Here’s a sketch for the Bone Gnawers full page piece that is just full of storytelling. Here were the art notes Ethan and I worked up for Ron:
Bone Gnawers: The setting will really sell this one: someplace run-down and hellish, a Rust Belt abandoned construction site or junkyard or junk-strewn underpass. The kind of urban wasteland that the Bone Gnawers populate. We see one to three Bone Gnawers (artist’s choice), maybe in a mix of Hispo, Crinos or Homid, clambering over the junk or abandoned vehicles or whatever, like they’re stealthily creeping up on someone. They’re the stealthy boogeymen of the bad part of town, and they’re about to tear someone apart. Avoid making them look like luckless and homeless: they’re street survivors, hunters, with improvised weapons that have been turned into fetishes, and strong enough to uproot a parking meter and murder you with it.
What do you folks think? Does this deliver the scene you imagine reading the notes? Does it deliver a cool Bone Gnawer experience? Do you want to play these Garou now (the Chupp Test)? Also- in totally we sell books mode: DTRPG is having a sale still on Werewolf PDFs- check it out!
I really like the deal going on in the background. Great detail.
The Crinos is spot-on perfect. I *love* the improvised shiv-klaive he’s about to yank out. It’s clearly Business Time.
The lupus is… missing something. Maybe a curled lip, or his ears back? The crinos is about to attack, but it looks like he’s just sitting and eavesdropping.
The homid just looks like she’s been swinging on the ladder going “whee” and has only just realized that something’s happening. She needs something. Crouching, peering behind a corner. Even vaulting over something using parkour moves; parkour seems very much like something the Gnawers would be into, to manoeuvre quickly through the urban landscape.
A rat (representative of the capital-R Rat) might be fun running over the paws or hands of someone as it skitters down a pipe.
Great. Love the Lupus-Form on the pipes. Nice Detail on the girl with two different shoes, but she is holding her Knees somewhat strange. The guys down there could be more menacing, maybe clearly some kind of Fomori or Leeches.
Loving it. Looks like there’s a circle of some sort on the ground around part of the deal going down. That probably needs more detail, maybe a look at the “weird” things the Garou have to deal with. Maybe the briefcase one of the suits is carrying should have a Pentex logo. Or maybe the icon of a Technocratic Convention, where the ones in the circle are perhaps Mages who happen to be allied or non-aggressive toward the local Bone Gnawer pack?
Love the Crinos. Do think there needs to be an inclusion of Rat. Love the chick. She strikes me as Ragabash. Swinging in the ladder until the fun really starts. The lupus does seem a bit wrong. Doesn’t look like he’s even paying attention to what’s going on.
Aside from the needed inclusion of Rat, this is a wonderful piece. Loving the whole “stealthy” feel this image has, it shows off that garou are a little more than roar-and-charge tanks. I love to see that this book is in good hands.
Typically, I remain uninspired by Bone Gnawers. this artwork made me say “Tell me more…”
To be completely honest… I can’t say I dig this piece as the “Bone Gnawer Poster Piece.” (It feels like blasphemy to say it!) Now, mind you, I’ll also admit that it’s completely unlike anything I had in my mind, but that aside, there’s some points about it that don’t me think of this as a “Bone Gnawer” piece.
• The Bone Gnawers aren’t the focus of the piece. Yes, they’re in the foreground, but nothing points to them, nothing focuses on them. They aren’t the subject of this “story” (yet.)
• The eye path of this piece pulls my attention away from the Bone Gnawers. The focus of the piece is the “hostage” in the center and the “humans” there. Even the Bone Gnawers are looking at it. For me, the focus should be the Bone Gnawers.
• Color-wise, even the Bone Gnawers here are likely going to be in shadow and the hostage and folks will probably be under a circular source of light (streetlight?)
• We’re looking at the backs of their heads and bodies. We don’t see their detail, and they look kind of bored or curious more than protective, or on guard.
• I’m also not entirely sure the setting of this scene: Is it a boiler room? An alley? A vacant lot? Maybe some of this will come together in color, but for now, I’m just a bit confused about the elements I’m looking at.
• Also, that Crinos looks small; like he stands maybe 6′ tall. I know he’s supposed to be farther away from the viewer, but with that tail coming out, and without good size relation to anything between he and the wolf, it looks like he’s tiny.
