THE FUTURE HAS GONE COMPLETELY OFF THE RAILS

Mad scientists. Cyber-samurai. Alien invaders. Killer mannequins. Retro robots. Post-apocalyptic maniacs.

Technology was supposed to improve the human condition.

Apparently, nobody specified which humans—or what sort of condition.

Brad McDevitt Stock Art – SciFi 2 provides 25 science-fiction TIFF files representing 20 distinct subjects for publishers, writers, game designers and Games Masters who need strong, characterful artwork without commissioning every illustration individually.

The collection ranges across cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic adventure, alien invasion, weird science, psychic investigation, urban horror and retrofuturism. Several illustrations are supplied in both colour and greyscale versions, giving you additional flexibility when preparing material for print or digital publication.

The artwork may be used in personal and professional projects, subject to the terms of the attached licence.

INSIDE THE COLLECTION

The supplied files depict:

• Grey Surgeon, colourised

• Mad Scientist

• Retro Robot

• Post-Apocalyptic Maniac

• Bad-News Biker

• Deadly Mannequin

• Deadly Mannequin in greyscale

• Cyberpunk Street Scene

• Scarred Woman

• Scarred Woman in greyscale

• Cyber-Samurai

• Modern Street Gang Fight

• Alien Invader

• Frankenstein’s Sister

• Punk Psychic Investigator

• Punk Psychic Investigator in greyscale

• CyberBurn

• Stalking Wolf

• Stalking Wolf in greyscale

• Nocturnal Surveillance

• Skulls

• Skulls in greyscale

• Art and Robotics

• Fantasy Trade Dress

• African Man

That gives you scientists, cyborgs, psychics, criminals, mutants, monsters, robots and atmospheric scenes suitable for anything from a short adventure to an entire science-fiction campaign.

CYBERPUNK ON THE STREETS

Cyberpunk is not merely neon signs reflected in wet pavements.

It is technology in the hands of desperate people. It is street violence, surveillance, artificial bodies, corporate power and somebody discovering that their expensive new implants came with several pages of terms and conditions they neglected to read.

The collection includes artwork suited to:

• Cyberpunk role-playing games

• Street-level science fiction

• Corporate dystopias

• Futuristic crime

• Artificial bodies and cybernetic augmentation

• Psychic investigation

• Gang warfare

• Technological horror

• Post-industrial urban settings

• Independent gaming magazines and ’zines

The Cyber-Samurai can serve as an assassin, corporate warrior, street mercenary or heavily modified player character.

The Cyberpunk Street Scene can establish an entire district, introduce an encounter or provide atmosphere for a chapter devoted to life beneath the towers.

The Modern Street Gang Fight offers immediate action, conflict and several people who have evidently decided diplomacy has exhausted its usefulness.

The CyberBurn illustration suggests the consequences of augmentation, malfunction, industrial disaster or an extremely personal disagreement with somebody carrying an energy weapon.

Use the images separately or combine them into a city where violence, technology and desperation have become inseparable.

WEIRD SCIENCE AND BAD IDEAS

The Mad Scientist, Grey Surgeon, Art and Robotics, Retro Robot and Deadly Mannequin belong to the long and distinguished tradition of scientific progress proceeding without adult supervision.

The Mad Scientist may be:

• A brilliant inventor

• A disgraced researcher

• The creator of an artificial species

• An employer with unusually flexible ethics

• The person responsible for the present emergency

• Entirely correct about their theories and dangerously wrong about everything else

The Grey Surgeon could be an alien physician, cybernetic specialist, underground body-modifier or something wearing the appearance of a medical professional for reasons best left unexplored.

The Retro Robot can suit pulp science fiction, atomic-age adventure, retrofuturism or a future whose technology developed according to a rather different understanding of elegance.

The Deadly Mannequin may be an artificial person, robotic assassin, shop-window automaton or evidence that somebody has finally found a way to make shopping centres even less welcoming.

Science asks what is possible.

Weird science asks why everyone is screaming.

ALIENS, MONSTERS AND UNNATURAL LIFE

The Alien Invader, Frankenstein’s Sister, Stalking Wolf and stranger figures in the collection provide material for settings where the future contains more than machinery and heavily armed humans.

The Alien Invader can be used for:

• First-contact scenarios

• Planetary invasion

• Pulp science fiction

• Alien infiltration

• Space-opera antagonists

• Extraterrestrial player characters

• Creatures whose diplomatic intentions remain unclear

Frankenstein’s Sister suggests artificial life, resurrected flesh, experimental bodies or a continuation of research that should have ended after the first mob arrived carrying torches.

The Stalking Wolf might represent a natural predator, genetically altered animal, alien beast, shapeshifter or survivor from a ruined ecosystem.

Whether these figures are monsters, victims or something in between depends upon the project.

Science fiction has always asked what counts as human.

It frequently asks by constructing something enormous and sending it through the laboratory wall.

PSYCHICS AND SURVEILLANCE

The Punk Psychic Investigator offers a ready-made protagonist or supporting character for paranormal science fiction, cyberpunk investigation and modern occult gaming.

