Mike Pape Profile Banner
Mike Pape Profile
Mike Pape

@WingBuffet

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Fantasy illustrator: Wizards of the Coast, Orbit Books, Tor Books, Penguin Books, Darrington Press, Baldur's Gate 3, etc. || he/him 🇨🇦 || wingbuffet @gmail .com

Ontario, Canada
Joined November 2011
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@WingBuffet
Mike Pape
6 months
Good morning #PortfolioDay :D I'm Mike, still painting Fantasy Characters doing Fantasy Things (often in Fantasy Places), and having a blast doing it! Last year I got to do my first book covers, and this year I've got some rad stuff in the oven that should be publishing soon 😊
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Mike Pape
1 year
A touch of Wild Magic
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Mike Pape
18 days
Sharing the first of my illustrations in the new PHB – the species entry for Dwarves!
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Mike Pape
17 days
Second illustration I made for the revised PHB – the species entry for Orcs!
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Mike Pape
2 years
What if there was a D&D sourcebook for the M:tG world of Innistrad? I wanted to see what it could look like, so I painted it :D
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Mike Pape
17 days
Third species opener that I painted for the new Revised Player's Handbook – Elves!
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Mike Pape
3 years
Teysa Karlov, a little #MTG tribute to one of my favourite guilds (and de-facto-guildmasters) in Ravnica!
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Mike Pape
1 year
Zilira, Drow Hexblade
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Mike Pape
4 months
Before render / After render :D
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@NozomiMats
Nozomi-Comms closed!
5 months
before render / after render
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Mike Pape
2 years
Paladin: Oath of Dreams, from 'Incantations', a new book of spells for 5e
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Mike Pape
1 year
Mallory, Druid of the Circle of Spores
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Mike Pape
2 years
@Peter_Wartman I used to teach drawing to Industrial Designers, and every class there were a handful of students who'd been convinced that it was a 'talent' they didn't have. It was always heart-warming to see them discover that it's mostly just guidelines + muscle memory
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Mike Pape
2 years
Dragonborn Rogue (+3d sculpt I made for ref)
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Mike Pape
6 months
@belllmonts Oh hey, I painted these! I'm glad you like 'em either way :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
"What are you but a middleman? One who has forgotten his place." Waukeen, patron of coin and commerce, from #UncagedGoddesses
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Mike Pape
10 months
A painting I did for WotC's new Planescape book, of the 'Smoldering Corpse' tavern in Sigil! I loved getting to paint all these little stories for the various patrons :D
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Mike Pape
18 days
@briancortijo @justicearman The intention was to indicate that they're married, yep 😊
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Mike Pape
1 year
Triforce of Power
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Mike Pape
2 years
Goliath Cleric
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Mike Pape
17 days
Oh, and a weird little easter egg: When sketching the orc in front, I based the design of their greataxe off of one of my fav old Wayne Reynolds D&D illos (from 3.5's 'Complete Warrior'), which showed half-orcs fighting a hag. Maybe an obscure pull, so I wanted to share :D
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Mike Pape
3 years
I was asked to do another promo illustration for Baldur's Gate 3, this time for their newly-released Sorcerer class and the Grymforge area!
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Mike Pape
17 days
AD: Emi Tanji With Orcs' relatively short lifespan as fantasy races go, I really wanted to emphasize the multi-generational nature of a hunting party – kids and teens learning alongside the older folks. They're hunting with Harris's Hawks, if you're curious :D
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Mike Pape
9 months
Mask of Many Faces #dnd
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Mike Pape
2 years
Elf Barbarian
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Mike Pape
1 year
Hi, I'm Mike and I paint Fantasy/TTRPG interiors, covers, marketing art, and even the occasional private commission :v #PortfolioDay
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Mike Pape
1 year
My first novel cover illustration with @orbitbooks ! When I tell you I had a good time with these :y Author: @KimberlyLemming Design: Alexia Mazis AD: Patrick Carpenter
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Mike Pape
18 days
AD: Emi Tanji I think I watched about a dozen hours of video on blacksmithing to figure out the processes/tasks/layout of a shop, so now I know those things forever
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Mike Pape
11 months
Second book cover this month!
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@orbitbooks
Orbit Books
11 months
Cover launch! THAT TIME I GOT DRUNK AND YEETED A LOVE POTION AT A WEREWOLF by @KimberlyLemming is available in paperback February 2024. We hope you 💖 the cover for Mead Mishaps book two. Pre-order now: Design by Alexia Mazis Illustration by @WingBuffet
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Mike Pape
17 days
The idea that younger elves are still figuring out their inborn magical abilities (often by observing others) was something I made sure to sneak in there 😊
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Mike Pape
8 months
Drop somethin' yellow from your gallery :D
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Shahab Alizadeh
8 months
Drop something yellow from your gallery!
