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RPG Book Illustrations: Tri-Worlds
For this project the task was to illustrate a role playing game based in a dark future setting. The job called for both style and concept design.
Style design: to develop a graphic style that would convey the dark and oppressive setting.
Concept design: to create the costumes, environments, characters and props for an entire new universe.
First we had to agree on a style that would set the tone for the entire book. The publisher was very interested in a rough, pencilled, distressed style. He had seen one of my roughly pencilled sci fi pieces online and wanted me to develop this style even further. I did a few style tests and finally came up with this:
This style was approved and all the illustrations were to be rendered in greyscale in this style. Interior illustrations for Role Playing Games ususally fall into a few different categories. The main categories of pictures created for this project are as follows.
Character Illustrations
The purpose of these images is to demonstrate the types of characters that populate the game universe. They are very important as they show players the type of characters they will beconme during the game. As with most types of story based media, whether the audience likes the property is strongly influenced by what type of characters inhabit the story. It could be said that the character illustrations are the first point of entry for the potential player.
Prop/ Weapon Illustration and Design
These are purely functional illustrations. They serve to illustrate props and items within the game. Descriptions are often very specific. Producing work like this requires a good sense of concept and industrial design.
Full Page Illustrations
This is where the illustrator really gets let off the leash a little. Depending on how tight the art brief is there is real potential for the artist to bring out there own view of the universe. Usually full page illustrations are more complex and require multiple characters and quite sophisticated staging.
Filler Illustrations
These pictures are used throughout the book to decorate pages and break up the monotony of too many pages of text. Sometimes they illustrate a particular aspect of the text, sometimes they are just used to create atmosphere and excite the imagination of the reader.
RPG Book Illustration: Dark Sci Fi
For this project the task was to illustrate a role playing game based in a dark future setting. The job called for both style and concept design.
Style design: to develop a graphic style that would convey the dark and oppressive setting.
Concept design: to create the costumes, environments, characters and props for an entire new universe.
First we had to agree on a style that would set the tone for the entire book. The publisher was very interested in a rough, pencilled, distressed style. He had seen one of my roughly pencilled sci fi pieces online and wanted me to develop this style even further. I did a few style tests and finally came up with this:
This style was approved and all the illustrations were to be rendered in greyscale in this style. Interior illustrations for Role Playing Games ususally fall into a few different categories. The main categories of pictures created for this project are as follows.
Character Illustrations
The purpose of these images is to demonstrate the types of characters that populate the game universe. They are very important as they show players the type of characters they will beconme during the game. As with most types of story based media, whether the audience likes the property is strongly influenced by what type of characters inhabit the story. It could be said that the character illustrations are the first point of entry for the potential player.
Prop/ Weapon Illustration and Design
These are purely functional illustrations. They serve to illustrate props and items within the game. Descriptions are often very specific. Producing work like this requires a good sense of concept and industrial design.
Full Page Illustrations
This is where the illustrator really gets let off the leash a little. Depending on how tight the art brief is there is real potential for the artist to bring out their own view of the universe. Usually full page illustrations are more complex and require multiple characters and quite sophisticated staging.
Filler Illustrations
These pictures are used throughout the book to decorate pages and break up the monotony of too many pages of text. Sometimes they illustrate a particular aspect of the text, sometimes they are just used to create atmosphere and excite the imagination of the reader.
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