Deadwood - Rex's Close-up...

Sorry for missing last Wednesday's post. I got tied up with a few work-related issues.

However, I actually did do some Deadwood art last week... but this time for someone else.  The publisher's of my 3D software were sponsoring a Portrait Contest, so I decided to continue my work with Rex and post it over at the Daz3D Web site. I'm not going to provide a link to the contest because you have to be a registered member of the forum to see it -- and I really don't think most of you are interested in registering for a forum just to see two images that I'm going to post here.

Rex -- Maybe he's had a little
too much moonshine?

This first WIP (Work In Progress) image that I created was trying to "show a little bit of crazy" in his eyes, but that actually became the problem. You see, I captured the crazy, but because I started with the image of him looking over his shoulder, his eyes didn't come out with an even expression. It just seemed a little off to me, so I redrew his eyes looking straight ahead (more or less). This just combined to make this an okay picture, but not a great one.

Rex - A little calmer... and maybe a little grumpier.

So I revisited the image and made some changes. I was in a time crunch, so I removed the mug of coffee from his hand (I had issues parenting it to his hand -- something all 3D artists recognize as a pain in the you-know-what). And I also changed his expression.

Unfortunately, I think I tamed him down too much. This a nice image, but it kind of lacks the immediacy and sheer character of the first one I did. In this one, however, I do like the way i combined the crosscut filter with the color better than I did with the straight b&w crosscut effect I used above.

As usual, the postwork effects were created in Photoshop with Flaming Pear's India Ink filter. I believe Filter Forge has a similar filter/plug-in, but I have not used it.

I haven't heard from the contest people at Daz, but I don't expect to win anything. This was really just an exercise and a chance to get some work out there.

Deadwood - Rex Sees Something

I took another stab at the Rex image from last week, and I'm still not happy with it. The composition and lighting are still way off.

Turning his head, Rex watched as a hideous shape
emerged from the shadows... a shape that was hauntingly familiar.

Now that I've got a decent contrast between his beard and shirt, I've got to increase the contrast between his shirt and britches. In color, they are too similar in tone. Right here, with this quick inking conversion, I compensated for that by using two different techniques: His upper body is Basket Weave and his lower body is inked with Cutline. Both of these are settings in the Photoshop India Ink filter by Flaming Pear. To get a clear look at the effects, click on the above image to see it full screen.

Right now I've got to decide if this image is worth pursuing, or if I should go back to my original idea of using the Wolf Willis character, instead. No matter what I do, though, the lighting and composition (i.e. how the figures are framed) need work.

Oh, and that fire pit looks HUGE at this angle. I definitely need to shrink it down a bit.

Deadwood - Rex Hears Something...

This week has been tied up with a lot of work and other projects, so I'm actually very  behind on creating art for the Night of the Living Deadwood book. However, I did get a start on a new image... one that's surprised me in more than a few ways.

You see, I originally pictured this scene with Wolf Willis, reaching for his pistol which would be in a gunbelt draped over the log. Instead, I found myself using a new character named Rex... an old frontiersman/prospector character with a bald head and a long beard. I also found myself using a lot more props this time around. Often, I add trees and logs in post-production (that is, I don't put them into the scene, but add them in Photoshop).

There was a noise behind him. Instinctively
his hand stretched out for his trusted Henry rifle...

The other images I've shown you were mostly completed (if used, some will be tweaked before being printed). But this time I decided to bring you in at the early stage and show you the first step in the process. This is a low-resolution, low-quality rendering of the basic scene. Right now I'm just putting things in their rough location and doing a rough pose on which to start building. In other words, this is the digital equivalent of a sketch.

As such, there's no ground, nothing around the tree, and most of all, nothing lurking between the trees. This is a simplified scene with just the basic elements that I need. For instance, I need the campfire for a light source (and it comes from a low angle, so that will make it more ominous). I need the log as something to lean the rifle up against. I could have it lying on the ground, but that would make it hard to see and that location would require him to lean over to reach it. Not practical for a still image. The tree behind him could be done in post (i.e. Photoshop), but I want it to be more solid, so I'm actually putting it into the scene. I will use it and the branches of the smaller tree to frame a zombie that is coming up behind him.