As a normal “Middle of the book” illustration, it’s a cool picture of “Garou watching a hostage negotiation going down.”, but for a piece that is supposed to exemplify a Tribe, this isn’t doing it for me. For me, I think these pieces should be like “Tribe Recruitment Posters”. The Tribe should be the focus, should show them off and make you go “DAMN! That’s the Tribe I want to play!”
I just don’t look at this and say “OH! That’s the Bone Gnawer poster piece!” To be honest, I would rather look at this piece from the OTHER side, from the perspective of one of the guys down there looking up and seeing three Garou looking at me (the viewer), as if to say “You wandered into the wrong alley, punk.”
I would prefer a piece that has the three Garou either looking at me, or having the eye path/lines pointing towards the Gnawers looking out over their territory. I want to see their eyes, I want to see their power and territorial nature being imposing and “Oh, shit! There’s werewolves protecting their territory here!” Have three imposing werewolves in an alley with one ontop of a dented car with broken windows, while two others are coming after the viewer, or under a bridge in a city, or whatnot.
I will also admit that Bone Gnawers were never my favored Tribe, and maybe this does exemplify the Tribe well, but this piece tells me that the Bone Gnawers are “Shadowy figures, lurking in the dark who watch things happen and don’t get involved when gangs are using their territory for their own business”, but somehow I doubt that’s what it’s supposed to convey.
This IS my favourite Tribe, and that said, the piece doesn’t work for me. The lupus doesn’t even seem very interested in the goings-on, and the homid’s shape does not quite fit (her hair is moving but her jacket is hanging down… Is she swinging or doing exercises?). These are small points, though…
I think that the piece should be turned around. The ‘situation’ with the captive should be in the foreground, close and like we are almost seeing through the eyes of that captive. The three Garou figures could be facing us, in a stance that says, ‘Don’t worry; we’re here.’ The backs to us really puts too much focus on what the Garou are watching, not on who they are or what they are doing. This makes me want to know more about the story, but it does not make me want to know more about the tribe.
…And I DO want to know more about the tribe. They are noble defenders of those places that most other Garou find distasteful. They are the pedestrian wolves of the cities. I want others to see a piece and say, ‘Damn, I really should take another look at the Bone Gnawer Tribe!’
I think that the lupus form must be more Bone Gnawer-ey, less furr and more dog-ish. Otherwise the Tribes are too much alike, and since that’s not true and neither is the goal, I think it could be changed. Other than that, and the addition of ‘Rat’, I dig it a lot!
Agreed, the illustration is more like something you would put on the “legends of the Garou” rather than include it with tribal description pages.
Mainly because this piece; as beautiful and evocative as it is, doesn’t so much present us the members of a Garou Tribe but a scene prior to an events about to happen (cue cool 3-4 full page story about it).
I had a thought about “fixing” the focus…
How about making the Metis(?) in the middle a little larger and have him to break the fourth wall by having his head turned towards the “unseen photographer” while making “huss puppies” -type of motion and thus convey us (the viewer) the feel of seeing an exclusive about “Garou tribe-at-work”?
I’m not really sure whats going on with the woman’s legs. Is one of them resting on the pipe, and the other dangling in the air? Seems a bit weird.
Otherwise, I like it. The hostage handoff is an interesting detail.
Why the woman is the one without a weapon, with her back turned to the enemies, clothes that reveal the body, not agressive and feeling like everything is ‘weee!’? And…is that another woman on her knees, on a humiliating position? Woudln’t that… I dunno, make the other one see the gravity of this? I don’t like the tone of the drawing. I hope for something more agressive. Not… Marvel sexy.
It’s a hostage situation with the hostage tied up with a bag over their head. Forcing them to their knees so that they aren’t standing/running away would seem a perfectly reasonable position during the trade (we assume for whatever is in the brief case).
And I’m not reading it as female at all–no discernible breasts, no wider hips, though it does appear to be without long pants. The shoulders of the individual seem fairly broad too. Humiliating? Perhaps, but a pretty typical rendition of a potential hostage trade.