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Mike Pape
11 months
recent events have me thinking about this Tiefling Barbarian that popped off in 2020
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Mike Pape
1 year
Working on cards for Queen By Midnight was great fun, but I'm kinda blown away that Darrington makes a point of mentioning the artists by name in their announcements. It's rare to find companies who value creative this much! :D
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@DarringtonPress
Darrington Press
1 year
Our very first State of the Press is here! 📜 🪶 Join @matthewmercer and @MicaBurton for all the latest from Darrington Press, including Queen By Midnight, not one but TWO new RPG systems, project updates, and much more! Watch Now ➡️
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Mike Pape
1 year
The character is Maren, a D&D character ('Wild Magic' Barbarian) of @unwritable_girl 's, who commissioned the work! The idea was to show her in two states — her default shy & anxious personality, and the more confident & capable persona that emerges when she's in danger.
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Mike Pape
2 years
@itsginnydi she's still cute though
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Mike Pape
6 months
@belllmonts Thank you! My partner hunted down the other name and saw she's the graphic designer for the book & responsible for the typography on the cover, so it might just be that :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
Corremel Tavern ©Kobold Press
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Mike Pape
7 months
If you see this, tweet an elf :D
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@rudy_crut
Rudy Siswanto
7 months
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Mike Pape
1 month
One of the book covers I painted earlier this year!😊 [For Tor publishing, AD: Lesley Worrell]
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@stephanieburgis
Stephanie Burgis
1 month
Ahhhh check out the beautiful US cover of my book #WooingTheWitchQueen , coming from @BrambleRomance 2.18.25! And it has stunning turquoise sprayed edges!😍 Click here to pre-order: Artist: Mike Pape, @WingBuffet Designer: Lesley Worrell, @LesleyAWorrell
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Mike Pape
2 years
Aasimar Paladin
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Mike Pape
3 years
Here's the full Druid art for @BaldursGate3 's new 'Nature's Power' patch, which is live! We wanted to show the Druid's spellcasting — channeling the natural elements, calm but a little intense. The details here were tons of fun to paint, and working with Larian was a pleasure!
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Mike Pape
11 months
Ultimate Card Art for @DarringtonPress ' Queen By Midnight! 1/2
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Mike Pape
3 years
I'm halfway through boiling noodles and only just realized I don't have any sauces of any kind; I'm devastated, but pasta point of no return
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Mike Pape
11 months
Ultimate Card Art for @DarringtonPress ' Queen By Midnight! 2/2
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Mike Pape
18 days
@jamesjhaeck she was so fun to paint :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
Art of Willoughby from the new 'Mistletoe' campaign, played by @Tomato_Gaming ! In search of an audience with one of the Norse pantheon, this crotchety old tree-folk got to spend a good chunk of the first session answering the party's questions about his peculiar physiology 🪴
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Mike Pape
5 years
@halphelt dad: that kid is set to be my favorite tree in the school play, I need video evidence that he stole your lunch kid: but everyone in the cafeteria saw it happen dad: I guess you all want attention huh
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Mike Pape
3 years
~~ Process thread for how I went about making this painting ~~ Teysa was a pretty challenging painting project that I started a few weeks ago, with the express intention of making a Magic: The Gathering style (and hopefully M:tG quality) image.
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Mike Pape
3 years
Teysa Karlov, a little #MTG tribute to one of my favourite guilds (and de-facto-guildmasters) in Ravnica!
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Mike Pape
4 months
@pikatl "before:2021" getting reflexively added to literally anything I type into google 🫠
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Mike Pape
8 months
'Artists, let me see your improvement over 5 years!' I was just getting back into art 5 years ago after quitting for a while (undergrad burned me out pretty bad), and I've been practicing & developing my process ever since :v
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@ArtVaris
R.S. Riekkinen ✦
8 months
Artists, let me see your improvement over 5 years! 5 years ago, I associated polished rendering with pro art, so I tried to emulate the style the best I could. But w/o strong skills in art fundamentals, I burned out. I had to go back to the basics & unlearn a lot of bad habits.
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Mike Pape
1 year
I was asked about D&D Party commissions recently, and just want to tell/remind newer commission artists: Painting a picture meant to satisfy a x number of people is a lot harder than painting something for one person. The logistics alone is very time-consuming. 1/4
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Mike Pape
2 years
To all the people replying "Curse you, I thought this was real but it's not!" — thanks, that was my goal :V
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Mike Pape
6 months
took a morning trip to the bookstore so my partner could dote over the cover now that it's out in the wild my #1 fan 😂
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Mike Pape
1 year
Party commission of 4 high-level PCs, heading deep into the storm to face down their campaign's BBEG alongside Atropus, the World Born Dead!
