Art Thread: Menagerie RPG

insomn14 · August 17, 2020, 3:40am

So now that everyone has some sample copies of the cards, of course I needed to redo the artwork on one of Ghost Girl’s cards. (Don’t worry. I promise, I have no desire to go back and change more.)

This is the original. It’s not bad, but it’s also not good. It was a rush when I was getting to finishing all of Ghost Girl’s images and I was rather uninspired while making it. It’s functional.

The update. Better draftsmanship, a little better posing, and that glyph makes sense in context. All good improvements. But the best improvement is when it is referenced later, it’s much more obvious.

insomn14 · August 21, 2020, 7:40am

Another day, another card.

With this one, however, I was interested seeing how folks make those videos where they record themselves and then speed up the artwork so it’s only a couple minutes. It’s been forever since I did any video editing (and it was never very much) so here’s an attempt at that in case anyone was curious in how the sausage was made.

Dave · August 21, 2020, 7:10pm

Very tasty sausage. Thanks, that was a lot of fun.

Also, fwiw, I get almost as much enjoyment from the little dialog snippets on each card as I do from the artwork. Both are a joy.

insomn14 · August 22, 2020, 12:06am

Thanks! The dialogue snippets are sometimes the most fun and the most frustrating to work with on the cards. Fun because it gives me a lot of opportunities to add personality here and there. Frustrating because you can effectively only fit about half a tweet into those boxes and still have them legible.

I will also always take suggestions and/or corrections for anyone who doesn’t sound quite right. I try to envision the character’s voices when putting the quotes together (or just outright using clips from the session recordings) but I’ve only got my own perspective when it comes to the characters of the Menagerie-verse.

Coming up next, something that I don’t think I’ve shared yet: environment cards.

garrett · August 22, 2020, 12:13am

You’ve been doing great

insomn14 · August 22, 2020, 7:13am

So, environment cards.

In Sentinels of the Multiverse, environment cards define where the villain fight takes place. It can anywhere as big as a whole city, as small as a chemical plant, and as weird as a trial of Earth by aliens, a movie studio, or a post-apocalyptic future. It’s superheroes, you’ve got to go weird sometimes.

Now, you might have noticed that some of Radiance’s cards seem to be at a basketball court. While trying to figure out a way to give more “screen time” for Ghostheart to fill out their deck, I decided that their second appearance in the comics would be going against the Menagerie while they are having a night out after graduation at a local basketball game. This led to the creation of the Lee Sports Center (continuing the trend of homages to comic creators that Gardner Academy started).

However, this would also require more than a single appearance in the comics to fill out a fifteen card environment deck. Which means…

Yep, the Irregulators also had a comic or two that involved the Sports Center. In this case, I imagine it was something involving the Grail Knights and having to contact a spirit of the dead for information. Really, I just wanted something really weird (because again, superheroes) and nothing says weird like "the sports center is haunted, but it’s by a deceased athlete who dispenses advice to teenagers (and is also an homage to the late Dwayne McDuffie of Milestone Media, Static Shock, and DCAU fame).

And since Dave brought up the dialog snippets, you’ll notice that the snippets of environment cards are in a completely different style from the others (not sure why, guess the creators needed a way to just write some blurb about landmarks without having to have a character expositing). I really amused myself with imaging Telekinetician holding back fanboying for a whole issue of comics to get the mission over with, only to finally breakdown once everything was safe. Probably could use some trimming (four lines is about the most that can fit there and stay fairly legible, you can sometimes swing five, but six should be right out) and I will accept any help anyone wishes to give on that front.

Some more ideas for Lee Sports Center: a Rook talent scout (to fulfill my desire to put a Rook employee in every environment deck), a mascot with a tee-shirt gun, passing basketballs, and a crowd who won’t take a hint (tentatively titled “Why are you people still here?!”)

Other environments I am working on: Oakland Cemetery (with some Sepiaverse weirdness in there too), Gardner Academy (have some silly ideas about school events and students), Downtown Halcyon (which will probably have a lot of emergencies, like the Christmas Kerfuffle with the Yule Boys), and AEGIS HQ (during a prison break, because of course a prison break, superheroes. Hannibal Lectric likely showing up here and maybe some others who aren’t making the cut into their own villain deck, but that’s not a lot of folks).

Dave · August 24, 2020, 1:47am

I thought it was “Armiger,” not “Armger.” Mentioned in case I’m not wrong.

That said, cool stuff.

insomn14 · August 24, 2020, 1:52am

Nope, those are my dumb typos. Thanks for the catch.

insomn14 · August 24, 2020, 1:56am

Okay, now I’m questioning whether or not I did make a typo, because both my input file and the image I’m seeing on the forums says Armiger. I’m thinking this may just be a case of the text being too tight because of the “six lines is too many” problem I’d mentioned before.

garrett · August 24, 2020, 2:02am

Dave · August 24, 2020, 1:45pm

Confirmed. When clicked to blow up, the “I” is in there. When at the default representation here, the I is not visible.

insomn14 · August 26, 2020, 10:46am

Since I’ve been working nights that tends to mean I’m up between 1AM and 4AM, which I find are my most productive hours regardless of when I sleep. To that end, have some artwork of everyone’s least favorite necromancer.

