Pathinder Comics at GenCon 2012

It is that time again where Paizo makes its yearly exodus to Indianapolis for GenCon! We know its coming and try to prepare but always its the most stressful time of the year with getting all the products out to the printer in time for the convention.

This year we will have a bigger booth which means it will be filled with Pathfinder goodness (to many to list).

One of those great products will be the Pathfinder Comic from Dynamite. Issue No.1 cover artist is Lucio Parillo with interior art done by Andrew Huerta. The first issue also gets many alternative covers from artists Matteo Scalera, Dave Dorman, Erik Jones and Pathfinder favorite Tyler Walple.

Andrew Huerta will be in our booth at GenCon throughout the show to sign!!

Andrew Vallas and I will also be doing portfolio reviews Thrusday 12:30-3:30 and Saturday 1:00-3:00. We will also be in a panel called The Art of Pathfinder Friday 1:00-2:00.

Hope to see you all at GenCon.

Lucio Parillo

Matteo Scalera

Dave Dorman

Eric Jones

Tyler Walpole (Paizo.com subscribers exclusive!)

Andrew Huerta

PaizoCon 2012

PaizoCon 2012 is next weekend (July 6-8) and this year it is a celebration of ten years of Paizo and five years of Pathfinder so it should be a great time. Wayne Reynolds, Craig J Spearing, Tyler Jacobson, Raven Mimura, Kieran Yanner and cartographer Rob Lazzaretti will be guests. Hangout with the Paizo staff, drink, and of course game!!!

Here is a sneak peak of a chapter opener for the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition debuting at PaizoCon!!!

I am seriously trying to write more posts but it seems that I am not too good with this social networking! May was a very busy month with getting our GenCon products to the printer, heading to Germany for RPC and then three days after I returned heading back out to KC for Spectrum Live. Oh and then getting sick...bleh!

RPC - I loved this convention! It was a combination of video games and tabletop games. It was pretty much the PAX of Germany. I saw lots of portfolios and came away very impressed with all the talented artists and actually am working with a few of them now! I am hoping to make this a regular addition to my list of conventions each year!

Spectrum Live! - What can I say about this convention other than it is the best convention to attend if you are an AD in the Fantasy/tabletop games. It was everything I needed to be in awe and overwhelmed by the greats to finding new talent for Pathfinder. I hope that this is a yearly event!

And then I got sick...

So that is what has been going on, hopefully I will get better at this blogging, tweeting (sarahpaizo), and facebooking but summer conventions are not over yet!

Art was still coming in while I was away so here is a preview of some interiors for our Advance Race Guide.

Dave Allsop

Grafit Studios

Klaus Scherwinski and Luisa Preissler

Jorge Fares

Anna Christenson

Ben Wootten

Two away from a Decade!

This month will be 8 years that I have worked at Paizo! WOW!! It seems like only yesterday that I was coming in for an interview not really knowing what the company was or what they did. All I knew was that it had something to do with gaming. It was a short interview and from that I learned it was for a game that was called Dungeons & Dragons. My only introduction to D&D was when I think I was 10 when some friends of the families two boys wanted to teach me and my sister a game. They brought out a box that only had books and paper in it. I thought to myself um...where is the board and the game pieces. I was confused and not into it. And that was it, that was the last time I had contact with D&D until I entered for my interview. I drove away amazed that D&D was still around. I got the job and I started as a graphic designer for Dragon magazine. You can see my efforts on Dragon issues 320-359

A few years later in addition to being the graphic designer I became Art Director for Dragon and that was the start of making contacts with all the great illustrators that I work with today.

After Dragon and Dungeon magazines went back to Wizards...enter Pathfinder! Pathfinder I think is what I am most now associated with and its great to collaborate with the most creative team of designers, developers, and editors!

Its weird to say that I love my job and although I may not be an expert on all things fantasy I am thankful for the tabletop RPG for giving me a long career :)

Oh and now I know who H.P. Lovecraft is and what he created....