I'v already made a few decisions regarding changes:

• I need to shift our Point of View (POV) to our left and rotate it so we get a better look at Rex's face.
• I need to raise his arm so we can clearly see it reaching for the rifle
• I need to put a coffee cup in his right hand (just to give it something to do)
• And, if I have one, put a coffee pot in the fire (gotta explain what's in his cup)
• I need to alter the pose of his feet so they don't touch
• I might need to make his shirt darker so his beard stands out better

A closer view with different lighting. Things were way too bright
 in this scene, so I toned it down, as you can see in the render above.

Anyway, those are just a few of the thoughts I've had regarding this scene so far. Hopefully, I'll manage to get back to this before next week and show you how I've progressed. Until then... keep yer powder dry, saddle pals!

Deadwood - Art Preview: Hungry for Revenge

Arizona pulled back on the reins and the horse came to a gentle stop. She sat still in the saddle -- a few pebbles bounced on the ground -- the last movement from hooves on a rocky ground. Monty's tail made a gentle swishing sound and he cocked his head, wondering why they had stopped here, where there was no grass or water. Taking cues from his mistress, it sensed her anxiety and snorted, turning his head to look first one way, then another.

Arizona shushed the horse -- listening intently. At first, it was too quiet. Not even a buzz from flies or bugs. Then she heard it. Falling rocks... something dragging in the dirt, loosening a spray of pebbles and debris from the ridge to her right. And a shadow fell upon her then, but that wasn't why her skin turned to goosebumps and ice grew on her heart. The skin was rotting and dry, eyes sunken but still burning with hate. And if she had any doubt who it was, that vanished when she saw his hand. It was in a bar in Tombstone where she herself had cut off the little finger on his gun hand. Right before she gutted him.

Cole Black had risen from the dead... and he hungered for revenge.

Cole Black is back!
Click on image to see it full-size.

Another illustration for the upcoming miniatures game, GUTSHOT: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADWOOD. This time I experimented with a slightly different style. This isn't quite perfect, but I think it's a good direction. I will definitely be continuing my experiments down this avenue. As with other illustrations in this series, this is rendered in color in Daz Studio 4.6 and then converted to b&w in Photoshop.

I'm ready for my close-up!
Ugh. Not even a mother could love this face!

Tune in next wee for more glimpses of the dark side, as I continue to work on nailing down the look and feel of the artwork for our cowboys vs. zombies miniature game.

Deadwood - Zombie Crawling

I hate to say it, but I think this week's testis another swing and a miss.

You wake from a deep sleep... the horses are skittish.
Something is rustling in the underbrush. You roll over, expecting
to see a raccoon or maybe a skunk. You never expected THIS!

There are a few things I like about this image, but just a few. There's something wrong with the way his torso is flowing down into his waist. Honestly, it looks like he's got really saggy boobs. I tried tweaking it, but never got the results I wanted.

I may just have to put this one down to being a bad pose and leave it at that. Also, I really cut corners on the background -- and it shows. The foreground tree is okay, but the background's tangled branches really don't work for me. Alas, I knew I was cutting corners when I did it and knew I wasn't going to fix it later. There just isn't time to spend on something you know isn't going to work out.

As before, this is the Mr. Happy character for the Michael 3 figure. All post work was completed in Photoshop, with the bulk of it being performed by the Flaming Pair India Ink filter.

NEXT WEEK -- Another attempt at another zombie.

Deadwood - More Zombies

A Work In Progress {WIP} of the zombie horde

This week's sample image is definitely not going to make into the final book. I put more work into this image that I should have spent on it, especially considering that I'm not pleased with the results. In fact, I almost consigned it to the trash heap, but decided it's worth showing even the failures.

