Kris Smith Sketches

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:16 am

It did remind me of a character in our game: a Paris Hilton-like celebrity with ice powers. The group decided to call her Hoarfrost, much to her chagrin.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:24 am

New sketch from Kris came in yesterday. Internet has been kind of spotty the last day or so, which is why I am only getting to it now.

This sketch is of 2 villains with a slight construction worker vibe going. The first one was originally called Demolisher, but that will likely change, as I'm having another villain by that name drawn by Dan Houser. He has a magical sledgehammer that allows him to do some nasty stuff, as well as minor super strength.

Circuit Breaker has a power generator on his back, and his gauntlets allow him to project electricity at people. His suit protects him from electricity, as well as some protection from physical attacks:

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:32 am

Those are cool, I really like the demolisher for some reason, maybe because I just watched Thor

I'd love to see what those look like finished.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:39 am

Dustland wrote:Those are cool, I really like the demolisher for some reason, maybe because I just watched Thor I'd love to see what those look like finished.

Ironically, Demolisher was inspired by the Thor villain known as The Wrecker. His sledgehammer is magical, and it gave him limited super strength and hardened his flesh for protection. He was originally a Golden Age villain, but I decided to have him be a modern villain when I came up with the idea for Circuit Breaker, his partner in crime

Saker · Post by **Saker** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:02 am

I like Demolisher for similar reasons to Dust, but I really like the Circuit Breaker name, sketch and concept. Besides the electricity, I can see this guy with Extra Effects vs machines/electronics. So he would be especially effective vs. power suits, gadgeteers, security systems and cars.

cheers

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:42 am

These are cool; I like this art a lot.

I have a series of guys with construction themes also, though in my case, most of the guys are 20-point losers!

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:16 am

Saker wrote:I like Demolisher for similar reasons to Dust, but I really like the Circuit Breaker name, sketch and concept. Besides the electricity, I can see this guy with Extra Effects vs machines/electronics. So he would be especially effective vs. power suits, gadgeteers, security systems and cars.

cheers

That's pretty much part of what he can do. The suit is actually old (in his background, he found it in an old building they were going to tear down), hence the over sized gauntlets and power generator on the back. I have a thing for retro looking villains at times, thanks to healthy doses of Batman: Brave & The Bold

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:24 am

drkrash wrote:These are cool; I like this art a lot.

I think part of what is helping make the characters look so good is that I haven't set any deadlines for getting the art done. As much as I'm wishing to do something sooner, the snail's pace is producing some fantastic art (imho). I just hope my writing will do them enough justice now

drkrash wrote: I have a series of guys with construction themes also, though in my case, most of the guys are 20-point losers!

Some of the Insect villains for my Recess one shot today are around 20 points too. I've found even lower point guys like that can be difficult to take down if you just come straight at them. Team work always seems to prevail in those kind of situations.

As an aside: I'm also working on a book of Golden Age/Pulp villains. Dan Houser did some of the art (one is an earlier incarnation of Eon the Time Twister featured in this thread), but I've been getting some fantastic art from Ade Smith. He's doing the members of the Crime Guild, who were enemies of the Guardians of Liberty. That book might come out first, since I have more completed art for it. Might have to do an art thread for that one sometime....

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:27 am

I was wondering what you were doing with all these illustrations, are you publishing a book?

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:45 am

Dustland wrote:I was wondering what you were doing with all these illustrations, are you publishing a book?

Yes. I am planning a few books. The sketches for this one will all feature Kris Smith's art, but the other 2 will feature more than one artist. When I started this first project, Kris was the only artist I really knew. Since then, I discovered Dan Houser, Ade Smith, Cu Morrig, etc. So I've been diversifying while Kris focuses on this one book. I wanted to do a project to showcase his talents to the rpg community at large, cause I think he's a) talented and b) a good guy.

So yeah, I'm planning a book or two. Since RPGNow/Drivethru also do PoD now, I may also have the books available that way. As much as Digital Publishing is cool, I know many gamers still like a book in their hands (I know I do), so if/when their system can handle books that have color internally (I don't think it does at the moment), I plan on doing that if possible. Of course, I could do it the way V&V books are, and use b&w line art for the print version. Might have to speak to Kris about that

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:31 am

This is sort of a personal question, but: how are you managing to afford multiple artist commissions like this? Do you have personal relationships with any of the artists?

[Feel free to tell me to shove off if you think this is none of my business...]

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:02 am

drkrash wrote:This is sort of a personal question, but: how are you managing to afford multiple artist commissions like this? Do you have personal relationships with any of the artists?

