For the medium I used just pen and ink which was then scanned and colored in Photoshop. I was inspired to make them look like old playing card woodcuts. Glad you like them.
Amazing artwork! In the case of LOTR, I sometimes prefer this style to the more popular "photoreal" look seen in fantasy games everywhere now. I'm an artist, and this style is so frustratingly deceptive in that it looks so easy - just basic line drawings - and yet they can be much harder (at least for me) to do than the more realistic stuff.
Very well done. I would buy this game for these components alone!
Fantastic art! I would love to have my LOTR confrontation set look like that. That's something considering the original art work is already great but very different from yours.
honestly, i'm not sure i can heap enough praise on them. i'm actually quite frustrated that they're not something i can own! they are very evocative of another time and era, which to my mind is a much more important quality in fantasy art than realism. obviously the playing card style is imediately obvious, in fact it took me a moment to mentally work out what i was looking at (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland unsurprisingly srung to mind first). Gimli in particular brings to mind a playing card king (perhaps that's his dwarven face and full beard). its interesting to see your interpretation of the characters appearence and thus their suggested background and culture. Boromir having an obviously strong dark age teutonic/scandinavian feel makes one's mind imagine a much more primative lifestyle in Minas Tirith and Gondor as a whole than is suggested in the films. i also love Aragorn's crown, very medieval and again implying a much slimpler way of life.
however, i think one of the things that i like most about the art work is that they gel very well with Tolkein's own illustrations.
I honestly cannot help but think that Tolkien himself would have chosen your design over any of those photorealistic fantasy-looks that disfigure so many LOTR-games nowadays. You really captured what the Lord of the Rings is for me!
honestly, i'm not sure i can heap enough praise on them. i'm actually quite frustrated that they're not something i can own! they are very evocative of another time and era, which to my mind is a much more important quality in fantasy art than realism. obviously the playing card style is imediately obvious, in fact it took me a moment to mentally work out what i was looking at (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland unsurprisingly srung to mind first). Gimli in particular brings to mind a playing card king (perhaps that's his dwarven face and full beard). its interesting to see your interpretation of the characters appearence and thus their suggested background and culture. Boromir having an obviously strong dark age teutonic/scandinavian feel makes one's mind imagine a much more primative lifestyle in Minas Tirith and Gondor as a whole than is suggested in the films. i also love Aragorn's crown, very medieval and again implying a much slimpler way of life.
however, i think one of the things that i like most about the art work is that they gel very well with Tolkein's own illustrations.
congratulations again.
I completely agree! I wish more fantasy artwork were like this rather than the awful 'Dungeon Punk' style that seems to have more to do with comic books than with anything like midevil fantasy. These are beautiful, amazing illustrations, and I really hate to nitpick, but isn't Eowyn a blonde?
they are very evocative of another time and era, which to my mind is a much more important quality in fantasy art than realism.
This is a good point! A fantasy game that feels as if the components themselves were crafted long ago will suck you into the mood much more than a game with components that feel very modern. I'd never thought of that.
I am glad everyone received this design so well! Some answers...Bob Probst, though I am a professional starving artist and sculptor no, I have not done professional design or graphic work. I have thought of trying my hand at it to pay the bills but not having any degree closes some doors. And yes Aubrey Beardsley is an influence.
Some comments on art...The points and views expressed so far by everyone is what I was trying to reach. I have been fascinated by board games of late as an art medium. To me I want them to exist it their worlds and themes. When I sit down to play a game in the worlds of a J.R.R. Tolkien for instance, for me I want to be looking down at a board that exists in that world. That board I am moving pieces around should be the same board that maybe two hobbits are playing on in their hobbit hole late one night smoking away. I too am disappointed with fantasy art most of the time. It seems that when in a genre a style is established it is too easily repeated.
I did make the dark side as well and will post them. I have made this whole set out of wood for someone awhile ago. The board artwork was simpler and it did not quite turn out as perfect as I wanted but I think I will post it any way. The starving part in the profession title has permitted me to try making another physical version of it.
I honestly cannot help but think that Tolkien himself would have chosen your design over any of those photorealistic fantasy-looks that disfigure so many LOTR-games nowadays. You really captured what the Lord of the Rings is for me!
So true!
The artwork is a real beauty! You should ask a publisher if he'd be interested, I'd love to buy a game with such beautiful pictures!
These are fantastic. Very rooted in early religious art, Book of Kells, etc. Must agree that JRR would give you his nod since thematically its very close to what he was trying to accomplish.
I really like these! It's always refreshing to see depictions of the characters that are a product of the artist's imagination and not reflections of the movie's imagery.
I loved the inclusion of Sam's hat! It's mentioned once in the Fellowship and usually never included in any art.
Also, when will you have the evil side up? I'm dying to see them. (Edit: Um...I found them, ha.)
These are my second-favourite The Lord of the Rings illustrations after the Mac OS X icons by Luísa Cortesao. Though I admit that maybe years of John Howe illustrations (which are pretty in their own way) have made me think of it more as a style for The Hobbit than The Lord.
Auberon wrote:
I have been fascinated by board games of late as an art medium. To me I want them to exist it their worlds and themes. When I sit down to play a game in the worlds of a J.R.R. Tolkien for instance, for me I want to be looking down at a board that exists in that world.
This is very much what I've meaning to write a blog post about for months and months: illustration as giving a view of the world vs. giving the feeling of being in the world, with the different illustrations of the American and German versions of Inkognito: The Card Game providing handy examples of both approaches used for the same game. Inkognito, Die Magier, Das Blaue Amulett and Der Feuersalamander are other examples of the latter approach, which sadly seems to have largely died out with '80s, though there are still some (mostly Japanese) games which go for a more abstracted, woodcut style, such as Iconica and Cheaty Mages!. If you look through Japon Brand's catalogue you'll see many examples of illustrative styles that are atmospheric in and of themselves and different from each other as well as from other tabletop games in general but also the awful graphic design (which is not the some thing as illustration, though they can be done by the same person) which these Japanese indie games are so often cursed with and which puts me right off them despite the illustration being so much more exciting.
Phnglui mglw nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah nagl fhtagn! With cheeze!
JohnnyDollar wrote:
Rigolade wrote:
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These are my second-favourite The Lord of the Rings illustrations after the Mac OS X icons by Luísa Cortesao.
What is a .sit file? Is there any way to see these if I have a PC? (like a jpg or online somewhere?)
.sit is a Stuffit Deluxe file, an archive file type that used to reign supreme on the Mac. You can find a PC expander for it here: http://www.stuffit.com/win/expander.html
However, as all you'll get is Mac OS X icon files, I'm not sure that would help you.
The person I made this for did not like the Merry character having the power of killing the Witch King. She wanted it more true to the books where Eowyn kills the Witch King. So I made her this extra piece that she could swap out with Merry if she wanted. I am glad so many people are responding to my work. Thanks again.
Amazing artwork! In the case of LOTR, I sometimes prefer this style to the more popular "photoreal" look seen in fantasy games everywhere now. I'm an artist, and this style is so frustratingly deceptive in that it looks so easy - just basic line drawings - and yet they can be much harder (at least for me) to do than the more realistic stuff.
Very well done. I would buy this game for these components alone!
I agree 100%. There is but one question- what are the abilities of Eowyn??
(Edit: Um...I found them, ha.)
