Westward cover and dice

Westward Comp Copy!

A package arrived the other day… … from Brett Pisinski of Wicked North Games. It be the complimentary copy of Westward RPG! Westward is a game of steampunk western game setting  on an human-colonized extrasolar planet after the colony ship Chrysalis drifted for decades and came to rest here. Using the Cinema 6 system, players and gamemasters play and create adventures around humans whose ancestors were marooned on the planet Westward centuries ago. Lack of conventional power generation has created new technology that uses exotic local minerals and steam to build airships and steam-powered mech. Politics of the cities and settlements make for great conflict for players to embroil themselves in. And backstabbing politics, feral humans, deadly alien creatures and lethal hazards await adventurers in the waterless badlands of Westward. Also in the package is a handy GM screen. The image below is something I’d never thought would happen. On […]

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Westward cover

Westward is Released!

Westward, the role-playing game from Wicked North Games whose development I have been involved with in this past year, has finally been released. Westward is a game of steampunk wild west set on an human-colonized extrasolar planet. Players and gamemasters of this game play and create adventures around humans whose ancestors were marooned on the planet Westward centuries ago. Lack of conventional power generation has created new technology that uses exotic local minerals and steam to build airships and steam-powered mech. Politics of the cities and settlements make for great conflict for players to embroil themselves in. And deadly alien creatures and hazards await adventurers in the dry badlands of Westward. I’d like to thank Wicked North Games for the opportunity to work on this product and with a host of talented writers and artists, some of which have been people I’ve admired since the early ’90s. Download a pay-what-you-want […]

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Brawling - finished

Westward RPG: Brawling

I sometimes use MyPaint, an open source painting program to create my work. It has less features than GIMP, but I love how the brush paint digitally as I move the Wacom tablet stylus. This is how I painted the “Brawling” artwork for Wicked North Games upcoming Westward RPG that was featured in a previous post. At first I sketched the scene quickly in MyPaint using one of the Pencil tools. Initially the person who was throwing the punch was a man, but then I changed it to a woman in mid-sketch. I decided on a yellowish hue for the image before I started painting the sky upon the layer immediately below the pencil sketch layer. Then I started colour blocking one character, playing with some colours over it to see if they meshed well. I started to block the other character as well as refine the punch thrower. The […]

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Demolitions

Westward Scenes

Here are some scenes I drew as filler are in the Characters, Attributes and Skills section of the Westward RPG by Wicked North Games. These scenes, also drawn by Alexander Gustafson, Ryan Rhodes and Cory DeVore, gives players an idea of what your players can be doing on the steampunk planet of Westward and what the millieux feels like. You could arm-wrestle an Enclave – a steampunk cyborg – and win! You could write a secret messages! You could punch a guy in the jaw because he hadn’t showered in two months. You could blow up a water tower for shits and giggles. Not really for giggles since water is precious here. Westward RPG will be available online or at your FLGS later this year.

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This city pumps out and distributes a lot of water

Westward Locations Artwork 2

This is the second of two blog posts featuring location artwork of cities and prefectures on the planet Westward, where human colonists have been marooned for centuries with only an exotic steam-powered technology to run their machines. Over the years, new politics, allegiances and social dynamics have driven the inhabitants of Westward. How would you play characters in an alien western steampunk setting? Look out for the Westward RPG to be released soon!   There’s even a sideslicer on the hillside beneath Fort Gowchain there. Click here to see part one of two.

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An old mining prefecture

Westward Locations Artwork 1

More Westward RPG artwork were commissioned by Wicked North Games, and for this batch they have ordered location artwork of various cities and prefectures on Westward. Here is the first of two posts of the locations on the (mostly) dry and arid planet of Westward!   What adventures can players experience at these places? Check out Westward RPG to be released mid-year by Wicked North Games.

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Critters

Westward RPG Creature Wallpaper

And here is the latest batch of creatures that inhabit not just the deserts, but the lesser illustrated jungle and tundra of Westward… presented in the form of a 1280px by 800px wallpaper! Tentative names from left to right: Ice Fish, Entracter Crab Spider, Death Ogler, Snow Globber. Watch for the Westward RPG core rule book to be released by year’s end!

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Skreakjak

Westward RPG Critters – Part 3

This series of creatures I drew for Westward RPG from Wicked North Games is special. I was tasked with proposing and designing these beasts from scratch. Once approved by Wicked North, I started illustrating them with ink and water colours! Of course, the names might be changed by the writers during editing. Keep an eye out for Westward the steampunk western roleplaying game in space, produced by Wicked North Games to be released in the near future.

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Gorger

Westward RPG Critters – Part 1

Wicked North Games, who produced the Azamar role-playing game, using the Cinema6 engine, based on the classic West End Games’ Open D6 system, will be producing a new RPG. The game is entitled Westward and employes a steampunk western setting on another planet in the far future. I have been commissioned to draw some critters that will inhabit the badlands of Westward. Because the Westward Kickstarter campaign has been very successful, Wicked North Games will be publishing a full-colour core rule book! Here is an early preview of the critters of the setting.

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Rust Polyp and Gasbagger Zombie

Westward RPG – Creature Sketches

Wicked North Game has been busy developing a new role-playing game using their Cinema 6 variant of the Open D6 system, entitled Westward. I have been given the task to visually design some creatures for Westward, based on descriptions and stats by Peter Schweighofer. Here are initial designs that were sketched with no text description to whet your appetite.

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The Paradise Fragment cover

Cover for Azamar: The Paradise Fragment

Apart from some interior art I did for Wicked North Games’ Azamar RPG supplement The Paradise Fragment – as seen in a previous post – I was also tasked with the painting of the cover for the book. It took me three different tries to get it right. The floating city of Adrya Orth proved a difficult factor in painting it because I tried putting the city and a couple of characters before it in an action pose. This caused characters to partially block the city. Finally I just put more characters in the picture but positioned them further away, and voila: For a closer look of the cover art, check out its entry at my DeviantArt gallery here.

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Right side partial inks

Azamar: Paradise Fragment 2

Here is the final interior artwork for the scenes in Azamar: The Paradise Fragment RPG supplement. Instead of including it with the group of artwork in the previous post, I shall describe how the illustration came into being using work-in-progress photos. First, pencils are made for the half-page sized illustration. Something stalks the characters as one of them pushes open the strange stone door from a previous picture, then a dragon swoops down. Is it attacking? Is it warning the characters of something? A close up on the partially inked artwork. Pencil lines are still visible with the inks – but you can’t really see it thanks to the blurred photo. A close up on the other half of the artwork. The details on the dragons are added using brushed ink. The image is scanned, then GIMP is used to add ziptone / newsprint shade effects to the final black […]

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The party... striking a pose of some kind

Azamar: Paradise Fragment 1

Here are some interior artwork for the Azamar role-playing game’s upcoming supplement The Paradise Fragment. Player Characters (PCs) are sent to the deserted and floating city of Adrya Orth on a mission and uncover a deadly secret. What is the secret? Don’t look at me I’m just the illustrator, not the writer. However, the publisher’s art order requested that a series of sequential artwork was created as if it was a comic and I had the discretion to direct the visual flow of the story if not the actual story. Let’s see how the game story ends up! Watch this space for the upcoming release of the publication soon! To be continued…

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