In depth Visual storytelling

Photoshop

Game artist Max Weber explains how he uses composition, detail and more to push the storytelling within his images

This piece tells the story of Nix, a deep gnome druid of the Circle of Spores. She was originally a Dungeons & Dragons character that my wife played in one of our party campaigns. Nix is a chaotic soul; she’s messy, disorganised, obsessed with mushrooms, and constantly drawn to strange and dangerous places in search of rare fungi. This illustration captures one of those adventurous moments.

I begin by designing the character, experimenting with the outfit and personality cues. Nix usually wears a fully covered outfit, but I imagined her forgetting her cloak in a rush to chase a particularly rare mushroom. Next I dived into research, studying the Underdark and its inhabitants. Myconids, mushroom-like creatures, felt like the perfect addition, both visually and thematically.

From there, I worked through composition, colour palette, lighting, and eventually the final rendering.

Though the story may seem simple, narrative illustrations are a multilayered challenge. It’s not just about creating a beautiful image, it’s about telling a story that can be read with just a single glance.