Swamps and Spells
I haven't started yet in my new sketchbook, but that won't stop the creatieve flow! I continued to sketch using post-its and two ballpoint pens. The last few weeks I've been watching Fraggle Rock again. So on the train I tried to sketch the basic body of a Fraggle. After putting down the basic lines it looked more like a frog. I decided to give him a costume. The end result is Quin, a young sorcerer's apprentice.
Should I stop here? the wizard reminded me of a fun animation series: Dungeons and Dragons. Six children lost in another dimension looking for the way home. To help them along the way the Dungeon Master granted each of them a role and a magic weapon. I already drew the wizard, would it be interesting to draw the other roles? After some research on the internet I found out that the game on which the animation series was based originally had three roles: the wizard, the fighter and the thief. This seemed like a good starting point.
Clovis, the fighter shares many visual elements with Bobby from D&D. This was not intentional, but a result of the thought process. Clovis has a club to emphasize his brute strength. The shorts and boots are inspired by Masters of the Universe figures, including the way his legs are posed. The helmet matches well with the club. He hardly has any armor, giving him a better range to swing his club.
For Nisha, the thief it was important to keep the costume simple. She doesn't want to be noticed. She carries a dagger for a swift attack. Looking back I could have given her smaller daggers to throw at her foes. Perhaps they are hidden under her cloak? Turning invisible through the cloak seemed too obvious. Nisha becomes a shadow when she closes her cloak.
When the heroes were designed it seemed fun to add a title. Given the background it had to borrow some features from D&D. In order to achieve this both words had to start with the same letter. The first word had to refer to the location(s). The second word had to refer to the game. The end result is Swamps & Spells. Swamps because a famous frog grew up there and it 's a place of beauty and danger. The spells part seems obvious.
I didn't want to use dragons in the logo. It's already a visual mark of D&D. I thought about potentialy dangerous animals in a swamp. Alligators or snakes. Snakes appeared to fit in the logo quite nicely. Of course it isn't just small snakes that inhabit this game, but huge serpents that block the path of our heroes.
Speaking of blocked paths, a sketch of the environment seemed like a good way to set the mood. Wart Deep is a huge swamps and it inhabitants tremble in fear of...
Telfer, the Iron stork! People that know a bit of Dutch history should know where he gets his looks. I wonder how well known he is in Spain…
How to proceed? Maybe I'll expand this idea with sketches of enemies. I also have something in mind for Telfer's base of operations.
