LMetcalf Finding Home

If you are looking for Lloyd Metcalf RPG art and Illustration, you are ALMOST in the right place. This Blogspot blog has been a hit or miss tool.

Check out my homepage now at LMetcalf.com

You can also go immediately to my product store HERE

RPG hoard

I am going to try to be consistent in adding to an online RPG Hoard of items that come across my table and Mini Mods. As the list grows, I hope to hear how some of the items, NPC's and maps get used.

Entry #1...
The Ugly Stickhttp://www.lmetcalf.com/rpghoard/ugly-stick/

The Dungeons and Dragons Art Life

How I became an RPG Artist

(The extremely short version)

It was January 2013 when I got the Facebook message. Or at least, that's when I think it was.
Luke Gygax, son of Gary Gygax creator of Dungeons and Dragons, sent me a message asking if I could contribute any images to his first adventure module he was trying to get done for GaryCon V (iirc).
There was something about a bear pooping in the woods. I was pretty fresh to digital art and had how-to videos rolling most of the time I was working from home.
The artwork in that module was just terrible. I had never shot anything directly to print before. Much of it was too dark, anatomically terrible, or just not what I would consider print-worthy today. It was enough to get the wheels rolling though. I was working on art 8 hours a day after coming home from my new office job, that also required 8 hours a day (Plus an hour and a half of driving).

I went all in and attended GaryCon. It was at great expense, maxing out a credit card, eating baloney and cheese in the hotel room that I was sharing, all to get there with a portfolio of images.

I was rewarded with Frank Mentzer, one of the early founders of D&D, thumbing the portfolio within the first few minutes. Since that moment Frank has been a vocal supporter of what I do.
It was at that Con I met many of my connections that have kept me going. Zach Glazar from Lesser Gnome had an idea, a basic module plot, and a commissioned piece from Jeff Dee. He was in dire need of an artist. He missed breakfast that morning and got stuck looking at what I had. Many other friends were made, games played, and art shared.

A month or so later Zach needed a small map, then in trickled the needs. I wasn't the best, but I decided from the beginning that what was needed was to be on time. Every time a deadline came, I made sure to beat it.
I started to get a bit better with each piece. I also began to take the idea of my teen age dream of illustrating fantasy RPGs seriously.

Lesser Gnome ended up entering the market after a super kickstarter with a full on old school box set. Many lessons were learned by everyone. I picked up some new tools and we showed up at GaryCon VI with our new products. Almost a year later I went to telecommuting my office job to keep up, then shortly after to no office job to keep up.

The client list has grown, I was a guest at North Texas RPG Con This year, shared a room with my childhood art Hero Jeff Easley, and have made MANY fast friends doing exactly what I love.

I have been extremely grateful all along this journey, but I have made many sacrifices and have worked at improving myself and my art like a tireless animal. My immediate family has been supportive, and every month brings a nervous moment of making sure the rent is paid.

My own Webstore is always growing with products and these seem like the days of unveiling the dreams. Just waiting for the veil to come all the way off to see what is under there!

Every year I am invited back to illustrate for Luke. We go to Lake Geneva and pay homage to Gary and meet with all our friends. Texas is also on my list every year. The friends and support I have found there cannot be beat.

This short article leaves out the working in the cold basement in Maine, our move to Florida, the many struggles and challenges we faced, and new clients I met. I have lost count of how many times my work has been published in less than 2 years. I am not sure there even is a recipe to follow or share about my journey. It seems like a long string of hard work and accidental friendships.

Now in my down time, when I find some, I produce and print my own Role Playing Game Adventures compatible with the old school AD&D model. Oil paintings don't linger around long before they sell and ship out the door. I am truly humbled by all the support, and I wake up eager every day to improve my work in some way.

Game - on.
Lloyd Metcalf
http://LMetcalf.com

Get some Respite while you can!

Got Respite?

Soon there will be no Respite at all!

Roadside Respite is selling out fast. The first 50 copies will be bagged, signed and numbered.
The collectible type of Mod you want. Many folks are scooping up two at a time. One to play, and one to collect!

Direct from the artist Frank Mentzer advises "Buy his work now while you can afford it, I have an eye for artists to watch."

Don't miss the chance to get your bony fingers on one of the first 50 copies off the press!

http://lmetcalf.com/shop/?post_type=product&p=153

Some of you may have seen 'The Bogey of Swindle' My Mini Mod adventure I created with Ian Graham. Well, those were pretty popular.

The trial run was worth a shot, and we have decided to launch 'Mini Mods' A series of 3 short adventures.
We already have 2 of the 3 written. I have used some of the Kickstarter funds from the greeting card project to help get them moving. I have brought on a professional writer to help us out.... and yes, there is a kickstarter to get them made.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lmetcalf/rpg-mini-mods-role-playing-games-mini-modules
Help us fund Mini Mod adventures. Short one off adventure quests written for unprepared GMs, or side quests, red herrings, or just to add depth to your campaign world.
If you can't back or support I hope you will help spread the word. We are very excited to be part of the new generation of RPG game creators.

Bird of a Feather

New Module From Lesser Gnome!

As many folks know Lesser Gnome is one of my main outlets of illustration. Zach and John have written another addition to the world and I have had the honor of illustrating it from front to back.
Alyssa Faden was again recruited to do the overland map, and it comes with a mini!
The Mini included is the Rhacos, similar to an Axe Beak, but generally much more 'Fabulous'.
for more work check the website http://www.lmetcalf.com

To get your module:

http://lessergnome.com/product/bird-of-a-feather-a-thopas-short-1st-print-pre-order/

Does Illustration Matter?

