This can almost be separated. I am starting this out as one and will see how far it takes me.
When I say gaming is an inspiration to me, I mean all aspects. A heavy part of it is the artwork. Part of the reason I have had so many tabletop roleplaying game books is because of the artwork. All of the talent that is behind some of the pictures and designs is amazing.
Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 was my first. I still have a couple of copies of the core rule books as well. The reason behind that is I did get them signed. Signatures were not just included in this, it was drawings or sketches as well.
Raven Mimura is one artist I can go on about. I met him at a gaming convention and it just so happened I brought my D&D books along to play some games. The first day of the convention was normal with the second one being me tracking down which artists were there and which had done artwork for the books. Raven was one who had worked on the books as well as an artist for the Legend of the Five Rings CCG. He was completely upstanding as I brought my book and asked for a signature.
He started to sketch a box and then another. “Can you come back before the hall closes to pick this up?”
I was kind of taken back and said sure. I returned to see something which I still take as a painstaking task as he drew a beholder. It was astounding and I love to tell this story as well as show off the work any chance I get. I admit I do not geek out about much, but this is one that I have no shame with. Later, I had another artist sign and he was impressed as well by the drawing.
I digress from the subject a bit. One of the items I use as inspiration is pictures. Whether they are drawn or photos, I can attach a story to them. One of my favorite stories I wrote was based on an image for a writing prompt. It was a simple image of an eagle on a handler’s arm. It turned into a story from the eagle’s point of view as it tracked a target. Gaming books have been a great source for this as well.
Have you ever used images as inspiration?
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