Non-Map Art Showcase

[pyrandon]

Hello, Friends:

I've been taking a break from cartography lately, instead playing with digital sketches, comics, and paintings. I'm no Rembrandt, but I thought I'd post some of my playful attempts in this thread anyway, just for fun.

I'd love to see some of your doodles, sketches, and artwork as well! Post 'em right in here, too.

Below is my most current effort: a painting of a nobleman, created in Photoshop in about 3 hours.

Take care!

[dimbel]

I like the style!
I'd love to be able to paint character sketches for my d&d sessions... unfortunately i'm not blessed witch such a gift

[pyrandon]

Thanks, Dimbel. I had a good time piddling with that one.

Actually, your comment re: not being artistic enough to do character sketches can be skirted if you at least have a few basic Photoshop skills. For example, the red-haired ranger "painting" I'm attaching below was one of my first "play arounds" with PS, and I did almost no art in it at all. I didn't even have a Wacom tablet at the time! His head is some college student's, his body is a specialty costume catalog entry, and the trees are a random forest pic. All three images were found usinga Google Image search, then pasted together & cleaned up, then filtered a couple times. Sure, true digital artists dislike this sort of hack work, but like you I needed a pic of a character, and fast. Now, about a year later with a few more Photoshop tricks up my sleeve, I'd do a lot more to that pic, but at the time it worked great and everyone liked it.

Anyway, I'm also attaching another portrait in the same style as the nobleman I posted earlier. And yes,I myself painted this one in PS; no cut-n-paste. She's a rotund noblewoman circa the 1100s. See ya!

[ravells]

Really wonderful. I love the first one. I won't even think of posting my efforts here until I've improved my drawing skills, but I just don't have the self discipline to practice every day.

[RPMiller]

Great stuff! I like the consistency of style for the nobles in both the artwork and the dress of them. It gives a sense of culture to them.

[Robbie]

Nice work don...I wish I could draw...

all my non-map artwork can be found at http://evilarcana.deviantart.com

Warning though...some of it is kinda dark and twisted...not too bad though.

[pyrandon]

Nice works, Arcana. Boy I wish I could do 3D modeling! That, plus your "The Hand of Death" is a neat collage; great feel to it!

[RobA]

Well, it might not be "art" but I consider it creative...

Here is a HDR photo made by combining two different exposures of the same picture. It was modified in GIMP to look painterly, and I added a canvas texture and frame/matting.



Also, here is a small gallery of some POV raytracing I did a few years back...

http://ffaat.pointclark.net/gallery/...ame=Raytracing

-Rob A>

[pyrandon]

Here's another character portrait--this time of a vain sheriff named Trum. As you can see, I'm playing around with my art style now--trying some different techniques. This time I used no filters, instead shooting for a more "illustrative realistic" look.

I highly recommend non-cartography sketching/play: I can honestly say I've learned a ton by completing these exercises that I feel will improve my maps in the future!

Take care!

[ravells]

Wow! That's just fantastic - the hair, the slight noise you've put on the sword blade and the chain mail are superb. You can start taking the art class when the art teacher's off sick now! This is seriously lovely stuff and you have such a talent. How long did it take you to do?