Hard Things Are Easier

So I've always wanted to be good at drawing.

I am not THIS good
at drawing.

Since I was a kid, it's something I've wanted. Not so much that I ever picked up a pencil and put in the time to get good at it, but still. I certainly did spend a fair amount of time sitting around feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't draw, so that counts for something, right?

I've been picking up the pencil somewhat over the last few months, just trying to get some skills, and yesterday, something amazing happened: I had an idea for a drawing during the day, and when I got home, I drew something that sort of looked like what I'd pictured in my head.

That has never really happened before.

Most of my drawing efforts began with little or no clear picture of what I was going to produce, and then a lot of pathetic, incomprehensible scribbling. And then of course, frustration, humiliation and self-reproach.

None of which, strangely, ever improved my drawing ability one whit. Drawing remained a mystery to me.

Until recently, and I think I know what's changed: I have started to get a sense of how HARD drawing is.

Strangely, this seems to be encouraging me to work more on my drawing ability, until I've gotten to the point where I can imagine a scene in my head, and produce something that looks like I imagined. It still looks terrible, don't get me wrong. But it's recognizable as what I was TRYING to draw.

Over the past couple of years, I've worked very closely with a couple of very hard-working artists: Claudio Pozas and Dave Knox. Claudio has been the lead artist for DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND, detailing characters and cover images for all the DPoNI products thus far. Dave is the artist for the REFORM SCHOOL NINJA GIRLS comic book, and he and I have collaborated very closely throughout the whole process of putting that book together.

As I've watched them put together amazing illustrations, I've seen first-hand the amount of work involved. Seeing early thumbnails as we figure out composition, and then how those get turned into full-size sketches and finally, after hours and hours of painstaking effort, a fully-rendered image is finished, has been profoundly eye-opening. And strangely comforting.

Maybe it was just getting a more realistic notion of what an early-stage drawing ought to look like. Or improving my ability to visualize what an early-stage drawing is likely to look like. Or maybe my standards for "looks like" have just dropped so far I get excited about anything.

Motivation is a funny thing. You'd think seeing that something is really hard would DIScourage me, but it's the opposite. There's probably some deep and profound truth buried in there.

Anyway, I'm going to go draw something.

Not Really A Fan

FanExpo is completely insane. It's full of, well, of fans, I guess. Fans of Star Trek. Fans of assorted anime titles I've never heard of. Fans of Freddy Kreuger, Call of Duty, Spiderman -- in short, fans of anything that might be represented in a ridiculous (or awesome) costume.

I'm not particularly a fan.

Oh, I like Spiderman well enough. I've been known to watch assorted anime titles you've never heard of. I don't really care for Star Trek, to tell you the truth, but on the other hand, I really dig Steven Erikson. But I wouldn't call myself a fan.

I wouldn't dress up as Steven Erikson, that's for sure.

So it's not so much my thing but I did in fact have a blast at FanExpo. I ran a couple of sessions of DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND, of course, that went splendidly (the PIRATE KING face-planted both times). Sara McMillen and the other great folks at TAG kept that whole arrangement smooth and pleasant, but I had an ulterior motive in attending this insane event.

I was looking for artists. And artists I found.

First up, I met Neil Chenier, He's a local guy working on a book called "Gangrene" he and his writer partner have sold to Markosia. He had pages on display that looked fantastic -- sort of gore-porn noir, if you can picture that. Severed limbs and trenchcoats a-plenty!

I walked around a bit and had my eye caught by this striking image by Eric Vedder, whohas an entertaining webcomic called Aardehn. I picked up a copy of a print of this image for S, and Eric and I got to chatting. Eric has, as you can see, a great classic comic-book line married to the sort of exaggerated form and high detail I expect from manga illustration. Very cool stuff, and his sketchbook was a prized acquisition.

Day Two I ran into the very charming Mark Rehkopf, and his astounding dinosaur illustrations. He builds full-scale dinosaur models! Holy Moses! And covers for the Prehistoric Times! Obviously I could only just restrain myself from slobbering all over him and his lovely work. I think I loved his pencil dinosaur illos the best. I would totally buy a book full of those. So evocative and enthralling.

A few rows over from Mark, I was yanked from my prehistoric reverie by the startling character pieces of Sanya Anwar. A lot of people try to do the Art Deco thing, but it was her expressive line work and knack for telling character details that really caught my attention. She described for me the new version of 1,001 Nights that she's doing, using folk tales from all over the world, and it sounds amazing. I couldn't resist, and ordered a commision from her which she turned around and made into a beautiful anniversary gift for S. Fantastic.

