Frostgrave: 2nd Edition

As the seasons turn chilly, a brief look at my border artwork appearing in the new edition of  Joseph A. McCullough's Frostgrave fantasy skirimish wargame.

 

 

Winter in Gormenghast. Carven gargoyles of the Winter King and Ice Queen blow wild knotworking winds through the derelict architecture of a long abandoned and forgotten city. Hope the explorers of Frostgrave enjoy the marginalia and find it add a suitable atmosphere to their games.

Frostgrave 2nd Edition is available from Osprey Games in Hardback and Digital editions.

Otherworld Dagonite Fishmen Warriors

A look at the concept art I drew for Otherworld Miniatures Dagonite Fishmen Warriors.

The starting point for the design of the Dagonite Fishmen was the descriptions Eric Holmes 1986 novel The Maze of Peril (with thanks to Zach at Zenopus Archives).  references from classic Dungeons and Dragons artwork supplied by Richard at Otherworld. These included Dave Sutherlands illustrations from the D&D Module D2:Shrine of the Koa-Toa (1978), Alan Hunters illustrations of the Koa-Toa in the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio (which themselves seem to be the source of Citadel Miniatures FF65 Ferocious Man-Fish models). Alongside all this, I cant help but think of Malcolm Barter's Manfish from The Forest of Doom, along with the descriptions of the more mutated Dagon cultists and their aquatic counterparts from H.P. Lovecrafts Shadow over Innsmouth. 

With those initial references in mind and direction on the poses, I produced some initial silhouettes and loose sketches to determine the overall shape and features, such as vestigal fins and barbels. Those elements decided, translated to the poses and introduced some thematic decorative elements, weapons and accoutrements before producing the final inked versions while under the influence of the classic Surf Rock stylings of The Longboards, Da Surftones and The Lively Ones.

Dagonite Fishmen Warrior I

Armed with a cutlass, favoured weapon of sea-going bandits, and a smaller 'fish-knife'. In keeping with the subaquatic-cult theme, the pommels are a stylised fish head and spiral shell. 

Dagonite Fishmen Warrior II

Keeping the aquatic theme the spear is based on a harpoon, with a stylised shark decoration etched onto the blade.

Dagonite Fishmen Warrior III

This is a heavier infantry type, with a scallop shell decorated brestplate and armed with a trident.  I also wanted to reflect the weird man-catcher weapon the Kua-Toa use in D&D, rather than a traditional Greek, and have given it a subtle squid shape (the butt of the weapon is also designed as a stylised fish-head). 

Dagonite Fishmen Warrior III
Bare metal model

The drawings were then passed over to Drew Williams to sculpt, who once again has done a supurb job of translating my linework into three dimensions, fleshing out the anatomy giving their monsterous bodies the both the slightly blubbery heft and smoothness that semi-aquatic , and expertly capturing the poses and expressions, filling the detail on the back...

Otherworld Dagonite Fishmen Warriors

The models then cast, and painted by Andrew Taylor for display. I had left the eyes in my drawings blank as I'd imagined them with pale, slightly glowing orbs, but Andrews large blank staring, reflective fish eyes are perfect. The bronze and verdigris metals on the armour and weapons is exactly how I'd imagined them, which is a bit odd, as I don't think we'd discussed that at all. Perhaps an unstated influence of the Bronze Age Sea Peoples, or maybe there was just something in the water.  The cold grey-blue contrasted with the redbrown the the gills and make them a classic monster and really conveys the cool slightly slimey texture of these creature. Equally, the Dagonites could be painted with patterns and colouration from tropical fish or even the bioluminescent strangeness from the Bathyal Zone to make them more exotic.

The full range of Dagonites, including the Assassin and High Priest which I also produced concept art for, can be seen at Otherworld Miniatures.

