Mouse Territories of the Northern Reaches

I recently did a map for an upcoming Mouse Guard campaign that I might be running soon, and so I had the idea to post a listing in my shop for custom fantasy maps done in the same style. For those who don’t know, Mouse Guard is a comic set in the middle ages, and it’s all about mice with swords protecting their territories from predators and so on. It’s written and illustrated by David Petersen.

The map I created is inspired by the map that Petersen drew for the Mouse Territories. The original is done on 11×14 Bristol paper, stained with coffee, and colored in using watercolor pencils for the water. The lines are all inked using brushes or a steel nib pen. I know that most maps these are created using Photoshop or some other illustration program on the computer, but I don’t have anything of the sort, so I get resourceful and make things by hand.
What does everyone think? Any advice or suggestions? Thanks for looking!

Working with Inks and Paint

I’ve been busy the past few days working on a few things.  One of these is the new Fairy Tale Forest illustration in my Etsy shop. I’m offering an 8×10 print for now, and may add 5×7 prints later. This was a lot of fun to illustrate, and I liked doing all the trees and adding various smaller details. If you look around, you’ll see mushrooms, a skull, a badger den, and so on in the scene. I don’t think the goblins are terribly well hidden, either.

I’ve been working on my Warmachine miniatures as well. The pink paints haven’t arrived at my local game store yet, so for now I’m focusing on the other colors on the miniatures – the metallics and so on. The pink will actually be painted on a grey undercoat, so all the areas that will be pink had to be done in grey first.
I finished a Berserker warjack as well, and took some pictures of that, and those are down below.
I’ve been thinking about starting a Tier 4 Zerkova list, which would include a lot of Greylord Ternion units, several units of Kayazy Assassins, and a small number of warjacks in Zerkova’s battle group. One of the big benefits that her Tier 4 list gives is a 2″ deployment zone increase, which can be huge with fast models like the Kayazy. I also rather like the idea of a huge group of Greylord wizards, all sending out icy sprays and clouds to block line of sight. I’ve even given the color scheme some thought, and I think I want to use my standard dried-blood, rusty red, along with muted greys/dirty creams for the miniatures. Maybe I’ll experiment with Cryx Bane Highlight, because that’s almost the grey I have in mind. I have no game experience with Zerkova at all, but I’d love to learn how to use her in the game – she seems like a really excellent warcaster with lots of abilities to mess with your opponent.

If anyone wants to commission me for any illustration or miniature painting, please feel free to email at greylikestorms (at) me.com or reply here in the comment section. I’d even be open to painting miniatures in exchange for new miniatures.

Dragon*Con Musings: Pre-convention Thoughts

I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend Dragon*Con this year – I’ve been wanting to go for a really long time, but have never been able to make it to Atlanta to attend.  This year, when I’m actually living in Atlanta, I can’t afford to go.  Oh, life.

I’m glad that the convention happens here, because from everything I hear it is one of the biggest, best, most incredible conventions for gaming, fantasy, sci-fi, etc that you could imagine.  Thousands of people flock to Atlanta every year just for a chance to attend Dragon*con, and who can blame them?  I have heard from some friends of my wife’s that they attend every year and just walk around in costume to see everything and everyone.  I’m not sure they even buy tickets or passes.  If that’s the case, I may try something similar, and attend without attending anything.

I feel that a lot of the products I make for my Etsy store would work really well for convention attendees – particularly the dice bags.  I make each one with a belt loop, so that you can carry them around without having to hold them or store them in other bags/pouches.  The double drawstring lends itself to a tight closure, which I feel is important – it not only keeps your dice safe, but also your other small change and loose items.  I have a variety of colors, but would be very open to custom choices – just talk to me!  If anyone is interested, email me at greylikestorms(at)gmail.com or convo me on Etsy to discuss other fabrics.  It’s not too late to get your stuff in time for Dragon*con, and I’m always happy to use a faster service than USPS.

I’ve also got a costume shirt listed that I feel is timeless enough to work for a variety of costumes, ranging from the late Renaissance to the early 20th century.  Steampunk, anyone?

For the curious, my Etsy store can be found at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/greyedout