Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 0:21:35	Thought I would post a link to a new fan portrait of Highlord Verminaard we put up on our front page today. The artist is Anthony Marinakis (aka Harry Backside) and its clearly inspired by Jeff Easley's old cover for DL2, while at the same time trying to break a little new ground and update the look. As well, there is a profile on http://nwn.bioware.com on the group and the project scheduled for the next two Wednesdays, beginning August 4, 2004. Should have some more eye candy available then too. More info always available on our website: http://www.dladventures.com
#2 Mortepierre Jul 30, 2004 2:47:54	Villains always have the best looking armor ... Seriously though, very nice work
#3 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 6:57:53	That looks sweeeet... A portrait with him weilding Nightbringer would have been just priceless...
#4 Dragonhelm Jul 30, 2004 7:07:49	VERY nice!
#5 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 7:20:56	Sweet! Can't wait for more.
#6 lorac75 Jul 30, 2004 7:59:13	I like it more than most of the 3rd edition art. Great stuff.
#7 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 10:12:45	Originally posted by lorac75 I like it more than most of the 3rd edition art. Great stuff. Funny you should say that.... I know a million people.. well ok, maybe a couple dozen... that would die for the chance to have their stuff published in a book like the Dragonlance game supplements... This they would do for free, and all of them are artists of extreme calibre-Not unlike the fellow who created this work. Yet how much are the *cough* "artists" *ehem* getting paid? -if it's more than lunch or coffee money, it's WAAAY too much... I know what I am saying might be considered abrasive by some of you- but seriously folks, those books cost a heck of a lot of money, and I don't like seeing my money going to those I deem undeserving... and yes at least 50% of the artists featured in these books are QUITE undeserving... If you don't believe me, go to the highschool up the corner here, and take a look in the grade 10 art class... You could instantly pick out a half dozen AMAZING artists- all willing to work for snack money.... & all of them infinitly more talented than any of the fools rendering my beloved Tylors, or Hartori ect... I like that Udon guy & the chap who drew the nobel draconians... but the person who gave Brad Williams and Scott Harshbarger their drawing pens should be shot, or at least given a really bad charlie-horse....
#8 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 11:10:16	That is a great picture. It would have been nice to see Nightbringer instead of a stupid whip. Are there any classic paintings with him and Nightbringer?
#9 theredrobedwizard Jul 30, 2004 11:25:50	Personally, I like the picture of him in the timeline section of the DLCS better. Vinod Rams is awesome. Every piece of art by him has been supreme. My vote: Vinod Rams, Jason Engle, and Jeff Easley need to do about 80% of DL art, leaving Larry Elmore to do bookmarks or other such stuff that I won't have to buy. The artist of this picture is good, but I don't like the way the helmet is sitting... just looks unnatural. -TRRW
#10 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 11:44:00	I agree with the above listing of artists....save for I would like to see Elmore do a few full page paintings for the books....something like what is done inside books like Complete Warrior and Complete Divine. Yes it might add to the page count, but I think it would be something of an elegant touch...and all DL fans I know love to see scenes depicted....and some of the scenes that havent yet would be awesome...
#11 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 11:48:51	Originally posted by Amaron Blackthorn That is a great picture. It would have been nice to see Nightbringer instead of a stupid whip. Are there any classic paintings with him and Nightbringer? No. There are no portraits of Verminaard with Nightbringer planned. *I* preferred the whip - which is why he's holding that instead of a "stupid mace" of inconsistenly depicted size and shape The perqs which come with running a team I guess. ;)
#12 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 11:55:29	Well....you see.....Nightbringer of course is his iconic weapon....much remembered from the novel and the game.......Im not saying he doesnt look like the tyrannical freak he is with the whip....but he looks ten times better carrying his staff-mace.
#13 frostdawn Jul 30, 2004 11:59:48	I don't know about Jeff Easley. His work is very hit or miss IMHO. For instance, I really hated his depictions of the Dragon overlords on the post Summer of Chaos novel covers (can't recall names off hand other than Eve of the Maelstrom or something to that effect) I didn't mind the dragons on the cover of the BoK, but the clouds and light effects made up for any shortcomings, making the piece as a whole look very nice. I think he tries to put too much detail in some of his paintings, making them look too busy, or 'forced'. That, and almost everything I've ever seen him paint has freakishly large muscles. Just my opinion. I LOVE Udon's work in the BoK, I would absolutley love to see him become a regular DL artist. Alot of friends in my area agree, his work is awesome, and rivals if not surpasses most of the work of his peers on all Dragonlance and WotC products. As for Larry Elmore, his artwork is what (pardon the pun) drew me into Dragonlance so many years ago. When I think of Dragonlance (the classics anyway) I envision Elmore's work. Some of his paintings are among my favorites, and I would (not literally) kill to see more of his work appear in future modules or supplementary materials for Dragonlance. His art, to me, is Dragonlance. Todd Lockwood IMHO, renders the best looking dragons I've seen, hands down. I know there are some who would disagree here, but hey, opinions are like butts, everyone has one. Lockwood is the kind of artist I think Easley strives to be, but manages to do it so much better. He can load up a picture with detail, but make it look good.
