role-playing games or war games or board games. Use them when you don't have enough miniatures or don't have the right miniature. The plastic makes them more durable than home-printed minis or even cardboard minis and you can freely write on them with a dry erase maker. (Mark conditions, hits taken, "Kobold #9" etc.) They are also more portable and an organizer box is available as an option. If you pledge for a set, you can order extras of any card in the set. The project page is: Here is a sample of the art that I produced: And in concordance with Stand-ins is a MASSIVE clip art treasure trove of monsters... with a dozen+ really awesome artists. I know that I'm getting a crack at doing Hobgoblins!!! Always fun stuff!! Here is the Inkwell link to what they are doing and why and how it synergizes with the monster stand ins. Thanks for putting up with such blatant advertising. Hopefully, whetting appetites with a smattering of my art will make it okay.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Its pluggin' time. I've got a few projects that I want to talk about. First up, my own LPJ Design Portfolio stock art keeps marching along. If you want good print quality and have need of art such as this one below (and the 3 fantasy pics I did for Swords of a Dying Empire earlier in this thread). So. Check it out and the other 11 Portfolios! And growing!!! I suspect the next portfolio will be superheroes. Not sure, but that is the way things are leaning. http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=98436 Next, a kickstarter program for Inkwell ideas, below is their marketing blurb: Monster Stand-Ins are a set of 200 plastic card (same thickness as most credit cards) miniatures of creatures for role-playing games or war games or board games. Use them when you don't have enough miniatures or don't have the right miniature. The plastic makes them more durable than home-printed minis or even cardboard minis and you can freely write on them with a dry erase maker. (Mark conditions, hits taken, "Kobold #9" etc.) They are also more portable and an organizer box is available as an option. If you pledge for a set, you can order extras of any card in the set. The project page is: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkwellideas/monster-stand-ins-plastic-card-miniatures Here is a sample of the art that I produced: And in concordance with Stand-ins is a MASSIVE clip art treasure trove of monsters... with a dozen+ really awesome artists. I know that I'm getting a crack at doing Hobgoblins!!! Always fun stuff!! Here is the Inkwell link to what they are doing and why and how it synergizes with the monster stand ins. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkwellideas/1502958632?token=d654542c Thanks for putting up with such blatant advertising. Hopefully, whetting appetites with a smattering of my art will make it okay.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread I'm hoping to restart my skype rpg campaign soon. Link to actual play here: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?560517-(LoA)-Swords-of-a-Dying-Empire So as a late xmas present to my players and a way to jump-start my own creative juices, I did pics of each of the player characters. So, we've got the insane blood priest Boka, the demon possessed Damisk and the destroyer of a city, Galvanic. With Galvanic, the character is based loosely on greek hoplites by the player... but I wanted to visually pay homage, but change it up enough to distant the visuals from a wholly greek look. I don't feel like in a fantasy world made up of lots of different influences and imagination, that a character should be EXACTLY based off of an earth culture. These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Generic

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I'm hoping to restart my skype rpg campaign soon. Link to actual play here: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?560517-(LoA)-Swords-of-a-Dying-Empire So as a late xmas present to my players and a way to jump-start my own creative juices, I did pics of each of the player characters. So, we've got the insane blood priest Boka, the demon possessed Damisk and the destroyer of a city, Galvanic. With Galvanic, the character is based loosely on greek hoplites by the player... but I wanted to visually pay homage, but change it up enough to distant the visuals from a wholly greek look. I don't feel like in a fantasy world made up of lots of different influences and imagination, that a character should be EXACTLY based off of an earth culture. These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Generic