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Mike Pape
2 years
Art of Juno from the new 'Mistletoe' campaign, played by @sherlock_hulmes ! An inquisitive thinker — so far she's the 'responsible' one, doing her best to keep the party from getting into trouble with fickle demigods😅
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Mike Pape
7 months
Artists, QRT with how you draw hands!
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@JoriBoltonPaint
Jori Bolton
7 months
Artists, qrt with how you draw hands! 🤘
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Mike Pape
8 months
I was looking through my gallery and forgot how much detail was in this piece (for the Meteorian Corps actual-play) it's been a busy year :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
The Faceless Wyrm #dnd
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Mike Pape
2 years
Art of Leyna from the new 'Mistletoe' campaign, played by @OldLady_Gamer ! She has an awful lot of daggers for someone so suspiciously 'plain', so 'perfectly average', hmm 🤔
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Mike Pape
17 days
AD: Emi Tanji The main focus this time was on the elves' innate magic and their artistic inclinations as a long-lived species – playing music, doing some gardening, painting, or just observing others!
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Mike Pape
6 months
I draw anniversary cards every year, and this year we got married so I got to draw that :y
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Mike Pape
1 year
To do this, I planned two overlaid poses with distinct body language: One slouched over, scrunched shoulders — the other with her head up, shoulders pulled back, axe at the ready. The first would have a dull and grey palette, while the other would be vibrant with wild colours.
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Mike Pape
4 years
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Mike Pape
1 year
sometimes being a fantasy painter is figuring out what the hell all those ropes on a boat are for
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Mike Pape
3 years
A really cool Druid I was asked to paint for Baldur's Gate 3 for their new patch!
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@baldursgate3
Baldur's Gate 3
3 years
Harness the power of nature and experience over 30 new spells and abilities with Druids now playable in Patch 4.
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Mike Pape
4 months
on my spare time I've been making cute little isometric maps/tokens to support a mini-D&D-campaign we've been running on Roll20, which has been a fun little departure from full paintings! (new paintings soon though, my long NDA limbo is almost over)
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Mike Pape
1 year
Once the two characters were drawn up, I masked one off so I could draw different patterns until I could see both personas well enough. Lots of little decisions here, like how much of an expression is needed, what could be cut off, and making sure the poses were still legible!
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Mike Pape
7 months
@Goblinkatie The number of folks I see saying "well I don't believe it because I read a thread", and then you check and the thread is by someone who has /literally no idea what they're talking about/ This sucks
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Mike Pape
1 year
someone on tumblr noticed that the hemispherical window in the background is a globe and the clouds are landmasses, which reminded me of how much fun this painting was
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Mike Pape
1 year
Howdy to all the new follows! Just a note that many of my recently-posted works (including the 'Wild Magic' piece) are private commissions :D I have a comm mailing list for when availability opens up, linked below!
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Mike Pape
1 year
A touch of Wild Magic
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Mike Pape
2 years
*points* It's my first TTRPG cover y'all :D
@KoboldPress
Kobold Press ✈️🔜 GenCon 2024!!!
2 years
We're thrilled to announce Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding, Vol. 2! #KGtW2 was edited by award-winning @JohnJosephAdams . Essayists include: @GailSimone , Veronica Roth, @HellcowKeith , @SlyFlourish , @GabeJamesGames , @kyliu99 , and more! Pre-order today:
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Mike Pape
17 days
@Mettatrack The idea was to depict a dwarf workshop as a central hub of their communities/living spaces, which is why there's folks working, learning, and relaxing all in a single spot 😊
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Mike Pape
1 year
maybe one day my office be 'done' enough to post, but I just finished a little mirror/portal to the Feywild :v
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Mike Pape
2 years
Art of Eldrid from the new 'Mistletoe' campaign, played by @BrizzyVoices ! Vying for the title of 'most unnerving PC', her communion with spirits leaves quite the impression💀
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Mike Pape
2 years
I'd put off D&D for a year and a half after the pandemic started, but am glad that I finally got into playing via Discord 5 months ago rather than stubbornly waiting for in-person games to become viable again. Took some getting used to, but it's much better than no D&D at all! 😀
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Mike Pape
2 years
Promo art for Baldur's Gate 3's new Patch 7, introducing the Barbarian!
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@baldursgate3
Baldur's Gate 3
2 years
Patch 7 is now live for Baldur's Gate 3, and with it our latest Community Update! Want a deeper read into what we've been up to? Head here:
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Mike Pape
10 months
Yumog, a fun guy for 'Masters, Minions, and Tactics'
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Mike Pape
9 days
Welcome to all the new folks, and bi-yearly reminder that I've got prints of my work available if you like 'em! There's a big sale right now too I guess :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
Just received a few copies of cards that I produced alt-M:tG art for, printed in foil by @ImKyle4815 ! Working with M:tG has been a long-term goal, so even if it's not official it's really heartening to see my work in card format. Here's to more in the future :D
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Mike Pape
11 months
High-quality prints of the cover illustrations I made the re-release of @KimberlyLemming 's 'Mead Mishaps' series are now available, and inPrnt is having a big sale this weekend!
