What I was busy doing in 2014 – some of the highlights.
Yes, its been a while since I posted here. A lot has gone on in 2014 and most of it has been good. I thought this time I’d go over just some of the things I have been working on this year and a couple of highlights of things going on around me.
PROJECTS
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls: On the T&T front, we got everything done for the Kickstarter except the rules. But even those are well on their way to completion and we have released the complete core rules to the fans via PDF. I think the two things I’m most proud of on the dT&T front are the 4 metal coins we created and the Adventurer’s Compendium. I told the rest of the Tunnels & Trolls team that of all the items that exist for T&T, these 4 coins may still be around in 500 years, whereas all the books will have crumbled to dust. The rulebook itself is turning out to be one of my high career points in terms of production design, layout, art, maps and graphics. Can’t wait to for that to come out. It’s been an honor to work once again with Ken St Andre, Liz Danforth, Rick Loomis and Bear Peters.
The Adventurers Compendium: is an 88 page collection of solo adventures from the pages of Sorcecer’s Apprentice magazine. I scanned in all the solos (which were scattered throughout each issue, then converted them to text and relaid them out using art from the magazine and from numerous other obscure T&T publications that I had been tracking down and scanning. The book also contains a lot of my art and graphics. I think its one of the best things we did for the dT&T Kickstarter. I sort of dragged the rest of the team into doing this book, but in the end they all thought it was well worth the effort.
Ace of Aces Book: This was a project that another artist started and then he just quit working on it. In the end Rick Loomis called me in and I was able to finish all the scans, cleanup and create the covers and interior rules pages to go with it. It consists of two small hardback book with a slipcase and gold foil stamp and it looks perfect!
Demi & the Monsters of the 3rd Reich: This is a comic by Randy Vogel & I that has been in the works for several years. It was really gratifying to have this in time for San Diego Comic Con this year. Demi and & Vampirooni fans loved it. ITs a great mystic fantasy history behind events in WWII.
Demi meets Captain Fortune #1 (In color!) This book had been out of print for some time and when Peter Penn & I finally worked out a way to reprint it, he wanted to do it in color, so how could I say no? He did an incredible job with the coloring and the book looks gorgeous. We also added an 8 page story we did that was out of print, making it a 48 page book.
Demi & Shaundra #1 This book is a reprint of the Rip Off Press book from 1997. Its been out of print for almost 10 years and now its back with a new pin-up or two. It looks great in this new deluxe format, with a thicker cover and glossy pages.
Coming Soon: The Ultimate Traps Collection: This book contains the first 5 complete Grimtooth’s Traps book plus interviews, a color cover gallery and new articles and Traps written by yours truly. This will be a hardcover book with a foil stamped slipcase. Its going to be beautiful.
Coming Soon: Fogel’s Underground Comic Price Guide: This is another thick book I worked on with Dan Fogel & Mark Fox. My job was to layout the articles, build the ads, put together the comic images and create a 2 page comic with Dan & Randy Vogel that fit the theme of the Guide. This is another book I’m really looking forward to seeing soon…
Mythic Tales: City of the Gods 2: All the stories are in and I am laying out this book and getting the art put together for it. Our plan is to have it out before the end of the year. Look for new stories by Ken St. Andre, Randy Lindsay, Wynn Mercere and M.Scott Verne. Stories starring D’Molay, Mazu, Sergius, Bast, Tehn-Mer and other deities and demi-gods.
In other great news Wikipedia has finally decided I am notable enough to have a page just about me. If you want to check that out, you can see it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Crompton.
So that’s been my year in a nut shell – as you can see I’ve been busy. I’ve also picked up some new clients that are going to keep me busy as well (more about them next time)… Thanks for reading – Steve
The Art of Steven S Crompton 