# Custom Illustrations (warning dial uppers)



## escaflowne777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Alright, so I do a lot of work with a program called lightwave 3d.  I make lots of fantasy settigns for many of my own campaigns, but currently I'm not really playing much DnD.  Also, I'm completely out of inspiration.  So, I've decided to ask around and see if anyone wants some free work done to help visualize some locations in their campaigns, or weapons.  I'll do pretty much whatever, but some things I just don't like, so ask away and I'll see what I can do.  I can really only do one at once, and I don't know how long it'll take, it depends.  If your interested though, gimme a reply.   

P.S. I kinda suck at people modelling, so no character or monsters please.

Check out the attachments to see some of my work.  Ones a tribal hut I made the other day for fun, ones a scifi temple or something, and ones a big A$$ sword for one of my characters.


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## Piratecat (Mar 21, 2008)

Really neat! I'd like to see more. Meanwhile, I'll slide this over to the art forum.


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## Mark (Mar 21, 2008)

How about a medieval castle at a distance at night?


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Sounds fun, but thats really really generic. Anything else? An ogre door for ogres to come out of? flaming... pants?


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## Mark (Mar 21, 2008)

escaflowne777 said:
			
		

> Sounds fun, but thats really really generic.






The more generic, the more universally useful.  I can think of only a few opportunities where I might find use for an image of flaming pants and even fewer for an Ogre door.


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Alright. deal. Ogre doors are one of my more creative ideas.  You just gonna recycle this, or is this were your pcs or villains reside? You want gleaming white towers at night, or dark crumble lair at night?


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## Mark (Mar 21, 2008)

escaflowne777 said:
			
		

> Alright. deal. Ogre doors are one of my more creative ideas.  You just gonna recycle this, or is this were your pcs or villains reside? You want gleaming white towers at night, or dark crumble lair at night?





Dealer's choice.  Roll a die otherwise.  I just wanted a castle by night, perhaps across an open field, or maybe more challenging to put it across the water, like a lake, with the reflection shimmering in some eerie manner in the moolight, giving the actual castle a medieval feel but the reflection a more fantastical aspect?


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 21, 2008)

Already started. Should be done in anywhere between a day, and a week.  

P.S. All art is belong to me and all that jazz.  I don't spect I'm good enough to get intellectually mugged, but just throwin that out there.


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## Mark (Mar 21, 2008)

escaflowne777 said:
			
		

> Already started. Should be done in anywhere between a day, and a week.
> 
> P.S. All art is belong to me and all that jazz.  I don't spect I'm good enough to get intellectually mugged, but just throwin that out there.





I assume you will entertain offers on your final output, though, no?


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 21, 2008)

If anything is not tailored to specifics, it shall be fixed, IN THE NAME OF GOD!!!


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## Oryan77 (Mar 21, 2008)

Oh believe me, I can put you to good use if you really really want to do some illustrations   

I like your hut picture, it has a good Planescape feel to it and I DM a Planescape campaign so maybe you'd really like doing some art for me!

One picture I'd like is a landscape image of a desert. Except this desert has a dark red & purple colored sky that looks like it's always dusk. In the distance is a humongous black pyramid. It would need to be very far off in the distance but still appear to be very very big (the bigger the better). It would be nice if there was a shadow of the pyramid being cast on the ground. No matter where a person stands in this desert, he's somehow always under the shadow of the pyramid. This is a magic pyramid so the shadow does not need to be cast proportionate to the pyramid. You could even draw the River Styx flowing across the desert if you want   

I would use this as a handout to my players to show that their PCs just stepped onto the plane Baator (3rd level of Baator called Stygia in Set's Realm Ankhwugaht).


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## Oryan77 (Mar 21, 2008)

I could also use a picture done of the planar tree Yggdrasil showing a small town of wooden buildings built next to the trunk of the tree. If you don't know about Yggdrasil, it's big enough to build large towns on it's branches and it has giant leaves. The radius of the trunk is miles long. The sky around the tree is a silvery color. I wouldn't need a full shot of the tree, more of a closeup shot of the town but still able to see that this town is built on a big branch protruding off the trunk.


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 24, 2008)

The desert actually sounds really fun. I've always wanted to do a desert.  I'm almost done marks castle, so after that I'll get started.  Kool


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 24, 2008)

Alright...... here goes Generic Keep on water Ver 1.0.

Thar She Blows.  Sorry it's a bit... well, Phallic.  Well, how do I stand? Not literally.


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 24, 2008)

Oryan77 said:
			
		

> You could even draw the River Styx flowing across the desert if you want




I do not draw. I model.  I'm actually really excited about this one.  As long as there's not too much revision to do on the Lake Keep, I should finish fairly quickly.


Is this an eqyptian style pyramid or can I go mayan on your A$$


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 25, 2008)

Seriously dude, need some input, can't proceed without it.


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## Oryan77 (Mar 26, 2008)

Sorry man, I didn't get a response from you for a few days and then I just forgot about this thread.   

It would need to be an Egyptian style pyramid...but black colored (it can be whatever tint of black, red, purple, blue, ect). This pic will illustrate Set's realm and he's an Egyptian god.

