Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Barrowmaze Cover Art Revealed!



Here's the cover art for Barrowmaze.

I think Stefan Poag has really captured the essence of the dungeon.

The flagstone dungeon, mold, and the burial alcoves set the tone.

The scene depicts a zombie battle that apparently isn't going to well for the adventurers/tomb-robbers. I specifically asked for the shield homage :)

Amid the chaos, the halfling seems to have noticed that they have a new problem...

Please let me know what you think.

17 comments:

  1. Goofy, gritty fun. I like it. For some reason the wizard cracks me up, what wit his eagerly hunched shoulders, even as the rest of the party appears to be in dire straights. It was obviously his idea to enter this particular area!

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  2. The hobbit reminds me of the one from the Dave Trampier Spider illustration. Was this a conscious nod to that classic art?

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    1. Aaron: I love that DAT picture! Not consciously a nod to that particular picture, but anything from DAT is an influence I am sure. When I finished drawing the hobbit I thought he looked like Alexie Sayle.

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  3. I like it! When is the release date again?

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  4. Release date is literally any day.

    Just waiting on the book-binding people giving the green light.

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  5. That illustration is full of character with plenty of expression in the adventurers' faces and actions. I'll be trying to fit a copy of Barrowmaze into my budget.

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  6. I like the foreground, love the magic-user's battle (especially the way the flames arc around on the ghoul...), the halfling/lich coming down the corridor, but I think the Greyhawk fighter/ghoul part really needs some more work.

    The fighter appears to be far too big in relation to the ghoul, seemingly floating in the air (until you notice the ghoul is holding onto his shield...) and the light from the halfling's torch doesn't reflect on his armour or cast shadows correctly.

    Perspective is a bitch.

    I think that central ghoul needs to be quite a bit bigger: too small in relation to the slightly crouched wizard, way too small in relation to the toppling fighter... It needs to strike a balance between the two, as it is the centre of the piece.

    Perhaps have its feet somewhere around the chin/neck level of the foreground fighter/thief, and the eyes around or above the top of the third alcove? Then the ghoul would appear to be more in the middle/foreground than in the back, and balance the page?

    Maybe angle the fighter's shield so it is more like he is dropping his defenses and put something like shreds of the tunic or blood in the ghoul's left hand?

    Also the stones in the ceiling above the M-U should be progressively smaller and shaded as they receed into the distance, which would greatly help with the perspective.

    All in all, I'd say it is evocative, but needs a bit more tweaking.

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    1. I understand what you are saying. However, it's some of these idiosyncrasies that give art its charm :)

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    2. Biopunk: Everything you say is a valid criticism. That said, it just isn't how I usually do things... and I hope potential customers research my previous work and know my work before they ask me to paint something for them.

      The Yaksman wrote me and referenced some things I had done before and told me what he liked and didn't like and what he wanted --- then we sent sketches back and forth and finally I started on the painting. I made some changes at his request (including some that I didn't think would work out but I'm pleased to see that he was right), but I hope anyone who gets to the point of hiring me knows that they are getting 'drunken R. Crumb tries to draw like Erol Otus' rather than something more polished. I'm not against more polished (I admire it); it's just not me.

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  7. I bought it last night. Looking forward to reading through it. Stefan did an excellent job with the cover. As is all the artwork I've seen in it so far. haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but looking forward to it.

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  8. Sounds like a fun one. What's the level range going to be?

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  9. 1st through mid levels.

    If the playtests are any indication, this will be a tough nut to crack. Expect multiple TPKs unless you have super

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    1. ...experienced players. I'll have more to say shortly. Blogger is being stupid.

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  10. I just received some additional art this morning. be sure to update and get the "Barrowmaze Revised" file. If you can't just drop me an email. kilted yaksman at yahoo dot ca

    I was hoping to make it available today but I need to tweak one of the cover images for the perfect bound copy and resubmit.

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  11. So, where can I purchase a pdf or POD copy? It doesn't seem to be on DTRPG or Lulu, yet folks above have mentioned obtaining it.

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  12. It was up for a day but I needed to adjust the covers for the print copies so I took it down. I'm hopeful to have it back up today.

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  13. This looks cool. I would like to get a print version, but RPGNow doesn't list a print version as of 2/7/12. What is the status of print copies?

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