The Price is Right

Since a few years back I've contributed artwork to the Western Rpg scenarios that my friends and benefactors Anders and Tove Gillbring arrange on Gothenburg's annual gaming convention, GothCon. The projects started out as fairly modest affairs, a small cover piece and a handful of mugshots in black and white. 2007s "Revolverns Lag" (The Law of the Gun), 2009s "Kalla Hjärtan" (Cold Hearts), and 2010s "Frihetens Pris" (The Price of Freedom) kept to that format.
 As the years went on and our confidence grew, so did the productions, and with 2011s "Priset för ett liv" (The Price of a Life) the show was in full color. Earlier that year, The Law of the Gun received a revamping, due in great part to the popularity of one of it's playable characters, the gunfighter Vincent "Dead Eye" Cole, who's signature pale gaze not only made the new cover, but also landed him a part in The Price of a Life. A man with a gun is never short of work, and a man with THREE guns...
 In 2012 we finally went whole hog when we submitted the concluding part in the 'Price' trilogy, "Sanningens Pris" (The Price of Truth), as a professionally printed soft cover. It went over really well at the Con and quickly sold out it's initial pressing. Encouraged by the reception of 'Truth' we sent a complete overhaul of The Price of a Life to the printers as well. 

"The Law of the Gun - Redux"

2011

cover

"The Price of a Life - Redux"

2012

cover

High res

 

"What makes a Man, mister Cole?"

9 out of 21 character mugshots

Sketcharoo

"The Price of Truth"

2012

New cover

High res

"Warm Welcome"

A few faces

(A shameless celebrity cameo in this one. It's downright Criminal)

The Book by its Cover

As I've depleted the Fenix material for 2012, I thought I'd present some work from more diverse sources. The through line for the following cover commissions is British Fantasy writer and part-time Ray Winstone impersonator Steven Savile, who I got to know through my previous job at Foxrain AB.
The bottom picture was created for the first book in a series called "The Lazarus Initiative". Ultimately, the publishers went with a different cover that, while probably more appropriate to the content, had 100% less fire in it, and thus - 100% less badassdom. You can't win 'em all, I guess.

"Moonlands"

2012
Written by Steven Savile

"World's Collider - A Shared-World Anthology"

2012
Edited by Richard Salter
and written by;
Steven Savile, James Moran, Aaron Rosenberg, Trent Zelazny, Jonathan Green, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Kelly Hale, Jonathan Templar, Jordan Ellinger, Megan N. Moore, David N. Smith, Dave Hutchinson, Pete Kempshall, Dave Hoskin, Elise Hattersley, Violet Addison, Richard Wright, Paul Pearson and Nicholas Blake.

"Crescent Lake"

2012

Written by David Sakmyster.

 

"The Lazarus Initiative - Book 1 - N.D.E."

2012

Written by David Sakmyster and Steven Savile. 

(unused)

The Doom that came to Fenix.

For reasons that I shouldn't really have to explain to anyone, #6 of Fenix for the year 2012 was all about the end of the world.
Kicking off what I had every reason to expect would be the final chapter of the magazine - and indeed the human race - was "Undergångsuret" (The Doomsday Clock), written by Kristoffer Krämer. A piece of investigative horror campaign fodder centered on a mystical artifact that predicts (or maybe causes) the end of the world. Can the protagonists turn back the clock on the Apocalypse? Will they even wish to?
The piece de resistance came in the form of Ken Hites last hurrah, "51 Mythos Dooms", where almost every horrible thing from H.P. Lovecraft's works gets their turn at bat. Nothing says "The Party's Over" like Lovecraft, and this world isn't going to end itself.

"51 Mythos Dooms"

2012

cover

"The Doomsday Clock"
2012

*Notes on the cover*

This piece has got a bunch of Easter eggs in it, most of them inspired by the sections of the article devoted to; Cthugha, Daoloth, Dark Young of Shub Niggurath, Dholes, Hastur, Tsathoggua and Yog-Sothot. The print on the girls t-shirt is my version of the well worn HPL meme. I don't know who first came up with that idea, but kudos to them.

*The (same) color out of space*

Seeing them on top of each other like this, the similarities in color composition between the two pictures are pretty obvious. I could go off on a whole spiel and get all defensive, but truthfully - It was crunch time, I was tired and it just happened like that. I guess I was in a blue-ish green and purple state of mind:)

Black and White

Some choice picks from the old sketchbook.

Also in the news..

Guld och Bly (Gold and Lead) is a complementary skirmish system for Western RPG that started as a table top event at BSK (Borås Game Con) in 1997. The new edition, released in 2012, was promoted in Fenix #5. Both featured the following illustration depicting the stalwart group of hero GMs who run the game on all Cons where it appears.

"Gold and Lead"

2012

(Anders "Quest" Qvist, Peter & Anders Edgar, Marcus Brissman and Fredrik Hoppe)

Babylon, Which Hates Injustice!

“The king spake, and said, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of kings by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” 
                                  -Daniel 4:30

So begins Kenneth Hite's 8th contribution to Fenix Magazine, called "Shadows of Babylon" which ran in #5 2012.
It provides the history of Babylon, with its legendary gardens, ziggurats, gods and monsters, along with means to resurrect the great city of Marduk into the urban fantasy campaign of your choice. Be it Paris in the Age of Steam, present day Dubai, or 1930s New York, the spirit of Babylon is there whenever men build towers to challenge the gods.

"Shadows of Babylon"
2012

cover

*Fun fact*
The hero is based conceptually on the Burney Relief, depicting the goddess Ishtar as a great winged woman, whose symbol is an eight pointed star, flanked by owls, and standing atop a lion.

Madness?! This is Pindariaaaa!!!

In Fenix #4 2012 Ken Hite goes back to the roots of science fiction warfare by taking the military history of ancient Greece into outer space. "Diagoras Sector - an interstellar warzone" presents a complete setting with human and alien factions, based on nations and armed forces from antiquity.

"Diagoras Sector - Pindar Infantry"
2012

"Diagoras Sector - System Map"
2012

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest...

Fenix #3 2012 had a pirate theme, so I signed up with Captain Kenneth Hite to terrorize the high seas of gaming. The article, titled "Just Add Rum - everything you need for pirates", is a detailed guide for implementing the pirate phenomenon in any role playing setting imaginable. From ancient Greece to the Outer Rim, there can always be swashbuckling, plunder, and grog!

"Just add rum"
2012

Sketches

A few personals

The Lovecraft one ran with a different color scheme in Fenix back in 2010, the other ones were just for me:)

"He just wants a hug"
2012

"Jane Eyre"
2011

"The Mindscape of HPL"
(Variant)
2012

"Mud Flamingo"
2012

"Tiny Adventure"
2012

I Declare War!

About two years ago I was commissioned to do the this cover as a kind of work exchange deal between my then employer and the band Imperial State Electric, helmed by Nicke Andersson of Hellacopters fame. It went through a couple of iterations before finally getting the green light, as you will see. The basic concept philosophy from the client was always Frank Frazzettas Death Dealer cover, and it started off pretty crazy and slowly but surely became cleaner and more concise. I like it:)

"Imperial State Electric - Pop War"
2011

Below are two examples of the work in progress: