Artist Review: Todd Lockwood

As an up and coming artist, you draw inspiration from many different sources. My first was my mom. She was able to capture the world in art, and that was a fascinating concept to me. I wanted to do the same: to create a physical memory of something that didn't require camera or film. She showed me my first taste of professional fantasy art in the form of the Hildebrandt Brothers, whom I will be reviewing at a later date.

When I started tabletop roleplaying at around 11, my own art grew out of the need to give a visual representation of the characters I was making. They had personality, histories, and stories, but no visual reference. I knew that fantasy art existed in my games, but it was a sort of periphery experience. The Brothers, and my mom were really still the only influences as I began bumbling my way through learning anatomy.

I began playing D&D in earnest in 1995 with some buddies in high school. They had actual D&D books, and suddenly, the monsters were illustrated, the races were comparable. With the advent of D&D version 3.0 and 3.5 in 2000 and 2003 I began noticing one artist above the rest. I began developing a "favorite".

How could he not be my favorite after this?

What totally drew me in about Lockwood's art is his ability to capture light. It excites me in a way that makes me want to TYPE EVERYTHING LIKE THIS!!!

Especially in acrylic medium, I am very challenged by capturing light, and yet his art seems to glow! It absolutely fascinates me. Most of what I see shows me that light capturing talent, and it's amazing to me.

In addition to capturing light, Lockwood has a tremendous talent for grasping the conceived anatomies of animals and creatures that .... well ... don't exist. How do you know what a dragon looks like? You don't. So to make it believable, to bring it into the realm of possible, you have to make it appear like it might actually work. That's a talent in an of itself.

A little bit of info on Todd: He's about the same age as my mom, and went to school for art at the Art Institute of Colorado (which is partially owned by Goldman Sachs, but I'll forgive Lockwood for that.. :) ). He graduated and was doing art for some mediocre companies before he finally started building his fantasy art portfolio. 

From there, he was eventually hired on at TSR, which became Wizards of the Coast, and he's been propelled into the fantasy art genre ever since.

Thank you, Todd, for being amazing, and inspiring. He works on book covers, roleplaying tabletop game as well as roleplaying card games.

Here is his website. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and just allow yourself to enjoy his rich colours, shades, and the grasp on the surreal that he has: http://www.toddlockwood.com/

He's also got a blog! Yay! http://www.tolo.biz/

I'll leave you with an awesome last piece of his, an oil painting. Look at the shades and light!!

-Me

Gaming - Systems

So, if you've ever heard a gamer debate systems, it can get heated. There's nothing more passionate than a geek defending their existence.

That being said, also know that there are geeks defending their gaming consoles just as fiercely. I've heard the Xbox 360 vs PlayStation 3 debate ad nauseum. However, this blog is mine, so I'm focusing on tabletop systems.

There are a few systems I've tried over time. Let me type out a list real fast:

System	Pros	Cons
Dungeons and Dragons (versions 2.0, 3.0/3.5, and 4.0)	Depending on edition, it's the system I know best. I have a love for "high fantasy", and can adapt characters to this system well.	4.0 = death. They're progressively dumbing the system down, and making it less like a table top and more like World of Warcraft. Not a fan.
World of Darkness (two different versions that I don't know the numbers for)	Nice and dark. Fills the little holes in my gaming life that are craving horror and chaos.	After playing d20 based systems, it's actually very open to interpretation. That can be either confusing or awesome, depending.
Call of Cthulhu	I LOVED this system. It was so tense, I was chain smoking through it!	I didn't get to play enough! That, and there wasn't a whole lot published, either.
White Wolf (non WOD titles)	Scion and Exalted. Had a blast. Both alternate ideas for settings that were amazing to immerse my characters in.	Again, not enough content. Also, the WOD d10 system has the same "loose interpretation" issues that WOD has.
RIFTS	Tons of material. Very customizable.	Can get very hard to wade through the books. Rules are NOT well organized.
Shadowrun	Nice setting (I honestly played it only once).	At the time, I was looking for less a sci-fi flavor, and didn't appreciate the setting. So, a con for me as a player?
homebrew	Getting to build whatever you need.	Being responsible for ALL content. Nothing published.

So, gamers out there? What are your favs, and why? What will you NEVER play again?

Non-gamers: any questions for the blog? Let me clarify stuff!

Gaming - The WEG

I've been playing tabletop or LARPing* RPGs** since I was 11 years old. Now, that might not seem impressive (and I am dating myself now...) but that's 20 years of gaming. That is a LOT of time devoted to one hobby. I often think, "What if I had played an instrument that long? What if I had learned business savvy that entire time? What would I be now?" But quite frankly, I am SO fulfilled by this one little piece, that it has become a HUGE piece of my life. (Plus, the only other hobby I've done as long, started hand in hand, and that was art.)

The fine art of roleplaying, for me, involves sharing a story with friends. You'll find all manner of gamers out there. Those who love the system, those who love their characters going through certain scenarios so that they can feel empowered, some who love the equipment and "character building" that comes from creating a person to plop down into the game. But I'm all about the sharing.

I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. Who can blame me when it's such a big thing in my life? Let me lay out the basics...

"Gaming" for me (even though I live near Vegas) has nothing to do with sports, gambling, or anything so mainstream. It deals with consoles sometimes, but most times, it's dealing with role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, World of Darkness, or other games. It's part acting, part story telling, and part dice rolling. It involves creating a character, setting that character into a story being told primarily by one person, and then adding a random factor to the luck your character has.

The person running the game is the Game Master or Dungeon Master, depending on which term you prefer. Some call that person the Storyteller. And there can even be more than one. They create the setting. Non-player characters, events, buildings, etc. It's a daunting task. It's a task that I love.

 

The reason I'm bothering to explain all this is because inevitably, at some point, my posts will bring this up. I'm not JUST an artist, I also play tons and tons of RPGs. I text game with buddies, I run a weekly session online with friends who are in different states, I collect books for systems, even if I rarely play said systems. So, there will come a day when it's a blog topic.

Like today.

So, part of running a game is building a sense of anticipation. Players have spent time, creativity, and energy building characters, and usually get a little attached to them. So, one of the tools I employ is the Wicked Evil Grin (WEG). This is where I tell a player something seemingly inane (the forest is still ... too still) and then flash my WEG. They know at that moment, they're in deep shit. But they're not sure what or why! That's the beauty of it. 

Using the WEG too much can make it lose effect. I would estimate that I use it once every six months, across ALL the games I play or run. But when I do use it, I save it for choice times. It's an amazing tool. I recommend it highly to all out there running games.

So now, it's my turn to ask questions, and hopefully get some comments.

Have you ever participated in an RPG? Was your character badass? Was there a specific moment you will ALWAYS remember? Share that and anything else. :)

-Me

*LARP: live action role play. Meaning, go out, act like your character, beat each other with sticks and use fake spells. It really is as nerdy as it sounds, but SO FUN.

**RPG: role playing game. As explained above.