I was pretty much done by this point, but anyone would have been distracted by a comic book called Kill Shakespeare -- I spent some very pleasant minutes chatting with Conor, one of the writers. It's a fantastic idea and the first two issues are very well done. I strongly recommend looking this book up -- you don't have to be a Shakespeare fan to love it!

I don't know much about art, but heck, I know what I like. Which is mostly dinosaurs and chicks with swords. FanExpo honestly could have used more of both. And less Star Trek.

Too Slow! But I Don't Care

The Mad Pulp Bastard beat me to it, but the second I saw these I thought, "I would so read every issue and wait in the bookstore for next month's to arrive."

I mean, damn. I can remember spending hours lying on my stomach with a pad of paper and some coloured pencils, drawing scene after scene of cool planes blowing stuff up. This is what is best in life. Damn.

What a great imaginative boost these images are. I gotta fire up that WWII d20 Modern game I was thinking about. You know, the one where they parachute into Italy, and have to make the rendezvous with the sexy Resistance agent who leads them to the bridge that they MUST secure or the entire Allied advance is going to come to a crashing halt? Yeah, that one...

In other news, I'm off to Gryphcon in a couple of weeks to run a new DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND game -- only a couple of slots left so if you're gonna be in Guelph, sign up! I'll also be running a few games at Anime North in May. Shaping up for a busy spring!

Everybody Loves Orcs (Except Me)

They do.

Orcs are so handy. I mean, as a concept. One of the more offensive aspects of D&D-style fantasy is how races all get assigned particular personalities and natures. It really just sort of supports the whole notion of ethnic profiling, only this is even worse -- whole species getting branded with a single character.

But virtually every fantasy RPG has "orcs" of some fashion or other, mainly in order to provide bad guys that nobody needs to feel bad about killing a lot. D&D of course has a dozen or so variations on the "orc" theme, all twisted and evil in different ways, but all needing killing. A lot. Hobogblins, gnolls, mongrelmen, whatever you call them, they're just human beings who have no right to live, and so delivering them to death is what good guys do.

Personally, I find it boring. Why would any sentient race NOT develop the breadth of personalities and philosophies that human beings do? Most of these races are described in such a pathetically narrow way that it's really impossible to imagine. Hobgoblins like order and discipline. Goblins are impish and savage. And so on. There cannot be thoughtful gnolls, orcs are never swayed by appeals to compassion or long-term interest. These races are thin, amateurish cartoons of human beings -- which can work in some games, to be sure (Kobolds Ate My Baby, for one (by the way, Kobolds Ate My Baby is, like, the greatest game EVER, if you don't know)).

I like what Joshua has done with his last few campaigns -- the "monstrous" humanoids are just other races and everyone more or less kinda sorta gets along. Works best without elves, of course, but then so much does. Let's not discuss elves.

Anyway, the monstrous races are almost always used as this cheap way to have thrills without cost. Like the demons in Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- technically, right, they're demons, so Buffster can just murder them right left and center and never feel a twinge of guilt, but... A lot of the demons that start turning up seem awfully... not so terrible. Just kind of plain folks, really, who have a line or three and then get Buffercized. And then there seem to be some demons that don't ever get killed, and just hang out with everyone else. I don't get it, but more to the point, I don't LIKE it (I guess that's coming clear), since it sucks all the actual human drama out of the situation. All the killing ceases to matter, ceases to be exciting on anything other than the most trivial of levels.

Which, again, is fine in a cartoon where kobolds are running around stealing babies. But for a game I'm going to invest the time to run a campaign in, insufficient.

Which is why DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND doesn't have any races other than people. People are good. You have people, you have everything.

All that aside, Claudio did a pretty awesome job on this half-orc picture. That guy looks MEAN.

For the Modern Megalomaniac

Note: If your maniacal bent-on-world-domination supervillain is NOT driving around in one of THESE, well...

Seriously, this is a piece of insanity that's either an utterly reprehensible use of resources and energy to provide a charming living space for ultra-wealthy wanna-hide-from-the-world-and-pretend-it's-not-my-problem types, or else it's totally awesome. I really can't decide.

It's beautiful, and imagine the state of mind of living in a place like this. Imagine paying full-time salaries for 20 people just to make your house operate. And I'm thinking whatever ocean you start in, you're going to stay in -- imagine taking this thing around the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn.

I mean, I don't know, maybe it weathers storms without a tremor, but it sure doesn't LOOK like something that will be at its best plunging through hurricanes or dodging stormy reefs.

But as the lair of a criminal mastermind and location for a final shoot-out? Yeah, baby. So many great possibilities in this space.

Welcome to my brain -- whenever I see a new place, I immediately evaluate its potential as a climactic location in a game. It's a gift.