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Mike Pape
1 year
@GabeJamesGames Major day/night differences, both mechanically and tonally
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Mike Pape
11 months
My third romance novel cover with @orbitbooks and author @KimberlyLemming ! That's a wrap for this first batch, but I may have more penciled into my schedule in the not-to-distant future 😊
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@KimberlyLemming
Kimberly Lemming
11 months
Dante and Cherry’s new cover! Pre-order is available now! Artist: Mike Pape Design by Alexia Mazis
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Mike Pape
11 months
Another big party painting! Please zoom in, it's a lot 😂
@CaptainRoBear
Captain RoBear 🍻 GenCon & GCX
11 months
To commemorate our FINAL Episode of Meteorian Corps LIVE we're offering a LIMITED number of these AMAZING fine art prints by @WingBuffet for LOCAL pick up at GCX Event this weekend! Not Here? Don't fret, US domestic shipping is also available. Go to now!
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Mike Pape
11 months
@sherlock_hulmes I know people want to blame the overworked ADs or pretend executives decided this, but it's mostly on the techbro artist for not telling the AD that he's trying dubious new barely-legal tech
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Mike Pape
3 years
Finally moving on from years of teaching technical illustration to doing fantasy illo full time! Shifting careers was a long process, but I'm glad to finally be doing my dream job :D To all who've been supportive and written kind things about my work over the years, thank you!!
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Mike Pape
2 years
One of the PCs I DM for wanted to play a Warlock, but didn't have a solid idea for his patron and wanted to give me creative license to make up something neat for him :D Anyway his patron is a flock of birds that lives in his skin
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Mike Pape
1 year
Timelapse! :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
This is especially important in industries with mostly-fixed rates, like TTRPG publishing — if a rate doesn't make sense for the number of hours you'd put into the work, reconsider how many hours you're allotting it!
@andthankyou
Sean Dove
3 years
ILLUSTRATOR PRICING: Always remember you're a skilled tradesman and price accordingly. The average cost of a plumber ranges from $45 to $200 per hour, with a call-out fee. Make sure you're getting paid for your time, drawing is work and you should be paid fairly for it
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Mike Pape
1 year
From there, it was just lots of rendering and tweaking. The paintings had to be similar closer to the lower body/hand, and could be much more divergent towards the head and rear arm. Anyway, thanks for reading! :D
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Mike Pape
4 years
finally got to play this hot boy today in a one-shot; he fell unconscious almost immediately and remained so for the rest of the session, waking up in an alley with a note from the other PCs saying "sorry, we didn't know where you lived so we hid you in this garbage, sorry again"
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Mike Pape
3 years
@MagsVisaggs if you want to stop sucking at art, you gotta START sucking at art
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Mike Pape
1 year
@littlebird428 It is the goddess Waukeen, and she's about to smite a golden dracolich who's trying to usurp her! Part of an adventure for the 'Uncaged Goddesses' supplement on DMsGuild.
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Mike Pape
17 days
@CHofferCBus Thanks so much, glad you like it! Orcs in the campaigns I've DM'd over the past few decades have always tended to be very family-centric, so I was thrilled when I got this art brief😊
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Mike Pape
1 year
This isn't to warn you against offering these sorts of popular commissions for TTRPG parties, but more to prepare you for how much added time/work is involved to coordinate a group-client. Consider it, and set your rates accordingly! 4/4
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Mike Pape
10 months
Just finished DMing a ~9 hour session of D&D (first in-person meetup after 2 years/75 sessions of playing via webcam), and it feels so dang good
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Mike Pape
3 years
2021 has been the year I've gone full-on freelance as a fantasy illustrator, from 0 published pieces to 20+ in the queue! Yahoo :D
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Mike Pape
2 years
my partner and I climbed a mountain this year so I drew it :D
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Mike Pape
18 days
got to see bits of my Dwarf and Orc paintings in today's previews for the new PHB :D woohoo
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Mike Pape
1 year
In my D&D game there's a recurring NPC — our jock PC's dad — who has the most wholesome, I-wear-shirts-with-my-son's-name-on-them kind of awkwardly supportive dad energy, and knowing that I get to play him tomorrow has made my day significantly better
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Mike Pape
1 year
I mentioned book covers yesterday, and lo-and-behold one of them is out already! :> Author: Kimberly Lemming AD: Patrick Carpenter
@KimberlyLemming
Kimberly Lemming
1 year
The new paperback cover for That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon! It's available for pre-order now!
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Mike Pape
18 days
@bvalart the buns are definitely a workplace hazard haha
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