Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[The Hadad]

...That's actually a pretty good idea, Halceon. I think I could make that work. I'll do a sketch of that and, as a backup (because I was ready to go with it before I saw your post), a sketch of a dramatic rendition of a quote from a certain DF legend.

Spoiler: You know the one (click to show/hide)

So the merchants arrive to see blood and vomit everywhere, us hauling corpses en masse to the graveyard, a couple rampaging elephants... WELCOME TO FUCKING BOATMURDERED! Hope you like miasma!

Which one I'll polish up and finalize will depend on what's said during critique next class (i.e., Wednesday morning). I'll do the sketches tomorrow--I could post them here, if people are interested...

[Deus Morti]

An interesting idea would be to draw an entire DF world. A goblin daycare center, a Dwarven cat herd on the move, a Kobold cautiously trying to steal a tooth from a clear crystal plains Titan as it approaches a Dwarf Fortress, carved into a mountain...

Admirable sig material.

[Loud Whispers]

An interesting idea'd be to have a Dwarf in a strange mood building something while Dwarves below hurriedly clamber up to give the Dwarf some shells or something. All the way down fading to darkness you could show off cheesemakers, brewers, cavern critters, caravans and the more silly things like an FB Angler fish with a sock instead of a lamp.

[dewboy]

Might i suggest a scene of Holistic Detective being a boss at headshoots?
Perhaps slaying some undead or the famous crossing the magma lake?

[The Hadad]

Yesterday's attempts at sketchings... sucked, to be perfectly honest. I got other classes to do work for, though, so it may be another day or two before I post anything on here. Stay tuned (or not, I guess).

[joeclark77]

I think the real challenge for you is to do an illustration that won't just look like you're illustrating generic dwarves out of JRR Tolkein's books.  I think you might want to come up with something a bit high-concept.  Picture this: computer geek (dwarf?) sitting at his computer with a colorful fortress map clearly visible on screen, surrounded by the tools of the game (i.e. a notepad with architectural drawings, cheat sheet of dwarf names and plans), but also surrounded by a bunch of in-game stuff: pickaxe, crossbow, cave spider web, maybe somebody's hand surreptitiously stealing his socks.  The idea being to convey the dwarfy theme, while also simultaneously conveying the complex and cerebral nature of the game itself.

[loose nut]

- "simply" draw the entrance area to a fortress, complete with traps, dwarves carrying old socks and new fish, cats and chickens, heaps of goblin clothes, blood smeared everywhere, and the decorative statues detailing the time the human Ago Longwhispered removed the rear back tooth of the giant wombat Tailcastles

- dwarves trying to build an outside wall. One of them is stuck on top of a built section, and is being stung by a bee. In the foreground, a dwarf hunter is sleeping face down in the dirt

- a great wave of water descending upon the dwarven dining hall. The dwarves, of course, appear unconcerned, except for the one who is running inches ahead of the tide

[The Hadad]

Had the class again today. Of the concept sketches shown, Halceon's idea was what got the most positive feedback, so that's what I'll be going with. What I've done is a rough sketch of a cross-section of a fortress and the caverns it's a part of; once I've cleaned that up and made it more professional-looking, then I'll do the same with various scenes (many of which inspired by others' suggestions here) of dwarves doing dwarf-ish things and shrink them down to fit the cross-section panorama.

Here's what I've got so far--though bear in mind these are very rough (most of my sketches tend to be):

Spoiler: The Fortress (click to show/hide)

As you can see (or maybe you can't. I dunno how clear this is), "Museum of Modern Art" is carved out between cavern layers. It was suggested that the image be tied back into the article a bit more (i.e., DF being displayed at MOMA), and that struck me as acceptable, since it seemed like it could be construed as a megaproject.

Spoiler: I also have one scene already sketched (click to show/hide)

Here we see a tantruming dwarf chasing another dwarf around with a throne to beat him with (though can you blame him? That hair is awfully elven-looking), while a third dwarf and his cat friend (each scene will have at least one cat, dead or alive) watch the show.

