Archive for category Craig's Sketchpad
The Shadow World
Posted by craig in 3D, CJ Productions, Craig's Sketchpad, Digital Paintings, Hand Drawn, ICE Rolemaster, Illustration, Logo Design, Shadow World, Vue on February 15th, 2010
Yet another gap since my last entry – but this time I’ve been productive …honest! 
I’m very excited to be involved with the illustration and design of the Shadow World Player Guides.
This is the roleplaying campaign setting created by Terry Amthor for ICE’s Rolemaster ruleset. And by Campaign Setting, I am of course talking about an entire world!!!! Basically, think of the realm of Middle Earth, with all the different cultures, lore and history and then cube it. The Shadow World is not a one continent land, it consists of 14 continents in the western hemisphere alone!
The Player Guides, as the name suggests, are to help the Players better understand the world without requiring the Game’s Master to waste playing time describing the different elements to them including the basics of time keeping (hours, days, months, seasons, years etc), climate, geography, inhabitants, magic and gods etc. It will also include a lot of location images of the various lands and places of interest.
The first one released will be the World Guide but then there’ll be a lot of more specific info dealt with in the more Regional Guides to follow including local customs, history and lore, inhabitants and any ‘local gods/spirits’ common to these places.
Here’s a taste of some of the location shots planned on being used in the Guides…
The Emerald Forest in Emer
The Quon Jungle in Emer
One of Eidolon’s Sky Ships
The Aalk Athimurl, the fortress of the Dragon Lord in Jaiman
A Navigator’s Obelisk used to summon a Navigator
These were all created using Vue Complete, a 3D landscape application. For larger versions of some of these images, take a look at the 3D Sketchpad Gallery.
Craig’s Sketchpad update
Posted by craig in 3D, Craig's Sketchpad, Illustration, Shadow World, Vue on February 15th, 2010
I’ve managed to update my Sketchpad site’s gallery which now includes several NEW categories including 3D and Vector albums!
Here’s a taster of the 3D images created in Vue Complete…
The Vœrken Mire from the roleplaying campaign setting of the Shadow World
And 2 Avatar inspired images
You’ll be able to see the full size versions of these images in the Gallery!
Does this mean I’ll eventually get the Gallery done for this site including the design work and logo’s?
Yes, I will eventually do it. 
Updates
Posted by craig in 3D, Craig's Sketchpad, ICE Rolemaster, Illustration, Personal, Vue on December 29th, 2009
A boring title, I know – but this is just updates so tough!
I’m working on a Shadow World Players Guide which will have a lot of Vue landscape renders as well as some drawings. As it’s still in progress, I can’t add any images here so I have a couple of other things to show.
A Vue render trying out a technique for ‘hyperterrains’ – the name given to the creation of the unusual shaped terrains which aren’t possible in the traditional terrain creation process.
An old-school Vector in Adobe Illustrator. Some subtle object blends but mostly a line work. Michelle is the woman featured and she has a gallery here.
That’s it for now.
E-on Software’s Vue Pioneer is FREE!
Posted by craig in Craig's Sketchpad, Digital Paintings, Illustration, Personal, Photo Manipulation on October 12th, 2009
I thought I’d let every one know about E-on Software’s Vue product line. Vue is a 3D landscape & animation program available for both PC & Mac and it produces stunning images.
They’ve made Vue Pioneer, the core program, available for FREE so it’s definitely something you’d need to checkout!
Here’s the full image I used in the banner ads for my site; just so you know what to expect. This was created in Vue Complete but only a couple of extra modules would have been needed on top of Vue Pioneer for this image.
As always, click that image for a larger version.
The different Vue Versions
To try and counter any confusion before you go to the E-on Software’s web site, Vue comes in 3 main versions. Starting from the top they are…
- Vue xStream – This is strictly for the pros and it gives them access to all of Vue’s modelling & animation tool directly in their high-end 3D programs (Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D etc).
- Vue Infinite – This is the same as Vue xStream but it’s a standalone version that you can use without the need for a separate high-end 3D program.
- Vue Complete, Vue Pro Studio, Vue Esprit and Vue Pioneer – These are the same program at it’s core – Vue Pioneer – but with different amounts of modules installed on top of that. As the name suggests, Vue Complete has all the modules installed and Vue Pioneer has none.
That’s not to say that Vue Pioneer is no good, Vue Pioneer has many features that gives you access to the powerful 3D landscape modelling. When you’re ready to take the next step, you can purchase just the modules you need if you like – you don’t need to conform to the specific modules that’d take you to Vue Esprit or the Vue Pro Studio versions.
Some of my recent additions (as well as several to come) have used Vue and I’ll be including this banner below any of my posts that have used Vue.
What’s in it for me?
It’s true that I’m altruistic …to a point. 
If you make any purchase on the Cornucopia3D web site for extra modules or 3D content within the first 30 days of visiting the site, my account will be credited 10%. After that, I see nothing.
Vue Pioneer is completely free and you needn’t purchase anything at all, which means I’d get nothing …but if you do, I’d certainly appreciate it. 
Kobold Lair Map
Posted by craig in Craig's Sketchpad, Digital Paintings, Hand Drawn, ICE Rolemaster, Illustration, Personal on September 2nd, 2009
It’s that time of the month again – it’s ICE’s map contest! This time it’s a lair for Kobolds (a lesser goblin type creature).
I was going to enter the old-school hand drawn map that I uploaded here – old-school map but after I added a little bit of texture to it, I just had to carry on!
Here is the opening spread describing the tactics the kobold’s would use to defend their lair and a larger map view is below that.
And here’s a close up of the textures so you can see it at it’s actual size
This is the cover illustration used for the PDF depicting the nasty trap the Kobold’s have in store for unsuspecting adventurers!
Click those images for a larger version!
NEW – Craig’s Sketchpad Gallery
Posted by craig in Craig's Sketchpad, Digital Paintings, Hand Drawn, ICE Rolemaster, Illustration, Personal, Photo Manipulation on August 14th, 2009
Finally, I’ve added an image gallery of some of my work at my Craig’s Sketchpad blog! That blog is specifically for the ‘illustrational’ part of my work but there are occasional overlaps with this blog as well.
Check it out – Craig’s Sketchpad Gallery
…and ironically, this post has no pictures.
I’ll also be adding a gallery here which will include more of the ‘design’ projects covering both web and print work but I’ll let you know when that happens.
The Majestic Griffin
Posted by craig in ICE Rolemaster, Photo Manipulation on August 1st, 2009
This is an entry into a chimera creature contest from ICE (Iron Crown Enterprises) – the first entry of many.
I thought I’d start with something recognisable and I think the Griffin is perhaps the most well known of all the composite creatures. There’s a close-up and a whole image as well.
As usual, you can click on them to see the larger versions.
I’ve shown the source images in the main image so you can see the separate elements. All were edited in Photoshop CS3 (yes, I’ve still not bought the upgrade and as time progresses, I’ll probably wait for the CS5 version now).
Colourful doodles
Posted by craig in Digital Paintings on March 27th, 2009
After a very long time, I’ve picked up the old paint brush again (or Wacom tablet to be precise).
This is the first of many hopefully and will form the basis of my art portfolio site (not to be confused with my graphic design portfolio site – CJ Productions)
What do you think?
Warrior Mage.
click to view the whole thing
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About Me
My name's Craig John and I'm a Graphic Designer in Wales. I've been in the business for over 15 years now. This is where you'll be subjected to my inane ramblings as well as one or two bits of info from my other projects. CJ Productions, Criag's Sketchpad and from my newest project, Graphic Basics, a Video Training Podcast.
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