Later last year I made some illustrations for Fantasy Flight Games’ Lord of The Rings Cards Game.
They were meant for The Long Dark Expansion Set, which FFG was kind enough to send me as soon as it was released.
So, last week I had the pleasure of opening a package and finding something I had made inside.
It never ceases to be an awesome feeling, I must confess. As fun as making videogames is, they don’t smell of print.
Here’s what they sent me, in all its glossy magnificence.

Of course I didn’t draw all the cards. The set was split amongst several artists, and since back then I was already working on Game of Thrones I was able to accept only a couple of illustrations.

The first card I completed is called Goblin Mine, and it went as smooth as it can go.
I made a greyscale sketch, it was approved, I coloured it in, it was sent over to Tolkien’s estate and green-lighted for release.
Here is the sketch and the final image.

The Warden of Healing, the second card, wasn’t as easy. In fact, it was a bitch.
First off, the chapter on the Houses of Healing is possibly the most boring of the entire trilogy, and I didn’t remember any of it. When I decided to read through it again, I found out that my copy of The Lord of The Rings had gone missing, possibly swallowed by a box during one of the many moves I went through during the years.

Google images seems to ignore the Wardens of Healing almost entirely, as well as the various Lord of The Rings forums I had the time to go through.
So, hoping I wouldn’t do anything too inconsistent with the lore, I set to draw a random ageing guy wearing a Minas Tirith attire. And fucked up.

Edge control was all off, details weren’t properly distributed, values were bad.
Fortunately the Art Director at Fantasy Flight Games knows her job (actually, ADs at FFG are possibly the most competent I happened to work with) and knew how to guide me to a more decent result.

The first versions (three of them, alas) are so ugly I think I deleted them, so here’s the one that got approved.

I made other illustrations for The Lord of The Rings, but considering how long it takes to publish them, I think I’ll be allowed to post them in 2013.

by Paolo Puggioni