Nothing Beats a Box Set

Lesser Gnome entered the OSR RPG market with a product originally conceived as a module and quickly grew to the scale of a double ENnie nominated Old School Box Set. The Whisper & Venom box set blasted through all hopes, dreams and goals. It was a project only made possible by backers and OSR supporters.
Death & Taxes is starting out intended to be a box set not a module adventure. That goal and dream can only be exceeded by backers who support the feel of good solid metal minis, professional writing, and of course… Lloyd Metcalf Art.
>>>>>Read the full article HERE...>>>>>

Whisper and Venom

I have illustrated this project extensively, pick it up, share it, check it out... but support it as best you can :)

A bit of Dwarven ...cheer?

 

A Good Dwarven Mug from the under-town of Cleft.

Gary Con V "A Life Well Played"

The Last Day

Saturday was very busy. I started early and ended late. I played "Tower of Gygax" with a few young fellas at the table. They may have been somewhere between 10 and 12, but their over excitement at the table was good to see. I didn't care that the Druid tried to pick some pockets or the bumbling around. We were all smiling, and their enthusiasm is something I hope will last as long as mine has.
I had a Chance to steal Diesel "DSL", Dave LaForce for an hour or so and talk about digital art, the Wacom, Photoshop and how I work. soo... no pressure.

Sunday

I grabbed a game of Gigantic with Chris Clark. An outrageously fun game that I NEED to get a copy of, where you play classic character types on a sinking legendary cruise ship.
We got to talk a little "business" afterward about Eldritch enterprises and how they work with artists. Next week I will have the contract signed, and you can say hello to the newest member of the art team of Eldritch. I am not sure if everyone is aware of who is involved with Eldritch, but it is a core group of Dungeons and Dragons old guard members. There isn't a ton of money involved, but I can do whatever I like with the images I give them and this has nothing to do with money for me. They have found a contract that is smart and gives everyone maximum creativity.
What does that all mean?
That means, cross a life long dream off my list.

The over -all

I met a bunch of the Gygax family, a bunch of the originators of RPG's, a bunch of artists, game designers, players, young and old. I didn't come across a single person I didn't like. I TRULY wish I had come with a few hundred bucks to blow. When I realized Elise Cousino (Gygax) (Every D&D old school player's dream girl ;)) was auctioning off her chainmail top that really is a piece of D&D history, I realized a fella should come to the auction with a full bank account. There were some other UBER collectible pieces in the auction that all the family and friends had donated to help Ernie recover from a fire. I hope they made a mint for him.
No one charges for signatures, and everyone came in honor of Gary Gygax Sr. "A Life Well Played"
I would especially like to thank Luke Gygax for letting me illustrate the module for the convention he wrote with Jim Ward and REALLY opening the door for me to get my feet wet and get everyone's attention right off the bat. I look forward to many more projects with him and TSR whenever they pop up for me.
I would also like to thank everyone who looked at my portfolio, talked with me, and gave their thoughts. Lastly, everyone who rolled dice with me and sat at the gaming tables.
This was truly a trip to remember and one I will never forget. It may have strained the purse strings this year, but was worth every cent, every moment.

Gary Con V Day one

 Getting Started at Gary Con

Everything was going smooth to start my trip off. I woke up early, double checked my bags, had a nice bagel and a couple cups of coffee and was running through my head everything I had to do to make my trip from Maine to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the birthplace of Dungeons and Dragons and RPG's in general.
I got to the airport and my flight was delayed before I even got on the plane. So for 3 and a half hours I opened up my laptop and did some final tweaks on Luke Gygax's flyers for his module which I had illustrated the interior and cartography.
My life is on my laptop, my art, and everything I planned on doing. Imagine my terror when the stewardess told me they would have to check my carry on, My laptop and all, to the underside of the plane on this small plane. I had images of brute tossing my precious  cargo like gorillas on a samsonite commercial.
It survived.
My connection in Detroit began boarding at 7:10 and we got to the gate at 7:13. I am not sure if I can emphasize how far Detroits' gate A49 is from gate C26, but suffice it to say that my hurried state from one to another was something remarkable. Somehow, I made it as they were boarding. Onboard, everyone seemed to have puts big bags where they didn't belong, and there was no room for my precious cargo again... and it was officially "checked". OHHH the panic as I let go of my life, portfolio, and art to someone elses hands.
In Milwaukee, everything survived!! From this point on - everything would be smooth!
Until the rental car company decided they neeeded to put and extra $200 hold on my credit card. No idea how I didn't hear about this.

