Birds Eye Views

I don't really like illustrating stuff with the bird's eye view in medieval period work. For one thing, I like the view to be more of  view that would be seen by those living in that world. I think it is more believable.
But, often this is a pretty cool view. Now that I am doing the Sketchup models, I can at least post a few of them on my blog for people to enjoy.

Minilaous Keep, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

The first is Minilaous, a keep in Kanday on the cliffs overlooking the bay. The models are of course very roughly knocked out so I can get the drawing accurate to the maps.  I decided on a view on the cliffs looking east.

Another castle I had to render was Moleryn in the Thardic Republic. This one had a very old illustration from way back in 1987. I considered updating it, but decided I needed to redraw it as it had a few things that did not jive with the maps.
I rendered what I needed in a bit more detail, but spent about 10 minutes to trace out the rest of the castle.

This last view is pretty close to what I used as the model for the final illustration.
This HarnQuest should be shipping by the end of the week or so.

Hârnic Centaur

The next HârnQuest is about ready to ship. The Centaur article, which has been bouncing around for a few years finally is going to see the light. I don't know about you, but when I think Centaur, the first thing that comes to mind for me is the SNL skit in which Christopher Walken interviews a Centaur for a job. The Centaur does not get the job.
So, all ideas for the concept of the Hârnic Centaur started there.

 One of my first thoughts was to really go beastial with this creature. Not the typical Greek Mythology, fashion model torso stuck on horse look. So, the early sketches were an attempt to move away from that.

I knew the horns were pushing it, but we realized that Centaurs had been mentioned enough elsewhere and even illustrated previously, so this was probably too much of a change. I did some other sketches, but this pose was my favorite. I just needed to tame it back. I initially wanted more goat-like hooves, and hands that even mimicked hooves.

Here is the final image I came up with. I did a late evening background that unfortunately got cropped out of the final article due to space issues, so I thought I would post the full rendering here.

Dirty Centaur, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I went with  a more human look with beastie features. I thought of adding more clothing or equipment, but it sort of mucked up the simple natural look of the creature. They occasionally interact with the Gargun, so I thought a gargun-like weapon would be a nice touch, but fashioned to take advantage charge. I figure some simple hook weapons on the hind legs would make a kick even more nasty.
I just realized that the image in the article is a bit different- I made the head a bit smaller and adjusted the weapon into a more pleasing position.

For the end piece of the article I drew a hillside scene.

 Centaur Herd, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I may eventually ink up one of the other sketches for FFF style release.

High Tech Detective

Last year I was asked to do a T shirt design for Cyber Security company in Michigan. The design was a zombie chewing on a computer modem- you know how zombies do.
Recently they asked for a new design for this years Michigan Cyber Range Conference in Ann Arbor on May 20th.

At the Cyber range they do various demonstrations in their fiction town of  Alphaville, a secure environment that enables users to practice cybersecurity techniques. For example, attendees may be airport traffic controllers who will be put in a scenario where evil hackers are trying to break into their computer system and cause havoc. They are taught how to stop the hacker and keep everyone safe.  It sounds pretty complicated and intense- even more advanced than tips like "your password should not be 1234".

Who shot the Computer? Copyright © 2014,Merit Cyber Range and Richard Luschek

This time they asked for a 1930's pulp style detective looking into a case of computer "hacking". I thought it would look cool if the "hacking" was represented by a computer that had been shot. Doing research on-line I was finding some cool 1930's pulp covers with wonderful graphic layouts.
I decided to push it in that direction and turn this into a cover. I sent some sketches of the detective I did quickly in Photoshop. After a few back and forth emails, these two were the last set.

Who shot the Computer? sketches, Copyright © 2014,Merit Cyber Range and Richard Luschek

I liked the gun, but it confused the issue and made it look like maybe the detective had shot the computer. The other was a bit cooler and looked as if he happened upon the scene. In the final image I made sure he had a subtle glance in the direction of the "victim".
I expanded the scene to an Alphaville office and pushed the silhouette a bit more so it was a stronger image. I had hand drawn a font based on one of the old covers, but they decided on a different title so rather than attempt to draw a new title I looked for some fonts that gave it a retro feel.
I also stayed with the anachronistic mood and changed the price to bitcoins.