The Excellent Travelling Volume #5

My cover for the Excellent Travelling Volume #5 - based on the Tomb of Mnekshétra adventure seed in M.A.R. Barkers The Empire of the Petal Throne RPG (1975, TSR inc), where Mnekshétra the fabled Lesbian Mistress of  the matriarch of the First Empire - Queen Nayari of the Silken Thighs  is entombed in an ancient crystal sarcophagus..

Cover mockup for #5 with awesome typography and layout by Matt Hildebrand.

This is a photo of the original drawing, black pigment ink on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3). The observant viewer may note some light differences between the drawing and the published image - these adjustments were made digitally after the original drawing was scanned in.

Written and published by James Maliszewski, The Excellent Travelling Volume is a limited edition print-only fanzine for The Empire of the Petal Throne RPG . Issue #5 contains artwork by myself, Luigi Castellani, Claytonian JP,  Stefan Poag and Jason Sholtis, and is available to order now from the Grognardia website. 

I thought it may be interesting to collate more of my published Empire of the Petal Throne drawings. Apologies now for the poor quality photographs of the artwork, but I hope they are enough to give the general idea.

The Garden of Weeping Snows

Black pigment ink on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3)

The condemned Wizard Nyélmu is imprisoned deep beneath the city of Jakálla, and the Singer of Doom lures the unwary through the poisoned gardens to meet their fates...

The River of Silence

Black pigment ink and permanent marker on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3)

The River of Silence appeared as the front cover of the Excellent Travelling Volume #3. The Mrúr greet the unwary traveller as Srykárum, the Lord of Sárkus undead Cohorts looks on, and a priest of Durritlámish perform their rituals in the underground, or perhaps it is Death himself that awaits with the ziggurat island in the dark waters that flow beneath the city of Jakálla.

The House of Worms

Black pigment ink  on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3) (drawing approx. 250mm x 240mm).

The House of Worms is slated for a future cover of The Excellent Travelling Volume. It was commissioned by James Maliszewski to illustrate the party of characters in one of his current Empire of the Petal Throne campaigns. Each player had input and suggestion to the design and nature of each of their characters. Largely Tsolyáni followers of Sárku. the Five-Headed Lord of Worms with varying degrees of fanaticism and one follower of the cohort of Sárku, Durritlámish - the Black Angel of the Putrescent Hand, Opener of Catacombs.

The Livyánu

Black pigment ink  on 250gsm Bristol Board, 210mm x 420mm (ISO A4).

The Livyánu are a mysterious, aloof and greatly tattooed people, followers of the  Shadow Gods. The male warrior (top) wears the distinctive braided top-knot and is wielding a curved Chlén hide sword (indeed most of the weapons in the drawings are made of this material). The female noble may be a priestess of one of the Shadow Gods, wears nothing but the mask of Kírrineb - according to some -  the chief female deity of the Livyánu and is accompanied by a child slave to carry the train of her head-dress, which is largely constructed of the ubiquitous Kheshchal feathers.

The Salarvyáni

Black pigment ink  on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3)

The Salarvyáni are bearded wine merchants whose cities suffer from poor sanitation. The male warrior (top left) is wielding a chlen-hide pole-arm and wearing long kilt.  The female Lay Priestess is wearing an over-dress of transparent Güdru cloth in the process of casting the Energy Bolt spell.

The Salarvyáni characters appeared on the back cover of The Excellent Travelling Volume #3 and the mask in the interior.

The Yán Koryáni and The Mu'uglavyani

Black pigment ink  on 250gsm Bristol Board, 210mm x 420mm (ISO216 A4) (drawings approx. 190mm x 110 mm).

The Yán Koryáni are a matriarchal Empire to the north of Tsolyánu - and the main military threat to Tsolyánu. The female warrior (top left) sports a Khil - the traditional tall, plated helmet of the Yán Koryáni warrior, topped with a kheshchal plume, and is firing her crossbow from a low position for stability and accuracy. The male Priest of Dhárm (lower left) - who some equate with the Tsolyani Thúmis but such speculation is largely moot, is in the process of casting Shield of Defence.

