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OWL-1: Finding Art For Your Projects

How to draw an Owlbear: 1. Draw some circles 2. Draw the rest of the f#@king Owlbear. RIP. Dave Sutherland
The Rest of the F#@king Owlbear

by John Bilodeau

This is the first in a series of articles I call “The rest of the F#@king Owlbear” about making art for tabletop role playing games. This month I want to talk about the basics of finding art for your adventures and other creative projects.

Art for TTRPG Basics & Inexpensive Art Options for Creators

I attended Breakout Con here in Toronto last month and went to a panel on the importance of art in roleplaying games. I was struck by the type of questions being asked during the Q&A portion of that panel. More than one game designer bemoaned the cost of art. Others in the audience seemed to be confused about where, and how, to contact TTRPG artists.

Contacting Artists

To address the last point first, TTRPG artists hang out wherever their clients are hanging out on social media (TTRPG Facebook groups, Bluesky lists, TTRPG gaming discords). Anywhere that a picture of a cool character portrait, map, monster illustration or splash scene will draw attention, you will find them.

If they are available for work, an artist will have a link to a commission sheet and portfolio in their profile. If you are interested check those links out for a ballpark idea of what they charge for work. A good faith effort to research them and their style a little before sending a direct message is a green flag as far as what you are like to work with.

Red flags for artists will make them more cautious about working for you. I’m not saying they won’t work with you at all but they may limit their commitment until they know you a little better. Red flags include:

  • Appearing out of nowhere - even if this is your first commercial project, a history of participation in the community is pretty easy to find online.
  • Unwillingness to address details of pay or to nail down expectations. Set clear expectations about what you need, when and for how much.
  • Any use of or reference to AI images or text. No creative person wants to be associated with things that harm creative people generally and our community specifically.

Clear frank communication about expectations will make a commission much easier to get.

If commissioned artwork exceeds your budget for this project right now, there are some less expensive options without using images assembled by generative AI.

The options are public domain stuff, stock art, and crowdfunding your art budget.

N.B. A lot of the links and resources I’m using in this small article come from my friend, @dollface_killah’s  thread on this issue in the Arcane Library discord. He curates a collection of free or pay-what-you-want resources for people making zines and modules. Here’s a link to his discord thread if you want to check that out. It has more resources on other elements of TTRPG creation that weren’t art-related.

Public Domain Art

Public domain stuff is uncopyrighted art you can use however you like. A good collection of links to different sources of public domain art is maintained by Yochai Gal, the creator of Cairn. Here’s a link to his public domain art repository.

People don’t just drop that type of image into their project. They usually prepare it in some way. To personalize an image you’ve found in the public domain, Vladar has layed out some interesting ideas on how to “prepare” the art for use in your product.

Stock Art

Stock art is usually a fraction of the cost of a commissioned work. Stock art is licensed out for use in commercial products. You usually cannot alter it in any way, though, without the artist's permission. Every piece of stock art comes with licensing info you can read to figure out what is ok or not to do with the art.

Stock art isn’t custom work. You’ll need to find a piece in a stock art store that matches what you need. Many artists also have themed packs of art that you can buy in bulk if the theme matches your product.

I’m not trying to self promote, here, so I’ll list a few examples of other people’s stock art. This will also give you ideas about the platforms to check out for other stock art:

As I indicated above, stock art is usually inexpensive but there are some anarchist punk artists who don’t believe in charging for art at all, like Kim Holm.

Crowdfunded Art

Twice now, my drawings have been added as tiers on crowdfunding efforts. Here’s an example of this from Robin Fjarem’s kickstarter for his Dragonbane module, Shadow over Gloomshire.

Another stretch goal unlocked!
Just look at this undead pup and tell me it isn't absolutely stunning! And now you'll get even more of this awesomeness. We have unlocked the 60,000 SEK stretch goal where we will ask John Bilodeau to do one more monster illustration for the adventure. Way to go!

You don’t need to have all the money on hand to buy art. You can use cheaper art sources for the Kickstarter and make a minimal art budget part of the initial backing amount, and promise more art as stretch goals.

Thanks for reading, see you all next time.

More Information

  1. Grinning Rat’s Substack article [REFERENCE] Sourcing Unique (and Free) Art in 2024
  2. CZRPG’s article How to be cost effective with art in a ttrpg product
  3. Alderdoodles’ So you need art for your ttrpg - 16 artists creating affordable stock art
  4. Tanya Combrinck’s Finding your tabletop RPG's style - "The art should evoke curiosity and wonder"