[Feel free to tell me to shove off if you think this is none of my business...]

I wish! Kris is probably the only artist I know well enough to consider more than an acquaintance. We tend to discuss stuff other than art in our emails to each other. I guess that kind of just happened after communicating for close to 2 years now. We just clicked. Kris is pretty inexpensive; he normally charges me $15.00 per image, 10 for B&W. Since he's doing all the art for this book, we worked out a slight discount, since I paid for them all in one shot. I ordered these when I got my tax return

Ade I met through his work with BASH (though I had seen it in another supers game called Infinite Power). Ade (known as Artbod here on the forums) is a really easy person to work with. I like his style, so I've been having him do some Golden Age stuff for me. He's done some kick * work so far. Ade charges $20.00 per image, and I usually order 1 every 2 weeks

Dan Houser is fairly well known from ICONS. He's done a few sales I was able to buy into, where the art was 10 bucks a pop. That's pretty much how I got all the art he's been doing for me. He normally charges (iirc) $20.00 also, but as I said, I got in on special sales he was doing, so all the art I got cost me $10.00 a pop. He's done some really good stuff for me too. I had a concept for a villain with a really corny name (Lighthouse) who wears armor. Dan drew this phenomenal image of the guy, which was probably the best image he's done for me.

I met a new artist named Drew through Jay Libby from Dilly Green Bean games (creator of the FASERIP offshot G Core). He's more into sci-fi stuff, but isn't afraid to do supers. I'm going to have him do a few pieces for my Golden Age/Pulp supplement, since it will include retro alien types. I have one who is an enemy of Sky Marshal who is from Venus, and his outfit is going to be inspired by the one worn by the villain from old serial "The Purple Monster Strikes" He also charges $20.00 per image. If anyone wants, I can link to a portfolio he has on Facebook with some sample art.

Anyway, I order them 1 piece at a time for the most part, since that is all I can afford. I had prepaid Kris for all this stuff, and Dan did most of the stuff from orders I made last year (and a few I did this year). Ade does one for me every 2 weeks. That's pretty much why I've got a lot of hype going on, but nothing actually out. I try and stay within my budget, so I'm taking a long time to get something done. Hopefully the end results will be worth the wait!

I hope I answered your question; if I left anything out, let me know

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:22 am

No, that covers it! Thanks for being so thorough!

I have to be honest: those prices are WAY lower than I expected, based on my own experience hiring artists, especially for color pieces.

For example, if you have any recollection of my own art woes looking for a colorist, I couldn't find one willing to work under $20-30 per image - and that was when the pen and inks were already provided!

I'm still having colorist woes, so thanks for giving me some hope!

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:36 am

drkrash wrote:No, that covers it! Thanks for being so thorough!

Your very welcome. I'm still very much a novice at this as I have never released anything yet. So it's nice to discuss such things with someone who has published material, and learn what I can from them. One of the other reasons I'm taking it slow!

drkrash wrote: I have to be honest: those prices are WAY lower than I expected, based on my own experience hiring artists, especially for color pieces.

I think I've been very lucky finding artists. And they are all good ones too. One day I expect them all to be out of my price range as they get more established, so I appreciate the fact I am getting to work with them now. I really hope that they all became bigger names, and can make the kind of money a Storn Cook makes (which, last time I bothered to check, was somewhere between 60-85 per image!)

I've talked to people whose prices are more in the 50 range, but I just couldn't afford that.

drkrash wrote: For example, if you have any recollection of my own art woes looking for a colorist, I couldn't find one willing to work under $20-30 per image - and that was when the pen and inks were already provided!

That really sucks. I hope you've had better luck for your upcoming FIGHT! book, and for your own BASH project.

drkrash wrote: I'm still having colorist woes, so thanks for giving me some hope!

If I helped in any way, then I am glad. I try to learn all I can by reading what others have gone through, and try to not suffer those same problems if I can help it. I've been lucky in the art department, and once I get a project finished, I know I have a good person lined up to lay it all out for me in our own Kroh (who also did both my company logo and the logo for my villain book line), so again, I consider myself lucky

Edit: And I just realized that with these 2, Kris has sketched 11 of the 12 villains I commissioned for the book (as Black & Blue have the same outfits, he did one basic sketch for both). *, closer than I thought to actually getting started on color images!

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:44 am

So I will likely be adding a few more villains to this project. I had a few pieces Kris did for me earlier, and I will probably use them in it. So as a bonus, here's some B&W images of the duo known as Cloudburst & Deadweight: