Stone Horizons Artwork thread

[Hodgson]

Hey.  As you may have heard, I'm all signed up to produce some covers for One Horse Town's rather spiffing Stone Horizons rpg.  Since the game has taken shape in public it seems only fitting to give the covers similar treatment.

I thought that perhaps it could be interesting to run through some of the creative process out here in public.

A bit about me - I'm Jon Hodgson, a full time freelance artist working out of Scotland UK. I've worked on a variety of roleplaying games, in amongst a bunch of other artwork gigs. I have a website at www.jonhodgson.com.

I'm a huge fan of Mervyn Peake, so I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on Stone Horizons. One Horse Town had contacted me a little while back enquiring as to my availability and rates, and as often occurs in small press endeavours I was just too darned expensive. But I kept thinking about it, and realised I really wanted to the job. So I shot OHT another message to see if we could work something out. And we did.

Over the Christmas break I started kicking some ideas around.  Originally OHT and myself had discussed a couple of possibilities.  One was to produce one big painting, which would crop down into 3 covers.  Once I started putting pen to paper I quickly realised this would be the job of a lunatic, and it would be far easier to produce 3 distinct images with some common theme, or linking element.

The one thing which OHT really wanted was the big city/castlescape of the title. Which seems reasonable enough!


So I started sketching:

Here's my accompanying notes, which hopefully make some sense of the scrawls:
Initially I thought a letter box scene of a massive castle type environment would be cool, which is the top left image.

But I also wanted to try out a few other ideas as thumbnails. So I also tried a full bleed castle/city, filling the page. This had potential, but its lacking dynamism, a personal element, and I think at a distance or reproduced small it will lack contrast and become a flat pattern. Which we don't want.

I then tried an interior to exterior shot which gives us a little more personal context as the viewer, as well as more of a sense of place, and a feeling of us being in the scene. Its okay, but its very quiet and dare I say dull?

Then I thought about a protagonist figure. Its generally better to show "us" in the painting, so that appears as the last image of the 4 on the first page. I like that idea, but also wanted to cleave fairly close to Gormenghast as a reference for those who know it.

So we have the climber pulling himself up to see the view on the second page. I like the idea of showing this fellow as having struggled upwards to see the view.

Finally it struck me that the view framed by a huge broken gothic window would flippin' well rock. Lots of ivy surrounding it, giving us loads of flavour and close up detail, breaking out onto this vast vista which reflects the title of the game. That idea of looking out of this antique, heavy set window seems suitably portentous, and an invite to adventure.  It also, more practically speaking, gives us tons of room for trade dress like logos and so on.

So then I made a (very) rough 3d model just for my own benefit more than anything else, so that I could mess with different views of a large city-like scene. I pasted one such view I felt worked into the more resolved image you see here:


OHT has approved this one to take forward.  Next stop for me will be a tighter sketch just to get everything in the right place, get the pose right on that character, because its really place-holdery right now.  Colour choices will be really important, and I think there will be a lot of sketching of buildings!

Cheers for looking in!

[One Horse Town]

Rawk!

[Age of Fable]

Looks very good.

[flyingmice]

Yes indeed! Gorgeous concepts, Jon!

-clash

[CavScout]

Very cool to hear the thought process behind an idea.

[James J Skach]

OK - well...first, I'm going to say how awesome it looks. Not only is it well done, but showing how you walked through it is a really cool thing, so thanks.

But I have to be honest. It's not a huge thing - but I didn't get that he was climbing/hanging to see the view. And, honestly, that through me off a bit. I played a very very little bit with OHT, and from everything he gave, I got the sense that a perch that high would be relatively, I don't know, rare. then I saw the picture, and for some reason it looked more like he was standing there, leaned against the ledge, kind of nonchalantly looking out upon the vista - and that just seemed a bit off.

Now, it could be my strange mind looking at things the wrong way. But I figured I throw it out there for feedback to do with as you see fit.

Either way, I still think it's awesome - I always have a spot of tucked-away envy for you guys that can do this kind of stuff...

[One Horse Town]

Thanks for your thoughts, James.

There are a few reasons why i like this particular piece. The gothic window focusses the eye of the viewer towards what can be seen through it - ie the Stone Horizon. It's a motif that can be replicated with subtle changes for the 3 different covers. It leaves lots of space for clear titles and logos.

I see the figure respresenting us as viewers looking at the vista - literally saying "look at what's inside."

