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Not a bad little collection of stock art to use for characters. While I didn't find anything in this pack I wanted to use right away, there were images I wanted to make characters for. There are alos terms for using the images in other products of your own creation (I can think of one such product here at DTRPG).
I would have liked to have seen some more "classical" looking witches; yes complete with pointy hats. But that is why I bought the product. I would have liked to have seen a thumbnail with watermark on the images before buying. That is what has kept me from buying others in this product line.
Note: The file for this is large (35 megs) since the images are hi-res, there are both color and b/w versions of the images.
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Any self publisher who buys this product with the intention of using it in his or her publications should go to jail. Why? Because to get this much art of this level of quality for this low of a price can only be described as a steal! 100 pieces of color artwork pus greyscale images for less that 30 bucks-there is no other way to describe it. Some of the art looks a bit rough or unfinished but there are still enough pieces of exceptional quality that the price tag is well worth it. Now if you'll excuse me I need to run because I think I hear the cops coming.
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This is arguably one of the best royalty free art deals you will ever find. Some of the pieces are cropped or modified versions of art from A Decade of Fantasy but there is still enough clip art for a wide variety of projects. Most of it is fantasy based but there are some good sci fi pieces and a few that could be used for modern products as well. I especially liked the variety of the art and the borders at the end of the package are a nice addition. Thank you Mr. Calkins for putting together this product!
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This is, quite simply, an awesome product for publishers. With many full colour art works useable as covers or for colour interiors, as well as smaller quarter page black and white art, all drawn in a very nice style.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your kind review Shane! I've been involved in many projects over the years with varied degrees of success as an illustrator and it's my pleasure to find an appreciative market in the indy publisher community. It's an honor to see my art included in the products these talented developers bring to the table. So please, if you purchase and use Cerberus Stock art in your products - shoot me a link. It inspires me to know others are enjoying my work.
Thank you,
Joe Calkins
cerberusart.com |
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This is a huge collection of fantasy and sci-fi art with a diverse range of subjects, from individuals to groups. Most of the paintings appear to be dark fantasy or post-apocalypse in subject, though there are several that could fall into more generic "high fantasy" or sci-fi genres. Every piece tells a bit of a story, rather than just being a straight portrait. All of the art in this collection would be very useable as interior art for your projects and most of the pieces would also make great cover art. This collection is of a consistentlly good quality, though there are a couple of pieces that I felt needed more detail, whether in the background (there are some with just swirling colour) or in the characters themselves. But this is a personal taste - afterall, we are talking art here! In all, this is a great collection of art, useable in a broad range of projects, for a really reasonable price.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you Nathan! I've been accused of being a little dark in my fantasy art and I wouldn't have it any other way. Admittedly I may have pushed the envelope as far as what can be perceived as a full page, full color piece of art. Honestly, this was my chance to bring everything to bear that I've had on the "back burner" for years and either put it out or toss it out. It was a huge weight off my shoulders to finally be satisfied with some of these illustrations for better or worse. I'm honored that publishers are finding something here they can use! I can't express enough how much I enjoy working with the indy RPG publishers. Thank you all! |
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If you use printable miniatures, you can take your collection to a whole new level with this set of intricate designs by Cerberus. This set includes many D&D standards, including a balor, an umber hulk, a cloaker, a basilisk, an aboleth, a beholder, and more. The artwork is slightly cartoonish, but very nicely detailed. Cutting out and assembling these minis takes more skill than most printable minis require, but the results look a lot better, too. The set also includes one scenery piece, a conjuring gate. This set, which combines all prior sets, also includes some aliens and marines, along with sandbags and smokescreens. I prefer plastic or metal miniatures to paper ones, but if I were going to use paper ones, these would be at the top of my list.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you Christopher! I enjoy creating paper minis. As usual I encourage paper miniature fans to shoot me an email and let me know what you'd like to see on the market and I'll do my best to accomodate. Thanks again! |
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This is a great set, just look at the Beholder!
I am really not a big fan of the cartoon/anime style of most other paper minis.
The Cerberus style is much more to my liking and it follows the tradition of great artists like Larry Elmore and others.
It only would be nice, if the minis would have a rear side, and not a mirrored front side, but this is not a big problem.
All in all, a great set and I like to see more "Monsters on the Game Mat" in the future!
