D&D Dungeon Master's Screen

Last year when WotC approached me to illustrate the Dungeon Master's Screen, I was in disbelief, and double checked the recipient address to make sure they hadn't accidentally sent an email that was meant for someone else. Once I realized that, yes, they did actually want me for this assignment I jumped up and down and squealed. Then I peed my pants a little bit.

It is the largest and most time consuming (digital) piece I've ever done, about 45 days. Due to advertising needs, I had to do the image in layers, each character, environmental element, and effect had to be on a separate layer. It also had to read as four separate panels, integrated into a single wide horizontal foldable format. In the end it was around 20 layers (and I painted on the wrong layer at least a dozen times throughout the process).

Thumbnails

Grayscale
They liked thumbnail #1, and we collectively decided to flip the image so it read from left to right. I also wanted to increase the size of the dragon so it's wings spread across all four panels.

Color Process
A number of elements were revised, mostly the Kobolds surrounding the adventure party. I painted those changes in color instead of my usual grayscale to color method.

Final Color

individual Panel Details

all images © Wizards of the Coast