Chris Howard's Blog, page 22

Setting up and testing my wide-field astro gear: the William...

Setting up and testing my wide-field astro gear: the William Optics SpaceCat 51 primary scope, 200mm guide scope, and everything else is ZWO–autofocuser (EAF), ASI120MM-S mono guide camera, ASI1600MM-Pro monochrome primary camera, and EFW with my Astronomik 6nm narrowband filters and the new Antlia 3 nanometer hydrogen-alpha filter.

“Wizard”, the theme is you must have all your...

“Wizard”, the theme is you must have all your favorite stuff close by if you want the magic to happen–your books, your pet raven Leopoldo, that stuffed shark that no one takes credit for bringing. It just showed up on the wall one day. And only the serious practitioner uses candlelight around ancient, irreplaceable, and highly-flammable tomes. Four hours drawing and painting time in CC2021 and ArtRage6. 

We received a parcel all the way from Ankh Morpork, probably...

We received a parcel all the way from Ankh Morpork, probably some funny business from Unseen University. I feel better now that it’s been “Inspected by the Guild of Thieves, Cutpurses, and Allied Tradesmen”. They always do a very neat job slicing open and then resealing packages so it’s almost like they were never there at all. “International Priority”? More like Interdimensional Priority.

I started painting this cover last weekend and finished up last...

I started painting this cover last weekend and finished up last night. The theme is raw elemental/magical power–what does a moment of it look like if I tried to capture it? 7 hours ArtRage6 and CC2021. I used the Huion H1161 Pen Tablet for this one.

Add another dimension to your city and village mapsI was going...

Add another dimension to your city and village maps

I was going to run Waterdeep - Dragon Heist a while back—It didn’t end up happening (probably start later this year), but along the way, while prepping for the adventure, I thought it would be cool to create a 3D-ish version of the area around the Yawning Portal, or the important sections of the Docks Ward. (I was also thinking it would be cool to build out a couple areas of Ankh Morpork).

I bought a $6 bag of replacement Monopoly houses, painted them with primer black and then did a zenithal highlight with Citadel’s very dramatic “Wraith Bone”, which is just what it sounds like, sort of a pale warm white. Magnets were the key. I’ve been using a 12x18 inch steel board to hold down maps and dungeon cards, with magnetic “push pins” to mark adventurers and monsters. So, I glued magnets into each of the buildings, printed a batch of larger, more detailed houses and buildings on the resin printer, and now I have the ability to construct some pretty interesting maps.

Models for tiny medieval city buildings:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4575352
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4572067

The top-down map shot: Our intrepid heros are standing around at the edge of Phandalin (middle, top in green, blue, white) while bottom, left in red, a gnoll battle team is about to cause some trouble for the town’s inhabitants.

Doing a bunch of yard work, lawn mowing, weed trimming, etc.,...

Doing a bunch of yard work, lawn mowing, weed trimming, etc., and then a little D&D later. We designed Alice’s multiclassed fighter-warlock on HeroForge. I downloaded the STL file and will print and paint later this week. (https://www.heroforge.com)

Meet Lyle. Lyle is a Bane Tangle, sometimes called a Laminaria,...

Meet Lyle. Lyle is a Bane Tangle, sometimes called a Laminaria, which means he’s more like sentient, moderately aggressive, bipedal kelp than any reptile he may appear to resemble. You call him “Lyle the ‘dile” and he will seriously blow a holdfast, and probably wipe the intertidal zone with you. On the weekends he enjoys surfing–as long as dweebs don’t snake the waves. And Poseidon help them if they do. (2.5 hours in Art Rage 6 and Photoshop CC 2021)

The area around the constellation Cepheus is an astrophotography...

The area around the constellation Cepheus is an astrophotography buffet, and because the constellation is circumpolar, it’s in the night sky for at least half the year—if you’re anywhere near the north. Both the Iris Nebula and the Fireworks Galaxy, two amazing deep sky objects I captured a couple weeks ago, are here, along with the Elephant’s Trunk nebula, Cave and Wizard nebulas—and a lot more! Some of these targets span the border with Cassiopeia at the bottom.

Short Story Finished!

Finished my first draft of a short story for an anthology due out next year, near-future SF with some astronomy, 6400 words. Deadline is September, and this gives me time to move on to other projects, pick it up in a few weeks and do a thorough edit.  Early is so unlike me, but I had a good idea and ran with it.

Bicolor version of the central region of the Elephant’s...

Bicolor version of the central region of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula in Cepheus–Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen 3. I shot the 31 Ha subs the night before last. #astrophotography https://SaltwaterWitch.com