The Others take House of the 🐲!
Enchanting fantasy worlds instead: board games, artists, stories
“And as Isaac’s thoughts fought to place the beings, to order them or categorize them, a name emerged spontaneously: nethermorphs. The antithesis of the beings who had guided him on this journey. They spoke to him, offering him the power to overcome his foe.”
quote from our narrative artbook Omnimorphs: Beyond the veil
Well again, Traveler,
Of course, I’m watching House of the Dragon, and of course I cannot remember the names either. But the reason I go back to it is still a riveting mystery to me.
Am I a visual effects bitch?
I see that the overwhelming rating is way above average with 8.4 on IMDb and 87% on Rotten Tomatoes — if these mean anything — and I wonder if I missed something.
So, as the short introduction to our fantasy special, I dipped my toe into the history of fantasy and tried to figure out if we are at the peak of the genre or are we heading towards the doom of dragons.
Let’s start with the case of the Greens and the Blacks: I rate motion pictures based on three criteria…
1. story 👑
Story is king. (Maybe, calling it queen in this case is more applicable.) Everything must serve the purpose given by the line of events and the development of characters. If something is solely there for aesthetic reasons or as a joke without providing any added value to the story, it should be kept in the ashes of unused ideas.
A story can be amazing, but without believable dialogue or relatable characters, in short, a properly written script, it will not fulfill its potential. And I think this is where HotD lacks the most.
I miss the twists, the lovable characters, and “Winter is coming” every episode. We can all yap about the last seasons, but at least the beginning of Game of Thrones was captivating. Which is not so true about the storyline of HotD.
2. acting and direction 🤝
These two usually go hand in hand and rely heavily on the script. Yes, as I said, the script is not HotD’s strength, but I think some of the cast of HotD just adds to the inadequacies of the poorly written characters way too much.
3. visuals (and sound FX) 🌟
You see where this is going. It has its own category, because recently and especially in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, I, too, fall for the eye-candy. If visual effects are great, I am bought. And looking at the ratings nowadays, it seems, I am not the only one.
Okay, it is not so hard to glaze the heart with themes that rely on the evergreens of fantasy. I mean, which former (or still active) D&D player wouldn’t fall for dragons and castles? But House of the Dragon managed to bring these magical pieces of old myth to life with an astonishing new realism.
What makes a good fantasy, then?
Is it the story? Is it the visuals? Or is it a must to have “rings” in the title?
I think good fantasy achieves something that shouldn’t work. It creates a believable world out of unbelievable pieces. A world that gets me out of my everydays, and drops me in a place that’s still full of mystery.
Fantasy is a personal emotional exploration of my dreams, fears, and desires. I don’t want to eat rotten fish under the Red Keep or die by dragonfire while trying to prove my worthiness to Vermithor. But I do want to watch these in pristine detail.
So as it seems, it doesn’t really matter if that’s achieved by a great story or amazing visuals, because I go back and watch it anyway.
Now I can humbly state: I am a visual effects bitch.
Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places
I would love to have a good story and great visuals at the same time. I think Lord of the Rings was one of the last great blockbuster fantasies that did just that. Of course, it is unfair to make the most influential fantasy book the example. But why not dream big, right?
As I was looking up the history of fantasy art, it became clear to me, that it has almost always been a commercial product.
The illustrations that we consider the first fantasy art were published in Alice in Wonderland when including pictures in books became a financially viable option. It wasn’t until pulp fiction journals became a hit in the 20th century that fantasy became an established genre. Short form fiction paved the way for Robert E. Howard’s, C. S. Lewis’, J.R.R Tolkien’s and other giants’ longer form books.
Later Dungeons & Dragons invited players to imagine their own adventures, while Hollywood continued the successes of Dracula, King Kong and The Wizard of Oz with Star Wars and Alien.
It feels like the sensation is over. Now, House of the Dragon and the likes are just refining the recipes that worked before, creating masterpieces in one or two aspects but conjuring boring copies in others.
And this means that, for the real thrill, it is better to look for smaller projects and artists.
“Fantasy art played a big part of my teenage years, mainly because of concept artworks of World of Warcraft and Diablo, but I also had many art books from Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell, and Frank Frazetta, along with some TCG (unfortunately not Magic: The Gathering) that I loved to look at and collect. The two artists I’m introducing to you remind me of this period of my life.”
Dani
🎨 Drawing: Piotr Jabłoński AKA nicponim
“I don’t usually say this, but Piotr Jabłoński, also known as nicponim, is probably one of my favourite artists ever. I’ve found his work, and instantly got hooked when I was still learning to do artsy stuff 10+ years ago, especially the digital illustration part and had no idea how he does what he does. I’m still baffled sometimes to be honest.
He perfectly blends together Frank Frazetta’s old school style with his own modern touch to create surreal fantasy/horror paintings that makes me feel all sorts of things. His Diablo 4 series from last year also amazed me, along with his own secret project titled “Annoying Galacticers”. I’m eager to find out more about them. I recommend you check out his artworks for Samuel Delany's 1968 Sci-Fi novel, Nova, and his many eerie Dishonored 2 paintings.”
Dani
🎨 Drawing: Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
“So I’ve found a fellow Hungarian artist I’d never heard of but definitely seen his work in Blizzard games like World of Warcraft and Hearthstone.
Zoltan Boros graduated in 1990 from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. He worked with Gabor Szikszai for 25 years until Zoltan moved to New York state, where he got the opportunity to work on many Magic: The Gathering illustrations, which are really in line with the more classic fantasy style we’re used to and so fond of.
What I really enjoy in his illustrations is mainly the vibrant use of colours and that his renders aren’t always super polished. It feels a bit rough and painterly. I can see the strokes, the direction of his lines. The way he sketched and slowly buildt on top of that, and not completely hiding it is something I really like to see. By analysing it closely, I can also learn from it. Unfortunately (or not) he doesn’t have any social media, so you can check out his (and also Gabor Szikszai’s) portfolio on their website.“
Dani
🎲 Board Gaming: Winds of Numa Sera
“The past few weeks we've had our eyes on a board game that's live on Kickstarter right now and is in the last days of its funding campaign. Winds of Numa Sera is an engine-building strategy game, based on the graphic novel of the same name. It received outstanding reviews during playtests and has a cool and unique visual representation, thanks to its graphic novel roots.
As someone who loves fantasy board games, I think this is one of the most exciting releases of the year. Also, if you're a fan of the genre, it's worth browsing Kickstarter from time to time, as even some of the best titles from the past couple of years, like Gloomhaven or Schyte also started as Kickstarter campaigns.”
Huba
🟧 Substack: Adventure story
Speaking of Fantasy made me think about its parody. I’ve only read one book from Terry Pratchet, but I know there are avid fans everywhere. He is the king of fantasy parody. Adventure story is nowhere near T.P.’s colossus of a series but has been going for a while now, and I can imagine that the former one started out like this.
❓ Your art
This could be the part where we recommend your favorite artist, developer, or maybe even you. If you want to fill in this place with your suggestion, send a link in a reply to this email.
Time to escape to your world of creativity and build!
Adrián
Scribe of the Omniscient
👁🗨
thank you for the shoutout! Being mentioned in the same sentence as Terry Pratchet is the highest form of praise for me. Ironically, I've only just started reading his Discworld series a few days ago. Nice write up, I enjoyed this. And House of the Dragon didn't do it for me either...