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Why is this categorized in Animation? Possibly because DA won't allow me to post a GIF in any other category, and I can't post a preview image if the file's not a GIF. If someone wants to help me fix that, I'd appreciate it.

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I've been wanting to share this one for a long time, and now that Crafty Games has released a preview of some pages from the book, it's showtime!

This was a unique piece, something I hadn't done (or even thought about) before I tried it. What you're seeing in the preview above is a small sample collection of two very, very long illustrations designed to go at the top and bottom of every page in the book, commonly known as the "header" and the "footer" (at least, that's the only terms I know for information or imagery repeated at the top and bottom of every page in a document. If someone knows another term, shout out, 'cause I think "footer" sounds kinda horrid).

In print these two strips are a little less than an inch high, and about a foot wide (spreading across two pages, which explains the largely empty spaces at the center). You'll be amazed how much the details stands up at that size, but I wanted to bring it up a bit for display here.

It's also worth mentioning that this one differs very slightly from the final print edition in that the final does not include the Coagulated Hexahedron in the center of the bottom strip, presumably to avoid confusion with another sort of popular, gooey, block-shaped monster that I was not initially aware of as being representative of a particular intellectual property. So this version is the only place where you get extra Jelly Box!



When designing the pieces, I wanted to do something that spoke of "fantasy adventure", and so I came up with this sort of tapestry design. Ideally you read it from left to right, and every couple inches you find a scene of sorts that speaks of the adventures players might commonly have. Whenever possible, I tried to add something that switches up the scene even within a small grouping... for instance, in the upper right strip the thief is about to pick the lock, BUT there's a dying guy about to release the traps, BUT there's an orc with a bow about to shoot him, BUT that orc is about to be attacked by a fighter, BUT that fighter is about to be hit by a giant, BUT etc...

The imagery is not meant to be taken literally all in one go any more than (I think) a traditional tapestry is... there are not 30 adventurers all invading at the same time the same dungeon which is about 100 feet long and has only three traps. Instead, you take each moment as a piece in itself, and the whole things speaks of a story (or in this case, many stories). You'll climb mountains, battle monsters, pick locks, avoid traps, duel above the city streets, discover lost treasures and evil tombs full of Evil! There's drama and betrayal and triumph at ever turn. For extra fun, note that they line up top to bottom at the ends, so that you could theoretically follow the action around in a circle.

It's unlike anything I've ever drawn or designed, and I had so much fun with it that I've been quietly trying to work out the logistics of an even larger one.


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So let me know if it works! Do you feel the call of adventure? Does it make you want to take up the dice?

Drawn entirely in Manga Studio EX at 600dpi using an Intuos 9x12. ©2008 Crafty Games, check out the preview pages and more art over at Crafty Games's Product Development Page, and keep watching for more work from this upcoming RPG!