Sketches for Great War strategy game

These are some initial sketches for artwork for The Great War a turn-based strategy game about

WW I. I began with a scan of some pencil sketches I did. Crude, and very light, but I prefer pencil because I can erase and because I can be less definite in my lines and loose in my drawing . Then I apply a filter to the drawings and crop them, using Gimp. This makes

them much more visible.

I select the part I want, perhaps to use for cover

art for my game. I then combine a picture of a

French soldier in WW I., then insert my drawing

of an artillery piece I tweek the image, especially the drawing to get the right look.

The photograph is from An Illustrated History of the

First World War by John Keegan, Alfred A. Knopf 2001

This particular photo is of a French soldier in a trench in the forest of Apremont near St. Mihiel, 30 meters from the enemy, January 23, 1915 by B. F. Bouchor.

I produced and scanned the sketches, based upon other photos from the above book, treated in Gimp (free alternative to Photoshop).