THE FANTASY ILLUSTRATION OF NOBLE HARDESTY

Greetings fine traveler, and welcome to my Lookbook! Within, you will find my fantasy illustrations from the last few years. Fueled by a desire to switch gears from video games to gaming that has more creative design aspects, I pivoted to Dungeons & Dragons – back to my adolescent roots. Over the last few years, my role as Dungeon Master helped me create and run an apocalyptic horror campaign. My crew landed on the Roll 20 virtual table top and I started to illustrate handouts, tokens and maps. To support smaller publishers, I’ve amassed a collection of 3rd party content that enhances and enlivens my games. Pathfinder 2E and Dungeon Crawl Classics are on my radar too– and I want to broaden my scope further.

I would love to work for you as a contractor or full-time hire in the RPG world.

As a professional artist, I have a wealth of skill, knowledge, and passion to apply to this genre. The campaign process thrills me, and my dream is to pursue illustration work in the field.

PAINTINGS

I’ve spent a good part of my career painting large acrylic works on cradled panels. I decided to dedicate 2022 to digital work, and while I have much to learn, I’m a quick study. All of the work in this section is digital, with the exception of the final painting which is an acrylic exploration of Ragnarok.

A deep dive into the fantasy art archives of Art & Arcana led me to classic work from AD&D, and I found inspiration in the composition and color work of the legendary Jim Roslof and Erol Otus. The stand-out elements of these two artists inform how I want to approach my own work, and now I am driven to make all the fantasy art I can.

HANDOUTS

Illustrated handouts give the imagination something to work with, and feed the minds of those around my table, whether virtual or in-person. This framework satisfies and unites players under one vision – a mythic course of adventure. They are helpful for problem solving, dramatic effect, and assessing situations where a BBEG is ready to pounce.

It’s satisfying to describe a party’s surroundings, send them an image, and proclaim:

“Then you see THIS:”

SMALL PAINTINGS

I’m in my fifth year of doing daily 4” x 4” watercolor paintings from prompts provided by my sweet lady, the Arch Mage Amelina. This daily practice has helped me sharpen my artistic skills, and many of these small illustrations have inspired my campaigns. My players also use them for their avatars, and countless have been turned into table top tokens.

MAPS

Mapmaking is cathartic. I get to draw and animate a stage where all the action, comedy, and drama take place. Cartography feels like a Zen practice. I’m grateful every time I get to design a map – whether it’s on paper, a battle mat or a virtual table top.

VIRTUAL TABLE TOP

Work comes alive on a virtual tabletop. The image below is a screenshot of work I designed for The Monday Game on the Roll 20 VTT. You can see players’ avatars, their tokens, and the map they played on. It also includes the handout I created to inspire imaginations. I like to throw trash mobs at my players, so I even designed the token rings to keep track of everyone on the board!

DESIGN

No dungeoneers pack would be complete without a little bling! Here are a few designs transformed into acrylic pins, keychains, t shirts and vinyl stickers. They are great gift for players, and they do very well at art fairs and conventions! I ❤️ making merch!

WORTH A MENTION

Pop culture inspires my work too. I see pop culture as a branch in the fantasy art tree. Whether it be Alice, Coma, Wednesday, Godzilla or Tank Girl, they’ve inspired their fair share of non-player characters in my campaigns!