The Mystery at Port Greely final days!

It doesn't seem all that long ago that +Jeff Talanian talked to me about his next project for the awesome Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerer's of Hyperborea Game and Campaign Setting, entitled "The Mystery at Port Greely", and yet now we are in the final few days of the Kickstarter campaign, and there is still a ton of original artwork out there for the grabs. 

This being the fourth fifth book I have worked on for North Wind Adventures and with rumors that the new Hardcover book of the game and campaign setting starting to circle the interwebs I am really excited about the opportunity that many of you have of picking up some of Peter Mullen's original artwork, and some of my own through the kickstarter. This is a great place for new people to jump on board as well. 

This is a great way of getting in on the action so to speak, and being apart of the growing community of AS&SH players, and GM's. I am proud to be a part of this project, and hope that you enjoy a bit more insight into this thing through this blog. 

Alright, so Port Greely is this town in Hyperborea where the people have started to change in not to dissimilar ways as the people in the H.P. Lovecraft Novella "The Shadow over Insmuth", a classic tale from pulp fiction that many of you have read (and if you haven't go do so!)

So here is a look at a few of the "Townies" sketches and the final illustration for the book. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2016

The thought for this one was to have a male and female Townie portrayed but unlike the Lobstermen, these folk would not have such drastic changes to their bodies. They hadn't evolved as it were into full hybrid fish-men/women yet. 

This was the initial sketch I sent Jeff, and the only suggestion that he made was to make them a bit more balding. Not a problem. 

However, as I was composing the sketch I found that the lantern was a bit off, and the position of their arms/hand holding each other needed some adjustment as well. I was going for a look where the male was sort of helping the female, along, and sort of sheltering her a bit from whatever they may be encountering.  

I knew going in that they would be illuminated by the lantern, but I also knew that the lantern was not going to be brightly lit. These townies shun the light, for many reasons, and even though these two were not completely devoid of the "humanity" they were not going to be carrying a bright as daylight lantern with them. 

For the final I repositioned their hands, having the male holding the female's left hand left me room for the female to be holding something. What better to be holding than a rotten fish. 

The doorway in the background was sort of a last minute addition as I started to fill in the shadows I needed something to fit in there that had form and substance and "frame" them in. 

I receded the male's hairline a bit, and gave the female's hair more of a stringly thin, and scraggly look. 

Anyway here is the final. This is pen & ink only, and is roughly 4"x8"

Copyright Del Teigeler 2016

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.