Let's call these guys, from left-to-right, Zed and Hap.

Zed is based on the high-resolution 3D model "Long Time Dead" that is available from Daz3d.com. This has a lot of texture detail and a very high polygon count. He's the zombie that attacked Sheriff Mike Foreman in last week's blog post.

Hap is based on a low-resolution figure for the Michael 3 base model, and he's called Mr. Happy.

Now, if all this 3D talk is making your head spin, fret not. I'm just including it for the 3D enthusiasts who follow this blog. The rest of you can just look at this and go, "Yeah, sometimes you nail it, and sometimes you hit your thumb with the hammer."

The problems I'm having are with the skin tones. I'm not getting them to convert to inked patterns correctly. Plus, all the detail on Zed makes him a VERY slow figure to work with. I honestly can't imagine how slow the system would run if I had two of these in the same scene. Plus, the texture on his face has these huge black spots around his eyes and mouth. This looks good in color, but in b&w he looks like Rocket Raccoon's evil grandpa. And don't get me started on those Gary Busey lips of his...

Mr. Happy, on the other hand, makes my computer's CPU VERY happy. He's a very quick figure to work with, and I can imagine that 5-8 of him in one scene would not cause too many problems. But, I'm having a heck of a time getting clothes to fit him properly. His knees keep sticking out of his pants, for example. And I have yet to get any hair on him, nor a shirt that fits. I can get a cowboy hat on his head, but if he's just wearing tight pants and a cowboy hat, he kinda looks like an undead stripper.

Artistically Speaking
Getting down to the art itself, I don't like the poses or lighting in this scene. I think the background is okay, but other than that, I just don't like it. I suppose if I dropped Zed it wouldn't look quite as bad. Hap kind of has this look like he was walking in the grave yard and just heard someone breathing behind a wall, so he's about to go over and try to make lunch out of him. But with Zed there, both poses seem more comic than menacing.

After the poses, I hit the inking effects, which are too heavy on Zed and not quite right on Hap. And that unevenness, by the way, is a big part of the reason that I included them both in the same image. I need to standardize their appearance so the figures have the same look and feel throughout the book.

Here's hoping that I can pick things up next week. Because, yes, I intend to be back again next Wednesday with another post. I'm going to try to keep this up for at least another month as a way of motivating myself to stay focused on this aspect of bringing GUTSHOT: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADWOOD to press by next year.

See you next week, fear fans!

Deadwood - Art Preview of a Zombie Attack!

Sheriff Mike Foreman is terrified to see what's
crawled out of Boot Hill! Unless he gets a handle on things fast,
this could be the beginning of the end!

Here it is, folks. Our first actual glimpse of a zombie from our upcoming book/game, Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood. This image features Sheriff Mike Foreman battling a traditional shambler, which is one of the three types of zombies that will be included in our game. In this case, the young law enforcer doesn't know that you need to shoot for the head, so this battle could be very short.

This is a sample image, where I focused primarily on the techniques needed to combine two figures into a single image. I was interested primarily in the lighting (most of it comes from the muzzle flash), expression and creating a sense of dread. I'm mostly happy with the results, although I now think the pose and angle couldbe a little better (for example, I don't like that the gun is aiming straight through him, it should be at an upward angle). I also should have spread out the zombie's legs farther apart to help convey a sense of movement. And, truth be told, the muzzle flash needs a little work.

Nevertheless, I'm generally pleased with the results and think it's a good start.

Deadwood - Another look at Sheriff Mike Foreman

Sheriff Mike Foreman don't look none too happy in this
sample image that might make it into the Deadwood Book.

Here's another quick look at Sheriff Mike Foreman from the upcoming book/game, Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood.

This time I experimented with a few new things, like a different effect on his pants (these are light, before they were dark) and I tried using an exaggerated expression on his face.

To be honest, neither of these were successful, so this image probably won't make it into the final book. Especially since I forgot to pin his sheriff's badge to his vest!

