# [3D Art] Spelljammer - Battle At Faerun!



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 11, 2008)

> *BATTLE AT FAERUN!*
> The Elven Imperial Navy takes the fight to the N'Shaak neogi clan! The slavers are caught on an attempted raid on the coastal hamlets of the Sea of Fallen Stars. A Hammership loaded with hardened adventurers from Toril aid the elves, ramming one Deathspider!




Note the world in back.. 
ok, the  Faerun continent would be abut 1/3rd that size but hey!
You can see the Sea of Fallen Stars, Anauroch to the top, and Sword coast to the left. 

made with Vue6 Infinite, PaintShopPro, Photoshop, models made by me in Rhino, "Special effects" made with Particle Illusion 2 SE.
Also made a "cartoonized" version, which I quite like doing 

[sblock="BATTLE AT FAERUN, large pics"]












[/sblock]


----------



## love.christine (Sep 11, 2008)

Very nice, but a bit too busy in my opinion. 

Why is the second one so pixelated?


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 11, 2008)

Thank you 

It's meant ot be busy, it's a battle, which are rather horribly busy things indeed 

Second one is a "cartoon style version", some folk like 'em, I do 
I usually don't like simple "cell shading", I preffer the look that I created above, as it's more like the comics I loved as a kid.


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 13, 2008)

Oh, wow! Spelljammer fan art! I never thought I'd see the day.

Must say this is sheer brilliance. Most awesome image.


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 13, 2008)

Whitemouse,
thanks! 

well I have been doing Spelljammer fan art for a few years now... 

SPELLJAMMER intro page


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 13, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> SPELLJAMMER intro page



I'm sure this all good stuff, but I'm weary from my travels so I'll check it out tomorrow.


----------



## love.christine (Sep 13, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> Second one is a "cartoon style version", some folk like 'em, I do
> I usually don't like simple "cell shading", I prefer the look that I created above, as it's more like the comics I loved as a kid.



Never been much for comics myself, but I did enjoy reading the one you made.


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 13, 2008)

Love.Christine,

yay, I've got a fan! _woot_! 
One day I'll continue with it, writing the story is easy, but doing art for it all takes time, alas!


----------



## love.christine (Sep 14, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> Love.Christine,
> 
> yay, I've got a fan! _woot_!
> One day I'll continue with it, writing the story is easy, but doing art for it all takes time, alas!




I look forward to the updates. Keep enworld in the loop when you do update.


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 14, 2008)

Love.christine,
Will do!


----------



## Big Mac (Sep 14, 2008)

Whitemouse said:


> Oh, wow! Spelljammer fan art! I never thought I'd see the day.




Silverblade is actually one of the best known (if not the best known) fan artists within the Spelljammer community. *Beyond the Moons* (the _official_ Spelljammer fansite) has a page called Art of Wildspace where you can see more Spelljammer fan art. You might also want to check out The Spelljammer Image Group (on flickr).

I've been looking at Silverblade's art for years. His original 3D models (from years back) were great in their day, but look a bit clunky in hindsight - especially compared to this photo-real stuff he does now. However the stuff he is doing now is so good that I can't see it ever looking outdated by new stuff.

I would guess that the only improvements now will be the ability to put more and more models into a single picture and create more complex images (like a battle scene with hundreds of ships filling the background or an "Invasion of Spiral" scene with a large Unhuaman invasion fleet landing on the planet, while hundreds of scro flood out to secure the area). I think that sort of thing is still just beyond what can be done at the moment. But we live in exciting times and I always look forward to what Silverblade is going to put out next.

He also does great "groundling" art. In recent years he has been able to do pictures of spelljamming ships flying in the sky above things on the ground. Space pictures look good enough, but these pictures have much better lighting (because they are not in the void) and really show the beauty of the ships.

If 4th edition does get the Spelljammer Campaign Setting that rumours suggest, I think that at least one of Silverblade's pictures should get used in the product.


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 14, 2008)

*tips hat to Big Mac* 
Cheers bro!
Really makes my day that does!

Aye, "ground" pics I can take advantage of real skies etc to make them look outstanding.

Space pics I like a sort of stylized look, as "real" space  would be kind of boring if you stick to reality  
Aas nebulas in RL are tiny/far off, for the most part, unless yer "next door" to them..pics we see are massive zoom ins, and stellar lcusters etc are gorgeous but again, rare/far...so best shots are actually combo of things that's be rare
And space has little "ambient" light, everything tends ot be harshly shadowed.




