Ravenloft Artbook of Talon Dunning

[Talon]

OK, I spruced up Talon's Mistipedia page a bit. The list of products there is most likely wrong. I'm AFB and was going by memory. Talon, we're you involved in the VRG's, the DMG, the Denizens books or Dark Tales... ?? I think those might have to come off the list. For all the others, I'm pretty sure I can picture at least one Talon illustration from each book.

Thanks for populating my page! The only 3e Ravenloft books I don't have credits in is Denizens of Dread, Champions of Darkness, Secrets of the Dread Realms, and, of course, Van Richten's Guide to the Mists (which was published only in PDF and contains no art at all). I'll look at the page later and see what I can fill in. Thanks for the help!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I don't see a credit for you in Denizens of Darkness either, (I was surprised that they would have cut your work when "updating" DoDarkness to DoDread, so I double-checked) I've cut those 4 from the list.

[Talon]

I don't see a credit for you in Denizens of Darkness either, (I was surprised that they would have cut your work when "updating" DoDarkness to DoDread, so I double-checked) I've cut those 4 from the list.

Yeah, they're the same book, just with different names and updated stats. I'd actually forgotten that the name changed (my 3.0 versions are basically hidden on my shelf since I don't use them anymore).

[Terminusvitae]

Phenomenal work! I've been using Mr. Dunning's art for the NPC's the party meets, as this group likes to put together dossiers of the people they encounter, and it's been a rousing success. I've pointed a couple of them toward the art book, and they've become fans, as well.

[Talon]

Phenomenal work! I've been using Mr. Dunning's art for the NPC's the party meets, as this group likes to put together dossiers of the people they encounter, and it's been a rousing success. I've pointed a couple of them toward the art book, and they've become fans, as well.

Thanks! I appreciate the support!

[Alanik Ray]

Hey, Talon, you said in another post that you used to create background stories for the generic Ravenloft characters you illustrated for the books, so, on that note, could you tell me something about this guy holding the torch? I don't know if you already gave us his story... this image is from Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends, but I'm pretty sure he pops up somewhere in another book.

[Talon]

That's the Scholar from Heroes of Light. I didn't really have a backstory for him, other than the fact that he is a sort of absent-minded Ichabod Crane type (old Disney version, not Johnny Depp or Sleepy Hollow TV show). Really the only characters that weren't portraits of specific NPCs, that got names and a bit of personality were the racial characters in the main book. The rest were really just examples of the prestige class I was illustrating. Several of them got reused throughout the series, though. The Anchorite of the Mists (the cleric in the nun's habit) and Professor Moreaux (the human wizard with the scar) were two of my favorites and showed up quite a bit.

[Talon]

Here's a new sketch card drawing of Count Strahd I just completed for Justin Achilli, former White Wolf developer. I recently learned that Justin is the guy who recommended me for Ravenloft, so I thought he deserved a card in thanks. I think this is one of the best depictions of Strahd I've done so far.

[Zilfer]

HA HA! I definitely like. I'll have to use this for one of my games!!!!!

[Talon]

Hey folks. Just to let everyone know, I have exactly THREE copies of my Ravenloft sketchbook, Out of the Mists remaining. I am currently at GenCon and will have them for sale at my table in the art show, so there is a chance they will sell out. If they do not, I will let you all know in case there's anyone still remaining on this list who wants to get one. Please note that I do not intend to do any more print runs of this book at this time. Once these three are sold, be it at GenCon or online, that will be the last of them.

I will be doing character sketch commissions at the show, so if you're going to be at GenCon this weekend (or DragonCon at the the end of the month), and you'd like to get a sketch, please feel free to come by and pick up an order form. I hope to see you there.

-Talon

[Zilfer]

So i was looking through my Tarroka deck for a PbP i'm doing for a friend of mine and wanted to put a card in his deck and looking through it, I began to notice what i hadn't before. A good number of them had animals you wouldn't see at first glance, and looking through them, not all of them were able to follow this pattern but a good majority did so i figured i'd share the fact with you guys in this topic.

The Patron card for Coins is Jacqueline so it makes sense that throughout the pictures you'd see.... "rats". Following this idea I went through the suits and was able to pick some out of the group that seemed to make up to a sort of division beyond Coins/Glyps/Swords/stars. The most glaring one is the Glyphs.

It seems to go like this....

Coins = Rats (3 that I can find)
Glyphs = Wolves (6 of the cards have wolves)
Swords = Ravens (3 that I can find)
Stars = Snakes (2 that i can find)


Now some of these you could also extend for example in the Coins the 2 of coins has a "street Rat."

Even some of the other ones like the 9 of swords is a really hard one to spot for example the background has the shadow in the shape of a raven/crow if you look carefully. It was fun looking through and trying to find them.

A good portion of the Major Arcana has animals in them too. Sometimes up to four, for example "The Dark Master" has 4 animals. (the ones mentioned above)

I'm curious if Talon sees this had to be intentional right?

