Dragon in Charcoal

I am finishing up the first painting of my commissioned series for the Demolay International. The design firm that ordered the project also wants the charcoal study I did for the painting. The charcoal study was pretty beat up from being around the studio-  an easel fell on it and I accidentally dragged a cloth across the front of it. So, I spent a bit of time cleaning up the drawing and then decided to just pop the light effect and fix some of the things that I had moved in cursory fashion while testing changes that I would make on the painting. I also decided to strengthen and correct the design on the shield, since I knew that would be an important part of the image.
I have to ship the image, and it is a big drawing- 24" x 36". I ordered a very nice frame with a warm, dark grey matte. The issue was the glass. The client asked for conservation glass, which is at least 3 times the cost of normal glass. So, the glass alone was going to be almost $120.
I was not comfortable shipping that huge piece of glass to Boston. Both the frame shop and I decided it would be best to frame it with plexi-glass. Now the issue with plexi is that it can produce a lot of static and suck charcoal particles off the drawing. Despite my better judgement, I used spray fixative on the drawing. Fixative protects and adheres the charcoal but it also kills the contrast a bit, making the darks a lighter, more silvery grey.
I am hoping the client will replace the plexi with conservation glass when they receive the drawing. This is the stuff you never really plan on or think about when taking a commission.

Join the Fight, 36"x24", charcoal and chalk on toned paper, © copyright Demolay Int. and Richard Luschek 2011

I will post the final image of the painting soon. I need to get a high res scan of the image so it can be reproduced as a full size poster.

Harn Fan Commissions

I tend to get a lot of work from RPG fans. For a while I did more fan work than company illustration. It honestly was a great way to learn on the job and build a portfolio. I tend to do more work for companies these days, but I still do my fair share of fan work.

Often fan work is much more specific than the stuff I do for companies. You may think that it would be the other way around, that the companies would be more demanding. Generally I get the text of the article or book and just have to successfully fill in the blanks.
As a fan develops game, they are creating a story or world for the players from the published material. So often the person ordering has a very set idea for the look of the work.
Sometimes I am asked to illustrate a character using the photos of them or their fellow gamers- which can offer a challenge, especially when I am asked to draw the character to look the like the player, who may be 100 lbs heavier, 10 years older and not quite as handsome as the desired image of a dashing young knight. I am usually sweating the response to my first sketch. So far I have not offended anyone that I know of.
More often then not, I am asked to portray the character to look like a particular actor or historical figure. This is nice, since often I can find multiple references in varied light and poses. When I do use famous people as a model, I try to just get the general look and try to not have the character be too recognizable. For one thing I don't like it when the character looks like some actor. I also don't want to be sued.

I thought it would be interesting to show the type of info I get from a client. The below email is a good example of a typical request. I have gotten orders which are as simple as one sentence- "I need a Norman style knight with a sword and round shield." I have also gotten a 3 page description for one character.
Here is the email I got from the client:

"I think he should be holding the helm in one arm (use the helm style you did for Tourney p. 7), and his shield - a knight shield, not, definitely, not a kite shield, should be resting on a wall/furnishing behind him. His arms should be depicted on both the shield and the surcoat. The latter should be full, as in the Minarsas illo, not a little shield on his chest. He should have a bastard sword and dagger in scabbards, and some indication that he is wealthy. He should have a mail hauberk and leggings, but his head and face should be bare. In my campaign, I plan on using him as the Melderyni ambassador to Kaldor to give you some context.

I attached the coat of arms, a cut from Minarsas Hall illustrating the surcoat style I would like, and the Morgan of Darring illo. This guy is a bastard son of Morgan, and as I said below, shouldn't be quite as handsome. Beyond that I have no preconceptions on how he might look. Maybe this attached actor might work. The character's name is Sir Arren Lydel. Please let me know if you have any questions or issues."

 Now, I took a few liberties and put in outside a tent. I hung the shield in full view as asked.
Basically, looking at the illustrations I had done previously that related to this image, all the reference material I was sent, it was up to me gather all that into an image that included all that info.
Here is the resulting illustration. I was pretty happy with the design- and the client was thrilled, which is what it is all about in the end.

Sir Arren Lydel, Copyright © 2012, J. Matthew Roegner and Richard Luschek

If you are wanting a similar image for your game, feel free to contact me for prices.

USA, USA!

I have just finished a bunch of images for the new CGI Block Game. I drew 15 new blocks for the games pieces that will be reproduced at 3/4" square. I drew them at 4", inked them by hand and then colored them very quickly and simply in photoshop.
I am no expert on the WWII machinery, so I had to stay pretty faithful to old images or museum replicas I found. I tried to create simple images that could be easily read on the small blocks.

Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Price: $50.00

Release Date: 2012-05-15

K.I.S.S. Preorder (signed edition)

DESIGNERS: Leonard Coufal and Tom Dalgliesh.

K.I.S.S is a fast-paced World War II squad level game, employing our wooden blocks. The game system features innovative and interactive rules for Fire Combat, Close Combat, Morale, and Leaders. The game is sophisticated, yet very playable.
You command a German or American infantry company, composed of three infantry platoons and a heavy weapons platoon. Expansion sets will include British, Soviet, Italian, and Japanese companies.
Unit types include:

• Leaders
• Rifle Squads
• MachineGuns
• Mortars
• Anti-Tank
• Tank

Here is how the images will look on the final block layout. Both of the following images have been reworked for the final game.