I know you're doing it in 3d...I just say draw because well....it's art   

I'm actually a 3d artist myself (I use Maya). I just don't have time to do 3d artwork for D&D at the moment and you'd be helping out a lot


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## mps42 (Mar 27, 2008)

*Fort*

Cold gray sky, battered stone walls, preferably mostly front view but some top would be good, too. Massive wooden front gate battered off its hinges. Ground gray and gravely. Interior buildings stone bottom, wooden second floor and slate roofs.
Somewhat behind the fort, a sluggish brown-gray, cold-looking river and, far behind that, hills with dozens of pinpricks of firelight.
 I can provide a fort map if needed or wanted. thanks in advance.


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 27, 2008)

Aight. Egyptian it is.


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 27, 2008)

Very proud of this one.  This attachment is just a preview, not full size, or antialiased, but putting it up for comments and any changes you want before I enter the bjillion hour render period.


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## Oryan77 (Mar 27, 2008)

Nice! I like the look & feel of everything. A few suggestions though (if it's not much extra work):

1. Can you make the pyramid bigger? Like WAYYY bigger and push it off in the distance more so it appears farther away? It should appear like it'll take a long time to travel to and a viewer should get the idea that this pyramid could possibly be a mile wide or more (if that's possible for you to achieve in the pic)   

2. The sky is perfect with those clouds. Is there a way it could have more color besides just red? Maybe some shades of purple so it looks more like dusk?

3. It would be best if there wasn't a sun...but if that is part of the image you used for the sky, then it's ok (I can photoshop it out).

4. Can you have the light source up more and aimed more downward so we can see the entire shadow of the pyramid? I'd like to see the shadows tip right in the forground.

5. If it's easy to do, giving the ground higher sand dunes might look better so it's not such a flat plain.

If I'm being too picky, then ignore me    I'm just trying to get it to look just like the realm looks from the planar description of Baator's 5th level   

I like it though, thanks! The accessories in the sand add to the look. Feel free to add more stuff like that if you have other good ideas!

BTW, what program are you using to make these?


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 28, 2008)

First of all, how custom would these pictures be if I didn't change them as needed.  I will try to accomplish all of those things.  The sky isn't an image, it's a program (plugin) called SkyTracer2 and it would be entirely possible to omit the sun.  Purple shades, no problem.  The only problem I foresee is the tip of the pyramid's shadow in the foreground, but I will work harder, george orwell smiles.
I am using Lightwave 3d 8 (used in starwars).

P.S. Lol, I'm signed in using Dial up right now. The irony.


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## Mark (Mar 28, 2008)

Thanks!  Not bad at all.  Can you take the same keep, remove the top portion and give it a crenalated flat top, mirror it with a second, then add a wall between then to make it into a castle?


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 28, 2008)

easily.


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 28, 2008)

Ugghh. This pyramid doesnt want to do what I want it to.  Heres the render though.  Tried to change some stuff.  Will still correct it if its not right, but I might need a break.  After I adjoin the two keeps with a wall, I'm done for a while, I'll post a new thread when I'm back in the game.


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## Oryan77 (Mar 28, 2008)

It looks like an IPR render since it's low resolution. And the camera perspective looks off since the pyramid is off the right side of the frame. That's not your final render is it? The first version looked better   

Thanks so much for working on this....it'll help add to my game a lot!


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 28, 2008)

yeah, i dont know exactly what happened, ill keep working on it


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## Stormrunner (Mar 29, 2008)

Problem with a pyramid is, it's such a simple shape that it's really hard to tell just how big it is.  A plain black pyramid sitting on some sand could be a few feet high up close, or a few miles high far away*... You need something else near the base of the pyramid to provide a size clue.  Put a few tiny palm trees at the base.  Or if it's miles high, a few tiny mountains at the base...and a layer of clouds overhead that the pyramid pokes up through.

* - you can make use of this in-game.  "You see a big black pyramid in the distance, looks like maybe a mile or so away.."
"Let's check out the pyramid"
They march for about five miles...
"The pyramid looks a little larger now, but you still haven't reached it.  Apparently it's bigger than a normal pyramid, but it was farther away than you thought, so it looked small."
They march some more...
"Just how $%^*&^ big is this thing?"
"Really big..."


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## Oryan77 (Mar 29, 2008)

Stormrunner said:
			
		

> Problem with a pyramid is, it's such a simple shape that it's really hard to tell just how big it is.  A plain black pyramid sitting on some sand could be a few feet high up close, or a few miles high far away*... You need something else near the base of the pyramid to provide a size clue.  Put a few tiny palm trees at the base.  Or if it's miles high, a few tiny mountains at the base...and a layer of clouds overhead that the pyramid pokes up through.



Yeah I was thinking the same thing. That's why I suggested making the sand dunes bigger so the pyramid would sit behind the dunes rather than on top of them. It would help make it look more like it's in the background.

Having it reach clouds in the sky is a great idea. And putting palm trees near it is good too. I just don't want to make more work for escaflowne777 than he's wanting to do on a single image   I don't want to be a hassle!


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## escaflowne777 (Mar 31, 2008)

Yeah, The pillars were supposed to be the reference, but the thing is just sooooooo big.  Most of the time I model in feet as the base measurement, the pyramid is measured in miles.  I'm thinking I'll take the first render, add some purple, take out the sun, and then you can use your Super duper DM powers to play up the size.  No hassle, I like a challenge.

P.S. After this, I would like to do some weapons if possible.  Anyone?


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