Artistically I'm curious on how hard it was to follow that or did you add them in when you could find the space in the pictures?

[Talon]

The inclusion of the animals was not only intentional, but mandated by the art notes. Each suit of the Tarokka has a corresponding animal that represents it, as you discovered. The cards that contain representative animals are as follows:

Rat (Coins): Ace, Nine, Ten
Wolf: (Glyphs): Ace, Three, Four, Eight, Ten
Snake (Stars): Two, Five
Raven (Swords): Ace, Nine, Ten
All four: Five of Glyphs, The Dark Master, The Hero

I don't know what prompted the inclusion of the animals on each individual card, nor why the Five of Glyphs (The Druid) warranted all four, when it isn't a major arcana card. It's worth noting that while The Innocent also features a snake, this wasn't (as I recall) meant to be representative of the suit of Stars, but rather, representative of the dangers of ignorance, as well as being a veiled Biblical reference (vis-à-vis, Eve and the Serpent, the original "loss of innocence").

More Tarokka trivia:
-The Tarokka deck is the only art I produced for Ravenloft in ink. It was originally going to be done in black and white colored pencil on gray paper, a-la Mark Nelson, but after doing two cards in that style, I decided it wasn't working and started over in ink. I later wished I'd simply done them in pencil just like all the rest of the Ravenloft art.

-The original art was completed on 14 x 17" bristol, with three drawings to a sheet. Each illustration measures 4.75 x 7.75".

-The Broken One, The Prison, The Temptress, and The Artifact are the only cards based specifically on the original Tarokka cards by Stephen Fabian. I credited Fabian on those pieces. The rest are all original compositions.

-The Tarokka project was the first time I introduced both my trademark "patch-hatching" technique and my "boxed in" signature.

-The gravestones on the Eight of Stars features the last names of myself and several members of my regular gaming group.

-The Tens card of each suit features a known Ravenloft character, the "master" of that suit. They are: Alfred Timothy (Master of Glyphs), Jacqueline Renier (Master of Coins), Strahd Von Zarovich (Master of Swords), and Azalin Rex (Master of Stars). Strahd also makes an appearance on the Six of Stars. Other characters makes appearances as well, including Victor Mordenhiem and Adam (the Ace of Stars), Madame Eva (the Four of Stars), and Death, the Darklord of Necropolis (the Eight of Stars).

-The original illustration for the Four of Stars only includes three stars. The fourth was added digitally to correct the mistake.

-The Ace of Coins was the first card I completed. The Beast was the last.

-The Innocent, the Five of Coins, and the Three of Stars all feature original characters that I had used in previous Ravenloft illustrations. The Five of Coins, in fact, includes three. The Five of Glyphs features one of my own PCs, a Celtic aasimar druid from a Planescape game (the original PC had horns, which were eliminated for this piece). The character's name is "Vannon McOein."

-The background of the Nine of Coins is riddled with Easter eggs, mostly in the forms of the book titles, which include "Ravenloft," "Vampire: The Masquerade," "The Art of Talon," "The Best of Playboy," "I, Strahd," and "Dark Secrets." The Miser's other artifacts include the Hand of Vecna, The Devil's Eye (the diamond from "The Rescuers"), a model of the Death Star, a teddy bear, Harry Potter's glasses, and a portrait of Strahd's tragic obsession, Tatyana.

-The royal robes worn by The Dark Master were based on those worn by Napoleon in Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' portrait, Napoleon on his Imperial Throne (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... throne.jpg). Ingres is one of my favorite painters and an influence on my work.

-The Ace of Swords and the Six of Swords are a matched set, each showing similar images but with reversed subjects.

-The Six of Stars and the Seven of Swords each contained white details drawn in pencil over the black ares (the woman's reflection in the window and the villagers' faces, respectively), which the scanner did not pick up.

-To my knowledge, the Tarokka deck is currently the most valuable product I've ever worked on, with decks selling for around $350.00 online.

-The Tarokka deck took around 6 months to complete, my personal record for the longest I'd ever taken to finish an assigned project until my recent Savage Mojo project, Dogs of Hades, which took nearly two years to complete. At 68 cards, the deck still holds the record for the greatest number of individual illustrations in a single project, though.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Thanks for the Trivia, Talon, on one of the all-time greats of RL products. Mind if we collect it and add to your Artist's Notes for our Parlor?

[Zilfer]

and now I have to search for that death star!!!!!!

I've also noticed the lining in like the Hero has writing possibly in a different language that I don't know. Was wondering what it said if anything XD

Cool bits of trivia some of it I guessed like the Innocent representing Eve and the Serphent. xD

Edit: Yes the gravestone names I was curious about trying to read them all... gets harder towards the back....


Also I liked that you did your "boxed in" on one of the tomb stones in the picture I literally laughed aloud when I saw that.

[Talon]

Thanks for the Trivia, Talon, on one of the all-time greats of RL products. Mind if we collect it and add to your Artist's Notes for our Parlor?

By all means, collect away!