Back in the fall of 2005, I went over my friend's new apartment. She and I have been friends for awhile at this point, and one of our strongest bonds is over nerdy fanatasy material. Such as getting pumped about classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters and Warhammer figurines. From the moment I entered her apartment, she threw this card game called Dragonmaster in my face. She found it earlier that day at The Goodwill. I FLIPPED out. The artwork is brilliant, and I knew it seemed familiar. Then I FLIPPED out harder when I saw on the game credits that Bob Pepper did the art. This was around the time when I first started to get into his work, so stumbling across this gem was very exciting.
His style sets him apart from any other illustrator I've seen. His figures are very unique looking, somehow portraying a 1970s cartoon-esque style with darkness and depth. It's all so very detailed though, giving everyone on all of the cards their own distinct personality. His style is not using watercolors, surprisingly enough. I'll let him explain how he does it 9Taken from an interview from well-of-souls.com)-
"My technique is to cement down charcoal paper, float water into areas of the illustration, and border the area with dark gouache which spreads and settles in the warpings of the wet paper. After that dries flat, I float dyes on top to color the area. I love the whole process of illustration, but mostly the research and bringing together of many different parts to form a coherent whole design that I like. I also think that your state of mind, (what interests you) has, really, everything to do with it!"
His work is fresh and exciting, even now. He went on to create the art for a board came called Dark Tower, which has become a cult classic amongst board game enthusiasts. I've seen glimpses of his work in in fantasy art books from the 80s that continued this style, which I'm currently trying to hunt down. The following is the complete set of Dragonmaster cards. I'll categorize them by "kingdom" and specialty cards
The Druids
The Dragonlords
The Nomads
The Warriors (my personal favorite)
Specialty Cards
for more info check out http://well-of-souls.com/tower/dmaster.htm (all pictures taken from well-of-souls)
Stunning. And I've just scored a copy on ebay. Can't wait to see it in the flesh (card!)
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