This was a fun project. While I have yet to sent the invoice for the job, maybe I can get some help from them on my computer security. Like, do I have enough bear traps set around my computer area? Should I add more barbed wire?
I'll let you know what I find out.

D&D Art and the 13 year old Me

My life changed in the 7th grade when I was given the assignment to read the Hobbit for my English class. I poured through unlike any other book I had been asked to read before. I read it a few more times and shortly after moved on to the Lord of the Rings series. (I should write a blog about how the recent Hobbit films have crapped on those childhood memories)

When that same teacher introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons in an after school group- well, I was hooked. I went full on nerd. That completely innocent awe in the idea of the grand adventure is something I have held on to with tooth and nail even into my 40s. Now I am lucky enough to illustrate for games much like those that first captured my imagination when I was a kid.
I heard today that D&D artist David Trampier died at the early age of 59.
As a painter, I like to champion the masters as inspiration. The great painters of the Renaissance thru the 19th century. In illustration the greats of the golden age often come up: Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Lyendecker, Gibson, Rackham, and Frazetta.
I have to say that some of the lesser know artists of the early D&D publications also had a tremendous influence on who I am today, including the work of David Trampier. 


Above is one of Trampiers most famous covers. He did a lot of the more striking interior pieces in the old Monster Manual as well.
His graphic and simple pen and ink interiors influenced me and many of my current illustration heroes.While at times a bit crude, his work had a wonderful graphic quality which was clear and descriptive. Often he was introducing us to weird fantasy creatures for the first time.
 
A few years ago I was asked to do a serious of black & white silhouette art for a game offering new look at old school D&D.  The game is called Roguish and was designed by Christopher Brandon.  I thought I would post a few images of the art I did for it, including this first one where I was asked to do an image completely inspired by Trampiers Players guide cover. I did a series of about 20 images that followed 4 characters through their adventures done in B&W silhouette.

The Gemstone Eye © Richard Luschek and Christopher Brandon 2014

Pumpkin Heads © Richard Luschek and Christopher Brandon 2014

The Bridge © Richard Luschek and Christopher Brandon 2014

RIP David Trampier. Thanks for the inspiration.

Something to Stand For!

In the past year or so, I have been  doing a lot more illustrations. It is great to have the work, but I have been finding myself sitting in a desk chair for hours at a time. Of course, a smart man would get up and stretch once a while- maybe even just move a little. As a result I was getting fat and out of shape, my legs were aching and as I worked at this very non-ergonomic desk my shoulders would hunch up and then my back would hurt.
See what I go through to do my work!
Anyway, instead of being a fat, crippled martyr for my work, I decided to switch to a stand up desk.
Here is some science on the subject. Click Here

After a bit of research and looking around for desk that would fix my dilemma, I decided to build my own. I found an online resource to determine the correct height. Click Here
I determined that my desk needed to be around 42 inches high. I could have probably just made the desk I had tall enough, but I don't do things that way.Thought I would post about this wonderful part of illustration process in case you wanted to stand up with me. Let's all stand up.

I was a cabinet maker for a while and am fairly handy, so I thought rather than build something ordinary, I should make a fine piece of furniture. A few years ago a friend sold his parent's house and was cleaning it out. He and his wife gave me a few things that were just going to get thrown away. Being a pack rat, I took it all and hauled it home.
Here is photo of my lovely wife after helping me get the prize out of my van. She immediately said, "Why the hell do you need a old Organ?" At the time I honestly did not have any idea, but I still needed it!
There is a reason I have never been able to park my van in the garage.

This beauty is an A.B. Chase pump organ from the 1880s. A close up view will show the rough shape it was in.

While the bulk of the wood was salvageable, all the innards were ruined by a combination of dry rot and being stored in a basement. So, I carefully pulled it apart and saved all the parts I could. Just taking this apart without doing damage was a chore. The inside organ parts had to be thrown away, but all the panels and decorative parts ended up being used in other places.