A Moment Of...

This one's been sitting on the burner for quite a while but I think it's done. I was overwhelmed by the preacher's speech in Lars von Trier's Breaking The Waves, and when casting around for something to contrast it with, came up with the soothing yet seductive tones of Monica Bellucci's discussion of ecstasy and pain. Once that pattern was in place, coming up with a simple piano riff and some string chords was pretty straightforward. I kept trying to dress it up a little but that never really worked. It feels delicate, like it needs room to breathe.

The simplest composition I think I've created so far. Steph says it sounds the most like me. You'll have to decide if that's a good thing.

A Moment Of...

Photo by somebody. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Maps

Ever since I first cracked open a copy of The Hobbit and The Book of Three (probably my two first real forays into fantasy fiction) I've been impressed with the power of a good map to deliver an important part of the experience. I used to spend hours looking over the large, fold-out map that came with my first copy (now lost, sadly) of Unfinished Tales, and wondering what those other, obscure places that Tolkien never really mentions in the narrative were like. Sea of Rhûn? Huh? Khand? What kind of place is that? Minhiriath? Tharbad? Cardolan?

When I started drawing my own maps in junior high, I followed a somewhat isometric, stylized version of map-making, inherited and inspired by Christopher Tolkien's masterful map, I'm sure. Most fantasy novels that include maps do, it seems. And I used to draw them all the time. I drew dozens, if not hundreds, of maps. That's how I doodled during class. I didn't do anything with most of them; simply making the map itself was the fun part of the exercise. I started roleplaying games in a time when most everyone was playing D&D (I didn't really start until the Basic box in 1983 or so, but I think my very first session may have been a lingering OD&D game. It didn't click for me at the time) and playing D&D back then quite often meant "homebrewing." This was before any significant or serious attempt had ever been made to present a coherent setting for anyone to use, so it was expected that GM's would do most of that work themselves.

I've since had second thoughts about the advisability of starting the job of GMing by drawing a map. I'm a fan of the Ray Winninger methodology, the gist of which is: don't create more than you have to, or you'll risk burning out. He advises only mapping a very small local area to start with. I've even run games with no map whatsoever before, and that's certainly doable. The methodology makes some sense; if you're going to be playing in the geographical equivalent of the British Isles, do you need to be mapping the geographical equivalent of the Ottoman Empire?

However, I think that---to a certain point---maps are a useful and fun artifact in their own right. I've found that making maps really helps to stimulate adventure ideas, and even campaign ideas. There's nothing quite like the implicit mystery of mapmaking: what does that name over there mean? What are people like over there; what kinds of interesting things are happening over there, etc.?

Game designers will tell you that the desire to explore is a compelling motivator for many gamers, and I believe it. I personally love that aspect of gaming myself, and nothing motivates me to explore more than a good map.

That said; I'm in the middle of a couple of mapping projects right now, for my "modular fantasy campaign setting elements" wiki. I've got a very sketchy one for my hobgoblin empire already posted (but I'll want to do a "prettier" and possibly slightly more detailed one in the future), and I'm turning my attention soon to the concept of a "vampire kingdom"... one of the first things I'll need to do for that is, of course, draw the map.

We Begin With

Bill Cunningham, Agent of Pulp, comes through with one of the most amazing things I've ever seen:

If I'd been there, my brain would have exploded with sheer delight. People are just so awesome. I mean, these folks went to a LOT of trouble to do something that serves no purpose other than to amuse and delight their fellow humans. That is the Angel of Joy, at work right there.

Now it was Justin who turned me on to 2D Goggles: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, which you MUST read and slaver over. As I'm basically a drooling fanboy for all things Ada Lovelace, this actually DID cause my brain to explode. Thanks, Justin.

But look: Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage invent the computer and FIGHT CRIME. Ada's the smart, sassy one who crawls around in the depths of the ginormous Analytical Engine, fixing bugs (with a wrench), while Babbage is completely insane. It's brilliant, it's hilarious, and you should go read it right now.

The world is getting positively crowded with folks who do great things and don't try to squeeze every possible cent out of their audiences. Not that dancers and comic-book artists shouldn't get paid -- Cunningham has all sorts of links, thoughts and advice to creative types on how to GET PAID. But at the same time, if you're not having fun with it, if you aren't able to sometimes just do something because you LOVE IT, what the hell? Go get a job, kid.

Look there on the right. That's Yumi. Yumi's crazy, and she talks to ghosts. You're going to meet Yumi and her friends in the near future, but Claudio did that picture of Yumi because he likes her. DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND is meant to create opportunities to get paid, but it's also meant to be fun, and if all it ever does is provide delight to others, I'll be well-satisfied, I can tell you that.