> I would guess that the only improvements now will be the ability to put more and more models into a single picture and create more complex images (like a battle scene with hundreds of ships filling the background or an "Invasion of Spiral" scene with a large Unhuaman invasion fleet landing on the planet, while hundreds of scro flood out to secure the area). I think that sort of thing is still just beyond what can be done at the moment. But we live in exciting times and I always look forward to what Silverblade is going to put out next.




are you scrying my computer, by any chance? Hm... 
Wait to you see what I'm cooking up, at the moment!
_Muahahaha_!!! 


And that'd be a dream!! I was sort of published in Dragon mag (my Tradesman design/artwork was used for a painting), but I've always adored Spelljammer's (and Dark Sun) look/art. Just gave me so much, loved the artists, be otustanding to be in a Spelljammer 4th ed book!!!

In the style of Minsc:
_"GIFF FOR EVERYONE!!"_


----------



## Big Mac (Sep 14, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> *tips hat to Big Mac*
> Cheers bro!
> Really makes my day that does!




You're welcome. It is only the truth after all. I'd be quite happy if there were a ton of other great artists trying to knock you off the number one spot with brilliant SJ art.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> Aye, "ground" pics I can take advantage of real skies etc to make them look outstanding.




There is definately too much black in a lot of SJ art. That isn't a flaw in the art. It has to be black if it is in space, but it gives the viewer nothing to look at. In conventional fantasy art (like your Dark Sun stuff) you can have small details wherever you direct your eye.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> Space pics I like a sort of stylized look, as "real" space  would be kind of boring if you stick to reality
> Aas nebulas in RL are tiny/far off, for the most part, unless yer "next door" to them..pics we see are massive zoom ins, and stellar lcusters etc are gorgeous but again, rare/far...so best shots are actually combo of things that's be rare
> And space has little "ambient" light, everything tends ot be harshly shadowed.




When you watch popular science fiction films (like _Star Wars_) they fake the space all the time to make it more interesting. They add millions of asteroids, when a few would be the most you would see, and there is always a planet, moon or sun nearby to the action.

In a way, I think that Spelljammer needs that sort of fakeness more than science fiction. I would say that 99 percent of shipboard action takes place at tactical speed (instead of spelljammer speed), and if a ship is nearby a bunch of rocks or a giant gas cloud you can imagine it being delayed for long enough for a pirate ship to make an ambush attack.

I think the part of a spelljamming voyage that occured at spelljamming speed would largely be mundane. That isn't to say that one or two pictures couldn't be interesting, but they would probably need to be non-combat pictures that focus on the characters on a ship. I suppose a bored spacehand leaning on the rail of a fast moving ship could be interesting. Especially if the "camera" was to pull back and reveal a scavver swimming along in the air envelope of the ship huging the bottom of the hull and waiting for the right time to strike.

I'm not entirely sure how spelljamming speed could be conveyed. Star Wars used a bunch of white lines to represent hyperspace, but spelljamming speed isn't really that fast. (I suppose you would need to have a ship passing an asteroid without getting close enough to drop to tactical speed. If you did that you could have a _slight_ blur that people would take as a "shutter speed" artifact.)

I suspect that spelljammer speed is something that could only be conveyed by an animated movie that had the ship approach the camera, pull alongside and then fly off into the distance. If that was done, small objects (that don't drop ships to tactical speed) could be seen to be whizzing past in the opposite direction to convey the speed.

Something I don't recall seeing too much of is Phlogiston based art. _Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan_ had some really evocative scenes where ships vanished into the background of a nebula. Again, I suspect that animation (rather than static pictures) might be needed to convey the constantly changing nature of the flow.

I think that an animation of someone casting the Create Portal spell and allowing their ship to pass through the portal could be something that would be an interesting way to show the contrast between The Flow and the blackness of wildspace. And, although I don't recall seeing any description of the part of the crystal sphere between the inside and the outside, I think it could be interesting to make that part of the sphere glow or flash while an artificial portal is opening.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> are you scrying my computer, by any chance? Hm...
> Wait to you see what I'm cooking up, at the moment!
> _Muahahaha_!!!




I can wait. Eventually you will churn out a ton of cool new stuff. (Maybe even that 3D Whaleship that somebody else is dying for you to make.)