#14 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 12:06:51	Which staff mace? The one in the B& W interior art in the modules? The one on the cover of him on dragonback in DL3? Or the newer one which has Nightbringer as a massive mace carried over his shoulder? Nightbringer is inconsistent. We are doing art for a computer game where it is necessary to depict a weapon we can also show, in game - and have it all look *right*. We can do that with a whip. The staff mace is not wieldable in those dimensions in NWN as a one handed weapon. The large over the shoulder mace is - but it looks so oversized I preferred the nastiness and texture of the whip. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. My point is - we are not creating free form art, which is the basis upon which many here are judging it. There is both a rationale and purpose behind our art which encompasses more technical limitations than you may have considered.
#15 cam_banks Jul 30, 2004 12:33:17	Whips are great for getting minions and gully dwarves to step in line. Whips are utterly useless as the instrument of a priest of the Queen of Darkness' diabolical plans. Verminaard and Nightbringer are as important together as Raistlin and the staff of Magius. If you're fine with Raistlin's staff being inconsistently drawn and painted, and I assume you are, take a moment to consider giving Verminaard his heavy mace and leaving his whip for painted renditions and intro graphics. Cheers, Cam
#16 talinthas Jul 30, 2004 12:36:18	(btw, UDON is a group, not an individual. they do a lot of comic books)
#17 brimstone Jul 30, 2004 13:23:40	I don't know if any of us will be able to change your mind...but I suppose numbers can't hurt. I too am in agreement with most of what's said above. The picture is great! But, it's Verminaard, and he needs to have Nightbringer...he can't weild a whip...that'd be like Sturm weilding a warhammer instead of the Brightblade. I'm not sure what is so confusing about the weapon. Mace, morningstar, pole-arm of some sort...whatever you want to call it...generally, it's depicted as a large two handed weapon that is weighted at one end with spikes...everything else seems like just semantics. Granted DL2 has him with a whip...and I have no problem with artistic liscense, etc...but for game play, he really must use Nightbringer...and it needs to be a bludgeoning weapon of some kind. Just my two cp. Here's a favorite (design wise anyway) As for other artists and what's been said before...the DLCS is hit and miss with me as far as art goes...but there's really no inbetween...it was either really crappy or really awesome (IMO). AoM across the board was better...but still had a few bad pieces. The BoK is by far the best, I think (except for a few pieces in the DLCS)...although I'm with Apocalyp$e, the dragonspawns, tylor, and hatori were very disappointing to me.
#18 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 16:24:40	First off--that's an excellent piece and exactly the kind of excellence we're aiming for with art in our new books. I think everyone will be most pleased with Towers of High Sorcery and (most especially) War of the Lance. Renae's proven an excellent art director, and artists such as Jennifer Meyer, Jason Engle, and Alan Gutierrez have delivered some really memorable pieces. Web previews coming soon! Jamie Chambers Sovereign Press, Inc.
#19 zombiegleemax Jul 30, 2004 16:58:33	If you're fine with Raistlin's staff being inconsistently drawn and painted, and I assume you are, take a moment to consider giving Verminaard his heavy mace and leaving his whip for painted renditions and intro graphics. Woah. Slow down Cam. I never said he didn't have Nightbringer in game! You misunderstand. I said he did not have Nightbringer in a portrait. Verminaard as a model in game DOES have Nightbringer. A pic of it is on our front page - in game - for that matter. Scroll down the page - it's right there. The link is in my sig. Its not hard to find. Try to google "DragonLance" and our site pops up 3rd or 4th on the list. Here is one for you (not our best shot by any means, but I am restricted right now in showing other screens reserved for other sources. The model which you can only see "head on" is based precisely on the dimensions and texture in the "over the shoulder" shot posted above. Wielded one handed in game though - it looks a little improbable. Oh well. Whatever we do with a DL character with some real history, someone will complain we got it wrong. That's the nature of the DL community. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a result of fans who care. As a portrait, however, I prefer consistency. So we went with the whip.
#20 brimstone Aug 02, 2004 12:10:24	Originally posted by Steel_Wind Woah. Slow down Cam. I never said he didn't have Nightbringer in game! You misunderstand. I said he did not have Nightbringer in a portrait. Oh...well...just ignore the first part of my post above then. heh heh Thanks for the clarification! Very much looking forward to this mod. I haven't been to the site in a while...any estimates on a "release" for DL1 and 2?
#21 brimstone Aug 02, 2004 12:34:07	Originally posted by Brimstone Thanks for the clarification! Very much looking forward to this mod. I haven't been to the site in a while...any estimates on a "release" for DL1 and 2? One last question...will this game be playable in single player mode...or will it require a DM and other PCs as well?
#22 zombiegleemax Aug 02, 2004 13:58:23	All of that info is readily available on our site. Please give it a look. While I don't mind discussing generalities here, I don't think it's appropriate to hijack this forum with in depth discussions and we have tried hard over the past two years to not do so. It is designed to be SP (with party control) and Multiplayer as well. Given the highly scripted nature of the mod, we do not recommend a DM during play as a DM will probably break the scripts. There are additional features built into the mod to maintain prty coherency and so that players who are being disruptive can be ejected permanently from the game by the party leader.