Now some art! Our pirate adventure Skull & Shackles will be out soon. Here are great pieces from the first installment!

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Illustration by Bryan Sola

Illustration by Emiliano Petrozzi

Illustration by Mikael Leger

Front Cover art by Daryl Mandryk

Heading To Lucca!

Since I am leaving for Italy tomorrow to attend Lucca Comics & Games I thought I would showcase some of the Italian artists that have been illustrating for various Pathfinder products for the past couple of years. All of these artists are great to work with and have had the opportunity to meet each one of them and look forward to meeting them again this year.

This will be my second time attending Lucca Comics & Games and it is easily one of my favorite conventions of the year! I am looking forward to all the great cosplay and seeing some portfolios! Enjoy the great art below!!!

Alberto Dal Lago

 

Roberto Pitturru

Francesco Graziani

Maichol Quinto

New Series: Iconic Study

I have started a new series called Iconic Study. For this series I ask an artist that I have been working with for awhile and ask them to sort of tell what is hard or easy about the chosen Iconic. For the first study I have chosen Seoni and enlisted Craig J Spearing to write about his experiences in drawing and redrawing one of our more famous character.

Finding Seoni
by Craig J Spearing

 

Depicting Seoni is a double-edged sword. The one aspect that makes it easier than some of the other Pathfinder Iconics is also the aspect that makes it more difficult. Simply put: she ain't wearin' much. Her attire certainly isn't as revealing as many other fantasy femme fatales, but compared to the wonderfully extravagant costuming on most Wayne Reynolds characters, it's downright minimal. With the exception of a few thin straps, her sides are completely exposed from her knees to her shoulders. She's also very busty, and the material covering her chest would easily fit into a Ziplock™ sandwich bag. This is not a complaint -- quite the opposite. The first time I was assigned Seoni, I happily exclaimed: "Yippie! Time to paint some boobs!"

However, to illustrate Seoni as a capable adventurer and powerful sorceress without stumbling into the pitfalls of "pin-up girl" can be rather difficult. A couple methods to prevent her from looking like a pin-up are by giving her a strong stance and avoiding overly provocative poses. Another approach is to draw focus to her abilities, one hand (or both) crackling with arcane energy makes her visually say: "Seriously fellas, you do NOT want to piss me off". I also tend to make her costuming slightly more covering than the reference, particularly when viewed from behind.

My favorite parts of the minimal attire are the costume elements that flow off the figure. Whipping the long braids and cloth belts around her, and blowing the waist cloth back help to give her a sense of movement. I picture her moving with the fluid grace of a ballerina, or River Tam in Serenity. Despite my aversion to drawing knees, it's always a joy to paint Seoni (Why Wayne? Why couldn't you have made those leg gaiters go up over her knees?). She's become almost real to me, which is a lot less weird than it sounds.

Craig graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992, and illustrated children's material from 1995 to 2008. He is currently doing digital science fiction/ fantasy illustration for clients like Paizo and Wizards of the Coast. He lives in Portland Oregon.

Illustrating for Pathfinder.

With convention season over I look back at all the portfolios and art submissions that I have seen throughout the year. I have seen some really great art and have added a number of new artists within the Pathfinder line. But as Pathfinder makes its way into the the fantasy genre I have one advice to all potential artists. If you really want to work for me and for Pathfinder I suggest maybe submitting an art piece with maybe an iconic or two fighting some really creative monster. This will give all the things I look for in a potential artist. Its really simple.

1. Can they reproduce our iconics

2. Creativity of the creature

3. How dynamic is the action in the halfpager

4. Would this image really want someone to play Pathfinder

That is it. Study our Iconics cause once you start with Paizo you may be drawing them over and over again. Here is a link to all of the iconics to get started. There are a lot of blogs out there that will give you great advise on what to put in your portfolio but this will definitely show me that your really interested in working for me.

Below is one of the best illustrations of our Iconic Seoni. Even though she is not really in an action pose (the description didn't call for it) But I think she turned out great.

Illustration by: Roberto Pitturru