Shadows of the Mind - a D&D fan project

This page documents and showcases a project I'm working on during the spring of 2022. It is a Dungeons&Dragons ( Wizards of the Coast) fan project: after trying my hand at being a Dungeon Master, I realised that I find just as much joy in creating as in playing. My aim with this project is to give myself a task that guides me towards the type of art that I wish to do after graduation, that is repetitive enough to allow me to practice things I learn while fuelled by my (relatively new) passion for TTRPGs.

I chose to share this because it is not only important to me professionally, but it also involves many of my interests beside TTRPGs, such as anatomy, psychology and occult.

Shadows

This project was inspired by my graduation essay I wrote about the psychological background and effects of role-play, suggesting that RPGs can be applied effectively to improve one's mental health. The project had a number of titles, but I settled with "Shadow", referring to the fully evolved creatures' important ability: borrowing the features of their victim.

(While I do believe that role-play and RPGs are more than suitable for the betterment of mental health,  this project does NOT intend to offer solutions for mental health issues. It was made purely to enhance the player and narrator's experience through introducing new creatures, mechanics and aspects of storytelling.)

Inspiration

Besides my essay, the other main source of inspiration was Gege Akutami’s world-famous manga series, Jujutsu Kaisen. “Curses” are born from negative human energy and manifest as malevolent beings on a plane of reality that is visible only to a few. The collective negativity that stems from universal sources such as “nature” and “disliking others” or even folktales of youkai (demons) birthed high-level curses, while general anguish produces simple creatures.

Another title, which I came across later, Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto, works with a similar idea, where concepts people’s fear manifests as “devils”. Their abilities reflect the source of their birth, such as “future”, “control”, “darkness” and so on.

I’m not only a fan of these series but I’m also interested in occult and the idea of thought forms, and it was very interesting to see these interpretations. Eventually it inspired me to do my own take on the topic.

Concept

“Shadows” are born from the negative emotions of humanoids. Once a creature like this manifests, it starts to seek out environments rich in the feeling it was born from. As they evolve, they obtain new abilities, and at some point they will be able to invoke their target feeling from their victims, living as parasites. The stronger and older the aberration is, the more humanoid it looks. Ancient creatures are rare, but not unheard of: those who survived for hundreds of years are extremely strong, and they can be easily mistaken for a member of any humanoid race as they have the ability to take the shape of their target. Their sentience gradually evolves along with their bodies, but their one and only goal remains always to consume.

Creatures that are strong enough are able to engage in combat with their target(s). On lower levels, losing a battle against them has minor consequences, such as Exhaustion, later the temporary loss of abilities, while an old, overwhelmingly strong monster can kill the Player Character. The party is able to help only if the target asks for their assistance in a specific way.

As far as gameplay goes, these creatures can be used in many types of encounters. However, their main goal is to evolve along with the players, aberrations targeting specific Player Characters who battle with certain mental states, allowing the DM to enhance the Character’s background and possible personal story arcs.

Loneliness - The Urchin

As opposed to darkness that often represents negativity, blinding white seems to be specific to loneliness. This can be observed in both music videos, but some of the creatures I studied have white, thin skin as well. White also seems to respond to the concept of loneliness better than black: darkness makes it impossible for humans to see, and so there is a possibility that something is out there, lurking in the shadows, inducing a very different type of emotion (fear), while in bright light everything is supposed to be visible - and so the subject can make sure there is truly nothing around and they are alone.

Once I began to work on narrowing down the design, I looked for inspiration in primal creatures that lead a solitary lifestyle, such as certain fish and salamanders. Many associates their build and blank expression with depression, sadness and emptiness.

For the final illustration, I used my very first D&D character who has been a returning theme of my drawings since 2019, even though the game has been cancelled long ago. (Art from 2018)

Guilt - The Court

“Guilt is a moral emotion when a person believes or realises – accurately or not – that they have compromised their own standards or violated moral standards and bear significant responsibility for that violation. It is closely related to the concept of remorse, regret and shame. It is an emotion that can weigh on a person so heavily that they often resort to some sort of defense, such as repression, projecting it and blaming the victim, or sharing the feeling of guilt. People with extreme guilt on their shoulders may indulge in self-harm to punish themselves.”

Based on my findings, I turned the project towards the punishment route and designed the set of Judge, Jury and Executioner. My main goal was to create an outfit that is “convertible”, something that doesn’t only look like a set but also can be narrated as something both simple and cinematic as the creature changes stances. To achieve this, I kept the base layers the same and only changed the robe. The cowl and the red shawl are the pieces the creature interacts with when switching between its melee and caster stances.