Also, I’m not reading any of this as “sexy” (Mmmm… scuzzy girl in a knit cap, sports shirt, tattered sweat pants and crappy shoes doesn’t say “sexy” to me just because she has her 6-pack midriff showing.) Just my opinion. Everyone’s obviously going to read the scene differently.
I don’t mind about the humiliating position, if it’s a man. That’s why I asked. I just feel the lack of… badassness on the woman Bone Gnawer a little bit… disturbing. She doesn’t sound like a kickass survivor or queen of the streets – even a Ragabash one. She sounds someone who just happened to pass by and saw the scene. Maybe an air of… ‘preparation’, or something that makes her look more agressive would be cool. And matching shoes.
While I love Rons art, this one feels kind of… well, empty. It lacks stuff in the center of the page and I think that looking at the back of the characters draws the focus away from them. Maybe the lupus or the Crinos could look at the homid girl, just like they we’re making a plan what to do next or how to attack.
I love it. Agreeing with the comment about adding a rat or two, though. Also, yes – the wolf looks a bit sedate and normal – maybe make him/her more feral – scrawny, mangy, meaner-looking. I love the girl on the fire escape, and that massive shiv is so badass it ought to be added to the weapons chart. 🙂
My single largest qualm with the piece comes from the description he was given and one little piece of detail.
The female Garou’s “shoes”. The description specifically mentions not making them look like hobos. I feel the sandal/shoe does exactly that.
Go to barefoot, both sandals or two different shoes, but the sandal/shoe combo is just not doing it for me.
PS- The quote that irks me is “Avoid making them look like luckless and homeless: they’re street survivors, hunters, with improvised weapons that have been turned into fetishes, and strong enough to uproot a parking meter and murder you with it.” The shoes give the luckless/homeless feel.
Alexis
*smiles*
I thought I would clarify my stance a little bit. I speak from experience. I was, by choice, a homeless hitchhiker rainbow child for over eight years. I lived out of a backpack and camped in various urban and suburban sprawls around the United States. When not in one city or another I camped in National Forests on the 14 day rule.
During that entire eight year tenure as a homeless individual I was never once without at least a pair of matching crappy sneakers. The only individuals that devoid of footwear were the truly lost and broken, the hobos you see near alleys jabbering insanely to themselves.
Even if our footwear consisted of hand me down, most individuals who were crafty and homeless had at least a matching pair of shite-tastic sneakers. And certainly one would not don a sock on one foot and not on the other, that is just not “survivalist” “crafty” or “cunning” at all, it is lazy, and could easily be a mark of a less than stellar grasp on reality. Gnawers are crafty, cunning and use makeshift gear, they are not devoid of the intelligence to match footwear.
And for those who may find the thought of homelessness by choice sad, please do not. I saw more in that eight years than I ever have since settling down. I have a nice home now, and live quite comfortably, but there are freedoms I miss that this life could never grant. Sights I would see again, that are part of a world I am no longer a part of. It was a magical, strange and wonderful time I would not trade for all the worlds’ gold. It taught me much about me.
But that time also sets my feelings about that part of this otherwise MARVELOUS image.
~A~
That’s a fascinating story, Cailieg, and I do appreciate it.
The reason that the mismatched footwear didn’t bother me is due to something perhaps too subtle to be worth pursuing here: the idea that Bone Gnawers can get away with more because of their Garou nature. Therefore I saw the lackidaisical attitude as appropriate — but probably because that’s what was directly on my mind.
But as you say, if the gut reaction is that looks more sloppy and damaged and doesn’t imply craftiness, then we should look at tweaking it.
I usually associate most garou sartorial choices with their status as people whose bodies explode and morph into giant monsters. I think I’d find it hard to hold on to a matching pair of shoes if I was a garou of limited resources,
The sandal and shoe make me think “luckless and homeless” and also “sloppy, careless.” Garou need to be able to run, climb, walk, travel, and fight on their feet, and mismatched footwear is just bad for that. Flip-flops in general aren’t good for that. I imagine they’re especially not great for parkour.
Looks VERY promising. Can’t wait to see the final result!
I think its great as a setting but I’d like to be able to see one character’s face full on. Perhaps if the homid were turned towards us and listening to make sure these bush whackers don’t get bushwhacked themselves…
+1