preview It's a Dog's Life 2nd Edition cover art

[Simon W]

This is not yet complete, but it is a preview of the new edition cover art

http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/preview.jpg

The snake will be a rattler in the finished version (the artist had it in her head to do a cobra!) and there will be more background detail.

Any comments/thoughts?

Simon W
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/

[Paul Czege]

Simon,

I think it absolutely passes the "I want to play that dude" test for the effectiveness of a cover at hooking the interest of a prospective player. The war-painted prairie dogs look awesome.

Would you mind sharing here the text you provided as art direction to the artist?

Paul

[Simon W]

Thanks Paul,

I simply sent Meg Baker (the artist) a draft of the rules text and said I was looking for something like a bunch of prairie dogs on a wide-open prairie, with a snake, ferret or similar threatening them. She sent this, which I thought was great (apart from the african cobra!). Nothing clever really, but I think sending the artists a draft of the rules to read really helps.

In my case, I generally have no idea exactly what I want from the artwork point of view, so I give the artist free reign to find something in the text that takes their fancy and come up with a concept sketch. The artist usually has a far better idea of what would look good and also what they would like to draw.

I've done the same with Dreamscape (originally a 24-hour rpg - now loooking much different), which Andrew Navarro and Ben Morgan are working on. They have come up with some pretty nice concept sketches so far. Watch this space.

Simon W
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/