As some of you may or may not know, I'm an artist. Currently, I'm working on a portfolio to be presented for possible employment for Shadowrun sourcebooks/modules. I'm trying to put together a variety of different Shadowrun images.

Here's the thing: I can come up with my own stuff, but I thought it might be kinda fun if some of you guys came up with some cool ideas, then I could illustrate them. They can be your own characters, ideas for characters, cool NPCs, scenes, whatever. The more creative they are, the more prone I'll be to using the idea. Once the illustration is finished, I'll email it to anyone who wants a copy.

So, if you don't have the means to draw out your favorite character or have a cool idea for an image, post them in this thread and I'll see about doing an illo. Please keep the following in mind if you're submitting ideas with your character in them:

1) Be descriptive on how your character looks. Things to think about would be general demeanor, clothing descriptions, tatoos, jewelry, general size and shape. Also, things like allergies (to sunlight for example) would give a drawing a unique spin, so don't forget some of the cool quirks about your characters.
2) I don't need stats on your character for anything, so don't include them please.
3) If you want some specific gear on the character, please limit it to one or two weapons (their favorites) and no more than three or four pieces of hardware or tech.
4) If you're character has access to something that would complement the piece, such as spirit allies, vehicles, drones, or whatever... make sure to include a brief description of it.
5) Only describe cyberware that would reflect itself externally on your character.
6) The locale your character finds himself or an area that he can be found (ex: under the bridge, in the sewers, at the Stuffer Shack, etc.)

That's about it. Just post some ideas and I'll see if I can work with them.

(edit: #6 - I was going to make this up, but I'm seeing some creative ideas on here... thanks )

i did some pretty amateurish drawings of my NAN troll archer adept, i could scan them in and e-mail em to ya so you could do a better job on em if you want. i could also mail you pictures of the tattoos that i tried to draw on him so you have more detail to work with. sound good to you?

External cyberware that has a pseudo-celtic look, blurring into tattoos where the metal meets flesh.

-Siege

Sure, a visual reference would be ideal. Anyone else who has a sketch they would want to send can send them to the same address. Email addy:

flappyslap@hotmail.com

Post the text description in this thread though.

Do you have an online portfolio anywhere we could see some of your stuff at?

Just a random piece of advice: Cool characters and all the trimmings are great, but don't overemphasize the character and neglect the scene around him.


[oh, and a link to an online portfolio would be great...]

I've always liked the American Indian style characters. I have a Ork Amerind that is cybered up and uses a Ranger-X bow. He has a mohawk that is braided with feathers, wearing leathers and whatnot. For cyber he has two spurs, a smartklink (external link on the bow), reaction enhancers, bone lacing, datajack, chipjack, and eye mods.

woohoo! my scanner hasn't been working for about 6 months now and you just gave me the excuse i needed to get off my lazy ass and fix it. seems scanners built for windows 98 don't like the upgrade to xp and i needed special drivers for it hopefully i'll have those images sent soon

edit: k, sent, now hopefully hotmail doesn't crap out on us, i hope you like it. i was gonna try and cram another tattoo in there somewhere but i couldn't decide where, maybe across his abs. naaah it'd make everything too crowded. if you do decide to make a sketch of this guy could you send me a copy so i can have a more professional version of him? i'm not so good with legs yet so if you can't tell i meant him to be wearing the soft leather pants and a pair of moccasins.

edit edit: oh! and another character. stocky ork biker with a hog that looks like the one out of the old game Full Throttle, worn leather jacket, chain wrapped around one arm, across his knuckles, or dangling in one hand, sawed off shotgun in the other hand. bike obviously armored, pin on his jacket that says "668 The Neighbor of the Beast" , black helmet, cocky grin, datajack on right wrist. links to full throttle pics HERE!

There's an idea for my character in Sphynx's game.

His street name is Primal. He's an Elven Leopard Shaman, an exceptional conjurer, and a mercenary.
Visually: he's a tall, thin, albino (note: allergy to sunlight), elf with white Leopard-effect fur over his whole body (could be bald with a tatoo from a distance, is actually a SURGE effect). He is often excessively bold/intense.
He has an ally spirit who looks exactly like a pre-SURGE version of him (when he had long dark hair)
Unique features-wise: He can conjure both Nature Spirits and Elementals (and he paid through the nose for the ability)

The idea I had for an image of him was his body facing away from the viewpoint but him glanceing back over his (left) shoulder in the general direction of the viewpoint, his face still mostly away from the viewpoint. He's wearing a black wife-beater showing-off the leaopardskin pattern down on his head, back of neck, and shoulders. The rest of the scene, mostly visible over his shoulder, is a battlefield lit by a flare. I was imagining Spirits and Elementals would be laying a smackdown on some wilderness corp compound, but I suspect I'm already over-specifying...

