Your art-based magic system idea got me thinking of myths. What if spells are made overtime, much the same way as ancient stories were passed down orally, with each story teller adding their own embellishments and whatnot? Like the first spells ever were cave paintings, and overtime people interpreted them themselves, added more layers as you were describing, and the spell art evolved over generations, with influences of culture and such. Your work is inspiring to me, as I am also working on an RPG system as well. Always nice to see you upload this sort of content.
This game really inspired me to make my own based on slavic mythology, with a bunch of randomly generated items, stories, towns,... And every time i see an update such as this it inspires me more :D
Ya it's wild, I was actually working on my own political rp board game before I saw Trent and his vids, same effect, lotta motivation to keep going with it
so many of the pictures remind me of the handouts you'd get in school. The one that had been photo copied a million times and are hard to read cause the teacher can never photo the original for some reason. Just takes me back a few years *edit - then I get to the part where you actually photocopy it several times, it all make sense now
That interview with Rachel was so great 😂 😂😂. Really cool seeing your process for your art as that seems way just out of my league. That was a great breakdown on style over technical ability. Absolutely love that Trent. Btw, that reading writing arting nook looooooooks soooo nice. I’m envious😛
When you come over Neil we should just go down there and set up in his nook overnight and when he walks in for work one morning just deadpan 'morning trent, art's coming along' XD
I always get a kick out of seeing another content creator that i watch/ listen to post on someone else’s content that i also enjoy. I get that little ridiculous notion of ‘oh hey, you know them too?’ Lol
I'm here trying to write a short comment about everything in this video and how awesome it all is. Its surprisingly hard. So happy to see you happy and that the studio is already working out so well. I feel inspired every single time you upload a video. Even the shots/editing you use drip with style man. Keep being awesome Trent, I can't wait for arcane ugly to release!
I really enjoy black and white artwork in independent TTRPGs as it adds an extra level of grunge, especially when the subject is something like a dungeon room. It adds a sense of danger and suspense and the details really pop in black and white. Games like Dungeon Crawl Classics, White Box FMA, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess have great black and white centerfolds.
That kind of artwork on RPG books is what made me start drawing. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay andthe Diablo 1 manual. I still work mostly black and white, though I'm learning to use color.
@@dacedebeer2697 I really enjoyed the background art in the Age of Empires 3 manual. There’s also a huge appeal to me in the ink doodles out of Tolkien’s work, especially in the Hobbit. Edit: Also Zweihander RPG has pretty outstanding black and white art as well, and is based on/inspired by old-school Warhammer fantasy.
I love the aesthetic you’ve gone for, the other really good thing about black and white for tabletop games is that it leaves room for the players imagination to fill in the colour and texture.
Yes! It’s open to interpretation while still having a distinct feel and allows your imagination to run wild when you spot all the strange and wonderful details in a piece.
Here's some of my ideas for this game: -I don't believe in astrology or witchcraft but i think it would fit really well as a source of inspiration (granted it would be weird if you hadn't looked into it already but still) -The HiveSkull (structure/monsters): A giant beehive made of strong bone(?) On the outside & flesh on the inside. The "bees" are made of organs, some normal, some magical & some unknown. the organ used determines a member's abilities, stats & role within the colony. These "bees" are made using the organs of hunted creatures, which suggests the existence of undiscovered creatures when combined with the unknown organs mentioned earlier (which is an extra lore excuse for homebrew on top of the world just being wild as all hell). -I remember seeing someone suggest functional titles & i really liked it. You basically get them by doing cool things & they functional like equipabbles that boost certain rolls. -If familiars are souls & spirits then i'd like to see a set of mechanics where you can catch & store enemy spirits then melt them into a familiar at the cost of it being bigger & more unstable the more of them you have. Maybe you could also choose between keeping the familiar a spirit & giving it a physical vessel. Edit: Maybe you could also experiment with adding accent colors or using 2 color pallettes instead of black & white? I don't expect the second one to go far in any way but still. Edit 2: check out Chimeride & shittycryptids on tumblr as well as C.M.Kosemen on his site & instagram.
I’m trying to run my first ever dnd session with my mates It’s set in my own world in a newly opened archipelago nation called Azuma Technology is around late 19th century and magic exists as well as Yokai and all manner of cryptids and folklore I don’t own any dnd books apart from the starter set I forgot to say it’s literally Japan
A good way to streamline custom monster stat blocks is just to use a Bear. Take the Bear stat block - there are multiple different kinds in 5e - and use it as the mechanical base for the creature. Whatever it is probably won't look like a bear, but you can cheat by using its stats. The players won't know. You can move stats around as needed to capture what you're going for. If the monster is meant to be more dexterous than strong, swap the bear's STR and DEX stats. Bolt on any mechanics you think the monster needs. Other monster stat blocks will often have abilities you can pull out and stick into your custom monster, like a troll's regeneration or a gnoll's ability to move and make an extra bite attack if it downs someone. Innate Spellcasting is also good for this purpose. Just flip through the spell descriptions, find one that fits your purpose, and give the monster the ability to use it. Maybe swap the ability scores around, if it needs its strongest stat in the spellcasting ability. And, of course, you can just make stuff up. If a folkloric monster has a weird ability that isn't in any book you have access to, just let it do the thing. Give a save DC, so the players can resist it or throw off the effect, where applicable.
Arcane Ugly feeling like Undertale The Australian RPG. Love your mindset so much, Trent. Been thinking outside of the box for so many years - this really feels like you in your element.