Silverblade The Ench said:


> And that'd be a dream!! I was sort of published in Dragon mag (my Tradesman design/artwork was used for a painting), but I've always adored Spelljammer's (and Dark Sun) look/art. Just gave me so much, loved the artists, be otustanding to be in a Spelljammer 4th ed book!!!




Well, I am certainly not in charge of the SPELLJAMMER for D&D 3e project, but they are going to need at least three covers for the forthcoming Player's Guide to Spelljammer, Ships in Wildspace and Monsters of Wildspace PDFs and anything else that comes out.

I would be disapointed if Ships in Wildspace didn't have *your* artwork on the front cover.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> In the style of Minsc:
> _"GIFF FOR EVERYONE!!"_




Erm? Minsc?

<tappity, tap, tap, "google", tap, tap, tap, aha!>

I have lost myself in your words but Boo thinks you're just ducky.

<phew!>


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 15, 2008)

Big Mac said:


> Well, I am certainly not in charge of the SPELLJAMMER for D&D 3e project, but they are going to need at least three covers for the forthcoming Player's Guide to Spelljammer, Ships in Wildspace and Monsters of Wildspace PDFs and anything else that comes out.
> 
> I would be disapointed if Ships in Wildspace didn't have *your* artwork on the front cover.



PDFs? When are these due to be available for download?


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 15, 2008)

BigMac,
yup, I put lot of bright coloured nebulae in for that 

The Flow though is giving me the pip! Clouds of rainbow coloured gas...how exaclty do you SHOW that though, eh? not as easy asi tmay sound.

is it fluffy clouds? is it streamers of colour, etc. And bloody nightmare to render in 3D, lol
I think I may have a trick for it, though.


SJ speed is hell of a fast, wasn't it worked out at like 1/20th light speed or some such? so, a weird warp maybe appropriate ? 

They are very welcome to use my art 
Believe some of my Dark SUn art is gonna be in one of the Athas.org releases.

LOL, Minsc and Boo rock! And very appropriate for Spelljammer, too 


K, got lot of my current image done: the background and setting, now just working on the people for it 

Whitemouse,
er...your name and pic makes me think of Tom & Jerry:
_"The whitemouse will not explode!"_

*kaaaBOOM!*

_"Don't you believe it!" _

Sorry, loved that cartoon


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 15, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> Whitemouse,
> er...your name and pic makes me think of Tom & Jerry:
> _"The whitemouse will not explode!"_
> 
> ...



Its okay. As long as its only an animated mouse that gets the boom and not a real one. I really despise people that are cruel to animals (or any kind of vermin as they might call it).


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 15, 2008)

No worries mate 
I like fantasy and art ot _get away_ from RL nastiness. Seen rather more of it than I can take, be it people or animals, 'nuff said.

Anyway, I always reserve spectacularly gruesome deaths for nasty BBEGs in my games! 
That's not cruel, it's well deserved retribution! lol.

Love my dog to bits, he's almost like a kid to me, best mutt I've ever had 
http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/temp/sven_feb_2008small.jpg


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 15, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> Love my dog to bits, he's almost like a kid to me, best mutt I've ever had
> http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/temp/sven_feb_2008small.jpg



What a cutie! He certainly has the 'Who Me?' look down pat.


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 15, 2008)

hehe yeah!! folk love him 
thats actually his:
_"Walkies?!" did you say...WALKIES?!"_
look

hehe bloody adorable


----------



## Big Mac (Sep 15, 2008)

Whitemouse said:


> PDFs? When are these due to be available for download?




Sadly, not until we (the people of the SJ community) get things together and send in enough content to allow BtM to fill the PDFs up. The SJ community has been a bit slow at doing conversions. I've tried doing conversions myself, and they are not as easy as the Conversion Manual makes them look. A few SJ conversions have been a bit wonky, and I suspect some existing things will need to be redone. If possible, things will need to be playtested.

*EDIT:* Or to put it another way, Silverblade has plenty of time to consider creting a cover for any of these netbooks.


----------



## Big Mac (Sep 15, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> BigMac,
> yup, I put lot of bright coloured nebulae in for that
> 
> The Flow though is giving me the pip! Clouds of rainbow coloured gas...how exaclty do you SHOW that though, eh? not as easy asi tmay sound.
> ...




The Flow doesn't sound easy to me, at all. Remember that scene from Lord of the Rings where everyone gets gifts from the elves, but you don't see the dwarf being given a clump of hair (because it would just look corny and weird). Well, that is pretty much how the Phlogiston is. The rainbow sea thing sounds pretty romantic, but the reality of translucent multicoloured backgrounds might be disapointing.