!
The most important part of Ghostheart is to remember that they both have a terrifying powerset and are a giant dork. Personally, as long as I’m balancing those two things I tend to feel I’m doing alright with them.

insomn14 · August 28, 2020, 1:40pm

Since I’m going to be drawing a lot of Alycia, I figured I would give Charade’s design a quick once over (admittedly, her design has always given me issues, so trying to tighten it up isn’t a horrible idea). This redesign stood out for being very interesting because it diverged from her “SWAT team member” aesthetic I’ve given her for a while, but still gets over the sneakier aspects of her.

On other topics, since I’d decided on naming the Halcyon basketball team the Milestones, anyone have an idea for what their mascot could be? I’d originally considered “the Marathoner” (a caricature of Pheidippides) for the alliteration but I’m rethinking that for two reasons:

Doesn’t seem terribly exciting from a visual aspect.
I don’t know that a team wants to be associated with a guy whose most notable achievement is dying. Could be overselling or overthinking that part, but it just seems like not a great mascot.

Thoughts on either of those topics?

Dave · August 28, 2020, 3:58pm

Pondering the Alycia redesign. I can see it as something she’d shift to as a more solo character (though, getting even more practical, being all dark and stealthy with glowing red eyes and sparking gauntlet feels contradictory). The “dark and faceless” does go with “charade” as much as the stylized tragi/comedy mask look she was sporting.

If you think it’s dynamic enough a look to work on the cards, I say go for it.
Re mascots:

I’m wondering why the Halcyon team is called the Milestones. Are we talking about metaphorical milestones, or are there some historic milestones from the Colonial period leading to the city center? That “why” could drive the answer for a mascot.
If nothing else, a giant “M” or some random weird critter would be unsatisfying but not without precedent in the sports mascot world.
The Milestones could be a name that dates back many decades (e.g., the Knicks) that is not really current. In which case, the mascot could be anything – a stylized superhero (“Mighty Milestone!”) or even something odd and ironic (a distorted, puffy-cute version of Dr Infinity just called “The Doctor” – "And up on your feet, everyone – the Doctor! Is! In!").

insomn14 · August 28, 2020, 4:51pm

I figure at least some of these elements are either non-degetic (the sparking on the gauntlet) or only there when needed (the eyes, for emoting or intimidation) but, because comics, at least the eyes would always be visible in panels.

As for whether it’s dynamic enough to work for the cards, I think I would need to do a couple of test runs.

All excellent points. Going to admit, not the biggest person when it comes to sportsball beyond the aesthetics. the only reason I settled on the basketball theme in the first place was needing to get all the Menagerie together for something outside of superheroing and because I think I was watching the Last Dance documentary at the time.

And honestly the more ridiculous I can make it look, especially armed with a shirt cannon as a “primary weapon,” the better I feel. Em the M as the mascot of the Milestones certainly has a bit of appeal, though the Mighty Milestone! (the superhero suggestion) also has some humor potential.

garrett · August 28, 2020, 5:48pm

Milestone was a Civil War era hero, part of the Underground Railroad that helped free slaves. They took their name from the disguised mile markers they used to mark escape routes.

Their iconography was actually developed by political cartoonist Thomas Nast. They may not have had any actual powers, or even been a single person.

Dave · August 28, 2020, 7:27pm

Oh, quite ditto. I’m fascinated by the graphics and logos, but also the whole branding stuff, which includes mascotry.

Dave · August 28, 2020, 7:31pm

Hmmm. Quite the twist, coming up with an anti-racist sports iconography.

Ideas that come from that include broken shackles (which have some stylized possibilities) or literally using a train engine (for “Railroad”) which makes no sense but creates some powerful graphic possibilities.

None of these wouldn’t mean that the Mighty Milestone couldn’t be a mascot, though it may be modeled after the actual person(s).

insomn14 · August 29, 2020, 4:03pm

These are some really good suggestions, however, they are making me feel bad making the person portraying the mascot a little mini-villain for the environment. Guess that just means looking at how I portray the card.

Speaking of cards, a sampling of cards I don’t think I’ve shared yet (first three from Ghostheart’s deck, the last from Concord’s):

Some fun notes on these cards:

There is a very important reason the two demons have different images for their HP boxes than all the other cards in Ghostheart’s deck. We’ll see who can guess the reason.
I have apparently completed the artwork for Malphas for over a year. Yeah, doing these card art has not been quick.
I am not entirely happy with the Corrupter’s name and quote text. The Soulsteel cards are all intended to be part of a series of elite ghost minions of Ghostheart and Corrupter was picked just because it gave an alphabetical progression with the other cards in the series (them being the Bulwark and the Destroyer). More than willing to take suggestions on those.
Maybe surprising, maybe not, but Concord’s deck has probably given me the biggest headache out of anyone’s except maybe Mercury’s. Mercury’s at least all came together when I came to the realization that the important part isn’t that Mecury is fast, it’s that he’s a drama magnet. Concord’s is still mostly up in the air.

garrett · August 29, 2020, 4:19pm

At this point, I feel like Adam’s journey is from fantasy to mundane reality. He opens by being given these fantastic powers and awe-inspiring responsibility, he goes through a time where he dives into his own illusions, and near the end he’s ready to just give it all up and be a normal kid. You could also read this as a child outgrowing the need for their imaginary world or friends.