However, I might revisit this image and fix the face and tin star (plus change the background) later, if it turns out that I need it for the final book. I just thought I'd include it so you could get an idea of the behind-the-scenes process that we use to select artwork for the book.

As before, this is the Michael 4 character from Daz 3D; it was rendered in Daz Studio 4.6 and converted to b&w in Photoshop.

Next week -- our first action shot featuring a zombie!

Deadwood - Wolf Willis art preview (part 2)

I was talking to Paul "Mad Dog" Mauer the other night about the artwork for the upcoming Deadwood book (he gets all flustered if I use the full name, Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood, in conversation). He likes the look of the final artwork I'm showing, but asked to see what it looks like before I convert it to black & white line art.

To back up a second, the images I'm creating start out in a 3D program called Daz Studio. I'm currently using the latest release, which is version 4.6. This is actually a free program created by a company called Daz3D. I've been a customer of theirs for more than a decade, although I used to just buy content from them. You see, they started out making figures, clothes and hair for a 3D program called Poser.

Both of these are considered entry-level 3D programs and they have tens of thousands of users around the world. Now, to digress for one second, if you're knowledgeable about 3D software you might ask why I'm not using a high-end application like Maya, 3D Studio Max or even Lightwave, or something in the middle like Carrara or even Strata 3D or Blender. The simple answer is, those are bigger than I need.

I'm not creating animations, nor am I modeling my own figures and props. Frankly, there's already a huge collection of props and figures that have been created by professional (and semi-pro) designers out there for use in Daz Studio and Poser. Rather than waste time reinventing them, I've chosen to buy (or simply obtain free models, because there are thousands of freebies out there) and compose them into scenes that I can then use to illustrate the upcoming Deadwood book.

And there's a LOT of manipulation involved. These models do not just magically transform into the black & white line art I'm previewing here. There's no simple mouse-click to do the conversion. It takes a combination of my eye and experience to go from the original render to the final image.

But, to answer Paul's question, here's a look at what I'm actually starting with. As you can see in this animated GIF, the Daz Studio software deals with wireframe 3D meshes that are then covered with textures.

From mesh to man, this series of screen shots from Daz Studio
show how detail is slowly added to the figure to bring it to life.

As 3D meshes, these have been pre-rigged, meaning they have "bones" that let them move at the joints just like people (and dogs) do. Each finger, toe, eyelid, mouth, etc. can also be moved to grasp the rifle and make the face look different (the same figure, for example, could look like different people just by adjusting the chin, cheek bones, hairline and body type). I can also move the camera around so that we can see them from different angles (I could easily switch this to a side view, or do a close-up on the dog's face. Likewise, I can adjust the lighting (in this case it comes from below to add a hint of drama to the scene).

I don't want to get into a big discussion on 3D or what my process is to convert the artwork to b&w, but if you're interested, let me know and I'll post more info about it.

Check out last week's post for a look at the final version of this image.

Deadwood - Wolf Willis art preview

Here's another art sample from the upcoming book/game, GUTSHOT: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADWOOD. This is a new character, a bounty hunter by the name of Wolf Willis (and his companion, a half-wolf dog that simply goes by the name Wolf). As you can imagine, Willis gets his nickname from his canine companion.

"Wolf" Willis stands ready to face all odds.
(click on image to see full-sized)

Right now, to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm keeping the wolf. I need to create a few more test images to see how he renders and converts into line art. I also need to see how many poses are available for the dog -- pre-set poses help save a lot of time over having to create them from scratch.

Deadwood - Art Update

Mike Foreman -- This young Deputy just got a
big promotion when the Sheriff got mauled by wild
animals... at least they THINK it was animals!

Wow, has it really been that long since my last post here? That's frightening. I haven't been completely silent at the Hawgleg Website, or even at our Facebook page.

I thought I'd give you a glimpse at some artwork that we're developing for the upcoming game, Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood.

This is a simple character study of a character who will be featured in some of the images that will go into the Deadwood book.

