XDM Illustration Project Status: COMPLETE
On March 31st I announced that I'd be illustrating a gaming supplement for Tracy and Curtis Hickman. As of today, four weeks and one-hundred-and-thirty-three illustrations later, I'm done. 
Well... MOSTLY done. There are proofreaders working over the book, and I'm sure some of my illustrations may need to get nudged around, and it is possible a few of them may even need to be modified. But the hard part, the thinky, inky, stare-at-the-blank-page-without-blinky part of the project is done. I've learned a lot about illustrating during the last four weeks. The most notable thing is that I'm still a rank amateur when it comes to digital color. I drew that picture above, but I hired my good friend Jim Zubkavich to color it for the cover. I told him that a quick-and-dirty cartoon-style coloring job would be fine. Looking at it I'm now forced to reclassify every bit of coloring work I've ever done somehow LOWER than "quick-and-dirty cartoon style." In fact, every time I look at it I discover two or three new techniques I don't have time to learn. But I did have time to learn a few things about line, and a zillion things about hands. I'm quite pleased with the interior of the book, and I think my illustrations nicely fit with the fun-yet-educational tone of the tome. No, pre-orders are not open yet, but yes, you WILL be able to order XDM: XTreme Dungeon Mastery from the Schlock Mercenary Bookstore sometime in July. Watch this space.