I will be putting up some teasers in the coming months, but in the meantime I merely wanted to show off some of Tom Kilian's simply exceptional art:
%20Cover%20Title.jpg) |
| Wraparound front/back cover |
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| The Hardwater |
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| The Map |
%20Joyous%20Garde%20(main).png) |
| Joyous Garde |
%20Drummond's%20Quarter.png) |
| Drummond's Quarter |
%20Cuddy's%20Well.png) |
| Cuddy's Well |
%20Emperor's%20Meadow%20small.png) |
| The Emperor's Meadow |
%20Twice-Bound.png) |
| Twice-Bound |
%20Knucker%20&%20Lampreys.png) |
| Knucker with Lamprey-men |
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| Pwca |
%20Silky%20&%20Shellycoat.png) |
| Silky and Shelly-coat |
%20Knight-Errant.png) |
| Knight-errant |
%20Stuck%20Gates.png) |
| Stuck Gates |
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| Deadyoungestson |
%20Grindylow.png) |
| Grindylow |
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| Lares |
%20Hill%20of%20Wolves.png) |
| One of the 'zoomed in' maps |
These are stunning, David. The fine details of Tom’s work seems so appropriate for this book, and it’s great to hear you’re hoping to get the Kickstarter up and running in the new year. Consider me a backer!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brian. Yes, Tom's stuff is the perfect fit and I am really, really proud of the text too.
DeleteThe art is fantastic and I wish you success with the Kickstarter. From the limited amount that I can discern from this post, I have to ask how different The Great North will be from Dolmenwood.
ReplyDeleteBe well.
Very different. This is adopts a Yoon-Suin-esque approach to generating campaigns in a fantasy version of Northumberland. The contents are inspired by an imaginative reading of its history and geography. You can get a flavour of things through the other posts linked to in this one.
DeleteI did several pieces of art for Dolmenwood, so there's naturally going to be some aesthetic crossover here, especially as they're also both OSR setting books written by British dads that draw heavily on English folklore, landscape, and mythology. Within that genre though, I think the writing in each feels very different. Both thematically, in the sense that I think David and Gavin have different aesthetic senses and thematic preoccupations as authors, and in what each author thinks the intended purpose of a game book like this is. Dolmenwood is very "complete," in the sense that it has more situations where you open the book to the relevant page and run what is written there, while Great North is more of a kit to assemble your version of the setting.
DeleteBehind the curtain, this also carried through to the artist briefs that I was provided for both projects. With Dolmenwood I was given paragraphs of evocative imagery to work with (often down to exact details of pose or costuming), while for Great North David sent me the text of the book, a list of illustration subjects (like "bandits" or "dragon") with the sizes needed, and said in effect "go nuts". Contrary to how it's usually presented, both approaches to art direction were great fun to work with in different ways, and I think that will also be true of the experience you'll have reading and playing with the two books.
Northumberland! My saint--St. Geoffrey (642-716)--spent his days in Northumberland as the abbot of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey.
DeleteI've been to Jarrow Abbey many times and know it well. It's a ruin now and Jarrow itself is not a nice place, but the Abbey's setting is beautiful. It contains - so I was told - what is thought to be the oldest glass window in England. It is a tiny circle, almost totally opaque, and would have been installed in roughly that time period, I believe.
DeleteBeautiful illustrations, especially the wraparound cover that reminds me a bit of Hans Arnold's work.
ReplyDeleteYes! I know what you mean.
Deletewow that cover... very lyonesse
ReplyDeleteVery!
DeleteI am in love with that troll.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, isn't he? Or she?
Delete