Sarnath Sketches
on February 1, 2012
at 4:08 pm
A few sketches from the upcoming “The Doom that Came to Sarnath” adaptation. (There’s also a few Ibites scattered around the Dream-Quest GN.) More soon!
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Posts Tagged jason thompson
46 results.
Garuda and Eagle
on February 7, 2012
at 6:23 am
This is a piece I did back in 2008. I used a selection from it as the sidebar of the mockman.com blog from 2009-2011, but Jay convinced me that it was too jarring an image to show up on the top page all the time. I intended this piece (a gift to a friend) to send an encouraging message of cooperation — the two birds working together to defeat the snakes — but really, it isn’t encouraging at all. The primary mood is of anger and conflict — the sternly judging eyes of the birds, the violence of the flames and ice and the squirming animals.
Lady of the Pirates
on February 20, 2012
at 6:57 am
I drew this for my wife for her 30th birthday. Happy birthday, darling! You were great at karaoke.
More Dreamlands Map Sketches
on February 27, 2012
at 6:59 am
Here’s some more sketches of what ended up becoming the Map of the Dreamlands. A “globe floating in space” design could have been interesting, but it would also leave too much empty space around the world for my taste. The fact that most of my sketches and designs are drawn on scrap paper and the backs of envelopes is one reason I don’t post more of ’em… should I show ’em anyway?
Dream-Quest Cover Sketches
on February 28, 2012
at 10:14 am
I’ve been planning to do a Dream-Quest graphic novel for some time, and I did a few different cover treatments before coming up with the final version.
The original cover for issue #1 of the comic series, which I drew waaaay back in 1997, wasn’t great, but it was one of the better covers of the original five-issue series because I was smart enough to use a limited color palette. Color was still not my thing, though. I tried to duplicate the same “sunset sky” (although doesn’t it look more like dawn?) limited color palette, with better lineart, for the first version of the cover:
But, as time passed I decided I didn’t like this design anymore. It was too simple, the Photoshoppy colors needed work, and the massive, cover-dominating logo looked bad. In 2011, when the Kickstarter got going, I decided I wanted to do a wrap-around cover instead!
Aside from the sunset city, there were two other images that screamed “Dream-Quest” to me: the actual castle of Kadath (but that’s kind of a spoiler) and the scene when the black galley goes off the edge of the world. The black galley scene was used as the cover of Edward Martin III’s Dream-Quest movie, after all. I considered an epic shot of galleys plunging off the edge of the world into space, crewed by — cats? Randolph Carter? Evil merchants? Ghouls? Possibly Basil Elton, Kuranes and the other dream-story protagonists?
A sailing ship with all its sails and ropes would have been a great image for the front cover, and would have really given off a feeling of adventure. But in the end I decided that a bunch of ships crewed with different Lovecraft characters would suggest that the graphic novel was some kind of Lovecraft mash-up instead of an anthology, and I went with the sunset city, for a more whimsical, children’s-booky look. (With the addition of a nightgaunt steed to replace the Little-Nemo-in-Slumberland walking bed of the original comics front cover.) My first draft had a fiery, apocalyptic Photoshopped look — “through sunset’s gate He swept me, past the lapping lakes of flame, And red-gold thrones of gods without a name” — but eventually, I decided on more natural, subdued colors. The actual final color covers were done entirely by Jay, who spent hours and hours on the Cintiq working with her brush pen. All the intricate, loving detail on all the grassy cobbles and red roofs are all hers. Although I love black and white, I hope to do more color work of my own someday soon…
It’s been far too long since I’ve updated this webpage, but (excuses excuses) I’ve been kinda busy. For one thing, in the middle of 2020, my spouse and I had a baby! So I’ve been juggling various other projects and work assignments (mostly gaming illustrations but also a little movie & TV design work, and also developing Dreamland RPG) with taking care of our wonderful, now 2-year-old daughter.
During the pandemic and afterwards, I’ve thought a lot about parenting and what this means for all my various interests including roleplaying games. And on that note despite everything else, Jumana and I found time to do some playtesting of a new D&D project: Dungeon Babies! Yes, Dungeon Babies! By far the biggest thing I have ever released on DMsGuild or written for Dungeons & Dragons, this is the D&D5e supplement you never knew you wanted… rules for playing hapless, preverbal newborn babies gifted with the powers of veteran adventurers.
Sure, there’s lots of RPGs aimed at children; I’ve worked on some myself. But what about a RPG where you PLAY children?? Ripped from the misty realm of the Vyraj, Dungeon Babies must do a more extreme version of what every baby does, venturing into a world of confusion and danger. Carried from dungeon to dungeon by The Stork, these brave babies must use all their teamwork, Baby Charm and special baby powers (and of course violence) to survive.
Yes, this is a real thing! 76 pages of baby classes, feats, spells and more, including actual play reports, DMing and playing tips, baby character sheets and over 20 pieces of artwork! Please check it out and get a copy on DMsGuild today! Unleash your inner child!
Thanks always for reading, I’ll post here when I have more news about my next big project! (And hopefully I’ll get to do some tinkering and cleaning-up of the whole site in the meantime.)