 At Lake Geneva Resort

I came into the resort and immediately recognized my roommate Jeremy and shook his hand. Then he thought it would be funny to flip his badge over and say, "Hi, I'm Steve.." The exhaustion of travel sent me spinning and saying, "Ok... Hi Steve..."
Before I even checked in, ten minutes through the door Frank Mentzer was flipping through my portfolio and commenting on the pieces he liked, and how he liked to know that digital artists could also work in traditional media, Colleen was right! We talked about OGL and copyright info for module printing and I immediately was struck by how good this weekend would be. Frank is a very charismatic articulate speaker and was freely sharing his experience. HE took a card and I am pretty sure that somewhere between himself and Jim Ward we will be talking about maybe getting some work in some Eldritch modules.

The lodge was warm and inviting, the staff friendly and there was plenty to do. I WAS STARVING!! that bagel at 8:00 AM was a long time a go.
A run to Burger king and we were in action again. We grabbed a board game of "Ticket to Ride" and a drink and had a late night. Jeremy and I sat up talking about the Con, the games and what we would do.
I checked my schedule and saw I had an Old school D&D game with Tim Kask in the morning at 10:00. The first old school TSR employee, if I recall correctly, and legendary editor and DM.

 The next morning I got my badge and a little extra gear before breakfast and I found Tim's table and sat down to a good old school D&D module "Curse of the Weaver" sold by Eldritch. A fun story, a solid module and a fun game.

 Tim Kask (Behind the screen)

Tim worked his way through the module with the group. His first game of Gary Con V. I felt my character was dominating the social situation, and along toward the wrap up time, my character made a slightly rash decision and charged into a giant lizard (That may have been wounded) instead of fleeing.
This started the trend, and Tim enacted a coupe de gras and finished up the game a TPK (Total Party Kill) It was a good game, lots of fun, and The Curse of the Weaver is a great module.

After this I attended a seminar talk by Frank Mentzer about his time with Gary Gygax. It was both enlightening and entertaining. It was more of a "Let's all sit around Frank and listen to his tale" than a seminar really, it was just the title he chose for the talk.
Some Chinese take out and a nap was in order... and there we are.
The portfolio and artwork has all been well received, Luke bought me a drink and chatted a while this evening and SO many good things are happening. I really feel my work has a place in all this somewhere, and it's coming together. Not to mention the fun!
Tomorrow morning I sit in on Frank Mentzers D&D adventure, notes and photos will happen.

A double whammy!

It has been quite some time since I have updated the old blog, which also updates the front of the website.
Shame on me... but this is good news, it means work is coming in to keep Ol' Spratt' busy.

To reward your patience, Enjoy a couple pieces that I recently have finished.
A monacled Goblin. Maybe a little contradictory, but I was thinking perhaps the monacle might be an object of "true seeing" or perhaps "Treasure finding", and this character seems to just create his own backstory just looking at the image.

The second is the Flesh Xorn. A creature related to the Xorn, but from the plane of flesh (or some such similar place). The problem with resizing things for blogs and web, is the loss of detail.
I particularly enjoyed working on the mouth parts for this one, and they are lost on the wide angle view.
I am not sure where I will use this creature, but I assure you, it will be a rather uncomfortable encounter.