The Yán Koryáni were first published on the back cover of The Excellent Travelling Volume #4

The Mu'uglavyáni are a proud and officious people, even by Tsolyani standards. The Mu'uglavyáni  Warrior (top right) sports the 'mohawk' hairstyle of his caste, the height of the crest suggesting he is a mid-rank nobleman. Whilst the priestess of Hŕsh (bottom right) is attired in traditional garb of her temple and is activating an Eye of Hastening Destiny.

The Mu'uglavyáni were first published on the back cover of The Excellent Travelling Volume #5

A Meeting in No-Space

Black pigment ink  on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3) (drawing approx. 260mm x 270mm).

The image depicts a scene from M.A.R. Barkers first novel The Man of Gold the meeting between Baron Ald, leader of the Yán Koryáni, the inscrutable Lord Fu Shi'i and Prince Dhich’uné (a devotee of Sarku, and would-be Emperor) whilst the alien Mihalli creates the space between worlds using an extraplanar orb. Commissioned by Howard Fielding of The Tekumel Project, was published, in colour, as a limited edition art card.

The Southern Divers

Black pigment ink  on 250gsm Bristol Board, 297mm x 420mm (ISO A3) (drawing approx. 260mm x 270mm).

The Southern Divers was also commissioned by Howard at the Tekumel Project . The Divers are Tsolyáni followers of Avanthe and her symbol (a golden globe with 5 azure blue tails) can be seen on the figurehead of the boat and can also be seen in the ribbon device that frame the picture. The divers are threatened by the terrible form of an Akho - Embracer of Ships - a mighty toothed and tentacled sea-beast.

My sketchbooks (ISO A5) contain several more unpublished works of Tekumelania in various stages of preparation, including the Gloves of Chiriné, as worn by a Nluss warrior, the Clockwork Automaton of Qiyor the Many Tongued, The Box of Nekkutháne and a Ngóro,  Sakbe road tower greeting the passing of a High Clan Noble Lady and her entourage, Lay Priests duelling in a Hirilákte arena, Pé Chói tattooing, The Hlüss-mother and several others which will remain hidden until such time as the stars align aright.

How to Build a Hydra

WE24 Hydra by [ZHU]

Recently drew an instruction sheet for Otherworld Miniatures Hydra model, showing which head connects to which socket, fortunately the faces on the beast are each uniquely expressive making identifying them quite simple once you have a guide to follow.

WE24 Hydra | Early 80s style mini photography

So I tested the instructions  by temporarily putting the model together with blue-tack, and photographed in an attempt at an early 1980s wargames magazine style. Although I'm sure those heavy blacks would have caused no end of production difficulties.

Otherworld Hydra propainted in glorious Technicolour!

Sculpted by John Pickford and cast in resin, the Hydra miniature (and it's attendant instruction sheet) are available from Otherworld Miniatures. Otherworld are currently having a Ninth Birthday Sale, everything 20% off using checkout code 9THBIRTHDAY, which runs til 9th November. Many happy returns to the Demon Idol!

The Excellent Travelling Volume #3

James Maliszewski's Excellent Travelling Volume  - A Fanzine of M.A.R. Barkers Tekumel Issue #3 is available now. This issue features a cover The River of Silence, inspired by one of M.A.R. Barkers  scenario seeds published in The Empire of the Petal Throne, drawn by myself.

The Excellent Travelling Volume is a 28 page, print only fanzine, limited to 200 copies (IIRC), priced at $9.95 US and $11.95 ROW (including postage).  Issue #1 and #2 sold out swiftly, and it appears #3 will do likewise. http://grognardia.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html

Red Box Games: Chosen of Hel

Red Box Games Barbarian Hordes Kickstarter is up and running, and once again the gnomes of Zhu were tasked with preparing some imagery to punctuate the piece....