If you think maybe Art doesn't sell, and has no effect on your printed book, game module, or product, think again.

Ask a Dungeons and Dragons player to describe in detail a mind flayer, Goblin or beholder and they can use any book they like.
While they talk watch what happens. Their eyes do not scan the page for words, not the paragraph on the subject, not the place-holder in the text.... but an image, a piece of art is where their attention rests.
The gamer will dart his eyes down and up well over a dozen or more times to get through about 10 sentences of descriptive language.
He / she is not reading text, they are looking at the illustration that interpreted the text. They recognized the section they needed that held the monster in the text by recognizing the artwork.
The more engaging the artwork, the more engaging you will find the description become.

Why is it important to game and fantasy writers to try this?
In the web design world it's what we might consider a usability study of a page. Just to sit aside, and record where a visitor looks, what they read, and where they click.
Without directing a reader and user of your product let them have a round of the text without art and it becomes apparent as you sit at the table what happens. Quietly play through your module as someone else is reading and presenting without art. Don't interrupt, don't re-describe your vision for encounters. You won't be sitting at every table after you publish.
The game changes dramatically with no art, and even different artistic interpretations of the exact same text will change the game. Just pop in a couple stick drawings in the text, all with round heads and funny faces, an play through again, it will be a new game.


If I type the name Kitiara, or Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Raistlin etc.... do you immediately recall passages of text from the great writers who created the names, or are you conjuring first artwork of Larry Elmore and his interpretations of dragons and hourglass eyes?
Make no mistake, Weis and Hickman were the creators of those characters, breathed life into them, made them talk, feel and interact with the world, but when someone thinks of those characters, they are thinking in Elmore imagery before they talk.

Now think of the importance of Rich "Uncle" Pennybags to sales of a product. Don't recognize the name in type? What if I said "The Monopoly Man" who looks like J P Morgan? How important is that little piece of art to sales? How many millions of times has that drawing been reproduced and printed? He is an American Icon. Sadly, no one really knows who the original artist was.

How much impact can a little illustration have on people?
Fred Mizen, an artist / illustrator in 1930 who managed to get a one off job painting a sign for a department store to pay his bills.
Oh, you don't don't know the name?
That's ok, most people don't and I had to google it myself.

Describe to yourself, or your kids Santa Clause.

You just described Fred Mizens interpretation, and you possibly have described it to children many times over. Fred Painted the first modern Santa that was rotund, jolly, wearing a red suit.... and... drinking a Coke over the worlds largest soda fountain. Prior to that he was smaller, occasionally gaunt, elf like, a little scary and paranormal. The Saturday evening Post, and later Macy's printed Freds art, and the world was changed.

When an illustration appears in text it is referred to in description, big deal!! Big deal indeed. Especially in Fred's case, and that of role-playing games and fantasy. In these situations it is left to the responsibility of one person describing to others how something or someone looks, what the mood of their setting is, how they interact with the world and how to relate to them. one person tells others.
When the others read that text, the imagery used to describe that scenario is reproduced when they look at the text. They will likely re-tell it again, continuing to use the image they see, their past experiences with it (described from another looking at the art), and the new things they see on closer inspection will be added.
Retold to 3 to 5 people a dozen times using a single image and a certain "expectation" becomes solidified as how something should look. How would you react to a waif thin, sunken eyed, elf draped in animal furs sneaking into your house? That would be the old Santa, not Raistlin sneaking into your bedroom.

So buy art for your writing, buy it often, and consider the value and impact it will have. Treat your artists well and they will strive to make sure your product lives in the memory of people for the long run. They will happily associate their images with your brilliant writing. Slapping in the wrong art, or no art, or even worse... MS office CLIP ART (yes, I have seen it).. will get your product passed over by the readers regardless of the writing quality.

~Lloyd M

Warm ups can be good too

What I do before I start

Sometimes before I sit down to the Cintiq (which is still a new thing to me) or a canvas, I will do some loose doodles to loosen up and warm up.
So the other day was no exception. I came home from a full day of work and sat down with my dinner salad to get into another few hours of illustration. I popped open a small image, roughly 1,000px x 800px and started scribbling around with various brushes in a set I had discovered.
At first black on white, then not liking that, I went with a Chiaroscuro technique of making everything Sienna and burnt umber.
I set the scribble aside and started working, but kept coming back to it. Right before my eyes there were things appearing that demanded splashes of light.
Well into the painting I realized that it was 1K x 800 at 72 dpi. tiny in size. So up blew the image and in went the detail, and here is the result.
Still a little impressionistic in nature, but I like the feel and energy. Wasn't sure what to do with it, but the Gnome will take it for future projects.
This note I leave to myself and others.... even on warm up start as if it will go to print. or "Res up" early in the process. Doing it later increased the work load on the drawing.
Lesson learned, now back to work!!

Whisper and Venom

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

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.

Gary Con Bound

Chronicles of an Adventure

Tomorrow, I will roll my D20 in memory of E Gary Gygax Sr. Who's XP exceeded the level limit on March 4th 2008.
I will be attending Gary Con in Lake Geneva Wi. from March 13th to March 18th, a gaming convention put together by his friends and family in memory of the fella that changed the way we roll dice and tell stories.
So book mark this page, as I intend on TRYING to get to the blog to update with photos, events, and "whatever happens" as it all progresses day by day!

Holiday season

The Holidays are upon us, there's no denying it. We are a few days into Hannukah, and everyone is talking holiday plans and meals.
Well have at it!!! Clockwork Santa says,"Tick tock Tick" instead of Ho ho ho!!
Hope you all enjoy the season.