If you're not sure what I mean, let me explain. You see, when we created the original Gutshot book, we were able to tap into a vast collection of public domain artwork from pulp magazines published in the 1920s - 1940s. There were a lot of great Western magazines published back then, and we really benefited from the artistry of those bygone days; we found dozens of great images of cowboys, gunfighters, gamblers, and so on.

But, as we move forward with our new project, we can no longer find suitable artwork from the past. As you might imagine, there aren't a lot of zombie cowboys to be found in those old magazines. So, we must create new artwork for our new book. Although this creates some difficulties, it also creates some new opportunities. By creating a "cast of characters," our examples will be able to tell a more unified story than we did in our first book. I don't mean we're going to include a lot of fiction, but rather that when we provide an example, we will be able to tell a mini-story the progresses throughout the book. This is sort of what they did back in the Vampire: The Masquerade and World of Darkness books from White Wolf.

Hence, the need for "characters" who will appear in both text and art throughout the book. This first one is Mike Foreman, a young sheriff in a small Western town. He got the job when his old boss was mauled by wild animals. At least they THINK it was wild animals. I mean, what else could it be? His first job will be to investigate who stole the sheriff's body from the undertaker's office before it could be buried.

Stay tuned -- I'll be posting new images here soon, of Mike and some of the other characters from the Deadwood game.

Rules Q&A: Movement rates and attack modifiers

We got a question through the Hawgleg Website last week, and I reckoned it would be a good idea to share it with ya'll, in case this has caused any of you to scratch yer heads.

"When taking an action, I attack 1st then move, do I still apply applicable movement modifier to shot even though I moved after shooting?"

Movement and combat is definitely a tricky matter, and it can cause some headaches unless you pay particular attention to tracking the movement rates for all miniatures during the game.

To the question above, the short answer is no, you would not apply the penalty in that instance.  Let's break it down:

• Clem is running with a pistol in his hand down the street of the town because Jake is after him. Clem runs the full 12 inches and then stops. At this moment, until the start of his next action (when his name is pulled out of the hat) he is considered to be Running.
• Jake's name is pulled from the hat. Since he has a rifle, he decides to Walk 3 inches and take a shot at Clem. Let's say they are 8 inches apart. Jake has a TN of 7 and rolls the dice and gets a 5. We now look at the modifiers: +2 for medium range with a rifle, but -3 because Clem is running. 5 + 2 - 2 = 5. It's a miss. Clem considers the range and modifiers and decides it's not worth it to waste the ammo (after all, with the rang
• Clem's name is pulled from the hat. He is no longer considered to be running. In fact, as far as game play is concerned, he skids to a stop, turns around and takes a shot at Jake. Clem also has a TN of 7. Since he is no longer running, he does not have any movement modifiers. As for range, he is at 8 inches with a pistol, which puts him at long range and a -1 penalty. Jake is walking, so there are no movement penalties in that regard. So Clem rolls the dice and gets an 8. Looking at the numbers we see: 8 - 1 (for range) = 7: which means a hit! Clem rolls 1d6+1 damage and gets a 4.
• Jake now decides to take his Retaliation Shot. Remember, Retaliation Shots are instantaneous -- so this happens before Clem can start moving again. Jake rolls a 5 (5 + 2 (range) = 7) and gets a hit! He rolls 1d6+2 for damage and gets a total of 8! Clem is now moderately wounded, which will affect his ability to move and shoot.
• BUT, since all damage is applied at the END of the Action, it does not affect him right now. So Clem decides he'd better skeedaddle out of there as fast as he can, so he runs a full 12-inches away and hopes it's far enough to save his life, because now he's hurting.

Hope that answers the question. By the way, this might vary slightly from what you can read in the book. We've modified things since it was written, and subsequent editions and errata will correct that. The game is always evolving and this is how we actually handle this situation in games we play.