Thematic header, for the Kickstarter. Twin axes engraved with Bindrunes Thurisaz + Tyr, not as an invocation or dedication to the god, but the the warrior-pride that he is known for, and Thurisaz - Thorn, often associated with giants and destructive power of nature.   Isa (ice) and Haglaz (hail), the frozen earth, like winter storms, immense, unstoppable deathly things to those that live in the hard northlands. Blind Raven - carrion of the battlefield, who cares not whose flesh he devours, Blind Skull - the fallen and forgotten, and the Seeing Helmet.

The long braid and  that evil is a gender equality employer and is indiscriminate in the collecting of skulls. Formal arrangement like a military display. The sword-runes read Ragnarök - it is the very death of the gods that the Helsvakt seek. The Othala rune on the male skull, inhereted wealth - the death of kings, and the Fehu rune on the female skull, cattle - the death of wealth. They may be interpreted as Odin and Frigg, or the self-image of the Helsvakt, as those who already count themselves among the dead, and so are fearless in battle.

The Helsvakt in Tre's mythology are bloodthirsty maniacs enslaved to the sorcerer-goddess Hel.   Chains are a long established theme central to the imagery of the Helsvakt, signifies only their bondage, but.  The thorn is a new, a kind of medieval barbed-wire, it's a reference to a nature vs. man-made. The one eyed skull is, of course, Odin, and the sword is engraved with the runes ALU (in Anglo-Saxon, rather than the Elder) a historical charm with uncertain meaning - it has been found on axe handles and arrow-heads but not swords to my knowledge. Theory has it that ALU means 'ale' or 'courage', or literally 'Dutch Courage' and perhaps the mythic relationship between the 'drunken' state and berserker.

I wanted a move away from the expressionist gore imagery of the last Helsvakt-led campaign,  towards something colder, starker, possibly more evil and sinister, heavier and blacker. Equally stone-carving and woodblock relief print they visually drawing on ancient Greek Red Figure pottery - after all, Barbarian comes from barbaros - the ancient Greek word for an uncivilised person, these are images not made by the Helsvakt in celebration of their Goddess, their victories, or their madness, but by the civilised men that fear them and tell legends of Ragnarök.

But nobody's really turns up to a RBG Kickstarter for my graphics (although there have been a few requests for t-shirts, which we have done in the past but it does depend on the funding going above and beyond the core product). Nope... what they're after is more epic Red Box Games miniatures...

Jötunn WIP

Helsmaiden WIP

I was going to go on at length about diversity of representation of body types in fantasy, feminism, ethics in games journalism and all that, because when there are creators out there like Tre making kick-ass evil female warriors which are 100% matched up with their male contemporaries and this is totally ignored by all the . Not that Tre' has a feminist agenda, totally unlikely to give a crap about that - it's all about being true to the character and concept. As it should be, and the only to axe be ground here, is about to cleave the skulls of its foes.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1103158358/barbarian-hordes-by-red-box-games?ref=users

Footprints Magazine #22

Sporting a brand new "Footprint" nameplate and strapline "Ideas & Adventures for Advanced Fantasy Games" created by the Gnomish Art Slaves of Zhu, Footprints Magazine #22 is out now!

Footprints 22 | Masthead by Zhu
The Grove of Ghost-lights by Markus Holzum

The nameplate design  is based around is a subtle visual pun with the lettering almost looking like a monster, perhaps a dragon, a demonic goat, or a basilisk or some such beast of our imagination standing on the line ...leaving footprints... which also references physical printing, the line being the substrate and the being the blocks. Subtleties aside, the aim was to create something clean and contemporary, whilst embracing the legacy of TSR era D&D, both attitudes which the magazine personifies, and it succeeds in that.

