NPA Art Thread -- Author's and Artists Come Hither

[Luke]

Hmmm, seeing this post: Luke, did I misinterpret what you mean by "title graphic"?

It's entirely possible that the misunderstanding was mine. :)

both suggestions/interpretations are fine.

keep 'em coming.

(btw,  I am going to try to do a "title treatment" for each game as well. basically just the title in a cool font of my choosing. if you have any suggestions or examples, post them here as well. Fonts are best as POSTSCRIPT not truetype. But TTF are ok if you must.)

-Luke

[xiombarg]

As long as we're talking about art, how is art going to work on this project? Did I miss the thread on this? Are we paying our artists, or are they volunteering their art, or do they, like the authors, get a cut of the profit?

I ask this mainly for "talking points" to possibly get some artists of my acquaintance to contribute. PM me if needed, tho I think this info might interest others...

[Luke]

As long as we're talking about art, how is art going to work on this project? Did I miss the thread on this? Are we paying our artists, or are they volunteering their art, or do they, like the authors, get a cut of the profit?

That's the next step of this discussion. I wanted to get everyone to post their art needs here so we could have thread to point artists to.

i will pay for any art that authors can't pay for themselves. I'm paying $20 per piece.

I would prefer if the authors could pay the $40 odd for their own art, but I understand that sometimes that's not possible.

-Luke

[Chris Passeno]

I'll put my hat-in-the-ring for any graphic or logo design that needs done.

My portfolio can be seen at //www.chrispasseno.com.

Please contact me if you are interested in commissioning some work.

Thanks,
Chris

[Luke]

::points at chris::
He designed the Forge logo.

[Lxndr]

After carefully thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that Snowball really (in my opinion) doesn't need art.  At all.  I'm still not sure what Luke means by graphic elements "lead[ing] the reader's eye along" and have no idea what art would successfully do so.  Starting at that point hasn't helped me at all.

This may not look like "stepping up to the plate" or "taking responsibility for my work" (as Luke put it earlier) but the more I think about it, the less I'm convinced any art is necessary for the piece.  And while I've got nothing against a border design in concept, I'm flummoxed at coming up with one.  All I've got is an "I-don't-want" statement for the title piece (which doesn't really tell me what I do want), and nothing at all for the borders.  Quite frankly, conceptualizing my own art is probably the irresponsible choice - Snowball needs the artistic equivalent of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and not, y'know, my eye.

I did take your suggestion to heart, Luke, and spoke to a couple people about it.  They've more-or-less advised me to go with my gut reaction - that Snowball doesn't have any need of art pieces, any more than its ancestor, The Pool, did/does.  If you, Luke, decide that a border and/or a title piece is necessary for layout/graphic design continuity with the other works, I leave that entirely in the hands of the artist - I'll pay the $20 or $40 or whatever for the artist(s) to follow their own guts on what the piece needs, and I'll take whatever they offer on the matter (with the caveat of the single I-don't-want statement).

[Luke]

ok, that's a good exercise.

Now let's do another exercise. Let's pretend that, in order to make the anthology of games look professional and consistent, and to make your peers' games look good, you MUST have the two pieces of artwork described.

Don't get upset, we're just pretending.

So using that as the parameters for our thought exercise, take the question back to your friends: What if it HAD to have two small, telling pieces of art? What would they suggest in that case?

The point here is it is your responsibility to come up with concepts for  the art right now. Then we can give the artists free reign to see what they come up with. But without concepts, there's nothing to give the artist.

-L

[Paul Czege]

Alexander,

For a title graphic, I suggest a bubbly, heat-damaged polaroid photograph of a highly indistinct (posterized), timeless, actiony scene, with the word "snowball" visible in distorted letters as part of the bubbly damage. And along the large bottom border of the polaroid, either "a roleplaying game by Alexander Cherry," or a provocative caption like "don't stop," in hand lettering.

Paul

[Lxndr]

I'll go with that.  That's one down.  Thanks Paul!

And, thanks to www.symbols.com, I can dash out this (the 2nd one) as a potential border idea, or at least a place to start:

http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/14/143.html

[Paul Czege]

Alexander,

You probably want to be specific about what you want for the caption. I think the polaroid imagery will communicate that something about the game is like Memento. Your caption should hook the user on what the experience of play is like. Is "don't stop" the best possible hook?

Paul

[Luke]

I'll go with that.  That's one down.  Thanks Paul!

And, thanks to www.symbols.com, I can dash out this (the 2nd one) as a potential border idea, or at least a place to start:

http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/14/143.html

rockin.

Ok, who's next?
::stares into the crowd like a battered bare-knuckled brawler::

[xiombarg]

Well, I'm certainly willing to pony up the $60 to get the illustrations I want.

Is it okay for us to contact and commission artists ourselves? What format parameters should they be given? Is there a deadline?

[gpalmer]

Erm.  Through a series of directions frrom various people, I've been asked to post some portfolio links and let people know I'm available for artwork.  
My portfolio is at: http://gpalmer.freeshell.org/portfolio
and my main webpage is at http://gpalmer.freeshell.org or http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/~grace
I can be contacted at gpalmer@freeshell.org should anyone see anything they like or have any ideas, and I hope I haven't been too much of a nuisance.  I skimmed the thread, but haven't had time to read in depth.
Thanks,
Grace

[Luke]

Well, I'm certainly willing to pony up the $60 to get the illustrations I want.

Is it okay for us to contact and commission artists ourselves? What format parameters should they be given? Is there a deadline?

Please feel free to commission your own illustrators.
the deadline is ASAP.

the specs? These are a complete must, nothing else is acceptable:
300 dpi TIF file that is the same size as it will print in the layout.
1200 dpi line art.
or
Illustrator/Corel Draw vector art.

Sizes:
Main illustration: 4x4 final size should do it. Can be larger, shouldn't be smaller.
Sidebar/folio: 2" w x 9" or an L shape of 4" on the short edge, 9" on the long edge and 2" deep.

questions?

-Luke

[xiombarg]

Main illustration: 4x4 final size should do it. Can be larger, shouldn't be smaller.

Those are inches, right? Just double-checking.

Also, what about smaller spot illustrations? Or is that what you mean by "sidebar"? I mention this because I wasn't thinking of Cindy's picture being a full 9" tall...

Also, what kind of art rights are we talking about here? I assume we're licensing the work for use in the RPG, and then the rights revert back to the artist, i.e. we're renting, not buying the work, as it were.