Best wishes

Kreaturen & Monster

The Rolemaster handbook "Kreaturen & Monster" is out now. I summoned some demons for this book:

War!

All Hell!
The diplomats have failed. The tensions have only grown worse. Each side has pushed the other too far, so there’s nothing left to do but fight. At the border of Aztlan and Amazonia, war has broken out. The streets of Bogotá are being pummeled, mercenaries are being hired and killed in approximately equal numbers, and blood is being spilled in dark rooms to give strength to mages on the battlefield. Most importantly, runners are being hired by the score.
War! puts Shadowrun players into the world of open combat. From sabotage missions behind enemy lines to intelligence operations to small-squad mercenary tactics, War! provides the background information, gear, and rules players need to plunge into the chaos of battle.

I made two black & white illustrations for this book. This is one of them: Dragonfly drones.

Deng Nong

"The deng nong are gargantuan herbivores that hail from the land of Indrisa. Already domesticated when they were brought to Cathay, they resemble large oxen with third horns protruding from their snouts. They can grow to sizes of over 35 feet long and nearly 20 feet tall."

An illustration Richard Vass and I made for the Earthdawn sourcebook Cathay: The Five Kingdoms Gamemasters Guide.

The Sun and the ambitious waterdrop

It's the very first time you can read Leonardo da Vinci's tales in Hungarian. The book is edited by Academy Award winner Ferenc Rofusz, the 28 tales are translated by Jozsef Attila Award winner Balazs Szalinger. I worked with Richard Vass again, we made an illustration for the tale "The Sun and the ambitious waterdrop". It's said that the book is illustrated by the most excellent contemporary Hungarian graphic artists, so it's a great honor to be a part of this project.

Hundredwars

This is the cover of the novel "Hundredwars" by John J. Sherwood. I worked with Richard Vass on it again. The following is a walkthrough how we created this painting.

After we received the details from the publisher, we talked a lot about the options, the potential scenes, the compositional schemes we could use. In the story you can read about the war between the gentle elves and the demonic breed of the aquirs. Both of the species use flying battle ships: the ships of the elves are beautiful, the aquir ones are living meat monstrosities and lava vessels. And there are also dragons in friendship with the good forest people in the novel. Well, we were thinking a lot about the story and then Richard drew these thumbnail sketches. On the first one you can see the final cover in a rough phase: a fallen aquir battle ship and a dragon who attacks it. On the second one there is an aquir chief on his ship, watching some antagonistic dragons flying. The publisher and the author chose the first one.

Richard made the graphics on the basis of the sketch. He drew the dragon and the ship separately, then scanned the pages and gave me a PSD file with two layers. You know I use Photoshop on an iMac, an ancient Wacom tablet and rough metal music.

I played with the dragon and finally flipped it. Kept the graphics on a multiply layer and underpainted it with gray tones. If you paint this way, you can manage the tones easily without take care of the colors.

I added some basic colors to the image. I wanted to illustrate the difference between the meat vessel and the reptile.

At first I worked on the details of the aquir ship and the mountain top. I tried to paint some distance with using of blue tones, because the ship is a really huge beasty and it's far from the dragon (witch is a huge beasty, too).

I wanted the fire to be the focus of the image. When I painted it I used some photos of napalm explosions as references. I think it looks good in front of that purple and blue background.

At the end I finalized the dragon then I painted some tiny flying bat-like creatures in the background. They are aquirs. Or dragons. Or both...

It's the finalized cover painting. I flipped it and made some little modifications: hit the ship with a lightning strike (I guess it comes from the elves), made color corrections, and heal the right... no, the left wing of the dragon.

The book went to the stores with this typography. It's published by Delta Vision, you can read it only in Hungarian.

Jiu Tou Niao

"The jiu tou niao is a savage beast, so rare that most Cathayans believe it is only a myth designed to scare children. This creature appears as a 12-foot tall bird of prey with a 24-foot wingspan and nine heads attached to long, sinewy necks. The jiu tou niao is an excellent hunter, feasting on a wide variety of creatures, though it isn’t above scavenging. However, the favorite meal of the jiu tou niao is Namegiver flesh, especially the flesh of Namegiver children."

Well, it seems it's a pretty badass birdy... Another illustration Richard and I made for the upcoming Earthdawn sourcebook Cathay: The Five Kingdoms Gamemasters Guide.

