For the 2e Primer, I used public domain art sourced from Old Book Illustrations. It served the aesthetic well and it was available at the right price. I’m certainly not the first one to go this route – the 2e retro-clone For Gold and Glory used it extensively.
Public domain art can look incongruous, with too many artists and too many styles, robbing the work of a personality. It also risks overuse, at least for the really good pieces; since releasing the 2e Primer, I’ve found some of its art in other books. On the other hand, the art is often evocative and much of it can be modified to form new illustrations.
When it comes to modifying the public domain, I don’t think anyone has done better than Johan Nohr. MÖRK BORG is a triumph of art and game design, being a work that is enjoyable to look at even if you’ll never play the game. Though you should play the game; it’s got legs. The only issue is that the book often places the art before the game, with some layout rendering the text inscrutable.
I’m a bigger fan of his work in the remastered version of Into the Odd. That book balances the art and text perfectly, ensuring that every word is readable black text on a white background, while offering full page and half page spreads of public domain collage that add flavor and mood to the game.
All that to say, I’ve been playing with something similar to his style. I’m not artist, and certainly I do not feel that what I’ve made approaches Nohr’s work. Still, I’m not bad with Photoshop (or my current tool, Affinity), and I like to tinker. So far, I’ve developed these:
I think they’re serviceable. I’m not even at the alpha stage of the hack, but this is the kind of art I’d throw into it. Anyway, I’ve been having fun with chopping up old public domain works and I didn’t have anything written for this week, so you get art.
