THE CITY HAS ALWAYS HAD MONSTERS

Most of them have simply become better at dressing themselves.

Ancient creatures stalk modern streets. Witches drink in ordinary pubs. Serpent people pass unnoticed beneath heavy coats. Predators hide behind human faces, angels carry swords through neglected neighbourhoods and psychics investigate things the police would rather attribute to gas leaks.

Brad McDevitt Stock Art – Urban Fantasy 2 provides a collection of characterful urban-fantasy illustrations for publishers, writers, game designers and Games Masters who need professional artwork without commissioning every piece individually.

The collection combines supernatural creatures, occult characters, contemporary monsters and atmospheric supporting images suitable for modern fantasy, paranormal investigation, supernatural horror and games in which reality becomes considerably less dependable after dark.

The artwork is available for personal and professional projects, subject to the terms of the attached licence.

INSIDE THE COLLECTION

The supplied files include artwork depicting:

• A punk Naga

• A cheerful modern witch

• Urban predators

• A sword-bearing street angel

• A cackling witch

• Frankenstein’s monster

• A cosmic eye

• A sinister human-spider figure

• A serpent man

• Old and occult books

• Bad news and booze

• A punk psychic investigator

• A magical full moon

• A stalking wolf

• A Victorian urban catman

• An anguished angelic figure

• A beautiful cannibal

Selected illustrations are supplied in colour and greyscale versions, with alternate file formats included for some pieces.

Together, the images provide material for monsters, investigators, occultists, victims, hunters, artefacts, locations and people whose dating profiles have omitted several medically significant details.

THE SUPERNATURAL HAS GONE URBAN

Urban fantasy is built upon the collision between the impossible and the everyday.

A monster in a dungeon is expected.

A monster on the last bus home is a problem.

The creatures of myth and horror have not necessarily disappeared. They have moved into cities, adapted to modern life and discovered that crowded streets provide both anonymity and an inexhaustible supply of prey.

The artwork in Urban Fantasy 2 is suitable for:

• Urban-fantasy role-playing games

• Modern occult horror

• Paranormal investigation

• Supernatural action

• Monster-hunting campaigns

• Contemporary gothic fiction

• Psychic and magical thrillers

• Hidden-world settings

• Independent gaming magazines and ’zines

• Adventures and campaign supplements

• Digital publications

• Personal campaign documents and handouts

Use individual images to complete an existing layout or draw upon the collection to populate an entire supernatural city.

OLD MONSTERS, NEW HABITS

Fantasy creatures do not have to remain trapped in ancient ruins and mist-shrouded forests.

A Naga may run an underground club, control a criminal enterprise or serve as the representative of a supernatural community older than the city itself.

A serpent man may be an occult scholar, corporate infiltrator or survivor of a civilisation humanity has forgotten.

Frankenstein’s monster might be a relic, fugitive, artificial person or the first successful creation in a programme that has now entered mass production.

The Victorian catman may have survived into the present day, stepped out of an old photograph or emerged from a forgotten district where the nineteenth century never quite ended.

Each illustration can be adapted to fit the needs of your setting.

A monster may be an enemy.

It may be an ally.

It may simply want to be left alone.

Unfortunately, player characters have never demonstrated much talent for leaving anything alone.

WITCHES, PSYCHICS AND OCCULT INVESTIGATORS

Not every supernatural figure needs claws and an appetite for human flesh.

Some have spells.

Others possess visions, curses, inherited abilities or the unfortunate capacity to notice what everyone else has agreed not to see.

The cheerful witch might be:

• A neighbourhood occultist

• The owner of a magical shop

• A dangerously enthusiastic amateur

• A member of a hidden coven

• An ally who regards demonic possession as an interesting challenge

• The person responsible for the present difficulty

The cackling witch offers something darker: a curse-giver, cult leader, spirit or practitioner whose remaining humanity is open to debate.

The punk psychic investigator provides a ready-made protagonist or recurring supporting character for campaigns of supernatural investigation. She might be a medium, clairvoyant, urban shaman or exhausted professional attempting to pay the rent by speaking with things that should have stayed dead.

Use her as:

• A player-character portrait

• A rival investigator

• A source of supernatural information

• A reluctant medium

• A missing person

• A survivor of an earlier case

• The only witness capable of seeing the real threat

A useful illustration does more than show the reader what somebody looks like.

It suggests who they are and what trouble follows them.

ANGELS ON THE PAVEMENT

Urban fantasy often drags the grandest forces of mythology down into the dirt.

The street angel carries the imagery of divine warfare into a contemporary environment. She might be a celestial guardian, fallen warrior, magically altered vigilante or ordinary human bearing a power she does not entirely understand.

The anguished angelic figure suggests a different story: pain, captivity, transformation or divine punishment.

These images can support stories involving:

• Celestial factions

• Fallen angels

• Religious conspiracies

• Supernatural vigilantes

• Wars between Heaven and Hell

• Divine weapons

• Faith under pressure

• Angels abandoned by their creators

• Humans caught between inhuman powers

An angel does not have to be benevolent.

