Ravenloft Artbook of Talon Dunning

[Talon]

In fact, I suspect none of the official portraits of her have her smiling... except possibly for the black-and-white map of Ravenloft with portraits of darklords around the edges - she might have been smiling in that one.

As a matter of approach, I actively tried to avoid having any of my Ravenloft portrait subjects smile. "No one smiles in Ravenloft," was my motto. When it did happen, I was usually going for mischievous, disturbing or downright evil. That said, I'm disappointed to learn that I failed to sufficiently capture Ivana's personality.

-Talon

[HuManBing]

I'm disappointed to learn that I failed to sufficiently capture Ivana's personality.

I wouldn't say that. She's a manipulative poisoner who uses seduction to get what she wants. Showing her "private face" of an embittered, twisted woman is no less valid than showing Azalin's "private face" of an undead horror under all the illusions of humanity.

Granted, it's something more suited for GMs than for players, but it's equally as valid for the game setting.

[Mangrum]

Also, that's a terrific Azalin drawing. Wish Mangrum would show up and opine on it-- I'd love to know what he thinks!

I think it's great! As a note, I managed to get home for an evening this week and discovered that my book had arrived. I got the Hazlik portrait, for the curious; I'll scan it once I get home again about two weeks from now.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Granted, it's something more suited for GMs than for players, but it's equally as valid for the game setting.

Or players whose characters are about to be horrifically poisoned to death.

[Jester of the FoS]

I just got a lovely e-mail explaining why I have not received my book. I'm happy I know what happened and I don't have to worry about customs or lost packages.

[Talon]

I just got a lovely e-mail explaining why I have not received my book. I'm happy I know what happened and I don't have to worry about customs or lost packages.

Yeah, that was my bad. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but instead of typing out your house # and street address, I typed out your city twice. Duh. The Canadian post office was nice enough to return it to me without writing "You're a dumbass" on it. Anyway, it's been repackaged and mailed again, so you should have it in a few weeks. Sorry about the mixup. I'll attempt to pay more attention in the future.

-Talon

[Jester of the FoS]

I just got a lovely e-mail explaining why I have not received my book. I'm happy I know what happened and I don't have to worry about customs or lost packages.

Yeah, that was my bad. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but instead of typing out your house # and street address, I typed out your city twice. Duh. The Canadian post office was nice enough to return it to me without writing "You're a dumbass" on it. Anyway, it's been repackaged and mailed again, so you should have it in a few weeks. Sorry about the mixup. I'll attempt to pay more attention in the future.

-Talon

I'm having the worst possible week. So when I found out it was instantly demoted from annoyance to mosquito-level irritation. I'm just glad I know what's going on. I don't wait very well.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Ooh, ooh, my turn!

With all those Azalin's, we need a little bit of balance... a much more regal and less battle-crazed Darkov:


Squee!

[Guardian of Twilight]

Now this was a great treat for me, to get to stop by here and see the wonderful art, as well as finding out that Talon joined us here! May I just say sir, that you're my favorite fantasy artist, and that I truly admire your artwork. Also, I'm the one a while back that sent you an e-mail and requested the Knight of the Shadows picture so I could have it made into an avatar for this site, as you can see to the side. Your art for me always captured the heart of Ravenloft, and I just wanted to say thank you again for such wonderful, beautiful sketches. My favorites remain Gennifer and Laurie together from Van Richten's Arsenal, the Knight of the Shadows from the same tome, and the half-vistani from the Ravenloft Player's Handbook.

Though I'm sure it's been said many a time to you already, welcome to our community, and thank you for all the wondrous pieces of art you've given us to help fuel our imaginations, breathing life into the Mists and the world of Ravenloft.

[Scipion_Emilien]

Finally after 1000 km of road and a broken USB key,

I present to you Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove:

[Guardian of Twilight]

Lovely picture, my friend!!

[steveflam]

Finally after 1000 km of road and a broken USB key,

I present to you Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove:

Wow , really great picture

[Talon]

With all those Azalin's, we need a little bit of balance... a much more regal and less battle-crazed Darkov

Heh. Yeah, I thought, "Surely this guy isn't screaming bloody murder ALL the time. Let's see what he might look like just before freaking out and slaughtering everyone in the room." This was one of the three I drew to pass the time at XCon.

Though I'm sure it's been said many a time to you already, welcome to our community, and thank you for all the wondrous pieces of art you've given us to help fuel our imaginations, breathing life into the Mists and the world of Ravenloft.

Thanks. I've enjoyed being here. Although I've been doing this illustration thing for, like, 15 years now, I've rarely had the opportunity to get any feedback from the fans. Despite all the years, it still freaks me out that people know my work at all, much less my name. I have fans? That's just weird. The life of a freelance illustrator can often be a lonely one. We spend a lot of time alone in the studio working for people who's faces we've never seen with little to no contact with the people buying the final product. So, it's very nice to have had this opportunity to get to know all of you. So, thanks for that.

BTW, this is probably a good time to mention that I'm signed up to appear at the first annual Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con on Dec 4-5. If you're going to be in the Atlanta area (my home town), I hope you'll stop by Artist Alley and say hello. I'll have almost all my Ravenloft work there, so this would be a good time to come by and check out the original art. It's all for sale, too.

http://www.wizardworld.com/home-atlanta.html

-Talon

[Talon]

Scanning Tip! When scanning pencils, set your scanner to "Grayscale" mode and set the DPI at 300. This will scan your art at press-ready quality. Then, to make it safe for internet posting, open it in your image editing software (Photoshop, etc.) and reduce the DPI to 72. Save as a medium quality (minimum) JPEG. This will create a nice, clean image that looks great on the web without all that crazy, low-rez artifacting. Just a handy tip from your friendly neighborhood illustrator (who scanned a LOT of art during his internship at White Wolf...).

-Talon

[Brandi]

Heh. Yeah, I thought, "Surely this guy isn't screaming bloody murder ALL the time. Let's see what he might look like just before freaking out and slaughtering everyone in the room."

This is what I'd expect in an official portrait, assuming he didn't get upset enough to have something humorous yet lingering done to the artist.