I want to scream my intolerable fear to vent out my horrid frustration!

[Wulf Ratbane]

So sorry to hear that Dominique!
From what I've seen of your work I'm amazed that noone wants to hire you.

Is it the kind of art an RPG publisher could use?

No promises, but I'll take a look.

 

[Angcuru]

Well damn. I don't know what else to say but...Good Luck. Hope everything works out for you.

 

[Desdichado]

Sorry, mate! Hope something comes through for you soon. I'm lucky enough to have a job that I can't lose unless I wig out and start shooting people in the office... either that or Western civilization comes crashing to an end, thus terminating my employment. Even then, we'd probably get bought out by a Japanese firm and continue on, though.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

... either that or Western civilization comes crashing to an end, thus terminating my employment. Even then, we'd probably get bought out by a Japanese firm and continue on, though.

I believe Japan has been "Western Civilization" since just after WWII.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Is it the kind of art an RPG publisher could use?

No promises, but I'll take a look.

I was thinking along similar lines.

Phil Reed has some generic fantasy art for d20 publishers. The idea is that you can buy the rights to the art for a fee. He could try something similar. Maybe have four or five page PDFs of art and charge for them (black and white line drawings work best for PDF). Each page could have four quarter-page images on them. There could also be a page with a full scene, the upper 25% - 30% of the page containing very little so it could be used as a cover. Some more of that stuff would be nice.

Being an RPG artist is the only way to make less money than being an RPG writer. But an extra hundred euros never hurt anyone, right?

 

[Turanil]

Is it the kind of art an RPG publisher could use?

No promises, but I'll take a look.

Thanks! Here is the kind of stuff (by myself) that I am going to put into my free homebrew PDF campaign setting for C&C:

True: an hundred euros more doesn't hurt. In any case, I would be pleased to work for the rpg industry, yet will focus my efforts (with hopefully some positive results!) on a professional branch that deals less with art than with layout of selling catalogues (oh... don't know the English terms for that).

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Thanks! Here is the kind of stuff (by myself) that I am going to put into my free homebrew PDF campaign setting for C&C:

http://www.dcrouzet.net/temporary/highlander1c.jpg​

This is perfectly fine. Many folks would buy this. You'll want to talk to an RPG artist to get a better idea of how to sell your stuff. I suggest RPG.net. They have a nice "Freelancers" forum.

layout of selling catalogues (oh... don't know the English terms for that).

"Catalogue layout and marketing"? That would mean you arrange the images, text, and pages of the catalogue and then go out and try to convince people to buy or distribute it.


Good luck!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Looks pretty good to me, Turanil. Certainly as good as most "clip art."

If I were unemployed, with free time to spare, and had any artistic talent, I'd be selling clip art at RPGnow.com.

I think there's plenty of clip art available already for characters, so personally, my recommendation would be to sit down by yourself, put on your "DM" hat, and start writing down all the Dungeons and Dragons "art cliches" you can think of-- the stuff you normally want to see in a published adventure.

Some ideas?

* a cave mouth or dungeon entrance
* a torch in a sconce (or in a hand...)
* an open treasure chest
* a dark tower silhouetted on a hill
* a group of evil eyes peering out from the darkness
* a spiked pit trap
* etc.

And then I'd start drawing, making certain that my art was clean, but without spending more than 15-30 minutes on any one illustration. (This is to maximize the return on your time investment. You are better off with 2 pieces of art than you are spending twice as long on one piece.)

When I hit 10-20 completed pieces, I would put them in a bundle and sell them on RPGnow.com.

If you could include a couple of dynamic, full-page pieces in a layout suitable for a cover illustration (as BiggusGeekus suggested) you're in really good shape. Your "cover art quality" piece can, of course, be used as your own cover art illustration for your clip art bundle!

If you need any help at all in this regard, there are lots of folks here who can help you, myself included.

 

[Turanil]

If I were unemployed, with free time to spare, and had any artistic talent, I'd be selling clip art at RPGnow.com.

Interesting idea. In fact I was planning to make a serie of such drawings for my own homebrew PDF. But I didn't know they could be sold on RPGnow as cliparts in a bundle as well. The only thing I don't understand is your emphasis on "clean" artwork. Do you think that pencil drawings (like the one above) wouldn't sell well? And why? Why better make line drawings? (pencil way is faster and I like it better)

 

[BiggusGeekus]

The only thing I don't understand is your emphasis on "clean" artwork. Do you think that pencil drawings (like the one above) wouldn't sell well? And why? Why better make line drawings? (pencil way is faster and I like it better)

Line drawings are easier on people's printers. Less grey to print out. Some people feel that line drawings look more professional and drawings like your highlander look more like sketches.

Personally, I like the pencil shading. I think it gives depth to the image.

You aren't going to please everyone. So you'll have to decide how you want to handle this. Line drawings which might get purchased more or your penciled "unclean" drawings which you enjoy more and can produce faster. I have no advice to offer you. I do not know which would be better. I can say that any cover art piece would have to be clean. No question there.