The lettering is based on ITC Honda Designed by Ronne Bonder, Tom Carnase and Bob Newman and published in 1970. It's the same typeface used by TSR for their Dragon magazine from 1979 to 1992, and was chosen to continue that tradition. Similarly the word "Magazine" and the strapline was set in Century Gothic for it's long association with TSR publications, and specifically its use on Dungeon magazine. and creating a modern / archaic. light / heavy contrast with the Blackletter Honda.

ITC Honda | ITC 1970

The strapline "Ideas & Adventures for Advanced Fantasy Games" sums up the magazines gaming focus - it is 99% table-ready gaming material and inspiration (fiction and art), rather than positioning itself as a general gaming or fantasy magazine with reviews. It also evokes the idea of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - the focus of the magazine - without specifically stating so by using the key word "Advanced" and the contains the all important ampersand - the typographic shibboleth of gamng geekdom.
 
The layout design has been handled by Michael Haskell and Jeff Johnson, and they've done a great job on the typography and re-purposing public domain images to illustrate the mag. There are lots of nice touches - the title of "Pulling Strings" reminiscent of the creative lettering that Polly Wilson used to do for the Fiend Factory monsters in White Dwarf back in the day.

But what of the content? Well it is filled with magical items, traps, giant spiders and more - but don't take my word for it - go download! Download Footprints Magazine 22

Red Box Games Kickstarter Art

Red Box Games are running a Kickstarter to re-tool their Helsvakt miniatures - chaotic evil barbarians:

Chaotic! Evil! Barbarian! Twoweaponing! Skullz! Chainz!

I also did some custom caligraphy / lettering, examples below:

"Stretch Goals" Caligraphy

 And this guy, who's a favourite:

The stretch-goals already met have included some of the Aenglish (Arthurian types), new Helsvakt heroes, and heading towards some new marauding hordesmen, with a few heroes (including a wicked semi-nude elf-sorceress / wardancer hero, and her wolf-friend, who I must have done at least 3 drawings of by now for Tre')  and along the way to a huge horde of very nicely sculpted fantasy zombies for an amazingly low cost.


Anyway,  here's the link again: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1103158358/red-box-games-helsvakt-horde/

Bordering on the Otherworld

Some details from a recently completed artwork commission for Otherworld Miniatures consisting of three themed page borders:

Otherworld Armoury Border (detail)

Otherworld Dungeon Border (detail)

Otherworld Armour (detail)

Otherworld Dungeon Border (detail)

Otherworld Wilderness Border (detail)

Otherworld Wilderness Border (detail)

Otherworld Armoury Border (detail)

The originals are approximately A3 - intended to be reproduced as A4 borders. Unfortunately they don't reproduce too well as small web thumbnails after all they are essentially a big white space with some drawings round the edge - but you can see them in the gallery to get a sense of the final pieces.


Richard great to work with as usual and v There are several references to Otherworld Miniatures range hidden in plain sight throughout the drawings which were fun to do - a big no-prize for anyone who spots them all!

Otherworld Giant Spider

 

Instruction sheet with freaky ornamental borders and diagram I drew up for Richard over at Otherworld Miniatures for their WE10d Giant Spider, superbly sculpted by Pedro Navarro (for sale here in the wilderness encounters section).

Some shots below (with Mordred Wyrmsbane from Red Box Games)  to show the sheer scale of the beast, as you can see she isn't really a miniature giant spider, more of a giant spider miniature!

Ungoliant and Melkor

"In a ravine she lived, and took shape as a spider of monstrous form, weaving her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. There she sucked up all light that she could find, and spun it forth again in dark nets of strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode; and she was famished. Now Melkor came to Avathar and sought her out; and he put on again the form that he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno: a dark Lord, tall and terrible. In that form he remained ever after. There in the black shadows, beyond the sight even of Manwë in his highest halls, Melkor with Ungoliant plotted his revenge." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

"There were scenes of old wars, wherein Leng's almost-humans fought with the bloated purple spiders of the neighbouring vales; and there were scenes also of the coming of the black galleys from the moon, and of the submission of Leng's people to the polypous and amorphous blasphemies that hopped and floundered and wriggled out of them. " - H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

