Vastlands Guidebook Spot Art Finale

Heroes, folks, everyone ...

We had our little holiday. Two days of waking up exactly when I wanted, not when the children demanded. Which is to say at 06:30 a.m. because that's what my body is used to now. So it goes.

As soon as we came back, both the toddler and the baby got sick again. If I'm lucky, I won't catch this round. So it goes.

Ok, back to the Book(s)!

I've got three big chunks of work ahead of me:

1) Finish the introductory adventure skeletons in Our Golden Age.

2) Re-layout the Orange, Red, Purple, and Blue Land chapters to follow the structure of the Green and Yellow Lands.

3) Layout and review the lands around and above and below.

But before I dig into all that, I've decided to prepare the finished-final-layout-v2-FINISHED.pdf version of the Vastlands Guidebook. It's a smaller task, but can't be put off any longer. There we have three smaller hills to climb:

1) Finish the last pieces of spot art.

For this step, I use blank frames to make the layout in InDesign, then output a 600dpi page or spread and use that to draw into directly in Procreate and/or combine with existing art I want to use.

Bits of space like this ... since it's an actual spell album it deserves at least some art.

While in some other places, I want to combine the big art on the right with some panels leading up to it ... bit like a graphic novel.

So, about 18 pieces.

This kind of work is ... a bit frustrating. Everything is so close to finished, but I just can't make this part go faster than it goes.

2) Finish the Index

This just involves me reading through slowly in InDesign and annotating the important sections. It's not hard, it just requires focus and energy. For the last two months, I honestly couldn't bring it together - procrastination, one might say, but I'll also plead sleep deprivation and sickness.

3) Design the Endpapers

I want them to look and feel related to those in the UVG 2E. They won't be exactly the same, because I'm using different software (Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign instead of Affinity Designer), but should be relatively similar.

Heck, maybe I'll even draw them by hand to give a more decayed vibe. Who knows?!

This is another one of those things that ... isn't so big, but just really requires that I focus and concentrate for long periods, and again ... see last two months.

Considerations of Delays

I have to admit, again, I hadn't appreciated how much time and energy a baby + a toddler would take. I thought I understood things, since we already had a baby (who was just becoming a toddler) ... but it turns out that no, I was very wrong. A baby and a toddler take a lot of time and energy.

Still, here we are.

On balance, considering the tariff rollercoaster funhouse events happening between the United States of (some parts of North) America and the Rest of the World (including most of North America), it could have been worse to be precisely on time.

No matter. Here we go.

May the Energy be with us all.

—Luka,
Seoul, May 2025