Homage: 2002
Here's your exclusive early-bird look at Stan!'s cartoon homage to Todd Lockwood's cover for the "Book of Challenges"
The 2002 supplement Book of Challenges provided the inspiration for last week’s cartoon homage, begun during Episode 32 while I talked with JD Wiker—game designer, author, minis painter, and voice actor.
The image, painted by Todd Lockwood, features three of the 3E iconic heroes—barbarian Krusk, monk Ember, and rogue Lidda—in a triple deathtrap. The ceiling is collapsing, arrows (presumably poison) shoot from all sides, and water pours in to flood the chamber. The whole thing is lit by an eerie green light that either streams down or emanates from a giant pearl that Lidda is lifting from it’s decorative resting place. A classic scene that could come from any D&D campaign (or Indiana Jones film) … and THAT captures the essence of the Book of Challenges. It’s not an adventure, it provided dozens of examples of classic non-monster (and generally non-combat) encounters that make-up memorable adventures.
Todd does a great job of painting an action scene (something many other great artists struggle with. The whole thing seems in motion—an effect that cartoons often capture better than paintings. But to do that, cartoons usually employ speed lines, motion quivers, or sequential panels. Todd somehow manages to make the rocks and arrows feel like their flying through the air, and the water feel like it’s spraying in from the wall and sloshing around on the floor … and without a single motion line.
I tried to do the same, but I’m no Todd Lockwood. Without the speed lines, one can’t be 100% certain that the rocks and arrows in my cartoon homage aren’t floating into the air, rather than falling out of it (especially with the eerie green glow surrounding—or shining down on—Lidda’s treasure.
As a subscriber to this newsletter, you’re seeing this art before it is released for general consumption. You also have the option to buy an art print of this or any of the cartoon homages (and if you’re a paid subscriber, you get a discount on those purchases).
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Very enjoyable chat. JD was every bit the gentlemanly scholar that I recalled.
Also miss the Game Mechanics.