She might be:

• A psychic detective

• A corporate remote viewer

• A medium communicating through neural technology

• A street-level investigator

• A survivor of experimental conditioning

• The only witness able to perceive an extradimensional threat

• A player character attempting to remain independent

The illustration is supplied in both standard and greyscale versions.

Nocturnal Surveillance provides a useful image for espionage, stakeouts, covert observation and campaigns in which somebody is always watching.

Use these pieces for adventures involving:

• Psychic espionage

• Corporate conspiracies

• Secret experiments

• Criminal investigations

• Supernatural incidents in futuristic settings

• Intrusive surveillance

• Missing people

• Evidence that cannot be recorded by ordinary equipment

The investigator may know who is watching.

The more important question is why they want her to know.

AFTER THE END

The Post-Apocalyptic Maniac, Bad-News Biker, Scarred Woman, Stalking Wolf and several of the collection’s street-level figures are well suited to worlds where civilisation has already failed—or is making a determined effort to do so.

They can populate:

• Wasteland settlements

• Raider gangs

• Road-warrior campaigns

• Ruined cities

• Survival-horror scenarios

• Frontier colonies

• Communities abandoned after ecological or technological collapse

• Post-apocalyptic science-fantasy settings

The Post-Apocalyptic Maniac requires little introduction. Somebody has survived the end of the world and used the experience as an opportunity for personal development in entirely the wrong direction.

The Bad-News Biker might be a raider, courier, mercenary or nomadic survivor.

The Scarred Woman could be a veteran, fugitive, hardened leader or somebody carrying visible evidence of what the world has become.

When civilisation collapses, people do not stop wanting power, security or revenge.

They merely cease pretending the paperwork matters.

ATMOSPHERE, HEADERS AND SUPPORTING ART

Not every page requires another character portrait.

The Skulls, Art and Robotics, Fantasy Trade Dress and other non-character pieces can provide:

• Chapter openings

• Decorative elements

• Adventure headers

• Mood-setting illustrations

• Dividers between sections

• Visual inspiration for new scenarios

• Artwork for technology, death and artificial intelligence

• Material for hybrid science-fantasy projects

The Skulls are supplied in standard and greyscale versions, making them useful for horror, mortality, alien archaeology or locations where somebody has made a decorative decision worth investigating.

Art and Robotics can accompany discussions of artificial intelligence, creativity, machine consciousness or the relationship between technology and human culture.

Fantasy Trade Dress may be particularly useful for projects blending fantasy and science fiction, or as a decorative element within a science-fantasy publication.

Sometimes an illustration explains the material.

Sometimes it simply makes a page look less like an appliance warranty.

Both uses are valid.

STOCK ART THAT CREATES STORIES

The best stock art does more than occupy an empty space.

It gives the writer ideas.

Why has the Grey Surgeon come to Earth?

What did the Mad Scientist build?

Who programmed the Deadly Mannequin?

What is burning in CyberBurn?

Who scarred the woman?

Why is the psychic investigator being watched?

What does the Retro Robot remember?

Where did the Alien Invader arrive?

Is Frankenstein’s Sister another creation—or the creator?

What caused the street-gang fight?

Choose an image.

Decide what its subject wants.

Place something inconvenient in the way.

Connect the resulting trouble to the player characters.

That is often enough to begin an encounter, adventure or entire campaign.

PROFESSIONAL ART FOR INDEPENDENT CREATORS

Original commissioned artwork remains the best way to obtain precisely the image a project requires.

It is also expensive.

Independent publishers must generally divide limited funds between writing, editing, layout, promotion, printing and the unreasonable aspiration that the creator might eventually be paid.

Stock art provides a practical alternative.

It can help you:

• Illustrate characters, creatures and locations

• Break up dense sections of text

• Establish a visual identity

• Complete adventures and smaller supplements

• Add interest to chapter openings

• Create campaign handouts

• Build a reusable art library

• Reserve commission funds for essential bespoke pieces

• Replace the boxes labelled ART GOES HERE

One good image can transform a page.

Twenty distinct subjects can populate a considerable portion of the future.

FILES AND VARIANTS

The preview shows 25 TIFF files representing 20 distinct subjects.

Five subjects are supplied with an additional version:

• Deadly Mannequin

• Scarred Woman

• Punk Psychic Investigator

• Stalking Wolf

• Skulls

These alternate files include greyscale treatments, providing additional options for layouts, printing requirements and different visual tones.

The remaining files cover characters, robots, creatures, action scenes and atmospheric material across several science-fiction subgenres.

READ THE LICENCE

The artwork is supplied for personal and professional use under the terms of the attached licence.

Read the licence before publication and ensure that your intended use, alterations and attribution comply with its requirements.

Some illustrations may also appear in other Brad McDevitt collections where they suit more than one genre. Science fiction naturally overlaps with horror, modern gaming, post-apocalyptic adventure and urban fantasy, so certain images may reasonably belong in several themed packs.

You can explore the complete Brad McDevitt Stock Art range or browse the other science-fiction products.

The scientist has escaped.

The mannequin has moved.

The robot has begun asking questions.

Your layout still needs pictures.

Attend to the most immediate crisis first.