[Art & Warcraft Stuff] February 2024

[jordangreywolf]

Mr. Smite's Improv Comedy Show
"Dreyfus Xano" runs a weekly "improv" routine, which works reasonably well for the MMO format. Basically, a bunch of folks gather around, and he has some variation on some sort of "Mad Libs" routine where he'll ask the audience to come up with an idea for a thing, they'll shout out random stuff, he lands on something arbitrarily picked, and makes a joke out of it. Rinse, repeat. Sometimes it's just silly, sometimes it's genuinely funny, but overall it's participatory rather than just everyone sitting around and watching people run through a script. The RP conceit is that his partner is the one and only Mr. Smite (sometimes made possible through an in-game "toy" and some sort of script shenanigans to keep the toy-buff going, because if we had a "real" tauren in the middle of Stormwind, the guards would come running and there would be PVP stuff interrupting the routine).



Plainstrider Pot Pie
It requires a big pot. Serves several. Another recipe article illustration, though the writer was just going with "chicken pot pie," not really trying hard at all for the Azeroth angle, so I suggested we make the poultry plainstrider for a nominal setting-specific twist.



The Wizard's Sanctum, Day and Night
I was asked for a location image of the Wizard's Sanctum in the Mage District of Stormwind City as a placeholder picture for articles about events happening there.



Wizard's Sanctum Interior
Well, actually, I was asked for an image of the Wizard's Sanctum, and drew THIS first, before it was clarified that the EXTERIOR was desired. Oops.



Meatballs are in the Air
What recipe says "Valentine's Day" more than a meatball sub sandwich? Okay, there are probably several, but this is the recipe that came up that week for whatever reason, so I tried to give it a "Love is in the Air" spin (Azeroth's version of Valentine's Day) to make it fit the theme/season better.



True Wuff
A plush worg doll holding a plush heart, for "Love is in the Air." Representing a blatant gold-grab merchandise item at a vrykul-themed merchant booth at the Stormwind Market, based on the shopkeeper's faithful worg sidekick.



Zandalari Pork Posole
At least, I hope it's pork in there. With troll cuisine, you can't be too sure.



Vrykul Meatballs and Lingonberry Sauce
Another recipe article illustration. The recipe was for SWEDISH meatballs, but there is no Sweden in Warcraft, so I proposed changing it to "vrykul."




Gnomish Adventurer at Stormwind Harbor
Judge her not by her size!



Roadrunner Triple Portrait
A doodle I drew in a rush in hopes of having something to share with my grandma, who was doing really, really poorly -- as in, everyone flying in to be there in the last moments. I was told that she saw it and laughed. Most of my relatives didn't get the inspiration reference, though. I'm not sure if she did, and I guess now I'll never know (this side of eternity anyway).



AI-Assisted Art: Chairs on Wings
For my workplace, when we have brainstorming sessions, one thing the facilitators will bring up is that we want everyone to employ a "FORNESS" mindset: don't waste time calling out what problems you see with the ideas that are shared. We're here to capture ideas, expand upon them, and then we can comb through everything later to see what has merit. Instead of saying what's wrong with an idea, try to share what you're "FOR" about the idea (what, no matter how wacky it is, is a GOOD thing?) and what you "WISH FOR" (can you think of an improvement that would address whatever concern you have?).

The classic example would be "Chairs on Wings" -- "Okay, everyone imagine we're working for an airline company. My wonderful new idea is a way to solve seating problems on airplanes by putting ... SEATS ON THE WINGS! Now share what you're FOR about my amazing, perfect idea...." ("Plenty of leg room!" "Fresh air!" "Can't hear screaming babies!")

Well, normally they'd scribble something out on an easel sheet, but a lot of our sessions are online now. I thought maybe I'd play around with Bing image creator to illustrate the concept, but with a retro vibe. "In the style of a 1950s Sears & Roebuck catalog ad..." The result wasn't perfect by any means -- I had to do a bit of Photoshoppery to try to salvage the picture, as there were major scale issues with the characters, really weird Escher-esque contortions to the airplane, etc. Here's what I came up with after some touch-up work. (Lots of layering, clone tool, airbrushing, etc.) It didn't quite come out this way, so I had some work to do.



AI-Assisted Art: Coffee Pucks
Another "amazing" FORNESS example idea: Coffee Pucks! No longer do you need to deal with grinding coffee beans or taking up counter space with a coffee maker. No, just drop one of these coffee pucks in your coffee cup, tip it into your mouth, and thanks to a chemical reaction with your saliva, fresh coffee boils RIGHT IN YOUR MOUTH. It's SCIENCE!

(The raw AI art had a flame in the middle of the "puck," so I had to paint that out, and then I added another "buster" graphic over the coffee pot to illustrate that you're NOT using it.)



AI Art: Suddenly Ninjas!
Another FORNESS idea. Basically, in order to keep yourself fit and in shape, and constantly ready for whatever life throws at you, you hire "Suddenly Ninjas." At random, unpredictable times during the day, you will be suddenly attacked by professional ninjas!