Any stab at the above would be appreciated. Looking forwards to seeing your artwork.

There was an ad in one of the PC gaming magazines a while back for a Spec Ops SEALs game, it was a jungle scene that with hidden/non-existent SEALs hiding in the foliage. Anyway, one of my friends in the S2 branch was a talented artist and he sketched me a scene with one obvious guy (well-camoued) standing knee deep in a stream in the foreground and 3 other guys well-hidden in the background.

I had an idea for a shaman. Well dressed (Actioneer, maybe DF logo half hidden), Longcoat(Merlin Armante), wearing a pair of smart goggles, glowing with a sort of halo behind his head, sort of like those stylised depictions of saints we see in churches, wire from the smart goggles linked to a pistol.

Synner,

I agree. I've done 14 illustrations showcasing my ability to do mood. These images include stuff like city scenes with no discernible spotlight character, bar shots, a rock concert scene, a couple of critter illustrations, some bums around a barrel fire, a sewer shot (to be used as a side filler), and others. Basically, I'm looking to do a few images that showcase character detail. It will round out my presentation nicely.

I've already shown my original 14 to the art director of the project I'm currently working on. She told me that I need to show some clear examples of anatomy. She said that most art directors are looking for a broad range of images. Since I haven't really done any character pieces, I thought this would be a good way to go about it.

When all is said and done, these will look like images from the books anyways. These won't look like splash pages. More along the lines of the SR3 cover art.

Crimson Jack: Do you have a scanner?

This topic, Imaginary SR-artwork!, If you were working on a sourcebook..., came up some time ago and has a few nice ideas.

I've considered attempting an ad - though my talents are minimal at best - which portrays the latest Simsense hit, "I Dream of Jinni," showing (from the bottom) a simsense chip surrounded by a magical glow, a swirl of smoke rising above forming a beautiful model, her head slightly bowed towards the viewer but eyes locked with a hint of lust, hands folded in the classic fashion, twin horns atop the head, yet she appears human.

This is an old scene that I suggested for something else that might work well for you with some of these characters.

The runners are all in a room, all armed for a run. Most of them are either desperately trying to hold a door closed or trying to shove furniture against it, etc. Up near the top of the door, the door is either bent back or partially broken, and an ant leg or something similar extends just far enough into the room to be visible. Slumped against the wall, unseen by most of the runners, a lone runner lifts a pistol to his or her head to put themselves out of their misery before the real pain begins.

~J

Edit: and Kanada Ten posts a link to the thread I originally posted that idea in while I'm writing this

I wouldn't mind in the least. I just want a copy

~J

A young Imperial Japanese Marine is standing, half hidden behind a wall, with a comrade who holds an assault rifle. Pouring a substance (which includes bones and slush) from a barrel propped against the wall top, his face is pinched in disgust. His friend doesn't notice or care as he blathers on about some hot California chica. The sun is bright and hot, the sky clear. At the bottom of the scene we see a crowd of metahumans, mostly trolls and orks, reaching and fighting for the falling pieces.

I would love a picture from the astral. A crowd scene of oblivious people, save for two placed near front. One, a male human is astrally perceiving the mostly mundane crowd, his mouth is wide as are his eyes, a look a fear. The other, a woman who could not look more normal save for that her aura is that of an enormous fire elemental. She is smiling at the human. Caption "A view from the Astral." Even better would be the same scene split somehow to show both planes. That caption would read, "Double Take."

Smoken Wakii Tobacii.

The best part of this description is it will work in both the Matrix and the physical world, as his reality filter is just a slightly warped version of "reality." My prose is lacking today do I will just give a strait description and let you extract from it what you will.

Looks: SWT is a tall, thin, pale human male. At about 6'6" and 175 lbs he has a cross between anorexic geek and a swimmers build. He has electric blue cyber eyes to match his electric pruple 6" spiked mohawk. He normally wears a tattered army green military long coat from the previous century, sewed and patched to hide the many bullet holes. On the back is a safety pinned patch with a DS in a electric blue and purple. Under the Jacket he wears a loose link chainmail t-shirt, covering a black T-Shirt with the circuit diagram of a "Blue Box" on it, and old Cammo pants. Finishing off the ensemble is a pair of Big Black Boots, and an obvious set of fingerless Shock Gloves.