In fact, Jon, how about the figure's pose being a beckoning one? Literally looking to 'camera' with one hand outstretched towards the view from the window? Is that a bit too knowing and cheeky?

[Hodgson]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback!

James - Thanks! A second pair of eyes is always useful!  Its worth bearing in mind where we are in the process, and that this is the concepting stage - as mentioned in the first post the pose of the figure there is very place-holdery.  So I completely agree, but it doesn't bother me just yet. Its about the ideas at this point rather than finalised details.  

The next stage is a tighter sketch where I'll shoot or find reference for that figure, and start to get more details on show.  At the concept stage I'm far more interested in the placement of the figure in the general scheme than I am in whether he's convincing as a climber.  Luckily I'm a rock climber myself, so hopefully (fingers crossed!) I shouldn't have too much trouble when it comes time to get those details right!  

What I'll do with the pose is tighten up what I've got, since I like it (!) but we'll try a few different poses too.  I think if the figure addresses us directly we run the risk of throwing up a stronger fourth wall, where it actually makes us aware we're not in the scene.   That said I prefer a suck it and see approach, so we'll give it a shot!

Next stage could be in next week if the wind gets behind me!

[flyingmice]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback!

James - Thanks! A second pair of eyes is always useful!  Its worth bearing in mind where we are in the process, and that this is the concepting stage - as mentioned in the first post the pose of the figure there is very place-holdery.  So I completely agree, but it doesn't bother me just yet. Its about the ideas at this point rather than finalised details.  

The next stage is a tighter sketch where I'll shoot or find reference for that figure, and start to get more details on show.  At the concept stage I'm far more interested in the placement of the figure in the general scheme than I am in whether he's convincing as a climber.  Luckily I'm a rock climber myself, so hopefully (fingers crossed!) I shouldn't have too much trouble when it comes time to get those details right!  

What I'll do with the pose is tighten up what I've got, since I like it (!) but we'll try a few different poses too.  I think if the figure addresses us directly we run the risk of throwing up a stronger fourth wall, where it actually makes us aware we're not in the scene.   That said I prefer a suck it and see approach, so we'll give it a shot!

Next stage could be in next week if the wind gets behind me!

Hi Jon:

It would be much more apparent that the figure was climbing if there was a glimpse of the wall beneath his feet, or maybe some exposed beams under his feet, or perhaps a rope trailing into the blackness - in other words, an indication that there was no floor there. I had correctly interpreted the figure as struggling up onto the sill, but I think that others saw him as standing on a floor invisible in the darkness, which is how I can see it if I try to understand how one could interpret him as leaning on the sill rather than struggling up to it.

-clash

[Hodgson]

Hi Jon:

It would be much more apparent that the figure was climbing if there was a glimpse of the wall beneath his feet, or maybe some exposed beams under his feet, or perhaps a rope trailing into the blackness - in other words, an indication that there was no floor there. I had correctly interpreted the figure as struggling up onto the sill, but I think that others saw him as standing on a floor invisible in the darkness, which is how I can see it if I try to understand how one could interpret him as leaning on the sill rather than struggling up to it.

-clash

Yup I completely agree Clash!  None of that is appropriate for the concept stage though, as explained.   The tighter sketch which comes next will handle that stuff!

[James J Skach]

Clash...he just gets me...I can't quit you, man...

Anyway, it's no biggie. Oddly, when I looked at the sketches, his hanging is more apparent (a bit, to me, anyway) because you can better see his arm hooked around the structure in front of him. So that, too, might be something to highlight as the development continues.

Like I'm an art critic or something...

[flyingmice]

Yup I completely agree Clash!  None of that is appropriate for the concept stage though, as explained.   The tighter sketch which comes next will handle that stuff!

Sure - I do these concept sketches myself, though since I work almost exclusively electronically nowadays, they tend to get subsumed into the final illo rather than hanging around independently...

Anyway, we're on the same page here. I loved the concept sketch, and am excited to see where you're taking it next!

-clash

[Hodgson]

Hey! Remember me?

So the cover is done!


I have some stages of the painting in progress to show, but I thought I'd get this one up sooner rather than later!

[Darran]

Nice!

[flyingmice]

Hey! Remember me?

So the cover is done!


I have some stages of the painting in progress to show, but I thought I'd get this one up sooner rather than later!

Hi Jon!

Love it! The rimlighting around the window frame is sweet! Excellent and evocative!

-clash