As for what else will be in the illustration,

Spoiler: Here's the map again, marked for reference (click to show/hide)

• The area marked 1 is the outside of the fort, so naturally there will be a beseiging goblin army and a merchant caravan struggling to get inside.
• Area 2 is where there will be some workshops, including an artifact-producing dwarf.
• Area 3 is the hospital/cemetery (for whatever reason, I always have the two right next to each other), where one or more bedridden dwarves watch haulers carry the dead to their final resting places.
• Area 4 is the dining hall and kitchen, where the above scene will be located (among others, possibly).
• The bottom-left part of the first M in "Museum" (indicated by the 5) is a breached aquifer which resulted in the entire word getting filled up with water. Naturally, at some points along the word are dwarf and cat skeletons of those unfortunate to not escape the flood.
• Area 6 marks where there will be several waterwheels hooked up to a pump that's pumping water from the word "Museum," as it wouldn't be Dwarf Fortress without some demonstration of dwarven physics, so a perpetual motion device is practically a must.
• Area 7 is the prison, where some ne'er-do-well is about to receive justice from the hammerer.
• Area 8 marks the first cavern layer and the word "of," which the eagle-eyed will note connects the first cavern and the second cavern together--something which a winged Uninvited Guest to the dwarves takes full advantage of.
• Areas 9 and 10 are the second and third cavern layers, respectively (and obviously). Haven't got much planned for them yet, aside from the obligatory GCS feasting upon the body of its latest victim.
• Area 11 is the Magma Sea (which unfortunately got cut off by the scanner, but there wasn't much to see, anyway). As any good dwarf knows, with magma comes fun, and is best transported with a pumpstack, indicated by the long, vertical shaft by the 12 (and powered by the aforementioned perpetual motion device). The magma is carried up to area 13, above which is a bridge (not shown) that will retract and send the invading force to a fiery death.
• The magma also fills up the word "Modern" and provides power to the magma forges marked at area 14. The magma is cut off by a contstructed wall in the hall next to the bottom of the N. A wall being built by a mason standing on the wrong side.
• And finally, the lower-right portion of the A in "Art," marked by area 15, pokes a hole in one of the cotton candy tubes, heralding the circus' arrival.

Suggestions for additional scenes are of course welcome.

[werty892]

-snip-

What.
Yes
All the yes.
Hmmm... anything else to include... In your MOMA thing, include a couple forgotten beasts(really weird ones) sitting around a toadstool playing cards, betting dwarven bones. That should get a laugh

[DG]

Impressive and ambitious, that's pretty cool. I'm wondering though, the fortress looks like it's a 2d side view while the little dwarf sketch example is more three dimensional so I'm not sure how well they will marry up.

[WillowLuman]

Something like an ant farm, with some crazy war thing going on on the surface. Everyone inside depicted working as usual, indifferent until the get interrupted by invaders, should the defense be breached. You could really encapsulate a lot with an image like that.

[The Hadad]

Impressive and ambitious, that's pretty cool. I'm wondering though, the fortress looks like it's a 2d side view while the little dwarf sketch example is more three dimensional so I'm not sure how well they will marry up.

You make a good point. I'll be going over the lineart for these digitally, so what I can do is move the third dwarf and cat so that they don't appear to be behind the tantruming dwarf and victim-to-be, which ought to fix the depth problem.

[EvilBob22]

How about a fisherdwarf near the number 9?  With some cavern creature sneaking up on him of course.  I would suggest a giant cave crocodile, but it seems a little to mundane to me.  Maybe some crundles?

[Xantalos]

Yes. YES. WATCHING.

[The Hadad]

Spent all day sketching, and here are the results! First, a reminder--these are very rough. I'm going to trace, color and possibly shade them in Photoshop, so they'll be a lot better-looking in the final piece. Also, because I'll be polishing them digitally, these sketches aren't fully arranged in scenes (like with the tantrumig dwarf from before) for the time being, so again, bear with me on that.

