Bas Wilk

✨An exercise in DM Frustration ✨
Crafting what you’re certain will be a fantastic encounter... and your players sit in a single choke point before promptly retreating behind cover again.
Let's change that with 10 FREE options to get players moving around the map.
www.patreon.com/posts/tips-a...

It says a lot that AI “artists” are so creatively bankrupt they think writing prompts is a difficult, arduous task.

You realize coming up with a prompt is what a real artist would call “having an idea,” right?

It took them weeks of sleepless nights to have some basic thoughts.

Why am I so against generative AI in games?

Because I simply do not want my initial reaction to art to be one of suspicion and scrutiny, AI slop is fundamentally damaging my relationship to art and artistry, and I am deeply resentful that it is forcing me to be guarded when I should be wowed.

Hang in there, struggling artists

gAI art is bad because it's stealing labor.

stealing labor from art is easy because no one sees art as labor, they see it as talent.

they see it as talent because it's easier to believe they have a right to hate you because they can't stand they gave up and you didn't.

fuck them, pay labor.

Demon Hunter - illustration The image is a book cover for an upcoming fantasy novella by Daina Rustin. It depicts two main characters facing off a monster in a forest. The main characters - Gray and Adrien - are turned away from us, and facing the monster hidden in the bushes. Gray is a slightly darker skinned mage, with long straight black hair, wearing a light green tunic and brown pants. She's placed in the foreground to the right. She wears a wide belt around her waist, and has one shoulder bag and one smaller bag visible hanging around her waist. She is preparing a fireball in her left hand. Adrien is a knight, and he's placed towards the left of the image. He's pointing his sword at the monster. He's wearing the Ravensguard blue tunic over a chainmail shirt, and brown pants. The monster is in the middle background, it's tall, standing on back legs, black with reddish highlights, red eyes, big beak, and two very long claws in front.

Aurelia - character illustration The image shows a stylized character illustration of the main character of Sky Across - Aurelia - on a white background. The character is a female, standing while leaning on a tall regal staff, while dressed in a "ceremonial" outfit for her setting. She’s wearing a stiff pale cream dress with blue decorative linings around the edges, and a v-neck cut, a gold feathery shawl draped over her shoulders, and she has thigh-high blue and orange leather boots with a small heel. She’s wearing gold jewelry, her earrings feature the same blue gemstone as her staff, while the leaf motif repeats between the bits of staff and her necklace pendant. She’s wearing a gold feathery tiara that matches her scarf. Her hair is long and dark red/purple, with a braid coiled around her head behind the tiara.

S.Coups - The Leader A digital study of S. Coups, k-pop idol and leader from the group Seventeen. Grayscale study of a photoshoot photo, trying to mimic traditional media of pencil and charcoal.

The Witcher, TV show fanart, portrait of Geralt The image depicts a realistic grayscale side profile painting of Henry Cavill in his role of Geralf of Rivia, from season one of the TV show "The Witcher". The portrait is set against an out-of-focus, almost abstract landscape. The brushwork on his skin is more detailed and soft, and more loose with the hair.

I'm a human artist making human art, and it's my birthday today! 🎉
It would mean a lot to me if you'd share my work ❤️✨

Well said!!

If I hear you're using vizcom for your concept art, I will find you and personally push you into a locker

Image of all the thirst character portraits together

Thirst character portraits <3 Loved painting these ✨

I don't post much, but-... this happened and I don't have the word to explain how much I love this beautiful human 🫠🥹

Get yourself a friend who 'll make you laugh a lot, cry a bit, and spirit-gum-glue a cotton pad moustache to your face for points, because this was the best surprise

Gonna add on top of what others already said, but I think it's also to big part what the group you're DMing for is most receptive to 🫠 Silly players will find comedy in even the most serious of moments - and it's an artform

Snarkiest of Jennieees 🥹♥️ You absolute angel - things have been better lately, so resurfacing haha hope you’ve also been alright?

I had the chance to work w/ Ghostfire Gaming in 2021 on the „Dungeons of Drakkenheim“ campaign book 💜

You can find Dungeons of Drakkenheim along with all kinds of cool goodies, like dice, maps, minis in the Ghostfire Gaming store below AND DEC 21st ON D&D BEYOND!

www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/...

