A Look At The Latest Art…
Sorry about the lack of more regular updates: As you might imagine, we’ve got a full load of development work going on, prepping for the launch of the Adventure Game and the fiction line this December. Our crowdfunding Kickstarter program has another week to go, so if you haven’t signed up yet, you’ve still got time. Once the Kickstarter draws to a close, you’ll see much more activity on this site.
In the meantime, we thought you might like to see some of the latest art that’s been coming from the hand of Rick Hershey, the art director for FAR WEST:
All fantastic! Rick Hershey is definitely *the man.* The style you guys have chosen for this game is really fitting and done well.
Are these characters anyone in particular?
Nobody who’s been mentioned yet, no — although the lady in the bottom-most image is a member of the Foxglove Society.
Any more desktop background images coming out soon? I’m setting up a rotating folder of images, so I’m always hungry for more.
Most likely in the next week or two.
Very nice so far! The blend of genres shows in the art without being cheesy. Very cool!
I like the artwork. But I’m curious if you guys have permission to just use any images of people you find on the net and do some filter work on them. That girl was obviously Anna Kournikova. A google image search found that original picture in about 30 seconds, just in a blue shirt and without the wanted poster.
We’re consciously going for a remix vibe with FAR WEST, as part of the Mash-up nature of the whole project. Sampling is a big part of that. Rick does use photo reference (which is why one of our Kickstarter rewards is an illustration based on a photo of the backer, to be included in the book) — and his work is far more extensive than just “doing some filter work on them.” We’ve dotted our i’s here, and are confident in the recontextualized nature of the work he produces, as it applies to publicity rights, implied endorsement, etc.
That’s great to hear! Clearly, Rick does extensive, skilled work on his reference material, but I think the concern of usage is well-founded. We’d all hate to see the project get into trouble.
That being said, the style of the artwork is wonderful, and I’d love to see some desktop wallpapers be made available using these images.
We do have some wallpapers available — click “Downloads” over on the left. We’ll be releasing more in the coming months.
Thanks for the reply. I wasn’t trying to belittle his work. I really like the consistent themes and visuals that you are going for with this project. I was only implying doing some filter work as opposed to making entirely original pieces from scratch.
I understand — and I really do appreciate the concern. Given that we were specifically going into this looking to play around with the whole “remix culture” angle, we did consult our lawyer to make sure we’re on firm ground. (See, for example Warhol’s famous “Marilyn Diptych”, which was created from a literally silkscreened copy of an existing publicity photo of Marilyn Monroe from the film Niagara. )
Ooh! I like it! What’s the Foxglove Society?
One of the secret Clans of the Far West. Described here: http://intothefarwest.com/2011/06/20/a-look-at-the-clans-part-two/
Really love the “feel” of the art for the book. I would love to se a little more on the “original” side, but still love the way it is coming together.
I’m intrigued by the premise, but slightly disheartened by both images of women being of the usual pin-up presentation. Hopefully the situation isn’t all that one-sided.
Actually, these are quite old (the post dates back to August) and were mostly proof-of-concept pieces — the overwhelming majority of the art appearing in the game are actually fictionalized portraits of our Kickstarter backers, of all sexes, which are not “pin-up” in presentation at all.