We hired a pro artist and then hid their artwork.
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“Yeah… I can’t do that.” ~Steph
We’re about to do one of the most puzzling art reveals ever. And the fastest person to solve it (yes, solve it) gets to see the finished artwork before anyone else, while bringing honor to their faction.
But first, why did we spend part of a very limited budget on a professional artist?
To us, art is critical for a fantasy world. It carries the emotion, the colors, the feeling of the world in a way words can’t. Our imaginations are wonderful (and a bit… wild), but words can’t show everything.
Like, when Cass stares down Felix for the first time. Yenna is screaming behind him, and the back door lies to his left, ripped from its hinges. Yet, we do not see what that defiant gaze looks like, do we? (because it’s first-person)
We wanted you to see their faces so that when you’re reading, you can imagine parts of these characters the pages never show you. Naturally, I asked Steph to do it because I love her artwork, but she said
“Yeah… I can’t do that.”
So, Steph and I went through a bunch of different style types. Our favorite is a watercolor and comic kinda vibe (think Arcane, the animated show), but we needed cleaner and more defined lines because of… plans we have in the future. ;)
We landed on a sort of cross between high fantasy art and anime.
Want to guess how many artists we looked at before picking one?
If you said anything under 50, you were as naive as we were.
It is surprisingly difficult to find artists who do NOT use AI in their process. But we’re committed to our principles.
After the 50th or so conversation, we finally found someone. And they were within budget!
Instead of doing some old, boring “here ya go” art reveal, we made it a game.
Why? Because that’s what we do!
Here’s how it works:
- You get 5 pieces of a larger sketch (the full color reveal comes later).
- Solve them one at a time, one per character, until all 5 are done. You’re timed, but the clock pauses between pieces.
- The fastest time sees the full artwork before anyone else.
- Save your time with the same email you use for this newsletter.
- Play as many times as you want until sketch #2 comes out (hint hint).
- Your faction is competing too. Every member’s time counts toward your faction’s average on the leaderboard, and every player in the winning faction gets something special.
Ready?
Once you’ve played, jump into the Discord general chat and tell us what you think of the art and the game.
Speaking of Discord, we also added a gaming feed so you can see puzzle scores right there (that way if anyone beats your score, you can hop back in and show them what’s up).
If you guys love games like this, play, share, and tell us in Discord. That’s how we’ll know to make more.
That’s it! Go get solving, and bring honor to your name and your faction.
~Robert
The First Stone is out now for pre-order. Cass’s little sister is going to die. He’ll burn the world down to save her.
New here? Find out which faction chose you: take the Faction Quiz.
Disclaimer: this is a copy of the newsletter. Actual subscribers get all the prizes, votes, and exclusives.