By the way, keeping up with movement can be a bit tricky, which is why we use red & yellow tokens under our minis to indicate movement. The yellow token indicates that the figure is trotting, a red token indicates he is running. This tends to help sort out a character's movement rate at any given time.

As you can see in this picture from an early playtest of Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood, two of the figures have reddish disks under them. These are used to indicate that they are running. The two figures (upper left) are on yellow disks to indicate that they are Trotting. Figures without any disks under them are Walking, and those three guys with the red splats under them are dead. Note that in the upper left corner it looks like two figures are on that one yellow disk (okay, it doesn't look that way, they are both on it), that's just because the zombie on the square base rushed the other figure and kinda knocked him off his disk. That sort of thing happens in games.

Although we do sell these tokens at our Website, you really can use anything you have on hand to help keep track of this. In a game with only a few minis, you can actually just leave it to memory, or have a notepad and jot down the current movement rate of each figure as it changes. But in a big, messy free-for-all like the one above? Movement tokens are probably the best way to go.

Hope this helps clear things up. See ya'll next Tuesday.

Deadwood: Working on the new logo

When I was prepping for OwlCon (wow, was it only two weekends ago?), I found myself scrambling to create some new materials for the Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood game I was running. I had the evening's adventure mostly worked out (it was a simple event called "Last Thing Standing!" -- I set up half the players as humans and half as Zombies and had them go at it to eliminate each other), but I needed some new character sheets for the new Revenant zombies.In our game, this type of Zombie is also called a "Character Zombie" because it's a dead man who retains his memories and skills... and can now only be killed if you manage to blow his brains out (and trust me, folks, these tough sons-of-guns ain't killed by a single bullet to the head -- they're tough).

Anyway, we'll tell more about these bad boys later. Back to my rambling story...

I was working on the character sheets and it hit me that I just didn't like the logo I had created (in haste, I might add) a few years back. It was always intended to serve as a temporary logo, and here I was still using it. You can see it on our Website on the Deadwood miniatures packages (for sale at our Website -- you know I never miss a chance to plug our stuff). For those of you who don't feel like taking a mosey over there, here ya go.

It ain't bad, but it ain't great, either. And it definitely was worth the short amount of time I spent on it. The top font is Algerian (one of my personal favorite Western fonts because it's classy and easy to read). The name of the bottom font eludes me, although I could look it up if anyone really wants to know. So, in a hurry, I modified the logo and came up with this new version:

The logo isn't 100% complete (I need to tweak a few things and consider how much blood we want dripping from it), but I definitely like it more than the first logo. The top has remained the same (Algerian, which has been customized with a black "shadow line") and Bleeding Cowboy. Now, even though Bleeding Cowboy font is a bit overused these days (just go searching for any Weird West stuff and you'll find more than you can shake a sexton's shovel at), I do like the way it looks here. Nevertheless, I suspect this will be another "interim" logo for our upcoming game. Nevertheless, you should probably expect to see this (or at least a version of it) on the Website until we finalize it for print.

By the way, if you're interested in getting this font for yourselves, you can grab it for free over at DaFont.com.

Deadwood: Names for types of zombies?

Good news on multiple points. First, we have been setting up google docs so that we can more easily collaborate on material behind the scenes. As soon as Ole Doc Murphy gets his Internet connection back up and working, we're going to get him set up, too. That should really streamline or productivity.

In the meantime, Paul and I have been discussing some details about zombies. Specifically, what are we going to call them in the new game. Up until now we've been calling them Shamblers, Revenants, and Rage Zombies. All of these is a descriptive, they don't have the right ring to it.

Awhile back on TMP, someone suggested we use the name "Skeeters" for the fast zombies. Although it does have a nice ring to it (especially when you say it like Gaby Hayes: "Goldarnit, them Skeeters just ate the school marm's face!"), it just isn't what were looking for.

So, we have a short list of names that we are using internally. But... We thought maybe we would open to discussion up here again. Any ideas or suggestions? If we use your idea you will get credit in the book, thus earning you immortality among the pantheon of gamers.