art references

Horse fulcrum

Hellenistic, 2nd-1st century BC

This outfit

[the actual clothing of the bronze age person called Egtvedpiken, found in modern day denmark]

That the archeologists, who were early 20th century people, were like:

“its. Too Sexy…. This sex appeal. It cant be everyday clothing. No one would look this lit on day to day basis!

She must been like a. Bronze Age Ritual Sexy Dancer! Yes. It so. And during the rest of the time. They wore Full Lenght Skirts TM. Despite we found several clothing in similiar style but hmmm.

Help! I have gotten a patriachal edwardian meltdown, and can no more think, when meeting such a short short skirt, and such a lit bare mid riff shirt! Aaah!”

So anyway, clearly The Bog Mummy won this battle of wills between Bog Mummy and Edwardian Archeologists

Bog mummy mocking the edwardian archeologists, clearly

Image source

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egtvedpiken.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Opal/matrix cameo brooches - Wilhelm Schmidt, late 19th century.

In the days of early development for Gambit, the art department had a one-day jam to come up with ideas for factions and themes. I was picturing everything tied together with MtG style Planeswalkers, and wanted just an insanely diverse line-up of different factions. I wanted to really think about instantly clear hierarchies and giving the factions real motivation. Some of this stuff is REALLY rough, and some of it isn’t that original. I was just trying to pump out as many themes and ideas as possible in a short amount of time. None of this stuff really ended up in the game except the Imps from the Unsettled. 

Unsettled- The first team I drew, I pictured the Unsettled as a land-rich but cash-poor aristocratic family bent on reviving their glory days. Their imp servants use blue magic to revive their more notable ancestors. I imagined they’d just have endless crypts dating back a millennium of deceased despots, tyrants, dukes, layabouts, etc.

Veggiemancers- I think there are obvious similarities between the way RTS games and gardening games can be about stockpiling resources and saving up for big payoffs. I think the gardening witches are crucial to contextualizing everything. Storybook witches are often just women who prioritize their own power (and comfort!) over the demands of society. So, the vegetable monsters are all teetering a line between cute and uncomfortably weird- they’re not “for you,” they’re for the witches. Right? (Also shout out to Black Magic brand fertilizer, holla!)

Party Barge-  To integrate some sci-fi fantasy to the mix, the Party Barge. I love the idea of a fun troll team that shoots deadly confetti canons and boosts teammates with thumping jams and jello shots. Some people just want to play a game, have fun, and not take their in-game-selves too seriously and I like when games give you a way to express this. (Very Star Wars of course, but also the longest party ever held from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Thor Ragnarok wasn’t out at the time but damn that’s also the vibe.)

Softball Furies - At this point in the jam (probably like 2 pm) I was starting to run out of ideas, so Baseball Furies + Mad Max + Hunger Games?  The idea of team mascots as genetically engineered mutants is pretty fun, like Geshi from Clone High (This was drawn in a pre-Gritty world.) It seems boring to me to make every in-game faction just be an “army,” or a group of people united to fight a battle. How else are people united, and how else can they share common goals?

Destructagons- I hate how little personality spell cards get? Its always like, a drawing of a fireball or a spell book or something. I was thinking maybe all neutral spells could be a singular faction - some bizarre, alien time travelers who show up, unleash devastating hell, and peace out. Maybe they’re inadvertently destroying their own ancestors. The tribal mask theme was a last second addition - I just wanted them to feel like there are actual people behind the exterior appearance and not just be little geometric horrors. At the same time, their expressions are fixed- they are completely indifferent to everyone around them.

The Seraphs- This was the last concept pitch for a Gambit army I did on that initial art jam day- I wanted to squeeze one more concept in. (The text has a paraphrased / botched Angels in America quote.) They are little happy heralds of the apocalypse. They joyously announce the coming of much bigger and more eldritch horrors that will rapturously destroy all in their paths.

Artstation store •  Gumroad

Hey everyone!

In this tutorial I want to share a few of my favorite tricks I end up using in one of my daily workflows.

Pack includes:

Full 2x speed video process

Full PSD with all layers

PDF Step by step with explanations

A few tips for creating juicy effects

ANCIENT GREEK SOCIETY: 

Although ancient Greek Society was dominated by the male citizen, with his full legal status, right to vote, hold public office, and own property, the social groups which made up the population of a typical Greek city-state or polis were remarkably diverse. Women, children, immigrants (both Greek and foreign), labourers, and slaves all had defined roles, but there was interaction (often illicit) between the classes and there was also some movement between social groups, particularly for second-generation offspring and during times of stress such as wars.

Although the male citizen had by far the best position in Greek society, there were different classes within this group. Top of the social tree were the ‘best people’, the aristoi. Possessing more money than everyone else, this class could provide themselves with armour, weapons, and a horse when on military campaign. The aristocrats were often split into powerful family factions or clans who controlled all of the important political positions in the polis. Their wealth came from having property and even more importantly, the best land, i.e.: the most fertile and the closest to the protection offered by the city walls.

Greek Ornament in The Coloured Ornament of All Historical Styles 

Today we are featuring Greek decorative plates from The Coloured Ornament of All Historical Styles, Part I: Antiquity by Alexander Speltz, published in Leipzig, Germany in 1915 by Baumgärtner. The multi volume portfolio was produced with three color and four color printing based on Speltz’s original watercolor paintings.

In a preface to the Part I, Spetz wrote:

“In accomplishing this work special attention has been paid to the possibility of easily finding the text belonging to each figure, and to a classification according to the chronology of art history and archeology, for this work is not merely intended to be a standard for the polychromatic ornament, but also a resource for the study of history of art and archaeology.

If this work, whose first part herewith published and whose further parts Medieval Period, Renaissance, and Rococo Style, Classicism will follow as soon as possible, contributes to revive that sense of colours lost in this our prosaic time and helps to restore to our generation that delightful rejoicing in beautiful forms and colours, the writer’s end has been achieved.”  

View more posts about decorative arts and pattern books.

florian hetz, 27.10.18