With Devil's Due off to the layout artist, I've been able to dig back into my own layout work and art for Fear of a Daily Planet.
Since most spreads are styled as several layers of paper, I'm finding that only having black and white to work with while trying to both vary the paper backgrounds and keep the text easily legible is certainly a challenge. I also have the privilege of seeing the work in progress of the Straight Arrows module, by Ryan at RAC Computing, which deploys a similar material-driven, layered collage approach with, honestly, a lot more finesse and control. It's a bit intimidating! But Ryan is using actual collages he makes himself and then photographs to become the page backgrounds, whereas my setup requires me to work solely digitally with licensable and public domain files.
But I'll manage! I've been able to finish all of the art, which feels like a big milestone, although there are a couple pieces I might redo to see if I can improve on them.
Around 70% of the spreads have their layouts finished, and when it's done, I'll have to review the print proofs very closely to judge the readability of each section and make adjustments. Making the hyperlinks for the digital PDF will also take some time.
But here are a few samples to hold you over: art of a Ward cultist, a redacted version of the d100 I Read the Print spread, and slightly updated cover art.
Depiction of a Ward cultist. Their filler text and the parallel and perpendicular nature of their ritualistic glyphs are believed to protect them from Dolorem Ipsum.
This roll table is a mix of mission hooks, useful items, worldbuilding, thematic nods, and awful puns, and it will obviously be uncensored in the actual book.
Updated cover, with a cut-out, printed planet.
I appreciate the support my backers and others in the community showed with my weather-related setback. Hoping there won't be any more bumps like that lying in wait for this project, but given the general state of things right now, I can only look so far ahead.