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The artwork in this set is reasonably-well executed, but is overall very heavy and black, and not optimized at for print purposes. A publisher preparing a print document is going to need to adjust the black levels, or you're going to end up with a muddy mess (especially if you're going to use these for offset print projects). This will also make it difficult for someone to color to their specific need and purpose. However, the color versions are well executed, and should be usable as they are by the original artist, and, if you're comfortable working with CMYK or RGB levels in Photoshop, you should be okay for POD or or offset printing..
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This is a single file product of 19 pages that includes several archetype monsters for the Dungeons and Dragons game, many of them useful with any edition or with any fantasy game or even science fiction game. For example, the ice devil would make a great alien species.
The file starts off with... instructions. I noted on another similiar product that it's lack of instructions wasn't a crippling flaw, but instructions, especially when one is using a very sharp object to cut, are useful to have.
These miniatures actually have three 'levels' of difficulty determined by which cutting line you use. There's a light gray, dark gray, and black. Each of these is a thick line so the user shouldn't have too many problems determining what they're cutting. In terms of overall difficulty, the book includes full instructions not only for the cutting and gluing of the bases to the figures, but also for the wings that come seperate on two of the figures. This may take some practice to get right but with the benefit of being able to print out another set if there's an accident, it could be much worse.
The illustrations aren't bad but, and here's the dreaded but, while it's standard, perhaps even obvious, that on the smaller figures there can't be a lot of details or visuals due to the limited size, on the larger figures, there doesn't seem to be a lot of extra detail put in.
For the price point though, this is a minor issue.
One of the nice things about the file, is that on the page for cultists, you get five cultists. On the lemur one, you get four. These are common enemies that you will be facing in numbers and its nice to see that reflected in the file.
If you are on the lookout for demons, devils, the cultists that summon them through pentagrams or portals, this product is for you.
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Art is highly subjective. If you look at the cover and like what you see, chances are you're probably going to enjoy many of the interior pieces.
The book does not only focus on fantasy though. There are several illustrations that would be at home in a dark future setting that showcase guns, robots, and vehicles. Not all such illustrations are so grand however and there are several that are of more modern individuals without the fuss of guns and gals. Some of the illustrations, such as the female 'Wolverine' on page 61 might be used for future cybernetic armnament or for more modern settings like Mutants and Masterminds.
The artist style showcases a wide vareity here. I will utter the ultimate in gaming blaspheme and note that several illustrations look like they would be right at home in the 'old school' movement. On page 12, there is a lone hero facing a tentacled monster. It might be the coloring style or the choice of background colors, but that is what I would consider 'old school'.
For those products which may not need the full color effect however, the product wraps up with a series of reproductions of the covers in black and white, coming four illustrations to the page.
The product should fufill the needs of anyone looking for art not only for projects, but for personal ownership.
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks Joe! I take no offense to the old school reference because I remember playing Dungeons & Dragons when you had to use a crayon to color in the numbers on the die. So yep - I'm old :) Thank you for your kind words about my collection. It's an honor to see my art included in the products created by the talented developers here. Thanks again! |
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The first four pages of this product are just the cover and images of "assembled" figures, kind of redundant. Once you get past these, however, you get 6 different kind of skeletal undead, including a chariot and dragon (just like the cover shows). They are attractive and nicely represent the figures - they kind of remind my of "old school" undead, I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that does this, they just do. The mounting system is neat, giving you a nice big base that helps the figure stand up. There is, however, a lot of white space around the figures (between legs, bows, boney protusions) which is a real pain to cut out - which means it is either time consuming to assemble, or you are left with big white spaces. It might be nice if in future sets Cerberus offers "plain" figures with the white space and then the same figure with some kind of background to save some fiddling!
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There is a running joke in my house hold about the things I attempt to put together. I need a set of detailed instruction or the project is going to come out horrid. RPG Paper projects have treated me better than my television stand building forays, but Cerebus’s Monsters of the Gamemat series left me with a mess of paper and glue.
The artwork for Monsters of the Gamemat is crisp and vivid. Every creature has a distinct personality that comes across strongly in the artwork. Beholders look alien and deadly. Dire wolves look ferocious and tenacious. The product does not fall off on the creative side at all. It is the presentation that can be a bit of a turnoff.
Monsters of the Gamemat uses a very unique way of assembling paper minis. Most paper mini products fold and glue. With Monsters, there are two pieces to each, the base and the mini itself. You figure that they attach together somehow, but there are no instructions detailing how this should go. There is also no alternative assembly forms. They also have to be cut out very intricately. The creatures and stands are a set size, and though perfectly created for their standard size, there are no instructions for decreasing or increasing their size for alternative forms.