Anyhoo, let's have a look. Scroll up to the earlier post with the chart (or just click here) for reference if you need it.

Spoiler: A mason, a jeweler, and an idiot (click to show/hide)

The dwarf in the upper left is the mason in the process of Cask-of-Amontillado-ing himself inside the magma-filling "MODERN," while the jeweler and other mason are to be positioned in Area 2. What's the jeweler looking at?

Spoiler: Fedoras can be considered artifact caps, right? (click to show/hide)

Here we have a clothesmaker (who is probably legendary now) presenting his new artifact. Below, a mechanic who will be stationed in Area 6, as well as one of the many waterwheels and screwpumps to be placed in Areas 6 and 12, respectively. And in case you're wondering, yes there will be liberal ammounts of copying and pasting in this piece of not only waterwheels and screwpumps, but also of goblins and cats. Just because I'm drawing dwarves doesn't mean I'm QUITE as crazy or stupid as them. =P

Spoiler: And while we're talking about dwarven stupidity and liberal ammounts of copypasta (click to show/hide)

Looking below the yak (which is a pretty weird animal, I must say) that will be attatched to a caravan wagon, you'll see one of several dwarf and cat skeletons that will be found floating in the flooded "MUSEUM."

Spoiler: And now, the caravan itself. And a goblin. (click to show/hide)

Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. One of the many beseiging goblins, a merchant fleeing for his life, a caravan guard who will be mounted atop the wagon, and the wagon itself.

Spoiler: Meanwhile, at the hospital (click to show/hide)

A dwarf with a broken leg, a dwarf with a broken arm, and a dwarf missing an arm watch a corps getting unceremoniously dragged across the hospital at Area 3. It wasn't until I was making these preview images that I realized I had failed to draw so much as a single coffin. Whoops.

Spoiler: Dwarven justice in action (click to show/hide)

The square-chinned drinker at the top is awaiting the signal to retract the bridge at the fortress entrance (she'll be placed in the small room near Area 4). The other dwarves are three chained outlaws and a hammerer. Maybe the tantruming dwarf is friends with the dwarf receiving justice?

Spoiler: Meanwhile, in the caves (click to show/hide)

...I think that about speaks for itself, no?

Spoiler: And here's something I can't believe I hadn't thought of before (click to show/hide)

We all know what happens when a dwarf dies, yes? A parade of Urist McOblivious-es parading to their possible doom in the hopes to lay claim on the fallen's socks. And another victim of Ngordax. Sketching these, I discovered that infant and child dwarves have just as much hair as adult ones. So although it's difficult to tell in the image, the baby in the fat-yet-muscular dwarven mother on the middle-right has a beard and a braided mustache.

Spoiler: Of Fish and Furnaces (click to show/hide)

On the bottom half is a dwarf working the magma furnace in Area 14. Above him is part of EvilBob22's suggestion:

How about a fisherdwarf near the number 9?  With some cavern creature sneaking up on him of course.  I would suggest a giant cave crocodile, but it seems a little to mundane to me.  Maybe some crundles?

Spoiler: How about a six-legged feathered armadillo on the end of his line? (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: And let's not forget everyone's favorite flavor of cavern-based fun... (click to show/hide)

...being eaten alive by a giant cave spider!

Spoiler: Of Metalsmiths and Miners (click to show/hide)

Above is a metalsmith at her magma forge. Below is a miner, but what's she running from? What else, but a miner's greatest fear...

Spoiler: Horrifying screams come from the darkness below! (click to show/hide)

...This might seem phoned in compared to the forgotten beast drawings, but this was honestly what I had in mind from the beginning, because I like the image of an unidentified horror rising up from below than a bunch of things otherwise indistinguishible from other forgotten beasts or titans.


That's all of them. The plan is to get these cleaned up and put together by next Wednesday, so stay tuned (or not)!