Of course the organ is not high enough for a stand up desk so I had to figure out how to make it about a foot taller. Raising it in a pleasing way took some time and a lot of sketches.
I finally realized the panels from the top were about the right size and would match the sides.



I used 2x4s to make the base for the panels. Using different woods was something I regretted later. Early on I thought it was in such bad shape I would have to paint it. If I had know it would finish up so well I would have found walnut for all the added parts.

The decorative foot on the front was removed and dropped down to the bottom. Now I needed to fill that space somehow. Those two spindles you see leaning at the bottom of the organ were off an old chair I found in the garbage, they were cut to fit, drilled for dowels and filled that space like they were meant to be there.

After I got the height issue fixed, I just needed to start putting a desk inside the box. I added a shelf at the bottom and the desk top. A drawer fit in the space where the keyboard used to be. I had a set of drawers from an old priest's wardrobe I got out of a abandoned convent.

Here it is with all the parts pretty much in place. I realized the shelf space at the top for the monitor would not work, so I had to cut the top of the organ so it would not be right in my face. I also wanted to fill in the bottom under that shelf and decided to reuse the parts where the organ pedals used to be. It would just be a shelf at the bottom (turns out it makes a good foot rest). There were also some decorations from those parts I wanted to use for the drawer.

With the top cut to make room for the monitor I need a header piece- it probably had one originally. I got a piece of walnut and sketched a few designs based on other organs I found online. I settled on the one above. I carved designs in the blocks that matched the simple designs in other areas.
You can see the drawer front now has two inlaid blocks I salvaged off the top of the foot pedal bracket that got cut off when I added it below the shelf. They added a nice design and also covered holes in the drawer front from old handles. The sheet music rest became the drawer pull (unfortunately while it is a pretty drawer pull, it also catches dust, eraser bits, crumbs and beard hair).
I had realized while building this that the old shellac finish came off pretty easily with scraping and sanding, so rather than paint it I could stain it. Since I used pine, birch, poplar in other areas I would have to do some creative staining to get it all even.

It stained up pretty well actually. The areas that were lighter got a brushed on tinted polyurethane to even it out.
Those weird looking things on the outside of the organ just to the left of the drawer were originally supposed to hold candles. While I will not be using candles I did use one of them to clamp a desk lamp to.
Here it is today in full use.  Keyboard and mouse on the top can be pushed back out of the way if needed. The computer and scanner/printer are on the lower shelf. You'll notice on the tablet screen that I am coloring the art I did for Rethem.

I mounted my digital tablet on a telescoping arm which allows it to be moved out of the way or be pulled over for drawing. I can use the monitor to display reference or for watching Netflix while I work.
One part I am still working on is the "analog" drawing desk. Currently I have a panel under monitor shelf that I can pull down for sketching and drawing. It works pretty well. I may move it above that shelf so it is a bit higher. I will then add flat file storage under that shelf. I will post an update when I figure it all out. Below you can see the board put away and pulled out. I'll stain it like the rest when I'm finished.

I am pretty happy with the desk. I will say for about two weeks after switching to standing I thought I had made a terrible mistake. My feet were killing me and it seriously wore me out. I eventually got used to it. Now I think my posture is improving, I have less knee issues and shoulder pain and it keeps me more alert.
My only regret is that I wish I had made the desk top a bit wider deeper so I had more room.

My set up is in the basement next to two south facing windows, so I get some good light during the day. I am glad I'm kind of hidden away since a stand up desk mixed with music can result in a dance party at any moment. Some New Order just started playing on the online station I am listening to and things got a little crazy.

Adding Jazz Hands to an Illustration

Reworking some old art of my own is often a very wonderful experience when I get the chance- especially when I get paid to do it.
On the upcoming HârnQuest I one of the articles I had to rework was Taztos. 

"Taztos is a fort maintained by the Ramala Legion of the Thardic Republic. It sits on the Salt Route that links the western Hârnic realms with the kingdoms of the east."