This is just my opinion and not based on canon. But I would say several things about The Flow:

You can't have fire in The Flow, so I think it should be lit up. I think that everywhere you go within the Phlogiston, the bit you are in now, should be lit up by ambient light that seems to come from other parts of The Flow. But the actual source of the light should be impossible to locate.

Ambient light should be twinned with a semi-foggy nature, that makes long distance vision impossible. But the amount of opaqueness should be totally inconsistant. It should be possible to see 100 miles when in "thin" parts of The Flow, but *almost* impossible to see nearby ships when in "thick" parts of The Flow.

One thing that might be cool to do in The Flow is get rid of all shadows. Spacefarers (in stories) could actually show newbies how their shadows vanish when they enter the flow. From a scientific point of view (real science) this would be a result of the ambient light, but from a philosophical point of view, characters might think that the lack of shadows is connected to the Plane of Shadow being cut off.

I would like Phlogiston rivers to actually be visible. So this means that they would need to be different colours to slower moving (or stationary) parts of The Flow.

It is possible that we could come up with some sort of wierd logic that ties Flow movement in with Phlogiston colour. In real life light from distant stars gets red-shifted and blue-shifted. Maybe something like that could happen to Phlogiston material as it moves.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> SJ speed is hell of a fast, wasn't it worked out at like 1/20th light speed or some such? so, a weird warp maybe appropriate ?




Spelljammer speed is 1 million miles per day. That is:


41,666 miles per hour,
694 miles per minute or
11.5 miles per second

Clearly at that speed, it is impossible for anyone with a non-spelljamming helm to see an approaching ship and fly into its path. (Actually, this means that most SJ wildspace encounters must be pure co-incidence. Any creatures able to see a ship and fly into its path, must have eyes like a spyglass.)



Silverblade The Ench said:


> They are very welcome to use my art
> Believe some of my Dark SUn art is gonna be in one of the Athas.org releases.




Yep. I've seen that A4 cover you made. I always thought you could make great portrait art.

Have you seen "The Battle of Adlatum"? (This is the cover art for the Adlatum Campaign Setting that Dragonlance Nexus just put out.) I remember you doing a "groundling" army once and wondered how that would look if transferred to a Spelljammer context.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> LOL, Minsc and Boo rock! And very appropriate for Spelljammer, too




I've had a Spelljammer character in a Forgotten Realms campaign. I'm not sure if he was as cool as Boo.



Silverblade The Ench said:


> K, got lot of my current image done: the background and setting, now just working on the people for it




Sounds interesting. I'll see it when it comes.


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 15, 2008)

quick reply...can't sleep too damned humid, uuuugh! 

Battle At adlatum,
well, I did these 3 years ago:
http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/vue1/legion.jpg
http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/vue1/legion_mist.jpg

I've been wanting to do a big special "seige" series of art, animations n' stuff, maybe one day 


11 miles/sec is like, asteroid impact speed  you couldn't see that at all if it's small, unless light hit it right, be just a blur. Space = no smoke/dust trail.

I agree with you about the FLow.


Portrait art (as in faces??) is much harder!!!


----------



## Blackrat (Sep 15, 2008)

Hi again Silverblade. I think I don't even need to say it anymore. You know how I feel about your art .


I'll go ahead and say it anyways:

WOW!!!


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 15, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/vue1/legion.jpg
> http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/vue1/legion_mist.jpg
> 
> Portrait art (as in faces??) is much harder!!!



Those are pretty darn cool too. 

Yeah, the faces could use a little variation, and quite possibly some female foot soldiers could be added, but I get the general gist. Good woork!


----------



## Silverblade The Ench (Sep 15, 2008)

Blackrat,
thanks mate! 

you may say it as often as you wish! 

feels good to be making folk have some wonderment 

Whitemouse,
ta!  I'd just started leanring that technique (_ecosystems_), can do a lot better now.


----------



## Whitemouse (Sep 15, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> feels good to be making folk have some wonderment
> 
> Whitemouse,
> ta!  I'd just started leanring that technique (_ecosystems_), can do a lot better now.




I fully know what you mean about the wonderment. I started up a story and I'm hoping for any sort of feedback. It can wait till I have a couple more installments though. I know it can take a while to get used to a persons style before having anything to say about it. 

If you do any other ecosystem work, please show it here. You are really god at this sort of stuff. I love it all.


----------