AI Art, straight out of the box. I didn't have to do any Photoshoppery touch-up. I figure the newspaper content can just be ipsum lorem nonsense without trouble. Although, it still bugs me that there's a "newspaper" front on what would the back side of this magazine, and that it is apparently a MAGAZINE rather than a newspaper.



Ruined Hall of the Dwarven Thegns
Combination of plastic Tablescapes tile with some 3D "Dwarven City" prints to represent a dwarf-ruin-themed dungeon layout for a Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure. The floor consists of a couple of "Urban Streets (Damaged)" boards (Secret Weapon Miniatures "Tablescapes" - now bought out by Elrik's Hobbies) painted up as ruined stone dungeon floors. The dwarf-themed ruined segments are from a series of STLs put out on MyMiniFactory from "Cast N Play." A friend of mine printed them out in resin, but had a few misprints. The nice thing about terrain for ruins (whether ancient dungeons, or retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic wastelands) is that misprints are still usable! It's just battle-damaged, weather-worn, or whatever. I just used some epoxy putty to fill in the exposed hollows where the printer stopped printing (at a diagonal), and used the edge of a dull hobby knife to make an attempt at a "broken rock" texture so that it wouldn't look smooth and putty-like (or worse, have big thumb-prints). In the background, two versions of the "dwarf face doorway" serve as an example: on the far right is a mostly intact print (though there is a strange "slash" through it where the printer had some trouble), whereas on the middle-left is a copy of the same piece, but where the printer simply gave up partway through -- so I finished it as a "ruined" version.

The miniatures shown for scale are in "Heroic 25mm" scale (roughly 28mm or so), consisting of a couple of Reaper Miniatures, plus some old Ral Partha "Castle Falkenstein" dwarf minis (on plastic hex bases).

I went with an attempt at a "warm brown" texture for the tiles and ruins, since I think "generic dungeon grey" has been overdone. I'm somewhat inspired by the look of the old Advanced HeroQuest tiles, which tended to go for a more colorful palette.

Here's a link to the original STLs used: (minifactory link)




Mushroom Caverns
Hirst Arts Castlemolds "Cavern Floor" tiles (primarily cast from molds #281 and #282 using hydrocal and/or Durham's water putty) sealed with custom dark brown house paint, then lightly painted with another custom-mix dark olive house paint, then dry-brushed with Apple Barrel Paints "antique white." I used some tiny "ball bearing" bits of Apoxie Sculpt epoxy putty to make some tiny mushrooms to dot the caves (gap-filling some of the flaws caused by bubbles adhering to the molds, and also wedging a few into gaps between tiles). Some are attached to pieces of foam-core illustration board, while others are backed with foam insulation board.

I imagine this would make a decent layout for Wonderland No More -- though for the meantime I've been using it for Dungeon Crawl Classics, along with a bunch of other Hirst Arts-based floor tiles I've been churning out.



Mini Ultra-Mart
It hasn't all been Warcraft and Dungeon Crawl Classics. I'm still prepping for an eventual Fallout-inspired campaign. (Or, some of this stuff maybe I could get by using for Ghostbusters. Who knows?) A friend has been 3D-printing a few things toward such a use -- well, also for his OWN use, since as of this writing he's recently started up a Fallout 2d20 campaign and a lot of my Fallout stuff has traveled in the back of his SUV back over to his place. XD

This one's a little building that can be built as a convenience store called the "Mini Ultra-Mart," complete with roof sign, removable roof, window panes, and front door (latter not pictured, as I'm still trying to decide how to attach it).

It's a pretty small building, with just one room, and barely enough room for a few shelves before I even try to figure out where to put in a cash register. Given the lack of back room, utility, bathrooms, office, etc., I was inspired to make it a robot-staffed micro-business, so I converted an old HorrorClix murderbot (I forget the original name) into a Shop-o-Tron that serves as greeter, stocker, cashier, cash register, and security. (It's that security role that explains why the place hasn't been completely ransacked yet.)

I've got the building posed on a couple of Secret Weapon Miniatures "Tablescapes" tiles, this time painted up in a dark olive green paint with some light green highlights, and a few putty mushrooms added for good measure. The roof is nice and flat (though I think it needs a little more in the way of "greebles," such as maybe some roof vents), making it an ideal spot to put up some barricades around the sides and set up a nice sniper position to take out the local molerats and feral ghouls. I might have to do more with that later.

I decorated the inside with some shelves with various Pre-War goods; I supplemented them with some tiny printed paper box and can labels for things such as Old Prospector Beans (wrapped around sections of plastic sprue), cereal boxes of Sugar Bombs (wrapped around sections of wooden coffee stirrer), and boxes of Dandy Boy Apples (wrapped around segments of wooden craft "matchstick"). I applied some pattern "wallpaper" with a vaguely retro-futuristic design, and put up some Halloween decor, since in the Fallout universe the bombs dropped in October. (I figure it would make sense to have some Halloween advertising in stores to remind people to stock up on candy -- and of course when the Great War broke out, taking down old decorations and/or putting up any for any OTHER holiday were rather low priorities.)

Since doing this, I've made a few other mods (not pictured), such as a refrigerated drink case, some roof greebles, and a couple of coolant pumps out front to turn this into more of a combo convenience store stop.