The next HârnQuest will include:

• Kelestia (10 pages)
• Fort Taztos (12pp)
• Gardiren #10 - Jug Inn (6pp)
• Cherafir D5 - Clothier (2pp)
• Shiran E14 - Bull Ring Tavern (2pp)

The early draft had the original art done by Eric Hotz. I thought of redoing it, but I like this one. I had to color it anyway, so I thought I would just tweak it a bit to give it a bit of a dynamic layout.
It does feel a bit sacrilegious to rework art done by another artist, but being a fan of Hotz, I do what I can to show respect to the original. Basically, I use the Hippocratic Oath when working on old Harn art.
Here is my final treatment.

Taztos, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc., Eric Hotz and Richard Luschek

Below is the original by Eric Hotz as it was in the original Hârn publication in 1987- The year I graduated from High School.

Taztos Original- placed in article, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc., Eric Hotz and Richard Luschek

I did not change it too much. I imagine if you did not see them side by side you would not even notice I had done anything.
I thought it would benefit from a better angle. The original is a bit static and straight up and down and looked a bit "peace symbol" like. The river bank was too much like what you might find in a manicured theme park. So I roughed that up a bit as well.

Taztos updated B&W, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc, Eric Hotz and Richard Luschek

One other issue was that the keep and the plans did not exactly jive, so I had to make a few adjustments so it more accurately matched the maps. I was a bit tricky keeping all the parts in the right place. I had to cut the art into pieces, skew the background and then place all the parts back in the new background. A few things needed to be added and adjusted, but basically it has the flavor of the original.
This is waiting for review by CGI and should be shipping fairly soon.

And Thine Suckuth Less

I got kind of a lucky break being asked to do art for Columbia Games way before I was really ready. My initial offerings were barely passable, but I learned tons while getting paid to do so. Early on I felt so luck to be part of publishing for a game I had started playing when I was 13, I pretty much just shut up and did the work to the best of my ability.

A few projects I have worked on have been around enough that they are now due for an upgrade. I wont name them all, as I am not sure when I will get to them, but one that particularly made me cringe has been Kanday. Much of the art in that publication was done for other jobs that never saw the light, were already old, and kind of got forced into inappropriate spots. As you know CGI has been updating and expanding the product line with new color products. This gives us a chance to revisit old work and continue to improve the quality. Again with excellent editing and layout by Brent we have a wonderfully updated Kanday. It is not completely laid out yet, but will be available soon.
The download is available now on RPG Now.

Blessings of Larani, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Below is the image I am replacing. There are are a few things wrong with the following image. I liked idea, so I basically redid it. It is more appropriate to the kingdom of Kanday and has a bit more energy and life. The orc shown in the image are not much of a threat in Kanday. I figured a soldier from Rethem would me more accurate. Thankfully I have gotten a bit better in the 13 or so years since I did this image.

Blessings of Larani, Copyright © 2001, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I recently purchased a used Cintiq from a friend (technically- I haven't paid yet, but I probably will).

It has taken some getting used to. Already I cant believe I have not been using this all along. I think it is calibrated better than my monitor, so that has been a help as well. 

In the end for Kanday, I colored 5 of the images, updated, fixed or redrew 20 of my old illustrations. I started with the King. The old image did not seem very kingly in addition to being kind of weak overall. The trick was to redraw him, get the same likeness yet improve upon the old illustration. This one did get colored too, but I just wanted to post the B&W versions. 

King Andasin- Before and After, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I have never liked realistic images of dead characters in times before the invention of the camera. It is just too anachronistic. The only way they would be known visually is through painting or sculpture. I love medieval painting. I of course based this off of medieval icons- maybe too much. I even used some gold leaf texture in the background and painted the image over this. I have been trying to put more appropriate medieval art in Harn publications.

The Murdered Queen, Before and After, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

A few of the images were a bit miss placed. One image showed a man that looked about 30 years too young. So I aged him and put him in more appropriate clothing.

Constable Fodin, Before and After, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

This one had a bit of text that indicated the Baron is suffering from wasting disease, yet the image showed a robust individual. So, some tweaking remedied this. 

Baron Daffyd, Before and After, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Some of the images were just plain terrible in every way.This was not just a weak image, he looked like a commoner. I reworked this one the most of any and am much happier with it.

Constable Elaris, Before and After, Copyright © 2014, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I can now page through Kanday Kingdom without crying in embarrassment.