Live Photography/Digital Art for Traveller

[Spinward Scout]

Is there anyway to take the best pictures from every Traveller book and turn them into live photos and digital art? Over the years, some of the artwork has been good some bad (I don't want to pick on names here ), but it's all been hand drawn. I would like to see it look a lot more realistic. I mean, Jesse DeGraff is doing an awesome job on all of the lightwave-created Starships for BITS & GURPS Traveller. Do you have any idea how many people would volunteer to be in the pictures? I'd love to be in them. Heck, I'd love to shoot it and do the digital work on it. Would this be against copyright? Or did the artists sign away their rights?

Scout

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ScoutCadet469:
Is there anyway to take the best pictures from every Traveller book and turn them into live photos and digital art?

Scout<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Speaking for myself (and I am unanimous in this) I think that's a less than stellar idea. I personally find line drawings and such much more evocative for role-playing games. The more representational the art is (and it doesn't get much more representational than photo's) the less the game is about imagination.

In some limited situations (The ultra realistic Jesse DeGraff pictures for example) detail is a plus but overall I find it important to leave detail to the minds of the players.

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I am increasingly of the opinion that RPGs are by the nature of their creation subjective phenomenon. due to the interaction between game designers, game masters, and game players all definitions, rules, settings, and adventures are mutable in acordance with the uncertainty principle as expounded by Heisenburg. This is of course merely my point of view.

David Shayne

[This message has been edited by DaveShayne (edited 20 August 2001).]

 

[Secrect Cow Level]

I agree with the above opinion. I think live pictures is a bad idea. White wolf used that concept for the TRINITY RPG and real photos looked tacky. Besides, it would probably cost more to hire photographers and models than to hire a few good line artists.

 

[Elliot]

I thought live photos worked in the early Cyberpunk stuff such as Solo of Fortune; but that could be because the Gibsonesque universe lends itself to the gritty realism that CP was about.

Look it up, if you have it and see if you like the photos.

 

[Spinward Scout]

My idea was more of using the already existing artwork as a storyboard block to create the picture. In other words, the picture would be an almost exact duplicate of the artwork. That's why I was asking about copyright. The art is already there. I mean, I can take a picture of a woman in a futuristic outfit and take Photoshop and create a "motif" picture like they did in the old Traveller Book. I'm not saying that the images should override the imagination. More like enhance it. All of the art in The Traveller Book is representational - none of it is abstract. I see gun fights, and sci-fi sunsets, and alien landscapes. I don't want to see portraits of the Imperial Family or anything. Nothing concrete that says this is the way you have to do this... I have TRINITY RPG and the real photos look a lot better than the line art in the book when I can't even tell what the picture is supposed to be. The art director didn't do a very good job on that one. I can do better on my computer at home. Anyway, you can get people to volunteer to model for the photoshoot - people who are just starting out - I think they would rather do Sci-Fi at a percentage of profit and no pay up front than pose for a ⌧o magazine at $200-$500 per hour. Unless they are desperate for money. I've worked with some models - a lot of them would rather be legit and just have a picture for their portfolio. And just about anyone nowadays can be a good photographer with the new cameras that are out and turn it into digital art at home. The graphic world just wants you to think otherwise or they'll lose business to anyone with a computer.

Scout

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ScoutCadet469:
My idea was more of using the already existing artwork as a storyboard block to create the picture.
Scout<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And my idea would be to use the original artwork instead of photos.

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I am increasingly of the opinion that RPGs are by the nature of their creation subjective phenomenon. due to the interaction between game designers, game masters, and game players all definitions, rules, settings, and adventures are mutable in acordance with the uncertainty principle as expounded by Heisenburg. This is of course merely my point of view.

David Shayne

 

[Spinward Scout]

I like the realism myself - but you can't get enough artists to draw that way...

Scout

 

[T. Foster]

At its best (The Traveller Book, The Traveller Adventure, some of the GT stuff) Traveller has included a wide mix of artistic styles within the same product, from representational (William Keith) to more stylized (David Dietrick) to flat-out cartoon (can't remember the name, but he did lots of work in TTB, TTA, and JTAS). I always liked this mix of styles, as it emphasized the breadth of possible interpretations and approaches to Traveller and didn't try to set anything in stone as The One True Look of Traveller.

In that spirit, I wouldn't object to seeing well-done digital photos added to the art mix, alongside Jesse DeGraff's renderings and the usual mix of line drawings, paintings, and watercolors. The main drawback I see is that for photos to reproduce decently the books would presumably have to be printed on full-color glossy paper, which isn't someplace that I imagine Traveller's publishers are yet prepared to go.

Also, it bears empahsizing that I'd only be interested in digital photos that actually look good. Cheesy amateur snapshots of a bunch of bearded overweight gamers standing around trying to look dramatic ain't gonna cut it for me, no matter how 'realistic' they are.

 

[Gatsby]

"Hey....!"

---OOBBORM (Official Organization of a Bunch of Bearded Overweight Gaming Models)

Gats' (A 'two-day growth' bearded, normal weight gamer)

 

[Gatsby]

...and you are SO not invited to our "Britany Spears/Jessica Simpson" tribute band show at the Apollo.....

(Does this halter make me look FAT?)

---OOBBORM

 

[Butcher]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gatsby:


"Hey....!"

---OOBBORM (Official Organization of a Bunch of Bearded Overweight Gaming Models)

Gats' (A 'two-day growth' bearded, normal weight gamer)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


*OOOOOO I can be the male spokes model I have always knew I was DEEP inside.

Strikes a pose
<Grabs a handful of belly as he strokes his thick red beard>

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gatsby:
...and you are SO not invited to our "Britany Spears/Jessica Simpson" tribute band show at the Apollo.....

(Does this halter make me look FAT?)

---OOBBORM

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What line do I get in to not be invited?



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I am increasingly of the opinion that RPGs are by the nature of their creation subjective phenomenon. due to the interaction between game designers, game masters, and game players all definitions, rules, settings, and adventures are mutable in acordance with the uncertainty principle as expounded by Heisenburg. This is of course merely my point of view.

David Shayne

 

[kafka47]

If it looks like SJ Starports or BITS, At Close Quarters... I think we have a winning product. If players were encouraged to submit their headshots, I think it could create a great basis for the artwork. Everyone likes to see their face in print, with photo manip technology these days. How hard is it to put "heads" on characters.

The most important thing for Traveller is to make it as realistic as possible. So while the old Keith stuff is great (I love the stuff, really), it is now somewhat dated. Look at the styles of Blair Reynolds, for instance for people or shading of darker milieu. I actually liked the Chris Foss works in T4 as it conveyed a greater sense of wonder of an empire being reborn.