Although I'll still wish I'd seen that dance number in the train station. That was brilliant.

DPoNI: The Playing Cards!

Okay, feast your eyes on these babies. Hypersmurf, better known as That Insanely Awesome Guy From New Zealand, put together a deck of DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND playing cards! And you can buy them RIGHT NOW!

For the low low price of $10, you can buy a deck of Official DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND playing cards, and bring the likes of Victoria, Nobuhiro and Imperial Sorcerer Pak Siu Ming along on your games of Texas Hold 'Em, or Bridge, or Go Fish, depending on your preferred play style (I like Hearts, actually).

The cards use the soon-to-be-discussed "Factions" in DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND (well, four of them): Imperials, Ninjas, Pirates and Natives. These replace the old suits of Diamonds, Spades, Clubs and Hearts. This of course makes sweet little Narasaki into the feared Queen of Spades, but that's amusing.

You also get two Jokers in the deck -- the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex and the fetching but even more terrifying SLAVE QUEEN OF THE RUINED CITY.

This is such a deal you should really be buying eight or twelve decks. Seriously. All monies raised will be going to help needy artists in Brazil. We're not even kidding about that.

But beyond the relentless salesmanship here, it's pretty cool to see that DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND is beginning to spread. The idea was always that this setting would take on a life of its own, and inspire creativity in different venues, through different media. It started life as a setting for a fantasy role-playing game, but over the next year or so you'll be seeing these characters and their world getting developed on multiple fronts.

This deck of cards wasn't commissioned or even designed by me -- it was an enthusiastic fan of the setting who put this together. And there's more where that came from. There's other expressions of this enthusiasm coming down the pipe. My job is going to be trying to create a structure or an environment where this sort of creative energy can be directed, and build upon what's already been done.

DINO-PIRATES OF NINJA ISLAND is an experiment, one that I hope enables creative engagement on many levels. Playing cards is just one expression of that.

So BUY THEM!

Flaming Coward Challenge

Once again, Art Order's Jon Schindehette gets the illustration community to play in one of his Concept Tuesday challenges. This time it's to create a creature named "Flaming Coward". Click here to read the Flaming Coward's description, and see my entry below (with commentaries!). If you like it, swing by the contest's post and vote for me! And enjoy the many cool entries there, as well!

• It is a subterranean creature that hunts in the dark. As such, it doesn't really *need* camouflage, so I gave it a pale, almost albino look. It is hairless, with lots of folds in its skin, like a bald rat or cat.

• The eyes are enormous, allowing the Coward to see even the tiniest light (and hide from it). So much so that it is almost blind by bright light (hence the tiny pupils in the picture). Of course, with those ears it has no problem navigating by sound.

• The Coward's claws are small in relation to its size, serving mostly to hold a victim while it bites (preferably from behind). With such big fangs, a bite is often all it takes.

• Of course the Coward prefers to attack lone prey (like the hapless drow in the picture). But if it is found as it feasts, the bulging glands on its back pour a red-hot substance into the Coward's circulatory system. So hot, in fact, that the Coward's veins begin to glow in the dark! When the time comes to cool down, excessive body heat is radiated out through the bony spurs on the Coward's back and through the giant ears (like a desert fox).

Galaxy sky 2: Electric Bugaloo

I found the artist's homepage, who did the galaxy in the sky painting. Turns out he's updated the concept. This is a smallish thumbnail, but it's the best he's got. On the edge of a sea shortly after sunset.

Nice, huh?

Homebrew: galaxy sky and skull moon?

I've always been a guy who's imagination is sparked by vivid images. There's an image that's been in my head for over twenty years now, after first seeing it in a children's book about astronomy... when I was a child, appropriately enough. After looking for years for this book, the artist, or an online version of this picture, I stumbled across a good condition copy of the book in a used bookstore a coupla years ago, completely by accident. I scanned the one image in question, and I'll be posting it shortly, but my question is: if you were to integrate this image into your fantasy setting, what would you do with it?

Clearly, the image is a view from a planet outside of a large spiral galaxy more or less like the Milky Way. Perhaps the planet belongs to a solar system in a satellite minor galaxy, like one of the Magellanic Clouds, or perhaps it's merely a rogue star traveling through space completely on its own, yet close enough to a large spiral that on some evenings, when the moon is below the horizon or new, allowing for little light pollution in the sky, the spiral arms of a giant whirlpool galaxy fills the night sky.