MY GUY!!!! This is the best video, you have literally explained to the world what I've been saying for years, which is let your brain go wild and keep going. Don't stop creating ever. Love your style so much!!!!
Honestly this whole series has inspired me to make my own rpg system. I really love the wild, almost cartoonish craziness this game is giving off. Hopefully I can harness my own chaos and put it into my game the way you've been doing.
I don't know why, but the analogy of people who are sensitive to magic being able to see all of the layers of paint in a piece of art is absolutely profound and an incredible way to depict it. I will definitely use this for my homebrew session.
I also came to comment on how actually amazing and freeing your art is. I absolutely love the shapes you make and the textures and how you use your constraints!
Your studio looks immense, a hobby Elysium! All the art featured here is absolutely amazing, and so incredibly evocative, and the two tone black/white movement is one I am such a big advocate of. Would love to be able to do something like this with my art some day, keep on inspiring!
This actually really helped me develop and art style for my own DnD setting Ive been writing on and off got a few years now. Ive always approached art with the idea to make it look hyper realistic or at least to copy the image I can conjure in my minds eye perfectly. Setting limitations like you suggested and creating a "rules sheet" almost to keep me focussed on a specific style and not go overboard has super helped focus and refine those ideas in my head and on paper
"I just sort of pictured this God creating a world and asking all these beings to help" (at 9:55). This is exactly what you have done, creating the world of Arcane Ugly and asking all your friends to help by contributing art, etc. How the subconscious mind works is amazing.
Wow, absolutely awesome! Keep making content cuz it’s by far some of the most inspiring stuff in my life right now. The more crazy stuff you make, the more crazy stuff I want to make.
This was a great video - as an artist, the style you've adapted for the game and the methods you've chosen to it are so interesting (also, straight up looks great) Subbed!
Your dark art style very much reminds me of the binding of Isaac. Also, keep up the amazing work dude, got a bunch of mates over here in NSW who love TTRPGs and I am so excited to run an Arcane Ugly game when it fully-fledged out :)
Mind blown. So simple, yet every one of those images was worth the time spent talking about them. It's amazing how bogged down I've gotten over the years with fancy art teams with multimillion dollar budgets to almost forget about how many hours I spent hand drawing when I was younger and being happy with what I had made. At some point I think I forgot why I spent that time drawing instead of comparing my art to other people.
Limitations are the mother of invention. Total freedom can be paralyzing. Whereas if you have to work within the constraints you're given (or give yourself), it turns it into a puzzle to solve. Many people may find puzzles more approachable than pure creation.
That wall of art is a great achievement. As someone with an arty-farty* background, I can say you are pretty good at illustration. You've got a solid vision, a strong technique, and an eye for design. The studio space looks fantastic. Rachel's artwork looks great, too; and it looks fun that she is adding an urban fantasy element to the setting. Have you seen ICRPG by Hankerin Furnaile? He has a high-contrast art style, too. By the way, metallic ink markers can give good coverage over black, and should photocopy as white. Those cards are looking fabulous. I'm really looking forward to seeing the book when is it finally summoned in to being. *that's a technical term
I think it’d be really interesting if you ran some sort of community challenge where viewers can draw and submit their own cards (as well as a general sense of what they do) to Instagram or something and you pick a couple winners to put their cards in the game officially. Could be a neat way to add more unique styles and distinct lore to the game.
This shit's so ghetto I love it. Your work's incredibly inspiring and seeing you enjoy the process is great! I also love how spontaneous everything is, not everything has to be organized I suppose ;)
So here's the takeaway: If you suck at art, limit yourself and let someone else do it for you 😂👍 Well...that certainly seems to work! Looks amazing! 😁🤗
I recently encountered Kamome Shirahama's Witch hat Atelier, Aside from the insanely polished illustrations I think she really captured a sense of wonder & magic. The point being is that the magic system's really clean & somehow not limited as most explained systems. Similar to your own idea of a type of talisman for your magics. If I remember correctly she used some pretty cool components to her magic such as primer symbols or sigils all being activated by closing up the last component of a crest. (circle that encapsulates the drawn magic.
Regarding your ideas about magic being able to be layered, over and over, and each layer being visible simultaneously - you may want to look up examples of palimpsests. I think it might give you some interesting inspiration.
Love it! Love the style, love the studio, love the awkward interview with your lovely girlfriend! Love how it's coming together. I'm looking forward to it so much more with each video :)
Oh my god I've been doing the same kind of black and white thing to make design concepts for my games! It made things really easy once I figured it out!
I have spent the last 3 years developing my own Table Top RPG/Print and Play board game. Pretty much a in-between Heroquest and Dungeon and Dragons. Art is the most difficult part of it all because I have a certain vision that I have a hard time achieving most of the time. Once I get the game fully functional and balanced I might work on getting the art commissioned.
I literally have developed my own style out of years of sucking at art. I use heavy shadows to excuse fucked up lines. Intricate facial expressions to excuse I uneven facial features. Heavy earth tones to excuse my pretty sever color blindness, and I can sit back today and love my style. Style isn’t cheating, it’s playing to your strengths.
This gives me an interesting idea, what if you pose limitations on miniature painting? For example, what if I painted minis with just black and white. No grey, just pure black and white. Or only gradients? What if there were no solid bits of color? Or just lines. Etc.
Dont discredit your art bruh, you work is great! There will always be someone who is better and that goes for anything. You put the time and effort into your work and it shines. Keep up the great work!