"...its eight thick hairy legs drove its ogreish body over the floor at headlong pace; its four evilly gleaming eyes shone with a horrible intelligence, and its fangs dripped venom that Conan knew, from the burning of his shoulder where only a few drops had splashed as the thing struck and missed, was laden with swift death." - R.E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant

I've posed the Giant Spider up, so it's rearing up. The photo's by OW show it much lower-down, with its body on the ground and its feet more 'flat', which is probably the intended pose for the miniature.  However, the lug and socket system for attaching each of the individually sculpted legs  does provide some leeway in their positioning - although I suspect my pose would require pinning and a bit more filling than the 'official version', as you can see in the photos, with my test pose the Giant Spider miniature was treated to a generous helping of blue-tac to hold it together.

Quite coincidentally I was flipping though The Warlock of Firetop Mountain the other day, and noticed the picture by Russ Nicholson of the Giant Spider attacking is quite similar (fore-legs up) to the view a standard 28mm miniature would have looking at it. I suspect it might have had some subconscious influence on my posing of the miniature!

(for sale here in the Otherworld Miniatures wilderness encounters section of their webshop). 

A Fragment of the History of the Dwarves

...this injunction of civilizing import became the starting point of the activity of all of Krtica's successors, the Guild of Stonemasons, the Rune-Masters, those versed in the art of carving words. The political calm that prevailed during the two centuries of the Tethmorn supremacy was calculated to an eminent degree to promote spiritual development and the organization of the inner life of the Dwarves. During this period, a large part of the teachings of the Runelaw that have been received into the Kirkaskivi were collected, compiled, and reduced to writing. The immortal thoughts of the Carvers clothed themselves in the visible garb of runes. On great slabs and mighty dolmen they were made accessible to the distant ages. The impressive traditions transmitted from earliest times, the chronicles of the past of the people, the Rune verses brought forth by the spiritual enthusiasm of a long series of poets, all were gathered and put into stone with the extreme of care. The spiritual treasures of the nation were capitalized, and to this process solely and alone generations of Dwarves have owed the possibility of resorting to them as a source of faith and knowledge. Without the work of compilation achieved by the Rune-Masters, of which the uninstructed are apt to speak slightingly, to-day we would have no Kirkaskivi, that central sun of craft, beauty and knowledge.

A Short History of the Dwarves -  Lady Myrtle Chuffnell

Red Box Games Logo

Logo for  sculptor Tre Manors signature miniature range Red Box Games inspired by the classic 80s Dungeons and Dragons art of Larry Elmore and Norse Mythology. Tre sculpts capture much of the classic themes of fantasy with hideous savage goblin berserkers, proud dwarves and beautiful elves.

The word-mark and the box were hand drawn and then traced and cleaned up in Illustrator. I think I'll leave the runic inscription across the top a mystery for now.

Hopefully see the logo in use across packaging and the website sometime soon!

The Otherworld Giant - Instructions

Completed the instructions for Otherworld miniatures Giant model. This was a black and white hand drawn 2-page A4 set of instructions written by the sculptor John Pickford and illustrated by me.

The distressed parchment edges were hand-drawn and the typefaces are a bit of a nod to some of the old school  heritage of Otherworld Miniatires, being a combination of  80s Citadel Miniatures with the headers set in Caslon Antique and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons being Century Gothic - although the actual D&D books are set in Futura, Century Gothic has a very similar feel with slightly increased legibility.

Each part was drawn individually (twice - once for the front and once for the back), and inked, then scanned and the final layout composited in InDesign. Johns sculpt is really crisp and clear, with enough detail to make it interesting - making drawing it a dream.

Slightly dull photo of my sketchbook showing some warm up drawings.

A magnificent painted example of the model  (by Bruenorodinson) can be seen on the Otherworld Forums, and it's for sale in the Otherworld Shop!