DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

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Clueless's picture
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Webmonkey
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

This thread is for feedback in regards to the DM Screens (released 6/12/07). Please leave comments, questions, and submissions for artwork on the Player's Side - here.

Regarding artwork - please recall these are screens created at a size of 34 inches by 11 inches aka. four sheets of standard printer paper side by side. Artwork submissions will need to be of that size and scanned in at a high enough quality for printing (300 dpi or better). Don't place anything important on the very edges of the image as we would expect home printers to possibly cut off or otherwise mangle the edges.

Duster's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Do you prefer CG to ink / oil paintings?

Clueless's picture
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Webmonkey
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I prefer pretty to non-pretty. Eye-wink Which is to say - as an artist it is entirely up to you what your preferred media is - so follow your inspiration.

Eventually it will need to come to me in a digital format, be that because it was digital the whole time or because you took a very nice picture of it after it dried. That way I can make sure it fits the given format and add it to the PDF. Any other questions?

Duster's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Umm it's a bit offtopicky, but how do we know what projects are next i queue?
Do you post immediate needs & desires in this part of the forum when they are needed or are the most important projects those which get most people interested at one time.

Umm, I've never participated in group projects over the web as you can see.

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Webmonkey
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

There isn't really a queue for projects themselves actually. Though that *would* be a decent way to try to approach things in the future - I'm not sure the plan would hold up to the inherently distractable nature of the net. I - personally - am interested in all the projects, but will hop around between them based on interest and involvement of others.

For me, pretty much all of the projects are ongoing constantly. I usually try to have at least a thread if not a whole forum per project to keep track of what's needed and where the status on something is.

Duster's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I was worried about claiming of art before, because I have some ideas about one other project...

But back on topic.

I had an Idea about the picture for DM's Screen.
It would be our favourite Lady's image floating in ethereal looking space(unknown pocket in space where Lady resides) and there is a huge carcass floating near by(suggesting it to be Aoskar).
I'll use a vague sketch my friend(Squaff) has done long time ago and bring it to life with my imroving Photoshop skill.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Hey, you've got art ideas - pounce on it. I can usually make sure the art finds it's way into the right person's hands from there.

And that sounds like a pretty cool idea - I look forward to seeing what the two of you cook up. Smiling

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Factor
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Not to rain on your parade, but Aoskar's corpse is supposed to be floating in the Astral (or at least it was last time I checked), and the Lady isn't really known to leave Sigil much. Not that this has stop you.

Duster's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

It could have happened long ago in the unknown past, it really looks cool.

Art pooper

Loja_Windcutter's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Looking over the DM Screen, I have only one small question: Under the effects on magic on the elemental planes (right below the nifty graphic of those planes) I noticed that Earth states that Water spells have DC 15+ spell level. Shouldn't that be Air to maintain the elemental antithesis balance?

Clueless's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Epp! That should be! Thank you for finding our first typo... Eye-wink

Tarion'sCousin's picture
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Make 3.5 = 3.5 only, not both.

I own a few DM Screens, but I have never used them.

I will use these. At the very least, I will print them out and have them on hand during my current Planescape game for reference. Great job.

However, I would suggest changing the text in the "Standard Creature Immunities" section to reflect actual resistances, not "In 3.5 reduce all resistances from 20 to 10." I mean, you've gone to all the trouble of hosting two different screens--one for 3.0 and one for 3.5. Why not alter the 3.5 screen to only reflect 3.5 info (and vice versa)?

These look really useful. This is something I didn't know I needed until I saw it and now I don't want to DM without.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

LOL Well then - keep an eye out as I've got a few types and things to change already - I'll fix that as well. (And see if I can get some prettier backs as well).

Let me know if there are any spacing issues. It looks a little crowded on my computer screen but I don't know if that's the fault of the tables or the fault of my screen.

Narfi Ref's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I noticed a couple of errors.

1) Under the traits for Earth, "Water" needs to be changed to "Air."

2) It looks like you intended to put alternate gate towns in in but stopped. Did you forget to list them, or did you forget to remove mention of them?

Other than that, looks good to me.
Good work.

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Webmonkey
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I think it got cut off when it was converted to PDF actually.

Jem
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Factor
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Checked out the 3.5 wide. Looks good; I like the art and the flowcharts are handy. Some minor proofreading of things people haven't mentioned yet:

It's spelled "Ethereal Dependent."
The italics below it presumably say "These spells do not function or only partially function on the Ethereal Plane"; the words "Ethereal Plane" are cut off.

Spelling: "Coterminous."

For both the above also see 4th ring, Outlands Spire Effects.

Clueless's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Fixed!

Ambrus's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I myself have never cared much for character art on my DM screens; my favorite has always been the original screen from the Planescape campaign setting box. The lady of Pain front and center says it all. Unfortunately my old screen is falling apart at the seams so it's high time I put together some new artwork, print it out and assemble a replacement. Here are a few variations to look over.

The first is the traditional green patina and corroded metal.
The second is a blood colored version with three maze designs in the BG.
The third has a large stylized arc in the BG representing the city of Sigil.
The forth is a montage of an angel's wing, a compas rose, a heart and the world tree worked into the BG.

Please let me know which is your favorite and why. If there's interest in one, I could make it available for download.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

The red one with mazes looks nice and reminds me of Blood War design(card game and expansion/adventure box).

The last one is a really nice design, but the background is a bit too clean and looks a bit religious, iconic in the first look(Mount Celestia style).
The Lady of Pain symbol is blending really good with the background.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Honestly I like em all... Eye-wink

There seems to be some sort of repeating effect on the lower edge of the green? I can't quite see.

The red really stands out to me - given the layered effects with the mazes and the asymmetric subtle design of it. The design in this case seems to have a ripple movement to it (large left, smaller mid right, lifting on the far right). I'd love to get a closer look at that one.

