Ranarh's Art Blog

Based on a photograph. I allowed myself a small amount of abstraction, leaving some paper textures visible. I think I did okay - this kind of sunlight is actually more difficult than directed artificial light. It just hits everywhere, and you have to use subtle contrasts to make the shapes clear.

I made a cover for a fanmade rpg supplement for The Dark Eye last week. It deals with the mage's guild convention, a septennial meeting of the most eloquent ages (or those who frighten most other mages). I've had some time-pressure troubles with the publishing guys, but they're solved now and I'm happy to have a supplement finished. There's also an interior illustration made by me. (You can download it here: webzine.nandurion.de )

I just finished playing Mass Effect 1 and 2 and dug out my planet creation tutorials because of it. The planetary trips in the first game were set on beautiful locations, with asteroids raining down, lava lakes, moons covered in glaciers, and pollen-infested greenhouse worlds. I love those views and set out to create some myself. I know these are a bit cheap, but I'll try to create some more, and views on the planets themselves, too. The four small ones are just scribbles, about fifteen minutes each, the bigger one took me two and a half hours - I'm still trying to get the hang as to how detailed the textures have to be. Mass Effect is a sci-fi roleplaying game meant for a trilogy, the first two are out, and I have to say that I found the depth of the world quite intriguing. The alien races have an appropriate culture, the tech is advanced but believable, the squad you get together to pull off your insane plan to save the galaxy is really nice, too. The second I liked even b...