Old Favorites

In a recent post I made a reference to a pair of my favorite swords and sorcery characters, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The books by Fritz Lieber are extremely entertaining and I always wanted to try my hand at depicting the mismatched pair. This is a personal work in progress.

Sketchbook Saturday

One of the paintings I am currently working on features a horde of ravenous zombies
so here are a few sketches that will be worked into the final composition, or decomposition..
Sorry.

D & D reboot

This week there has been lots of exciting news regarding the next edition of the mother of all role playing games, Dungeons and Dragons. This is interesting to me for a number of reasons. The first time I played D & D the rulebook consisted of a loosely bound notebook of xerox copies that had been making the rounds of Union College in Schenectady NY. Within a couple of years the first edition became commercially available and consisted of 3 thin books which I still have. Over the years the game has continued to evolve and is now moving into it's 5th edition. There are some interesting ideas and opinions floating around regarding  the next edition including the ability to participate in it's development. I recommend heading over to the official D & D website, http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Default.aspx  to check out the official announcements as well as keeping up with articles and news at http://theartorder.com/2012/01/13/dndnext/
 One of the our first encounters of my first game involved an attack by a couple of lizardmen. I must admit I do like working on lizardmen, likely for that very reason.

The Wyvern

A young wyvern has made the abandoned, underground hall its own. This young cousin of the dragon family feeds on whatever it can. In this case dinner is a few carrion crawlers who also sweep the dungeon floors clean. They are all hungry for a new party of adventurers to find there way to the sunken chambers.

Traditions

On a small street in Schenectady NY this afternoon a group of friends and neighbors will gather for my parents annual New Years Day Party.  There will be the drinking of Irish Coffee, mmm..  Musicians  playing a wide variety of instruments and songs, mostly folk  and fiddle tunes and great conversations and the chance to catch up with old friends. It was always a great day in the house and full of characters who will never be forgotten. Even though I can't always make it to the party the memories make this one of my favorite days of the year. I will drink a toast to all of those at the McElligott's New Years Day party this year. I know you are going to have a great time!