The Quintessential Traveller Scene
- Thread starter Zob10701
- Start date
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Looking forward to seeing this...
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
B
Black Globe Generator
Guest
As much as I love Dave Deitrick's artwork, I think the humorous slant of D.J. Barr's illustrations in JTAS and elsewhere capture the adventurers' experiences perfectly - that sort of sentenced-by-Murphy's Law feel that comes from a dramatically failed skill check, or the sudden realization that the patron/referee has royally screwed Our Intrepid Heroes (with their vac suits still on, no less).
Barr's illustrations feel like they are depictions of events in actual play - at least they could be taken from many of the games I've been involved in!
Barr's illustrations feel like they are depictions of events in actual play - at least they could be taken from many of the games I've been involved in!
BGG,
If Barr is the artist I think you're referring to, I very much agree.
My JTAS Reprint isn't at hand but my palsied memory recalls a couple of illos I enjoyed very much. One had two fellows arguing over a manuscript in a wonderfully cluttered library. They may have been two illos in the series, IIRC. Another had a alien tree rat of some sort hanging from the overhead of some compartment with a set of keys with the players trying to retrieve the keys.
The 'nuts & bolts' drawing technique was rather different than the other JTAS artists, not less polished or anything like that, just different. The subject matter and how the illos presented it were dynamite however. As you said, they looked like scenes right out of a RPG session.
Have fun,
Bill
P.S. re: Vamp's work, I do not want to be the smuggler Commodore Feng is looking for. Just looking that guy gives me the willies.
Hey, D.J. Barr's a girl!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Barr
I've got to find out about The Desert Peach!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Barr
I've got to find out about The Desert Peach!
B
Black Globe Generator
Guest
That's the one.
My favorite is an illustration for the "Starship Malfunctions" article, with three crewmembers sitting on a deck, surrounded by nuts, bolts, and various pieces of hardware, exasperatedly and vociferously arguing about what to do next. I can't tell you the number of times my characters have been in that exact situation.
I also love the two figures in the library illo. There's also a great pair of cartoons for the "Animal Handling" article, involving an 'impromptu rodeo' - again, exactly the sort of situation in which my characters have found themselves (and the kind of situation I love to inflict when I referee!).
Deitrick and Keith show me what the Traveller universe looks like - Barr shows me what it's like to actually live there.
BGG,
Wow, did that bring the memories back!
Those two rodeo panels... the smug, certain, PC striding towards the horse as his party cheers him on and the NPCs smirk behind his back... then the payoff with the PC barely avoiding being stomped into red paste and everyone else bugging out... Great stuff.
The "What Do We Do Now?" maintenance illo is absolutely perfect. How any times did I inflict that very thing?
Have fun,
Bill
Wow, did that bring the memories back!
Those two rodeo panels... the smug, certain, PC striding towards the horse as his party cheers him on and the NPCs smirk behind his back... then the payoff with the PC barely avoiding being stomped into red paste and everyone else bugging out... Great stuff.
The "What Do We Do Now?" maintenance illo is absolutely perfect. How any times did I inflict that very thing?
Have fun,
Bill
or
Original art by Bryan Gibson and used with permission.
More possibles in this flickr set of Traveller motivational posters.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
I can't see the pretty pictures... I get empty spots with those German pages. Bummer....
I get empty spots with those German pages. Bummer....Jeff M. Hopper
SOC-14 1K
If I may add a refinement to the "group shot with starship" vote. Place some Vargas-style nose art on the ship and have at least one of the crew wearing a Hawaiian (sp?) shirt.
Please? With rum on top?
Please? With rum on top?
P
Pickles
Guest
Most definitely. Puts me in mind of my longest-running second-in-command, Atlantis Hemoglobin. Mind you, the player was a big Miami Vice fan (still is after all these years).
Jeff M. Hopper
SOC-14 1K
Make it the Vargr wearing the shirt </font>[/QUOTE]Or the Hiver.
Ooh, I like both these ideas!
I still haven't decided whether I'm going to go with "group in front of their starship waiting for their patron on some backwater" or "group speaking to patron in starport (or in startown)."
The first one would have more personality, but the second would feature a more expansive view of the Traveller universe.
Maybe I could combine the two somehow...