If you look again you will notice the high quality datajack on the right temple, and a row of 4 chipjacks beyond that. You might also notice the induction pad on his left hand. Look even harder and you see the docWagon bracelet there as well.

Carried with him is usually a old Military backpack with his Cyberdeck, electronics kit, and other sundry electronic devices. On his shoulder is usually a small RenRaKu Spider Drone, painted matte black with an extra set of "needle" fangs. His weapon of Choice is a SGL'd Ares Super Squirt, his back up is an Ares Pred III.

3 scenes that would be normal for him.

Electronics Jockey: I can easily picture SWT hiding behind a Soda machine, hunched over a bundle of fiber optics, getting ready to splice into them, while his teammates are holding back the on coming Drone Horde.

Or the same idea but he is trying to disable a maglock.

Decker@Home: Put him in a empty apartment, sitting lotus position, a thin cable following from his datajack to his cyberdeck in front of him on the floor. A small line of drool is starting from one corner of his mouth, his cyber eyes are vacent, and a small kitten is pawing at his lap making it's self comfortable.

If you want to make this one more interesting make the drool blood, the cat clawing, hissing , and startled, and a corp sec team busting through the door.

Runner the end of the day: Tired, worn, and ready to collapse, SWT walks towards the door of a dilapidated fire house (picture the base of the Ghost Busters), his mohawk is starting to fall, his jacket is ripped, his bag is almost being dragged behind him. Ruins sourround the firehouse, and in one of these ruinds there is a hint of an ambush. Glowing eyes, a shadow, something.

I've been running a character named Arthur in one of the online games.

He's a troll who wears the Form Fitting Body armor all the time, and a pair of forarm bracers. He has athletic shorts on all the time (it is form fitting after all).

The scene I had envisioned was him casting a spell at an off image enemy. He's a Dragonslayer shaman, so whatever imagery you think appropriate. I was thinking like an astral impression of a knight, plate mail, shield, lance.

Cowering behind him are a elf and an orc child. The elf is looking around one massive leg, the orc behind the other. You might see just one foot or something, his legs are so huge.

He has bony protusions from his knees. His horns are even, like those of a mountain goat. His nose is flat and wide, and broken in two places.

the picture I always wanted drawn....

Golan, a ex- military Orc merc, with two obvious cyberarms lounging in his big tub full of bubbles, smoking a cigar with his che gaverra style berret... datajack on his left temple. right tusk broken off, scar over right eye from shrapnel... not ugly so much as just weathered.

relaxing after a hard run. ( one of my PCs described this to me and I couldn't help thinking a) kinda a funny image, b) no one ever illustrates orcs, c) it captured the attitude of the charechter pretty well. )

-Mike R

for Fahr's: put the orc and the tub near a window and have a sniper on the building across the street sighting on the orc's head just him relaxing is to tranquil for a SR pic, need to add a little bit of danger

I've always wanted an image of my core character, Revenge...

He's a thin elf, 5'11", 160lbs. He's built like a magician (little muscle), with dyed blonde hair that's long enough to cover his grey eyes (he's always pushing it aside). He has a large burn mark up the right side of his face from a previous run gone wrong.
He wears a dark armored jacket (colour varies on where he's trying to hide ie: grey in the city, green in the bush, etc) and similar coloured pants. He wears gloves while we works and boots.

Type of scene I'm looking at...
A darkened alleyway in downtown Seattle. The Aztechnology Pyramid is looming overhead, standing taller than all the nearby buildings. Several Aztech security personnel are systematically searching the alleyway. They are heavily armed, carrying assault rifles and flashlights. A couple guards rummage through a dumpster, looking for their quarry.
At the end of the alley, around a corner, Revenge leans up against a wall. His right hand is clutching a pistol (empty, if there's a way to draw an empty pistol). Blood pours from a bullet hole in his right shoulder. His eyes are down to slits, both from pain and concentration. His face is in a grimace of pain and his left hand is clutched to his chest, starting to form a fireball as a last ditch effort to lose his pursuers.

Need anything else?

SR13

{edited for formatting issues}

Atma, Technomancer mage.

