[Adder]

I know there's a megathread of art on these forums already, but where do you GMs (and to a lesser extent, players) source your art from?

As one technique to help make the world feel more alive, I've been thinking about including art along with important characters. Instead of "here comes the Johnson, a handsome and tall elf with shoulder-length platinum hair and an expensive, well-tailored black suit with a red tie" I could just show a picture on my tablet. Some of the art I've come across even inspires me to make a run or a scene out of it.

The first source I can think of are the books themselves, which have plenty of portraits of characters and scenes. The primary issue is the lack of sortability, followed by hassle of accessing them (needing to open the PDF, jump to the page, etc.). I would really love to create an organized gallery and post it on a blog/website, but I suspect that even with detailed attribution (book, page #, artist) that probably isn't legal. I guess I could make a local sorted gallery on my computer and just grab an image when I need it.

The second source is deviant art, which has some Shadowrun and cyberpunk stuff. But it's still not a lot, and nowhere close to the same range as the books.

The big thread on these forums is a bit too chaotic to search through for something.


Any other ideas?

[Novocrane]

Have you tried Pinterest? Other than that, I usually search for concept art and dredge up interesting stuff.

[Namikaze]

I have a pile of images that I've curated over the years, and I've tried to break them down by metatype and gender.  The problem is, most of them aren't specifically cyberpunk in nature.  I usually do a little image tweaking with GIMP if I find something I really want, but can't deal with.  A lot of these images come from Pintrest, DeviantArt, and just Google Image searches.  A LOT of them come from the art thread in the General Discussion forum (it's stickied).  I try to get action images, but I really like portraits better.  So sometimes concept art can work too.

[Crimsondude]

I suspect that even with detailed attribution (book, page #, artist) that probably isn't legal.

No, it wouldn't be.

The art thread in the General Discussion forum is quite useful.

There are a couple shadowrun-specific "inspiration" tumblrs, and several more "cyberpunk inspiration" tumblrs. There is also plenty of character/fan art just on the "shadowrun" tag. There are other tags that I've used for the Shadowrun tumblr (shadowrun.tumblr.com) in the Subject List ("shadowrun art," "shadowrun universe," "sixth world," etc.) that might also have contributions globally.

dA is also useful because some Shadowrun artists have their work on their galleries.

[Mr. Black]

I will echo DeviantArt. Start with http://shadowrun-collection.deviantart.com/. You can also do search functions on the site. If you set a membership, you can store any art you like in your favorites, and follow any artist so that you get their new art whenever you post it.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Google Image search.  Key in on what you want for the character.  Then start scrolling until your eye catches on something.

[Kincaid]

DeviantArt, even though it takes 30 minutes of searching to find a normal-looking female with a gun.  Once you find an artist you like, backtrack to their own webpage, there's generally more stuff there.

[pariah3j]

Most of the art I've used in my games and for in game inspiration comes from searching Google Images. I usually start with something specific like Shadowrun Cybereyes or something like that and then start adjusting the search to try and include/exclude unwanted pictures. From there I will click on the image and go to the source page - alot of times its a image link thread on forums and I will usually end up scrolling through all the posted images once I find one that has what I'm looking for.