A demon does not have to be honest about being one.

The characters may discover that the traditional categories are more political than moral—and that both sides regard humanity as expendable.

PREDATORS IN HUMAN TERRITORY

The urban predators and stalking wolf provide artwork for shapeshifters, beast cults, supernatural hunters and things that regard the city as an unusually well-lit wilderness.

The wolf may be:

• A werewolf caught between forms

• A supernatural familiar

• A guardian spirit

• An escaped experiment

• A predator following a particular scent

• The visible portion of something much larger

• The first sign that the characters have entered another creature’s territory

The urban predators might represent a pack, a hidden community or a person whose relationship with the beasts around them is more intimate than ordinary animal handling permits.

Use the images for encounters, faction material or entire campaigns built around territory, transformation and the struggle to remain human.

The city belongs to humanity during office hours.

After dark, ownership becomes disputed.

THE BEAUTIFUL CANNIBAL

Beauty is not evidence of harmlessness.

Quite the opposite, in some genres.

The beautiful cannibal can be used as a sophisticated predator, cursed immortal, ritual murderer or apparently charming person with highly specialised dietary requirements.

She may hunt through nightclubs, fashionable parties, dating applications or elite social circles where disappearances are dismissed as scandal rather than investigated as murder.

Perhaps she kills to survive.

Perhaps she believes consuming someone grants access to their memories.

Perhaps she is part of a hidden culture.

Perhaps she simply enjoys it.

A striking image can turn a simple antagonist into a memorable recurring character. Give her motives, appetites and enough charm that the players briefly consider trusting her.

Then allow nature to take its course.

THE CITY ITSELF PROVIDES CLUES

Not every piece in the collection is a character portrait.

The old books, cosmic eye, full moon and Bad News and Booze provide useful atmospheric and contextual artwork.

The old books may represent:

• A forbidden occult library

• A collection inherited from a dead relative

• The source of a dangerous ritual

• Evidence gathered by an investigator

• Tomes that rewrite themselves

• Books wanted by several competing factions

The cosmic eye can illustrate psychic perception, alien influence, prophecy, magical surveillance or the deeply unpleasant sensation of discovering that the universe has noticed you personally.

The full moon is useful for shapeshifting, witchcraft, ritual magic and the traditional monthly collapse of everyone’s carefully maintained self-control.

Bad News and Booze can introduce a murder, disappearance, conspiracy or exhausted investigator learning that the latest supernatural catastrophe has reached the morning papers.

These pieces help establish mood, introduce chapters and break up pages that do not require another portrait of somebody looking dangerous.

PROFESSIONAL ART FOR INDEPENDENT CREATORS

Commissioned artwork remains the ideal when money and time permit.

Independent publishing rarely provides unlimited quantities of either.

Stock art offers a practical way to improve the appearance of a project, fill gaps in a layout and reserve commissioning funds for the images that must be created specifically for the book.

This collection can help you:

• Illustrate characters and monsters

• Break up dense pages of text

• Establish a consistent atmosphere

• Complete short adventures and supplements

• Add interest to chapter openings

• Provide portraits for important NPCs

• Create handouts for players

• Build a reusable library for future projects

• Release work that might otherwise remain unfinished

A single good image can give a minor character enough presence to become important.

A collection can give an entire game line a recognisable visual identity.

ART THAT GENERATES ADVENTURES

Stock art is most useful when it does more than fill an empty rectangle.

Every image in the collection can become an adventure seed.

Why is the Naga living in the city?

Who trained the street angel?

What is the psychic investigator searching for?

Why does the old newspaper describe an event that has not happened yet?

What can the cosmic eye see?

Who assembled Frankenstein’s monster this time?

Why is the full moon marked with occult symbols?

Who is being stalked by the wolf?

What happened to the anguished angel?

Whom has the beautiful cannibal invited to dinner?

Choose an image.

Decide what the subject wants.

Place something in the way.

Connect it to the player characters.

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

FILES AND VARIANTS

The collection contains 25 supplied image files, including alternate colour, greyscale and file-format versions of selected illustrations.

This gives publishers greater flexibility when preparing material for print or digital use.

Black-and-white and greyscale artwork sits comfortably within traditional role-playing layouts and reproduces well without requiring colour printing.

Colour artwork can provide emphasis for major characters, artefacts, chapter openings and promotional material where permitted by the licence.

Select the version that best fits the page rather than forcing your layout to accommodate whatever file you happened to open first.

The layout has suffered enough.

READ THE LICENCE

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

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

Some pieces also appear in other Brad McDevitt collections where they suit more than one genre. Urban fantasy naturally overlaps with horror, contemporary gaming, fantasy and science fiction, so a witch, psychic, mutant or shapeshifter may reasonably appear in several themed packs.

Each collection is assembled to provide a useful selection for its chosen genre.

You can explore the complete Brad McDevitt Stock Art range, including fantasy, horror, historical, modern, science-fiction and urban-fantasy collections.

The streets are crowded.

The old magic is waking.

Something inhuman has moved into the flat upstairs.

Give it a face.