6 foot tall, dark silver eyes with midnight blue hair.
Carries a handgun modeled after the bandersnatch in Trigun, uses 45.70 ETC rounds. The pistol is heavily ported, dread black with a green laser sight just above the barrel. Its also a break breech.

Atma is skinny, with slight toning of muscles, has a third eye in the middle of his forehead and vampire like fangs (surge). Always wearing a secure longcoat (duster, flutters open; he never buttons it), his tattered secure shirt shows the scarring on his chest from a fireball channeled through an implanted spell lock. He has a delta grade datajack just behind his left ear. Atmas skin has a bit of a green tinge to it now due to surging, as he can secrete a light poision on contact.
He is alway cocky and confident, but never too much of either.

He has multiple spell locks and power foci:
Left ear earring which has a small, smoky black stone.
One ring on his left hand, Silver, two on his right, one gold, one platinum.
One bracelet on his left wrist, simple silver, one on his right, which is copper with turquoise and aquamarine stones.

He also has several simple pendants.

He is on his back, shoulder length hair fluttered, shirt still smoking from the fireball. His legs are in the air still, as dust rises from his fall. the landscape is that of a junkyard; cubed cars everywhere. An astrally projecting mage is overhead, menacing Atma while he shoots between his legs at the security guard. Since the gun is high-powered, it kicks up dust as he fires.

Battered and bloody, he wants to go home.

Something I never saw enough pics of:

The face man.

Oh sure, they always show the riggers and samurai etc... The ones with the firepower, but I'd say the guy who can talk his way through a tough spot is more valuable than the guy who can pull a trigger.

I'd love to see that well drawn.

A fast talker trying to convince a military officer and his squad that the place they *really* need to be looking is over there rather than around the corner (where the face's team is listening intently clutching their weapons and nursing a couple wounds from teh run they just pulled).

Face man should be dressed like an executive in a nice suit (fancy armored suit like in cannon companion) and be an uncybered human.

The team should have a minotaur holding an assault rifle leaning with his back to the wall eyes closed trying to make out everything being said. Next to him is a grizzled looking older Asian human mage (only detectable as a mage because he doesn't carry weapons) with graying hair at his temples and bandages around his chest gritting his teeth against the pain while an elven decker (also dressed like a businesswoman but with her deck slung over one shoulder and a pair of pistols visible under her suitjacket as she helps support the wounded samurai.

Forget all these bad-ass super-characters that everyone comes up with. Please show me more of the world, and less of the shadowrunners in it. Show me street life. Show me the residential superstructures, in all of it's 200+ storey might. Show me the alleys and passageways between those superstructures, and show me why the condensation dripping down ferrocrete makes it seem like it's always raining down in the alleys.

Forget about adepts, samurai, deckers, riggers, cyberzombies, aspected magicians and all that. Give me world flavour rather than game flavour.

</rant>

Erm, nobody accuse me of being weird please...

Right.

You said you wanted to show anatomy, right? Okay, at first I thought, why not do a Leonardo-esque examination of the (meta)human form, you know, as they print on the side of space probes and stuff? You could incorporate that into some form of hermetic circle with arcane doohickeys...

But then I thought "Wait, that's tacky..."

So how about this:

The SR world is harsh, right? So why not depict one of the nastiest bits and show us a crucifiction of an ork or troll at the hands of some group of nasties (Humanis?) Plenty of scope for emotive background, fire and brimstone, very moody, very in-keeping with the source and, if you strip the crucified character to his shorts, then you've got the opportunity to show everyone precisely how good you are...

Yeah, saw it, but chose to ignore it in the hope he'd be fooled by my guile!

I would love to see the end result of a quality artist doing Shadowrun Pictures.


Also one picture I would love to see is a gigantic menacing ork sammy, with chromed out limbs, with built in cyber weapons, and so on standing infront of a brick wall holding up a little plaque with his name and new criminal SIN as the corp cops take his mugshot.

Background: Drainage ditch in the barrens, we see the opening of an old sewer entrance in the left image focuses on the forground as we go right across the image.

Its dark, several fire barells provide light for the scene. A gang of orcs and trolls are mugging a human. One of the gangemenber's heads is flung back by gunfire. In the left forground, we see a human, Salvette Gaurdian leveled at the gang. The human should be wearing a coat with a hood, and a ferret should be riding in the hood.

any decision on this yet?