The picture shows a twisted, undead-looking dryad. Purple crystal shards pierce her chest and lower back, while its face is pointed skyward. Its dress is dirty and torn, moss is growing in some parts and fungal growth shows the corruption the humanoid has undergone. Grassy, almost slimy-looking hair covers most of its face, while the bark skin carries a sickly blue tone. The most defining feature is its broken back that is held together by hardened leaves from a bird of paradise plant that wraps around its mid-section.

The sheet presented shows the original notes written down. They read, top to bottom: "dryad-like", "once the Queen's personal attendants", "handmaidens", "dishevelled, misshapen", "moss-covered petticoats", "slimy grass for hair", "skin like knobbly bark", "delirium shards in their flesh", "considered monsters / semi-intelligent". To the right of the list are three medieval headdresses and variations that make it look more plant-like. The entire bottom of the picture shows six different concepts for the creature, some dainty, others resembling more of a bruiser-type of a creature.

Picking up the second sketch from the concepts, this sheet shows the first scribble, a cleaned-up linework of the original sketch, and a roughly coloured version with three small variations floating next to it. This resembles the final stage before rendering of the illustration.

The Queen's Retinue (Dungeons of Drakkenheim) ⚔️
AD: Marius Bota

„The unfortunate souls that perish in the ruins of DRAKKENHEIM shall seldomly find respite. Delirium shards pierced the once cherished Queen‘s retinue, now doomed to walk the abandoned gardens in their new grotesque forms.“

I honestly /JUST/ found out that Dungeons of Drakkenheim (and a bunch of other Ghostfire Gaming things) is coming to DnDBeyond soon.

THAT MEANS that you can use the wee cabbage I posted earlier as officially partnered content! I'm so excited 🫠 Will dedicate a post to the Queen's Retinue tomorrow

The picture shows a twisted, undead-looking dryad. Purple crystal shards pierce her chest and lower back, while its face is pointed skyward. Its dress is dirty and torn, moss is growing in some parts and fungal growth shows the corruption the humanoid has undergone. Grassy, almost slimy-looking hair covers most of its face, while the bark skin carries a sickly blue tone. The most defining feature is its broken back that is held together by hardened leaves from a bird of paradise plant that wraps around its mid-section.

A pale wood elf hovers a few inches above the ground, their legs slightly tucked in for balance. Their hands, much like claws, are outstretched to the left and right, as if to summon something. The elf's shoulder-long dark hair is matted, greasy, and slicked back behind the pierced ears. Scarifications on their face symbolise the eye placement one would find with wolf spiders. On their shoulder rests a horned toad, that would look normal if it wasn't for the cordyceps mushroom growing from its right nostril.

Looking up from within a large and walled desert pit, we see a gargantuan pyramid upside-down and floating mid-air. From each of its edges, waterfalls are spouting into the unknown depths below. From the right, a platform with obelisks on top reaches into the pit, like a place for prayer. Set into alcoves within the walls, animal-headed statues of towering size look towards the pyramid, as if in permanent vigil. A large stairway in the back of the pit leads in and out of the place of worship, where tiny silhouettes suggest people coming and going; tiny in comparison to the rest of the structure. And above, peach-coloured clouds make their way over a warmly lit evening sky. Above the artwork itself, the steps are shown, including not only the shape exploration but also a 3D-version of the scene which helped to visualize the difficult perspective and was overpainted later.

An oval and polished orb seems to hover over three stone slabs in the middle of a mystical forest. Sunlight is breaching through the canopy of a triangular-looking tree; its bark twisted in spirals, and vines hanging from its branches. In the otherwise dimly lit surroundings the shapes of similar trees pierce through the veil of fog and mystery. Around are sloping grass-covered mounds, sprinkled with wondrous glowing weeds. Above the picture itself it shows the steps that lead to the artwork; first a shape sketch in pure black on pure white, then a version that suggests lighting in the scene, followed by the first colours being added. The sketches are much more zoomed in than the final piece.

Oh hi, Blue Sky! Seems like we've got to populate this channel at some point, so why not start now?

Here's a quick spread of artworks that I've worked on, both privately and professionally, in the past - and then fell off the face of the planet.

BUT, let's tackle that and paint again; can't wait 💚