D&D: Fire Monk and Goblins (2011)
Preparing for tweaks ahead of time
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Dungeons & Dragons is endless in terms of imaginative scenarios that can unfold in the game. As when that time your monk character encircles a group of goblins in flames left in the wake of your running past them.
Working on D&D, which I did from the 3.5 edition through the Player’s Handbook for 5th Edition, was a great opportunity to contribute to a game that captivated me in early high school. The artists working in those years became heroes to emulate.
The bulk of the work I produced for the game were smaller interior spot illustrations, and these ranged from 1/8th to 1.5 page spreads. This was a ~half page illustration. But no matter the reproduction size, the imagery was usually dense and the art direction particular, such that producing work for even a quarter page illustration could involve as much work as a Magic card.
In composing a piece like this, where the goblins would necessarily be obscured by flames in part, I reasoned correctly that the odds of some changes would be high enough that it would be worth drawing them separately then compositing them, so that if I had to re-pose any, it wouldn’t be as onerous as if I’d drawn the whole composition as one thing.
It left me with two nice drawings in and of themselves, though, so this also worked well for me.
One can notice that the Monk is covered in tattoos, and I chose to have these tattoos begin to glow as they reach his extremities. One can conclude his legs likely have similar tattoos glowing as he leaves flames behind in his foot path, but I was asked to have the flames more explicitly coming off his body in the final, where they curl up his legs as well.
These spot illustrations were frequently composed to sit as vignettes on the page, allowing the white of the page into the illustration space, versus just rectangles of imagery.
NEXT WEEK ON ART OF THE DAY:
We’ll begin discussing my art in the upcoming Magic: the Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man set, and we’ll have an original painting available from the Blue Moon card game on Friday. Good stuff in-between!