The third one reminds me of batik. It also feels very dark despite the rainbow colors it has, of them all I think that one would be the weakest. The lady doesn't blend in quite right and the background is a very stable static sort of composition. Which I suppose is actually a good thing considering it's Sigil, but visually it's a little less interesting than the others.

The blue one I like - in no small part b/c blue is my favorite color. It feels the coldest of them all. I would actually move the tree over under the angel's wing as it looks almost too complicated on the left side. It needs something counter balancing it on the right.

Got any ideas for a gold toned one perhaps? Looking at these it's reminding me heavily of how much I need to refresh the site's look. Eye-wink

Is there any chance I can get you to use the PW lady logo instead of the plain Lady? (I don't know what you would need for that.) It makes it just a little easier to dance the line with what we're allowed to use by wotc - but it also gives us some free advertising if we can get folks to use these screens at cons... Smiling

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

'Duster' wrote:
The red one with mazes looks nice and reminds me of Blood War design(card game and expansion/adventure box).
That's no surprise; its based on it. Smiling
'Duster' wrote:
The Lady of Pain symbol is blending really good with the background.
In which?
'Clueless' wrote:
The third one reminds me of batik.
What is batik?
'Clueless' wrote:
Got any ideas for a gold toned one perhaps?
Four versions aren't enough for ya? Sticking out tongue I dunno. Gold is hard to print properly, as it tends to come out a little green. Something that'd look great on screen in gold would tend to look kind of sickly green on a screen. The whole rich effect is lost.
'Clueless' wrote:
Is there any chance I can get you to use the PW lady logo instead of the plain Lady?
I suppose I could if you were to provide me with hi-res artwork of it. I myself wouldn't want to use it however in my own game. I'd find the URL would detract from the clean and intimidating lines of the Lady. What are the rules about what you can and can't use on the site?

Duster's picture
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

"Ambrus" wrote:
'Duster' wrote:
The Lady of Pain symbol is blending really good with the background.
In which?
In the last Angel Wing/World tree one.

The gold color would come out nicely if there were brown and/or red tones in the gold, but not too much orangy parts.
I have printed a lot of maps for Dark Sun, so I had to edit the map color if it was to bew printed out right.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Batik is described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik

It's the strong black pattern and the gradient of colors surrounding it that leaves that impression.

Let me see if there's a pic of our logo thats high res that I can find. (The logo I'm talking about would be the lady medallion on the front page for example.)

And call me greedy - but the more the merrier Eye-wink

Narfi Ref's picture
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Those look great!

Here's an idea for a fifth. How about one that looks like parchment that has a charcoal sketched diagram showing the arrangement of the planes? Perhaps add the look of watercolor to some of the "planes" to give it a bit of color.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Hmmm an excuse to crack out some charcoal and get my fingers dirty... I like. Not that I'm any good at charcoal.

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In an attempt to redeem my balik version in Clueless' eyes, here's one rendered with an antique gold finish. It's difficult to make the Lady of Pain work with a lighter coloured background since the shadows on her face are so stark. Anyhoo, what are your thoughts?

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I absolutely love these. I am awe-struck at how beautifully these turned out. My Photoshop skills amount to little beyond splicing jpgs together or editing out red-eye. I would love some tips as to how you did these (putting together the images, putting them together so cleanly, layering the textures, adding the lighting effects).

I like the green, the first one because it feels so classically Sigilian, in a darkly regal sense. Maybe that's because it's just like the boxed set screen.

The red really catches my attention, and I think it also looks great. I can just imagine pulling this one out for special occasions, just so my players know I'm about to literally send them through hell.

I agree with Clueless that I find the third one a little less visually interesting than the others. I think my attention is drawn to the lower left corner because the rest of it is so dark. That's distracting to me, so I would perhaps make the colors contrast more.

The blue one is absolutely awesome. If I had my way, I'd print it onto a t-shirt and wear it. Though I think it looks less like a DM screen. Again, I second Clueless in saying the heart should go on the right. The wing side I can take in at first glance, but the left side I really have to study in order to see it all.

I also like the gold one, though when I saw it I immediately thought to suggest one in the same general color scheme, but with a clock-face theme.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

If you feel they're ready for it, send over the red, green and gold ones anytime and I'll get them into PDF and up on the site as cover alternates. Smiling *I* at least thing they're ready for it (you as artist may disagree freely) Eye-wink Let me know if you don't have my email.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

@ Ambrus:

Your DM screens designs are great (I like classic and red one) and here is an idea for anotner DM screen design for all you modron and mechanus lovers: Gears and Cogs (prehaps rusty), they start larger at screen edges but get smaller towards Lady Logo in middle (of course), her face shold be on a surface wihout gears. Who knows, maybe it will look good?

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

I can picture it - it probably would look good... *hm*

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Factor
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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Or you can have gears on the left side of the picture gradually fading into a "soupy" vortex of shapeless color on the right with The Lady's form in the middle.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

'Duckluck' wrote:
Or you can have gears on the left side of the picture gradually fading into a "soupy" vortex of shapeless color on the right with The Lady's form in the middle.

Ooh... I like that idea. Bonus points if the soupy bit is photoshopped from actualy soup.

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DM Screens Feedback and Artwork

Love these! I will be testing the 3.5 screen this evening at out Planejammer game. I am particularly fond of the flowcharts for common 3.5 maneuvers (i.e. things that continue to confuse many players).

Will report back with feedback once I've used it a bit.

Also, might I suggest an add on screen with faction info (one pre and one post Faction War would be ideal)

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I'm working on putting together a set of these for gencon to give away (you coming Loki?) and will probably include just such an insert along with them Eye-wink

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