As far as impression goes, my goal was to create something elegant and simple yet menacing and unforgiving, something fitting a person of authority whose word is absolute. After the first ideas were laid out, I spent some time with the creature, which then later formed the smaller details on the outfit.

The jellyfish was a product of silhouettes, but for some reason, it feels like it fits the concept, not only the design (ie. shape, movement, blindness/lack of eyes). I’m still unsure why exactly, but my guess is that it has something to do with the elegance and mystery of the creature. I found the “inkiness” through experimenting as well, and while it is typically a cephalopod ability, I don’t think it looks alien in the final design. I also relate ink with literacy, something that is not always common in D&D games, further strengthening the character’s supremacy.

I used another one of my D&D characters for the illustration. Our campaign ended with the loss of her close friend (another party member), and she lived the rest of her life believing it was her fault. I’m also happy that I could make the lineup more diverse. (Art from 2020)

Self- Deception - The Flamboyant

“This special form of lies involves convincing oneself of a truth that is convenient or acceptable for the individual, denying the relevance, significance or importance of opposing evidence and logical argument. During this process, the rationalisation of the truth happens through social and personal biases, and so it becomes irrational. Simply put, a person who chooses to believe a convenient intentionally tries to engage in certain activities and surround oneself with those who support one’s beliefs, unintentionally misleading oneself. The manipulation can happen in both positive and negative fashions; convincing one to perceive a negative situation optimistically and vice versa. This is made possible by the fact that everyone finds different things comfortable: some prefer pleasantness, but others are so used to negative feelings that they are desperate to keep themselves in a reality where everything is against them.”

The idea started as “toxic optimism” and was first inspired by a succulent I keep in my room. Interestingly, it didn’t expand horizontally but started to grow vertically; its leaves on the top were healthy and dry and dead on the bottom, the “trunk” of the plant hidden by the top part.

The outfit was inspired by the fashion of Louis XIV’s court in Versailles and Victorian elements, which I found suitable for “covering up” the ugly truth. (Eg. aristocrats going bald under the wigs, lack of hygiene, etc.) My target with the level of details was Dekora-kei from Japan and a bit more. I aimed to create something messy and tasteless that reflects the desperation with what people cling to lies they tell themselves.

When it came to the creature’s illustration, I was torn between the options. On one hand, the worm’s eye-view looked much more interesting and it was suitable to represent the different layers of the creature, while on the other hand, I noticed that in the D&D sourcebooks, they always represent creatures in a way that it gives a good idea of their scale, and so bringing the horizon line higher seemed a better idea.

Flower symbolism

Black Dahlia: evil, dishonesty, betrayal, doom

Snapdragon: graciousness and deception

Buttercup: considered weed; childishness, ingratitude

----

Sources:

https://www.yourtango.com/2021344177/flowers-negative-meanings

https://www.teleflora.com/meaning-of-flowers/snapdragon?promotion=MAYWELCOME5

Colour scheme

The main colours were provided by the first Snapdragon images I found. I’m also aware that it used to be common for men to wear pink and red, while women wore blue and gray, so it worked with the historical fantasy setting.

The base is black and white, like the body of the mid-tier creature. I found it important to include as much white as possible, referring to “white lies”. While it is not a concept commonly associated with self-deception, in the end, self-told lies are meant to protect oneself, not to harm anyone. I hoped to reflect this with the character as well, aiming for someone who is flashy, can potentially make others uncomfortable but does not appear menacing.

I feel the most confident when there is a lineart integrated in the image, and it also spares a lot of work, but in this case, the overwhelming amount of details and the nature of the creature called for a different approach: the sketch was on a Multiply layer on top to guide me, and eventually removed.

This is an extremely stressful method for me, but I’d like to pursue this type of painting in the future because it yields results similar to the artworks found in TTRPG sourcebooks and a lot of card games.

Unrequited Love - The Playmate

“One-sided love is love that is not understood as such by the beloved. The suitor may not have the courage to express their admiration, the beloved may be oblivious to it or consciously reject it – or, in the worst case, there is emotional manipulation at play. Some prefer to stay indifferent, some say that one-sided love is better than none, while others gain artistic inspiration from the hopeless longing. In any case, unrequited love is the source of many awkward social interactions and pain most of the time, for both sides. The lover may suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety and rapid mood swings between depression and euphoria, while the object of their feelings, upon being informed about the attraction, may experience frustration and guilt.”

For this part of the project, I recycled an OC (Original Character) who lived in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. The setting enables deformed, grotesque designs. Besides this, I wanted to make the lineup of the characters more diverse, both when it comes to design and abilities, so I decided to make a shapechanger who relies mostly on physical skills and melee attacks.

