Sunday, March 29, 2015

Art for "HITOS" Generic Roleplaying System


Final Cover Layout

Last Thursday the generic guide "HITOS" developed by Nosolorol was released so here I come with the cover art that I did for the book.

The first idea for the cover was a collage of the art that illustrate the interior. However, we were not convinced at all so I suggested doing a new pic with three different characters, like happens in some other generic systems. After the first sketches everyone agree to do it and keep the collage subtly at the background.

We chose a low POV with some tilt. The two characters behind were called to show two of the setting suggestions included in the book. The redhead girl belongs to "La Caída de Los Mundos Libres" (The Fall of the Free Worlds) a kind of epic fantasy in other planet with sci-fi touches, something like He-man or John Carter, and the red space soldier belongs to "El Sol en Guerra" (Sun at War) a sci-fi setting where humans have colonized other planets. For the girl on the foreground we discard to choose one of the settings to show another possibility that took shape in contemporary girl with a gun and a fire superpower. From these premises I go on painting to get a good team composition. Finally the characters were also used in the 3 book breaks, so I had a few extra work painting the areas behind the fire-hair girl ;)



Cover Sketches
Painting Process
Cover + Backcover layout

Promo image from Nosolorol website

Book Breaks - Promo image from Nosolorol website

As its name says, the generic guide is not a common roleplaying game, but a system guide that intends to fulfill most of the choices you can create in any setting. From that point of view, the illustrations inside had to show different ambiences such as epic fantasy, sci-fi, super-powers, historical, mystery, etc.  I had quite a lot available artwork done before that could illustrate most of the possible settings so, publishers decided to keep the graphic coherence with only one artist and license some of my artworks for the book interior. As a result, you can find about fifty illustrations done in the last few years credited to the original clients in the first pages of the book. (Sorry for my blurry photos XP)






















So, I want to say thank you to my colleagues of Nosolorol but also a big thank you to all the clients, writers or publishers whose ordered artworks are included in the book.

I hope you enjoy a lot of RPG worlds with this HITOS Generic guide ^_^

Charro

Hardcover happiness ;D

Monday, March 2, 2015

Cover Art for Steam States RPG

Cover + back cover final art

And here it is the cover + backcover art I did for the roleplaying game Steam States. We started the sketches from a different concept than the final one: A group of adventurers shooting from their ship to a crowd of orcs that go after them. We were not happy enough with the result because the ship was so big in the back cover and we tried another idea. The second idea was focused in the adventurers with a city behind them, over the cannon walls. We liked how the profile silhouette of the main character worked, so we go on with that one.

After that, I go on painting and adding details, such us working in the city design to get a singular piece that can show that western-fantasy-steam mix which makes this product different.


Sketches

Painting Process
Painting Process (close up)

 
Cover art

And that's all I did for Steam States. I forgot to include my greetings to the authors Angel L. Marín and Marc Santanach who were also involved in all the design process.

And thank you all for your visit to my Cave :)
Best,
Charro

Previous posts:
Character art for Steam States
Races art for Steam States

Links:
Edge Entertainment website
Steam States page