SPOILER ALERT:
The United States wins the war in the end.

Heading East

Thought I would post some new work I just completed for the new Columbia Games block game Ancient Kings that will be shipped at the end of the month (March 25th).
As most of my illustration work is black and white ink drawings, this is a bit different for me, but I really enjoyed the process. As a great admirer of Japanese prints with their wonderful design and subtle color relationships, I thought it would be nice to incorporate some of what I like from those prints into these images. The final images are to be printed as 3/4" square sticker which will be placed on wood block game pieces. That is pretty small. So they have to be strong silhouettes which are easy to read in game play. I drew them out at 2"x2".  I decided to ink them by hand, scan them into the computer and color them in in Photoshop. I used a few texture overlays and gradient fills to get that Japanese woodcut feel.

Please ignore that I misspelled Cavalry as Calvary. There is not going to be a crucifixion game piece.
I had draw the Monk with a hat I liked better, but I was asked to draw it a bit more historically accurate as shown above. Here is a look at my first attempt.

In hindsight I wish the group of images were more consistent in style. While I feel they work pretty well, I wish a few were a bit more stylized. I also probably got a bit carried away with the detail, but I had great fun doing these- I could not help myself.
The most difficult one to do was the ship. It was hard to find good references for a Samurai ship. I wanted big sails so I could design the image with a light in front of the dark sky, and the darker ship over lighter water. I found a lot of non-military Junk type ships and a lot of warships without sails. It is a combination of a few references. In the end it is one of my favorites of the group.
Let me know what you think of the group of Samurai. If you do not comment, I will be forced to commit ritual Seppuku.

Flaming Octagon

I recently posted a small peak of an illustration I did for a new article about the Agrikan order, Herpa the Mace.
There was some fun discussion about this on Facebook and most got it right away. 

Harn fan Charlie suggested, "He's flipping someone The Mace?" An amusing idea. David L. pretty much got it with "The first half of the symbol identifies the signer as Agrikian (fingers pointing up representing fire) and secondly the order to which they belong the Octagonal Pit (finger and thumb forming an approximation of a Octagon)." David S. followed up with "As for a name, how about "Eye of Manrasusha"???
Since the Octoganal pit is the source of the "Primal" Flame, it would be from the Elder God that it flowed."

Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Some cool stuff. Pretty much what I was thinking. Here is the full image, though it is not the final version. The one in the article is pushed more and I worked to make the demon-faced fire look less cartoony. It shows a priest in a ritual of summoning.


For those interested, the next HarnQuest is probably a few months off. I still have a few articles to illustrate for this, but there are some exciting things in the pipeline, including a much expanded new article on the Ilme with all new art.
I will include this one from the Tontury article available now on CGIs website. This scene shows a failed attack on a  Ilme.

Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Some New stuff

I am still pretty busy working on the large painting for Demolay International. I will post an updated image shortly when I get a better shot of the painting. I am very close to getting the first one done, though it feels like I could easily spend another year on this if I had the time- which I don't.
I have a few articles for Harn done that are waiting to be released- honestly they are waiting for me to finish the art. As I said, I have been busy. One such article is Herpa the Mace, the Agrikan religious order. I decided a few cool visuals for this article, and while I don't want to give away too much and let it be a surprise I have been thinking a lot about the symbolism and ritual associated with religion- real or fantasy.
I have been trying to sneak in hand symbols- sort of that secret handshake kind of thing. For me it is a fun way to do some writing, expanding the universe of Harn, but with the pictures and the stories associated with them. Hopefully too, the are vague enough for individual interpretation.
Below is a cropped portion of an illustration from Herpa the Mace article- you didn't think I was going to show you the entire image did you? It shows one such hand position. Comment below to let me know what you think and if you have some idea of what this symbols is.

Copyright © 2011, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Illustration Crush

An article I started illustrating for someone 5 years ago has finally been released. You can download Anyana’s Vale for free on Lythia.com.The article is a fan article set in the Harn world.
It was a fun project to work on as I got to be involved in the design process. Sometime when reading the articles, I suggest changes to the writing- usually so I can draw something cool. I was given maps of a mystical tree house. Often when  trying to realize the plans, a problem appears that either does not not quite work in 3D or could be improved upon. Below is my rough sketch to work out some of the ideas. I did  a draw-over  in photoshop.


















Next I did a rough side-view of the tree to figure out the shape, layout and various heights of the floors. As some sinks had been indicated in the maps, I thought it would be fun to have them work via a cistern inside the trunk that filled throuch a collection system when it rained. The piping is magically grown into the trunk of the tree, as are the chimneys for the small stoves.

After some back and forth between me, the mapper and the writer, we got a design everyone was happy with, I drew the fancy tree house.

Anyana’s Living Tree home, © copyright John Daniel and Richard Luschek 2012

I totally want one of these in my yard.
Of course a tree like this needs a beautiful resident. The elven lady was the first illustration I did. It was drawn 5 years ago. When John ordered the illustration, neither he nor I thought it would evolve into this article. Here she is, and I will admit, it is one of the first drawing I think I have a bit of a crush on. Don't tell my wife.

Anyana, © copyright John Daniel and Richard Luschek 2012