This is a small one shot illustration I’m making for my friend by Mark Taormino’s new Role Playing Game module  “The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen”.  It’s a retro “old school” first edition D&D style book he did on Kickstarter, which you can see here .

The project was one character “Vampire Lich King”- so I made a list of elements to put together on this

1- An old testament style bible crown (the kind of stuff I recall from Sunday School when I was awake)

2- A modified/exaggerated skull with vampire fangs hiding in plain sight,

3- Glowing eyes set back in the eye sockets

4- An uptight outfit

5- Long wispy hair to show that the Lich was alive at one time

The inks will use the eyes as the “light” part of the composition and the rest of the artwork will play off a dark palette hidden in shadow.  For now even in pencil this really screams “Old School D&D” to me.  So I hope it helps out Mark’s book, which is a fun project to have an illustration like this in, and that his fans enjoy my contribution!