Getting the Right Look

So by now you have a fantasy world, or a dozen, and a named character, or a few hundred, that live therein. But what do these intrepid heroes look like?

What's that you say? You've spent all this time writing and building, but not doodling and envisioning a personage? So what. You can always have these guys do it for you.

Avatarart.com - Custom Character Portraits

Amazing galleries! Your chosen price determines the end result and detail of "the look". Some people think art is a waste of time, but screw them. I think it's great to support other artists and at least help get their work out there even if you're not directly commissioning a piece.

Whether or not you're wanting to commission works, or if you're just wanting to wander the woods and peruse some more awesome art, head over to http://www.elfwood.com/. It's where I really got my start and fell in love with fantasy artwork. I'll post a few links to my favs next time.

What's in a Name?

Um.....EVERYTHING! Duh.

Fantasy Name Generator
Great for run of the mill fantasy race names. Cool length feature I haven't found elsewhere.

Skyrim Name Generator
Whether you're rocking it old school with Oblivion, or wasting hours in Skyrim like yours truly.

Warhammer Name Generator
This one is pretty specific by race and geared completely towards Warhammer, but what an awesome name. I haven't played it, but the books are great. The Sigmar Trilogy is one of my favorite fantasy series ever.

Majesty Name Generator 
Specific to the Majesty kingdom simulation game. It doesn't generate more than 4 names at a time, but it does provide a nice option of sorting by class. 

1,000 Fantasy Names
1000 fantasy names - It's unusual to come across a huge list like this with so many generators out there nowadays. But this works if you don't want to keep clicking "generate".

Fantasy Names and Places
Complete name lists and generators - Not sure what you're looking for? Chances are you'll find it here.

Angelfire Elf Name Generator
I really like this one because it tells you what the name means. You can either sort through and pick a name with a specific meaning/theme, but I really like throwing dice for random results. I picture an elf wise one casting runes to name a newborn and calling them what the runes divine. Also cool to answer that burning question of "What would Johnny Depp look like as an elf?"

More D&D Maps

After my last post, Nils from http://enderra.com/ sent me the following links

Greyhawk Maps

Pandius.com - Fantasy Maps

What great sites/maps! Thanks for sharing, buddy.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have quite the stack o' reference material (namely D&D guides). I thought I'd share these pics so you can see exactly what I use.

This is the whole top shelf. And below I have zoomed images so you can better read the titles. 

  

Two of the books you can't see because they're sideways. These are them. 

 

And here's the second shelf with zoom.

I know these are just a quick peek and not the best quality pics. If anyone wants a complete list of titles and authors I'd be happy to oblige. You can get my email address in my profile info.

BONUS: My Photoshop CS4 book The Missing Manual by Lisa Snider King came in the mail yesterday. !@#$%^&*. I guess I'm all out of excuses now and actually have to start doodling again. Wish me luck and, most of all, patience with myself. 

More Fantasy World Maps

I'm somewhat familiar with Faerun/Forgotten Realms thanks to the volumes of players guides I've amassed. Or at least I'm about as familiar as one can be for never actually gaming...I'm starting to think I must remedy that. While Ed Greenwood's world is great, it does have its flaws (if you care, ask a geek). I can easily ignore some geographical abnormalities as long as the story doesn't suffer for it. My issue with Faerun is that it has a really complex history, which is very understandable considering the run of its development. I like that though. Bring it on! Lots of history and mythos - my bread and butter.

Other gamers seem to like Eberron, but I know next to nothing about it. If I spent all my time and money buying up established world resources, my own fiddlings would suffer, and that I cannot abide.

Whatever your tastes are, you can't argue with the overall fantasticity and astoundingness of these maps

Eberron World Map

Khorvaire World Map

Detailed Khorvaire Map

IT'S BACK! Ansaera/Galinorn Maps

Reposted with permission from the amazing talent that is Aventhar.

Ansaera World Map Album

This is a long time favorite that I've been pouring over for years. The shapes, colors, mountains, placement...it all blows my mind!

You'll notice in the album on CG that Aventhar has names on each continent. I like them and still refer to them as such, I just had them removed so I can zoom and place settlements unimpeded.

Many many thanks to Aventhar for allowing me to repost it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.