For the Dungeon Master
The detail in the color of the creatures brings a gameboard to life. Every mini appears to be a different height, creating a different effect.
The Iron Word
For a change of pace or a big encounter, it may be worth it to go through the trouble of putting together creatures from the Monsters of the Gamemat. However, it could be too cumbersome to use them on a regular basis.
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There is a running joke in my house hold about the things I attempt to put together. I need a set of detailed instruction or the project is going to come out horrid. RPG Paper projects have treated me better than my television stand building forays, but Cerebus’s Monsters of the Gamemat series left me with a mess of paper and glue.
The artwork for Monsters of the Gamemat is crisp and vivid. Every creature has a distinct personality that comes across strongly in the artwork. Beholders look alien and deadly. Dire wolves look ferocious and tenacious. The product does not fall off on the creative side at all. It is the presentation that can be a bit of a turnoff.
Monsters of the Gamemat uses a very unique way of assembling paper minis. Most paper mini products fold and glue. With Monsters, there are two pieces to each, the base and the mini itself. You figure that they attach together somehow, but there are no instructions detailing how this should go. There is also no alternative assembly forms. They also have to be cut out very intricately. The creatures and stands are a set size, and though perfectly created for their standard size, there are no instructions for decreasing or increasing their size for alternative forms.
For the Dungeon Master
The detail in the color of the creatures brings a gameboard to life. Every mini appears to be a different height, creating a different effect.
The Iron Word
For a change of pace or a big encounter, it may be worth it to go through the trouble of putting together creatures from the Monsters of the Gamemat. However, it could be too cumbersome to use them on a regular basis.
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There is a running joke in my house hold about the things I attempt to put together. I need a set of detailed instruction or the project is going to come out horrid. RPG Paper projects have treated me better than my television stand building forays, but Cerebus’s Monsters of the Gamemat series left me with a mess of paper and glue.
The artwork for Monsters of the Gamemat is crisp and vivid. Every creature has a distinct personality that comes across strongly in the artwork. Beholders look alien and deadly. Dire wolves look ferocious and tenacious. The product does not fall off on the creative side at all. It is the presentation that can be a bit of a turnoff.
Monsters of the Gamemat uses a very unique way of assembling paper minis. Most paper mini products fold and glue. With Monsters, there are two pieces to each, the base and the mini itself. You figure that they attach together somehow, but there are no instructions detailing how this should go. There is also no alternative assembly forms. They also have to be cut out very intricately. The creatures and stands are a set size, and though perfectly created for their standard size, there are no instructions for decreasing or increasing their size for alternative forms.
For the Dungeon Master
The detail in the color of the creatures brings a gameboard to life. Every mini appears to be a different height, creating a different effect.
The Iron Word
For a change of pace or a big encounter, it may be worth it to go through the trouble of putting together creatures from the Monsters of the Gamemat. However, it could be too cumbersome to use them on a regular basis.
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Handy for anyone who likes beautiful illustrations in a work they're distributing - provided that they want one or more of the ten monsters featured herein. They are a basilisk, a beholder, a cloaker, a gnoll, a harpy, an ice devil, a lich, an umber hulk, a winter wolf, and a wraith.
You are spoiled for choice, with a PDF sheet that shows you the monsters you're getting, plus a Zip file with each individually in three different formats - JPEG, GIF and PNG. These images are considerably bigger than the ones in the PDF, of course - I just opened the delightfully ferocious looking beholder and he's filling my admittedly large monitor at only 36% of full size! (I shall have to keep this handy for startling unruly students... if he appeared on the whiteboard I reckon they'd settle down quickly!)
The comprehensive provision means that you can easily utilise the monster of your choice within whatever you are working on, and scale it to a suitable size, place it on a background and so on... it's left to you to work out how, but this is not a computer class, it's a collection of stock art. In general, the pictures are crisp and clear, and conform to popular conceptions of what the monster in question ought to look like. The harpy is a delightfully-raddled old crone, while the umber hulk brings back unhappy memories of that fighter of mine who was eaten by one...
If you are publishing something which would benefit from pictures of any of these critters, this is a good buy. The licence allows use in colour or greyscale, as cover or interior art, and with any modifications you feel necessary - pretty wide ranging, and without a requirement to credit the source, although good manners would suggest that you do so anyway.
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