The Art Design of Quantum

 Hello. C J here. I’m good at art. This is a premise I rely on being true in order to do my job. If I can see it I can learn to draw it. In some stages of setting up my educational card game Quantum I have relied on open source rendering AI software to speed up the creative design process. This went so much better than I expected that I need to eventually write a book about how I did it. I thought I’d show some of these AI render images and then walk you all through how I designed the art based on them.

This is Owen Riversmeet. He’s one of the ten playable characters in the Starter Set for Quantum. These ten are known as the Astral Ten and they’re the ten most famous Astral Captains in Creation. The main character of The Astral Chronicle the Captain is not counted on this list. His fame is almost a mythology on its own and so he’s in his own category.

Owen Riversmeet is from Ascala the continent. He was raised a noble in Vantara before studying magic at the Order of Mages and leaving to chart his own destiny. He’s a potent fire wizard and can also fight with a bow. Like all of the Astral Ten I assigned him a unique visual element called a motif. A motif is a technique that a rare few powerful mages use to modify how their magic looks regardless of the School used.

His motif is mathematics. Here for this shot I wanted him returning to Ascala, to the city Ascala itself, for some errand. He’s in the Arcane District in the region known as the Glass Canyon known for high end artifice computing research. This scene actually happened in the game somewhere within a year of the setting’s start date five days before the Summer Solstice festival Summermoon in Ascala. Here’s his art.

I wanted to capture the height of the buildings in the background as well as the bright white sunlight reflecting off the walls of the towers. This is hand shaded using my knowledge of perspective and how light travels in a straight line. Yes, this image is entirely hand made. I don’t render the AI art into backgrounds. I reproduce them by eye. This was a fun piece to work on and I am happy with how the character moves towards the edge of the building even in a still image. The math symbol I’m also happy with. Here’s another render image.

This image is of my main series character Zed Matthews. Zed Matthews is from the Caribbean and Aztec themed region Arkad, known for its exports of cocoa, sugar and fine Arkadian Rum. He’s part of a genetically engineered lineage capable of innate mind control magic and also learned mind alteration magic as a combat style. This magic is normally forbidden but when used in combat for self defence most nations allow it.

Here’s his hand made art. His motif is seasons. Zed Matthews is not really a pleasant person. He’s ambitious, cunning and brilliantly strategic. He has little patience for people who can’t keep up with his intellect. He is not evil but he only enters a deal or a fight if he has a reason to win. The seasons aesthetic is my way of showing that no matter how gruff he is on the surface he’s a main character for a reason. He understands that the land needs stewardship and that the jungles of his homeland are more valuable to nature than the people. He’s nature in a direct form. That’s all for now.

C J Mcpherson