“Into the Demon Idol”
Posted: September 11, 2013 Filed under: adventures, art, publishing 5 CommentsJobe Bittman (also see Spellburn) was part of a one page dungeon contest a while back (see his really great map here — I love love love 3d cut-away illustrations)… and he turned that 1 page into a little book which apparently you can buy soon (I don’t have that info yet; will update when I do).
He asked me to do the cover/1st page illustration, which is pretty cool — see somebody’s autographed copy below. I’ve seen the front cover in a PDF version (I don’t have the real thing yet) and it is HELIOTROPE done up in the old circa 1978 TSR 2 color printing style — looks really cool.
Will add more details when I get them!
This photo is from Rick Hull, someone on Google+ who owns this copy and was showing it off on google+.
UPDATE: Here is the cover in color. The lizard dude who is getting squished in the demon idol’s hands and has his eyeballs popping out cracks me up:
8> Your illustration style is really distinctive, Stefan!
What technique are you using to shade, here? Hatching/cross-hatching? It’s something I’d love to reproduce in my own illustrative work.
(And yes; that lizard man is pretty amusing, if a bit grim. >O> Gahaha.)
Hello Adriana,
Thank you for the compliments. I use a quill pen with ink for the thicker, more expressive lines, a brush for large black areas. I’ve been experimenting with some of these fine-tip pens they sell for manga art in the stores for the finer areas of cross hatching. My favorite paper is smooth Bristol — I think good paper is important to get the results I want.
No kidding? 😮 I agree about using good paper; being altogether new to traditional ink, though, I was surprised to hear about the wide variety of backgrounds from which your tools come from! 🙂 I’ll have to do some serious experiments, myself…
Stefan, I JUST saw this post. I’m so buried in work its nuts. I’m waiting for the proofs from RPGNow but this will probably go on sale in print and PDF at RPGNow in early November. More details will be up on http://www.bloodyhammergames.com/ as soon as I finish building the site.
Can’t wait to get one! It actually reminds me of the Judges Guild covers like the Dark Tower.