Thursday, May 23, 2013

D&D Mural Made by High School Gamers

I'm an art teacher. I play D&D. I used to run a D&D group after school for students, some of whom took art elective classes with me. One day I took them to a back hall and said, Your final project is to paint something here. This is what they did. It took them 3 months, and two of them came back a year later and added even more stuff.
In the basement, of course. Where's Waldo?
 On the left, a hoard of bad guys. A drow (with blue skin for some reason) redirects a lightning bolt from a blue dragon at his foes. Look for a beholder with a spare eye. On the right, the PCs, including a paladin, bard, half-orc rogue, and renegade drow whose name was Shade.
Three years ago the principal walks into my room and tells me the murals are being painted over, but not to worry because bulletin boards will be going up in their stead. I went out and snapped these shots before the modrons came and painted them over. Now it's a bare wall relieved only by furtive pencil sketches of genitalia. All my players have graduated. One had a baby. One plays keyboards in an alt-folk band. One's in law school. One's a nurse. Most of them still play D&D. With each other. I love 'em like they were my own kids.
Dragon blast!














Some of the PCs.
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3 comments:

  1. Keena NightelfMay 23, 2013 at 8:41 PM

    These pics are great—what an awesome mural. That's a real shame that they've been painted over like that. The school systems in this land seem to love to wring every last vestige of culture or imagination out of the "education" they give kids. I refused to attend any longer at around 13 years old; since then I have educated myself and can read 17 languages and do higher math in my head against a person with a calculator and come out even. And all because I played Dungeons & Dragons when I was a kid (that part is just a joke, obviously—but not the rest. I never learned anything useful in school). Glad you've watched your students grow up. Too bad you weren't my art teacher: I could have made awesome 3d maps when I grew up.

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  2. SeanMay 24, 2013 at 7:06 AM

    Wow. Cool mural. It boggles the mind that they would want to paint it over.

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  3. Devin ParkerMay 26, 2013 at 11:28 PM

    Good on you for encouraging your students' creativity and sense of community! Teachers like that are what make a real difference in students' lives. I still remember fondly the relationships I had with teachers in high school who similarly encouraged my creativity and thought, and were just good people to be friends with.

    Three years ago the principal walks into my room and tells me the murals are being painted over, but not to worry because bulletin boards will be going up in their stead. I went out and snapped these shots before the modrons came and painted them over. Now it's a bare wall relieved only by furtive pencil sketches of genitalia.

    Ah, that's what they must mean by 'progress.' Modron is definitely entering my vocabulary as a fitting image to describe such people.

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