Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2 Cover Development

This animation shows the development of the Initiative Cards: Monster Set 2 cover.

Artist Pete Schlough started with the following art order:

A standard group of PCs (tank, arcane caster, divine caster, thief) in a pitched melee with a group of monsters. The monster party is lead by a horned devil (MM p 52, 55) with two barbed devils (MM p51), and a huge fiendish monstrous scorpion (MM p 287; no reference image). The terrain should look extraplanar. The focus of the battle should be the one of the casters doing something mystical to one of the devils while the tank and thief attempt to protect him. Ideally, the party is the same as in the first set, but with some nicer equipment. Note that the horned devil is Large, the scorpion is Huge, and all other figures are Medium.
KEY CONCEPT: Adventure party in combat with an extraplanar monster party.

After sketching out the individual figures, Pete created a composite sketch (the first frame) of the overall piece. Stage by stage, you can see how he's added detail to the original sketch. The final frame is the finished image which has been incorporated into the final cover.

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