Old school manual artwork

[Baron Tahn]

Wouldn't be so hard on yourself, it's not bad at all.

 

[Rincewind]

AI is sometimes good if you need a quick composition for yourself or an artist. With that said, what do you say about this...

Spoiler

Super cool, I love it! Great stuff!

> Now that I look it again, it does look like some kind of arcane hopw roewur ne...

Nah, it's great, man, top notch stuff. And I've been drawing a lot in my younger years (I'm into ink drawings). You should be proud. I love the composition and the use of negative space. Compositonally, it's very well balanced and it has character.

 

[JarlFrank]

You're telling me that an indie artist would charge 500-1000 dollars for a drawing like this the size of a post-it note?

You can EASILY find an indie artist doing quality art for far less.

I have recently commissioned an artist to do 15 interior illustrations for a novel I'm writing. He charges 80€ per illustration, and they're full-page full color ones with some degree of detail.

Here's the first illustration which he delivered this week, and I paid him the 80€ for it:

You can easily get small black & white artwork for 50€ apiece or less.

 

[Kruyurk]

I would rather look at paintings made by elephants for the rest of my life than AI generated garbage. I am sure these majestic creatures understand much more about art than people tolerating AI "art". I don't know how much an elephant would charge though. Try to not look menacing and maybe he won't.

 

[Agesilaus]

You're telling me that an indie artist would charge 500-1000 dollars for a drawing like this the size of a post-it note?

You can EASILY find an indie artist doing quality art for far less.

I have recently commissioned an artist to do 15 interior illustrations for a novel I'm writing. He charges 80€ per illustration, and they're full-page full color ones with some degree of detail.

Here's the first illustration which he delivered this week, and I paid him the 80€ for it:
You can easily get small black & white artwork for 50€ apiece or less.

Informative; I'm not in the market for topless pterodactyl fighters, but clearly there's room to negotiate on price depending on the person, their experience, and location. There's a lot of talent here on the Codex thankfully, I've reached out to a few and hopefully won't need to go rub shoulders with off-site people.

 

[Rincewind]

Here's the first illustration which he delivered this week, and I paid him the 80€ for it:

This is in line with what I said. This is essentially a speedpainting, barely above a sketch. Notice the general lack of detail everywhere.

Detail = more work. You can speedpaint a composition in a few minutes, then add some detail in the next half an hour, sure. But detailed drawings take *time*. If you wanna make this into a detailed painting, then 80% of the work is still outstanding, time-wise. Do the math

Although the ink drawings posted in the first post are not ultra-detailed, they are far more detailed than this speedpainting. 80 EUR is an OK price for this, and frankly, I would not pay more for it. It's even a bit expensive, given how wrong the perspective is, overall.

But, if you like it, and you're happy with it, that's all what matters.

 

[Tweed]

Might as well take a knife to the Mona Lisa if you're going to lay down with the electronic devil.

 

[Agesilaus]

This project is almost past the finishing line! The artwork is complete (50+ different images) and the draft has been sent to the typesetter. Once it's all formatted properly, I'll get it over to Amazon for publishing. There will be an ebook, paperback, and hardcover edition.

Once it's done I'll submit it for inclusion on the front page, but for now here is a Twitter announcement with some of the art:



There is also some rpgcodex themed art, I'll see about posting some of that when I'm not being a dirty phone poster.

Big thanks to Scrounger for all the effort & talent he poured into this project.

 

[Agesilaus]

Here we go, genuine RPG Codex art, made into a tiny jpg so the forum doesn't get upset:

Here is the chapter text that accompanies the illustration, it's one of several ways the branching story ends:

RESTFUL SLUMBER

You finally arrive at your room, ready for a nice rest. The room is small but well furnished, with a large and comfortable bed. There is an en suite with a shower and deep bathtub. A small table and computer has also been provided; you decide to take a moment to log in to the internet’s most respectable forum, the RPG Codex. You also open another tab and load up /lit/, a beacon of philosophy hosted on 4chan.

A special treat awaits you at the Codex; voting is underway for the community’s latest Top 100 CRPGs list. It is always nice to be reminded about the special time you live in. Some bemoan the decline of old art forms, but you have seen a new one grow up next to you. For decades now, the art of the deep, reactive, story-telling game has thrived. You enjoy the old epics, and you are also filled with hope for what is yet to come.

You click past the front page as quickly as possible, cursing yourself for not going to the forum directly. Your notifications alert you to various posts throughout the site; you briefly review a delusional, perennialist screed someone posted at you, before moving to something meaningful: the top 100 thread.

Not that you are going to read it, of course. You decide to post a few rude comments about the subpar games that top the list, before offering some nominations of your own. You aren’t sure of the order, but you smile as you type them out. Feathers will be ruffled:

1. Geneforge (all of them)
2. Ultima 7 (both parts)
3. Age of Decadence
4. Crescent Hawk’s Inception
5. Baldur’s Gate (the real ones)
6. Underrail
7. Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome
8. Pillars of Eternity 2
9. Darklands

You pause before finishing the list, tabbing over to see what is being discussed in /lit/erary high society. Scrolling past countless spam threads about a crocodile, you finally reach something of substance. An Eleatic thread discussing the true philosophical works of antiquity. The usual offenders are present, raising their senseless objections: the NeoPlatonists, Thomists, Hegelians, and other unremarkable online trolls. More importantly, you have noticed that the Eleatic threads are becoming more frequent, and the genuine participants more numerous. Very nice.

Switching back to the Codex, you revisit the list. Maybe you will complete it with an absurd suggestion, Theseus: Journey to Athens. Maybe you will try to pick between worthy titles: Morrowind, Nethergate, Dark Sun, Fallout, and so many others. No, you decide to leave it at that; you will see how long it takes for someone to call you lazy and finish the list in your place. Then that person can take the heat for failing to list Torment, Arcanum, Twitcher, and other such detritus. May the mods sort out whatever mess ensues.

After shutting off the computer, you move over to the bed and make yourself comfortable. Before turning the bedside lamp off, you decide to seek out the answer to one last question: what book does an Eleatic guesthouse place in the bedside drawer? Pulling it open, you spot a decent-sized tome entitled “Elea”. You crack it open and give it a quick scan before finally calling it a night...

 

[Tavernking]

Also, why would you actually make stuff and contribute to making a game, while you can sit on your ass and complain about games being bad?

 

[Lemming42]

Gemini 2.0's image generation model sucks shit in most contexts, but its generally low quality, muddy output is perfect for this style.

 

[RPK]

Gemini 2.0's image generation model sucks shit in most contexts, but its generally low quality, muddy output is perfect for this style.

The Gordon Freeman-ish one is fun.

 

[Agesilaus]

Need to adjust the dimensions of the cover image and some of the interior margins. I'm going to order another set of author's copies once that's done to be absolutely certain it's ready... but yeah, this project is looking good.



edit: also, deleting that comma after "colonnade". Going to go over it again with a fine-toothed comb, but I'm quite sure I've gotten every clear error/typo at this point.