The Cathayan sand desert

This was the first interior illustration Richard and I did for an upcoming Earthdawn stuff. The book is called Cathay: The Five Kingdoms Gamemasters Guide, and there will be an other one called Players Guide. We made five illustrations for the game masters and five for the players. You can find a little art preview on Earthdawn Line Developer Carsten Damm's blog, and I'm gonna post other ones here, just keep in touch!

Welcome to the Sixth World

It's the Sixth World Almanac street day today!

It should be out and about, with it’s detailed timeline, writeups of nearly 40 nations, and full-color poster-sized world map!

What was the VITAS outbreak like for the people who were there? What was Renraku Arcology—and its operating software—like before it became a total nightmare? How does it feel to get off a plane and set foot in the ghoul kingdom of Asamondo?

The Sixth World Almanac is the ultimate compendium of Sixth World energy, history, and geography. With the most detailed timeline in Shadowrun’s history and write-ups of nearly forty major nations, this book immerses players and gamemasters in the Sixth World deeper than they have ever been.

The Almanac is full of Shadowrun firsts, including the first-ever full-color map of the entire Sixth World and new fiction covering historic eras that have never been detailed in past sourcebooks. Open the Almanac and fall into the Sixth World—let the art, the maps, and the writing bring you more completely into one of the most exciting, enduring role-playing settings of all time!

Cover art by Echo Chernik

Zombification

An illustration for the M.A.G.U.S. card game, made in 2007. This piece is one of my favorites.

The wings of Hargash'um

This is an illustration I made for the M.A.G.U.S. card game "Choosen Ones". It seems this Hargash'um was a really though guy, his wings are deadly artifacts now.

Neanderthal biomorph

Character illustration from the pages of the Eclipse Phase: Sunward book. Eclipse Phase is an award winning role-playing game with top artwork, so it was a great honor to work for them on this project. And I could draw space neanderthals!

Corporate Guide's street day is today!

"There’s new Shadowrun goodness floating around in print! Corporate Guide is out and about. Learn all you need to know about the Big Ten, and some rising powers to boot. For more information, look at this post, or to get a preview of the Aztechnology section, go here. Go buy at will, and enjoy!"

Cover art by John Zeleznik

Fight without winner

Orcs vs troll vs chamois. The sixth (and last) illustration for 13Mann Verlags' Rolemaster adventure modul "Der Blutende Gott". A collaboration with Richard Vass.

Stone temple

Another collaboration with Richard Vass. 13Mann Verlags, Rolemaster, "Der Blutende Gott".

Orc chief

This is how we roll: pencils by Richard Vass, grey tones by me. 13Mann Verlags, Rolemaster, "Der Blutende Gott".

Spider monster

Another collaboration with Richard Vass - another illustration for 13Mann Verlags. Rolemaster, "Der Blutende Gott".

Giant iron spider

Another collaboration with my collegue and friend Richard Vass - another illustration for 13Mann Verlags. You can find it in the Rolemaster adventure modul "Der Blutende Gott".

Water ghost

A collaboration with my collegue and friend Richard Vass, an illustration for 13Mann Verlags. You can find it in the Rolemaster adventure modul "Der Blutende Gott".

Some brutes and a pixel pixie

1:1 details from the awakened Australia, from the pages of the Shadowrun: Sixth World Almanac sourcebook.

Nathan in trouble

My favorite color Shadowrun illustration. You can find it on the pages of the Sixth World Almanac sourcebook.

Universal Omnitech

Runners are breaking into a UniOmni research lab developing bioengineered organs. My favorite piece from the Shadowrun: Corporate Guide sourcebook.

Upgrade or be a Loser

An Evo Red Star Clinic and its corporate scion clients - an illustration from the Shadowrun: Corporate Guide sourcebook.

Zeta-Imp

A scary scene from the pages of the Shadowrun: Corporate Guide sourcebook.

Neonet Transys Experiments

Another piece for the Shadowrun: Corporate Guide sourcebook - the finalized illustration and the sketch.

Evo Doppleganger Lab

Another illustration for the Shadowrun: Corporate Guide sourcebook.

Ares Bug Biodrone

This was my very first piece for Shadowrun. I made it in May 2009, and it's published in the Corporate Guide sourcebook.

Some curiosities: my first sketch, and Shadowrun Art Director Brent Evans' edits:

Corporate Life

I made this illustration last year for the Shadowrun: Corporate Guide sourcebook. In this long-awaited book you can find nine black & whites by me.

Toronian faces

I made these three little illustrations for the M.A.G.U.S. Toron handbook in 2008. A Toronian nobleman, a witch, and a necromancer.