Process Video: 2002

Paid subscribers get exclusive access to this process video showing the step-by-step creation of the cartoon homage from Episode 32.

Another gorgeous cover painting by Todd Lockwood featuring an adventuring party made up some of the iconic characters created for 3rd Edition D&D. This one was started during Episode 32, while I chatted with JD Wiker.

If you watch the process video closely, you may notice that in my initial sketch I had no idea exactly what the location was. Clearly I could see the characters in action, and the grumbling ceiling and flying arrows in the foreground, and the water sloshing around (chest-deep for Krusk the half-orc barbarian). But the action was so raw, the sense of motion so pervasive, that I even sitting and staring at the image I couldn’t get my eyes to focus clearly enough on the background to decipher what the bizarre, alien structures were from which the water was pouring. My original choice was to simply transform them into huge archways with caverns behind them.

While that would have been cool … it CLEARLY was not what Todd had in his image. So I then decided to simply focus on the spouts/spigots and the huge plumes of water as they surged into the room. It’s STILL not what Todd painted … but it’s at least in the same ballpark.

Subscribers to this newsletter got to see this drawing early, whereas the general public are only just getting their first glimpses of it today. But there’s still something left that’s JUST for the paid subscribers—a process video showing the step-by-step creation of this cartoon homage. (If you’re currently a free subscriber, now would be a great time to upgrade.)