Graphic Design for Gamers - Part THREE posted, 17 Feb.

[Wirelizard]

Whenever I post player aids, poster or other graphic design I almost always get people asking about programs, fonts and such used.

We (my brother and I) have started a series of blogposts that aim to be the definitive answer to all those "how/where/what tools" questions, and Pulp Design Tools & Resources, Part One: Inkscape is up now.

There's going to be at least two more parts, one on fonts & typography (specifically aimed at 20s/30s pulp/interwar/retro design) and a third on online sources of inspiration for 20s/30s period design.

There might be a fourth explaining Creative Commons Licensing, Public Domain, and similar, as it's something I'm fairly familiar with as an Open Source/Free Software person but which is not well known in the gaming field.

So get out there and design - your gaming aids don't have to be ugly!


Fighting Tales: The Amulet Of Fire by WireLizard, on Flickr

[Harwood Hobbies]

Good stuff!  I'll have to give it a go.   

[Red Orc]

I've bookmarked the page, I expect to be revisiting it a lot over the years! Nice one - I've commented several times on your ace graphics and I'm sure I will again!

[area23]

Ooh! great, I just needed something like that. I'll try out that program.

[thejammedgatling]

This is a great idea.

I'm a designer as well and I think the potential for people on the forum to create and share their productions in this way is huge...whether they are making pulp shop signs or VBCW banners..it might even be a thought to get a new section going for free stuff! Either rules or print based work ...anything that could be digitised!

[Wirelizard]

Thanks for the interest, folks.

Part Two has been delayed slightly by Real Life (boo, hiss) but should be out tomorrow morning. It's a bit more interwar/pulp specific than the Inkscape intro, starting with a look at some of the stylistic elements common in 1920s/30s graphics and then moving to font sources for that era's typographic styles.

The rest will follow later in the week!

[Wirelizard]

Pulp Design Tools & Resources, Part Two: Fonts which covers some basics of common interwar/pulp-era design as well as typography and fonts, went up this morning.

At a minimum, it'll be a useful set of link to new fonts, but hopefully the short intro to design principles inspires as well.

[Wirelizard]

Pulp Design Tools & Resources, Part Three: Inspiration went up this morning.

Even if you're not interested in doing  your own graphics, this one is fun because we've gathered together a whole heap of links to collections of real, vintage interwar/pulp-era graphics. All sorts of travel posters, government posters, hotel & baggage tags and more.

[Silent Invader]

I dabbled with Inkscape for the first time a few months ago.  Thanks for the blog posts - now bookmarked for future reference.