I recently had the pleasure of working with the tabletop RPG Oath Hammer to create a cover and several illustrations. Today, I’d like to share some of the work for them with you!

I love the challenge that these kinds of projects present: complex character interactions, cool backgrounds, interesting lighting and texture opportunities, and most of all, visual storytelling. This image in particular called for a classic group of RPG heroes who have encountered some hostile foliage in a misty forest. I don’t think “hostile foliage” was the term used by the art director exactly, but as a homeowner with a yard that backs an equatorial jungle here in Georgia, all foliage is hostile to me.

Just before this job came in I had to chop a tree down on the property which had acquired some kind of hideous knot fungus. The fungus was apparently highly contagious (for trees), and if not taken care of would spread to the rest of the trees in the yard. It had to be taken care of. Instead of renting a chainsaw like a normal, rational human being I decided to use a hand axe, like a real man.

*sigh* This did not go as I expected and I won’t pretend that this image here wasn’t heavily influenced by the trauma of that experience.

Anyway, let’s not dwell on that debacle, or talk about anyone nearly being crushed by a falling tree, or anyone nearly burning down a barn, or anyone’s dog running off with a limb riddle with fungus and likely spreading it across the entire yard. Instead, let’s talk about some behind-the-scenes drawings and concept art!

The image was painted in traditional pencil with digital color. The drawing was on Strathmore smooth bristol, (the finest of all papers) and the color was in Photoshop (mostly with Multiply and Soft Light layers).

After creating the concept sketch above, I did a much larger pencil drawing of the scene to explore the characters and add detail to the scene. The only character that didn’t quite work the first time around was the dwarven priest, which the art director requested to have a hammer, and to more clearly show the book he is desperately reaching for. In the concept art above you can see a second drawing of the priest in the upper left, which was ultimately the design chosen for the final painting.

To paint the scene, I added volume over the drawing using primarily multiply and soft light layers. This allows you to add value and depth, without obliterating any of the line work. After this I added more opaque passages of darkness and light using normal layers (frame 3 above). In frame 4 I begin to add color. As with the value section, I begin by adding the color in transparently, again with multiply. Once values and colors are correct, I then work around the painting blending the drawing, value and color together, as well as sharp details.


While working on this one, I found myself straying from time to time from drawing, thinking I had found some better path or opportunity, but each time I would end up scrapping the idea and going back to the drawing. This is why I often keep my drawing up next to me while I work. I like exploring the scene and coming up with new ideas and new solutions, but never at the cost of the ideas that actually were working initially. The “fingers” of the branches on the tree were one of the few areas that did get reworked into something I prefer in the painting to the drawing though, as there were shapes that I just hadn’t quite worked out well enough in the drawing.

All in all, it felt good to paint this one! I feel like it encapsulated my experience battling my own backyard, and hopefully it will make other people feel my pain.  (My goal in all my work!)  And while I hope that the knot fungus doesn’t come back (and that if it does, I will have the humility (and/or brains) to hire professionals.) But I doubt it. All the paintings I’ve ever made that felt real and honest came from misery! If I avoid the pain where else would I get my ideas for paintings??

If you are interested, the Oath Hammer Kickstarter is fully funded, but they are still taking pre-orders here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/brokenblade/oath-hammer-rpg

-jg