I got a lot of inspiration from Japanese shunga art, especially Kobayashi Eitaku’s work. I intended to use octopi as the base for the monster parts, but I noticed that each time octopi were involved, their partner enjoyed themselves. A quick google search revealed that the arms of the octopus are dexterous, not especially strong - at least not as strong as the body of constrictor snakes. On one hand, I felt like choosing snakes would render the value of the idea, but in the end, no matter how many arms I added, I never got the menacing feeling. In the end, these creatures were supposed to be dangerous and kill their prey by rather physical means. Besides this, the notion of a suffocating embrace fit an obsessed lover much better.

As a fan of snakes and morphs, I was happy for the chance to design my own “snake”. However, after the first exploration, I quickly realised that I cannot beat nature and that I prefer natural colours and patterns.

The main inspiration for the pattern and colours was Boa Constrictor. I didn’t find any solid information about the symbolism of unrequited love, but I liked the reds and the warpaint-like off-white and brown colours. I was wondering how far I could take the pattern with the skull and heart shapes without being too tacky...

Shadows usually take the form of their target. However, because of the nature of their source, Unrequited Love takes an idealised form of the target’s beloved who did not return their feelings. The victim does not fear them; instead, the Playmate offers them a twisted, physical remedy for their longing. The source of their power, yearning to be loved, will be displayed as possessive, overheated affection, as the Playmate and its victim’s relationship reaches its zenith.

Originally, I planned to display a creature in female form and some violence in the final illustration. Since I found that lamia/naga are mostly portrayed female, I decided to go with male features. However, I had a feeling that depicting male against female violence may either make some uncomfortable, or give a false image of my goals. I decided to use a pose that showcases the patters the best. The additional arms was a decision I made on the spot, and purely for self-entertainment (and so the earlier stages of the evolution had to be altered too...)

Chapter Art

I used the chapter art as an outlet for experimenting. I believed the messy brushstrokes would fit the theme, and since it’s more like a cover art to introduce the reader to a feeling, rather than describing the exact appearance of an unknown creature.

According to my plans, I did this as the last piece, expecting myself to be exhausted and impatient, and using frustration to avoid refining the image.

I recycled a self-portrait I did a couple of months ago in ink. I choose this as cover art to commemorate my own experience that inspired this entire project.

Pages

My goal is to make these creatures playable in the D&D e5 system but provide enough lore and information along with the designs so that they can be adapted to any other system - at some point. This was my final project for university, and my specialism is concept art. Along the way, I realised that to be able to follow my initial plan regarding the number of artworks and presentation, I needed to keep the lore writing to the minimum, and I made a decision in favour of my specialism. The project, however, was designed to be expandable, and given the chance I would like to get back to it in the future, take them to the point I dreamed about at the beginning, and possibly use them in my own games.

(Since the written content is not finished yet, please regard them as placeholders that aid the presentation.)

I made some minor assets myself, but most of them are from free and paid sources. I took the liberty of obtaining these, to speed up the process.

Fonts: https://github.com/jonathonf/solbera-dnd-fonts

Textures and design elements: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/279687/Monster-ManualStyle-Page-Background-and-Graphics

Monster Stat Block: https://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-statblock.html

Below: source book analysis.

Final thoughts

The designs heavily rely upon their descriptions, which belongs to the project, but it makes me unsure how successful the designs are by themselves (Loneliness, Self-Deception, etc)

D&D is mostly played in the theatre of the mind, the designs did not serve as base for 3D assets.. Besides this, the creature’s final form is completely customisable. To me it seems this gave a lot of freedom but also made me overly lax with the design. I clung onto the primal animal concept a bit too tightly, while the very first creature (Loneliness) sticks out quite much. It doesn’t seem that I managed to create anything original, but on the other hand...

My technical skills improved a lot, thanks to the somewhat repetitive tasks, even in directions I didn’t not expect.

I successfully employed a wide range of approach towards similar ends, further improving the efficiency of my workflow.

The source books do not provide illustrations for every minor, weak creature, those that humans already have visual reference for, nor the growing stages of dragons, for example. This is the reason why I decided not to paint an illustration for every growing stage and fill in the gaps with drawings, but looking back I wish I had planned with paintings instead.

This caused a lot of dilemma when it came to the page layouts: the drawings did not fit the colored pages well, because they were already too busy. My issue is that the source keeps related creatures together as well. I think one way to solve this would be to extend the page pairs with more lore and tables so the lineups can fit there comfortably. The most ideal solution would be to paint the rest of the creatures as well. Given the opportunity, I would also like to further expand the lore with an additional example story, in the style of the Player’s Handbook.

Thank you!

Shadows of the Mind is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.