Art Post: Spirit of the Forest

Three villains step into the thick trees in the dead of night. With them they carry a large, black bag. They need a place to hide another body and this looks as good as any. No one comes into this forest, due to rumors of dangerous beasts. Perfect place to put a body where some mountain lions can eat it, getting rid of the evidence. However, just as they find a nice open spot to dump the body, a figure stands in their path. A man with huge antlers on his head and a massive sword in his hands. Later, two pale men ramble at the police about a horrifying experience in the woods while they confess to every last sin they've committed for the past thirty years of their lives.

Spirit of the Forest is a special piece of art for me. This was not originally done for Heroes Rising. Back in July of this year I contacted Nick about wanting to help out with the art. I had noticed some of the cards with stickfigure art as placeholders waiting on regular art. When I offered publicly to help with some art, he casually asked me to send him some examples via a DM so he could see. He was supposing that I was going to be sending him my fan art that wouldn't be on the level he would like to see. Instead, I sent him some of my best work. Where did this work come from? I have been learning art for years, recently I got to study under the guidance of a rather well known artist in the gaming world, Steve Argyle. During the process of bettering my own skills, I created many pieces that were not for any particular purpose. This brings us to this bit of art. This was one of the few I sent to Nick and he snapped them up for the game. He then asked me if I would help out further, in a more official position in the game. I do a lot of the newer art you've seen, but actually my role was in the writing side of things, since my profession is actually writing, not painting.

About the art itself: As I said, this was one of a selection of practice pieces of art I did as I learned to paint better. Here I was doing a study on various skin tones against natural lighting. I was challenged to put in antlers...in some fashion. As a fantasy author, I wanted the piece to convey a fantasy feel, something classic with a bit of a twist to it. The art was supposed to tell a story, at least give the clear evidence of one. The original title was Defender of the Forests. You will notice that the art at the top of this post shows much more than what is one the card. To fit the art to the card requires sizing it to a certain parameter. In doing so, the art got trimmed down greatly. I am glad to show you the full art here.

I do hope you enjoy the art I have done so far, and understand that it is not easy keeping up with the need of the art for a game like this. Nick has his hands full and so do I.