Today, I am happy to share the process and steps for one of my contributions to the Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. I have never worked on anything Planescape related in the 19 years I have made monsters for Dungeons & Dragons, so it was a real treat to finally stick my tow into this world. Granted, only making two pieces leaves me still very much clueless about the gaming world of Planescape. Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse focuses on the city of Sigil and the various planes that can be accessed there (and if I am mistaken in this, sorry, I sadly do not know much about this one D&D realm). I made a plant and some rats, so today, we are starting with the plant. Here is the final painting for the Razorvine Blight.
Razorvine Blight
Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
11 x 14 - Digital
Art Director - Emi Tamji
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
I was asked to design and illustrate the Razorvine Blight. There are other sapient plant monsters in the worlds of D&D, so I had some limitation to keep in mind, other than that I was free to explore this new monsters. The Razorvine Blight was described as:
This is a sapient plant creature made of razorvine, an uncontrollable hazard endemic to Sigil. Like the astral blight and needle blight, it should appear vaguely humanoid, like it took on the shape of one of the city’s pedestrians.
I can get behind all of this, so I got to work on some thumbnails. As I have stated countless times here before, I start nearly all of my projects with a photo shoot as I act out the monster and get my head around the physicality of it. Once I feel like I have enough reference, I start scribbling. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted.
Razorvine Blight - Thumbnails
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
These were well recieved and I was asked to update option 'B'. I was happy to make the updates and got to work. Here is the updated thumbnail that I submitted.
Razorvine Blight - Revised thumbnail
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
It wasn't quite where it needed to be yet and I was asked to make some additinal changes to the thumbnail. I was feeling pretty good with where this one was when I submitted it.. Here is the revised and updated thumbnail that I submitted.
Razorvine Blight - Revised and updated thumbnail
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The revised and updated thumbnail was approved without additional notes or revisions. I was now approved to take it to the next process phase. I always create a final traditional drawing for every project to work out the details and to give myself a tangible product from the assignment. Here is the Razorvine Blight drawing.
Razorvine Blight
Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
11 x 14 -Colored pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
Art Director - Emi Tamji
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The drawing was approved without comment, and it was time to start on the final painting. Here is the painting of the Razorvine Blight taking shape.
Razorvine Blight- Process
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
This piece falls in line with my other recent works in that I completed it in record time. I am finding that I can get in a groove and get these isolated figure pieces done very quickly. This has not been something I have necessarily been focused on doing but instead has happened over time on its own. I mean, one would hope if you do something repeatedly that, you will become quicker and better at doing it. It is nice to see that playing out for me. Some of the color and deco were already worked out for me in the style guide, but for me in all of my D&D pieces I am aiming to make something that looks cool nad checks all the boxes with the assignment. In the end, I beleive I was asked to make some of the leafs more pointed here and there, but that was the exstint of revisions at the end. Here, again, is the final painting of the Razorvine Blight.
Razorvine Blight
Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