Contrary to what you sometimes see in the movies, it's absurd to suggest you could actually see this rotating; the Milky Way, for example, has a radius of approximately 50,000 light years. The speed at which the outer arms would have to be moving in order to show visible rotation to someone outside is absolutely staggering... not to mention physically impossible. That doesn't mean that this would necessarily be a welcome sight in the sky. I imagine that folks would see this like the whirlpool that it resembles; they would fear the galaxy in the sky, and see it as evidence of the inevitable destruction of their world, it's final days to be sucked into the Void.

Anyway, I'm asking directly; any other ideas? Please post 'em!

Meanwhile, I've got another idea for a sign in the sky. Our own moon, at least on the side that's visible to Earth (the moon is tidally locked, so we only ever see one side of the moon... but you already knew that, I'm sure) is covered with the remnants of vast, prehistoric lava flows. These lava flows stand out as darker gray "seas", or maria against the silvery color of the rest of the moon. If you look at the full moon long enough, and have a little imagination, you might be able to think that you see images in the pattern of the maria. This is the so-called man in the moon.

But what if it wasn't a question of being imaginative? What if the pattern of the moon's "seas" made a very obvious design that anyone could see and interpret? And what if this pattern were a symbol of death?

This picture was posted on the Paizo blog (or somewhere on Paizo anyway; I did a google image search to find it) is what I mean; a fantasy moon that looks like a gigantic silvery skull. What would happen in such a world when the moon is full?

Another direct question: any ideas? I kinda imagine what the ancient druids and later medieval peasants thought Halloween was; a night when spirits ran unfettered through the night, could be not just a yearly event, but a monthly one. The full moon is the night of the undead. But, that's a bit obvious. Any better notions? Post 'em!

I should offer some kind of prize to the person with the best ideas here or something, because otherwise I probably won't get any comments, but y'know what? I'm really cheap. So I'm not gonna. But seriously; please post your ideas here.

D&D Shoe Competition!

Wizards of the Coast and RYZ are holding a D&D-themed shoe design contest. There are lots of amazing entires, and this is where I try and pimp my designs (such as "Red Dragon", which you can see to the left). You can see them all in my contest portfolio page: http://ryzwear.com/portfolio/ClaudioPozas .

In order to vote, you have to register at RYZ (which is free!). You can then assign your notes to each shoe design (marked by the number of "ticks" you assign, from 1 ("No Way") to 5 ("Love") or Pass ("No Opinion").

So run, don't walk, to the RYZ website and cast your vote! Help me, Obi-Wan, you're my only hope!

Environment - Airspur

The ArtOrder blog by Jon Schindehette has a new Concept Tuesday challenge up. This time it was a panoramic view of the Forgotten Realms city of Airspur. Here's the description provided to contestants:

This illo shows the city of Airspur in the Forgotten Realms. This is an opener for the article. Here’s a description of the city from the text:

None who have seen it can think of Airspur without envisioning its heights. Its sun-baked streets wind switchback paths down the bright cliffs, steep stairs cut nearly vertical ascents between buildings, suspension bridges arc between earthmotes high overhead, titanic pillars of stone rise from the sea to the level of the land above, and gleaming elemental spires hang with crystalline clarity all throughout. Those fortunate enough to have visited also remember Airspur as a city of colors and lights. The yellow cliffs tower above an astonishingly blue part of the Sea of Fallen Stars. Cobalt and golden roofs set off pale sandstone structures with gaily painted doors and shutters. Genasi of different hues tattooed with glowing lines promenade in vivid fashions and glittering jewelry. Monolithic crystals, the elemental spires that drift in the air, refract the sun's light during the hot and lazy days and shed colored glows over vibrant nights of wine and dance.

Here's my entry for this challenge (click for a larger view):



My picture was inspired by real-world locations Santorini (Greece), Positano (Italy) and Paraty (Brazil).

If you like my entry, please swing by the Environment Challenge post and write a comment voting for me (please add your name/handle so the vote is counted).

Variations on a Theme

This week I'm once again participating in a Concept Tuesday challenge at the ArtOrder blog by Jon Schindehette.

This week it's "Variations on a Theme": pick a D&D race and draw a figure in three different suits of armor. I chose the eladrin because I didn't have any painted eladrin in my portfolio. I chose to do a female because, hey, I like 'em! And being the D&D geek that I am, I even assigned classes to my three variations: swordmage devoted to Corellon (god of magic and swordplay), cleric devoted to Sehanine (goddess of the moon) and fighter (with the favored eladrin weapons, sword and spear). Apparel changes to suit the class (note that all have the same ornate longsword, which any eladrin can use).

If you like the picture I did, please swing by the ArtOrder entry for the challenge and post a comment voting for my entry! But don't vote as "Anonymous", as those votes won't count.