anr-art-blog

[anr-art-blog]

Always Be Running

Cate sat in the agreed upon corner seat of the café, waiting for his contact to arrive. The café was pretty grungy but clearly had had aspirations of being ritzier in the past. High tables with the swooped elegant curves that had been in fashion a few years ago were now chipped and covered in gum. Cate theorized that the walls used to be some sort of garish blue and yellow scheme, had bizarrely both faded to the same approximation of pea green. He never used the same location twice, ostensibly for fear of being tracked, but in this case, he mostly never wanted to taste this swill of a Yuccabean again. Cate was dressed like he was a poor student from the nearby Luna Velasco University meeting a date here, but he really should have done his research better. No one who wanted a hope of a second date would bring anyone here.

It was supposed to be an easy job, ferrying a few stolen memstrips of data from one end of New Angeles to the other. Apparently, someone had had a crisis of conscience while breaking the law in the employ of someone else and downloaded something they didn’t know what to do with. Perhaps they fancied themselves a whistleblower like in the vids, fearless defenders of truth and freedom, proof that the system did work. In reality, they, often as not, ended up making no impact, and vanishing from the public consciousness, and probably violently. Still Cate had offered to help this poor schmuck out, out of the goodness of his heart, and a reasonable fee for his services. The seller was smart enough to know that directly approaching any of the major news outlets was a fast pod to disappeared-town, though they weren’t savvy enough to know who they could trust to disseminate such sensitive information without fear of reprisal. Luckily, they had known someone who knew Cate, and he had set up a discreet drop where Cate could take the problem off the seller’s hands, along with his creds.

However, Cate’s seller was running late now. That was a red flag. Punctuality in this business wasn’t just polite, it was the first level of safety. Cate would give him five more minutes, and then he was out of here. In the meantime, he had to find something to get this awful taste out of his mouth. He went back up to the counter and rather than risk something else from their menu, browsed what they offered in the way of pre-packaged soft drinks. He spotted several dusty cans of Diesel. Perfect, he thought, the taste of battery acid should hopefully be strong enough to scour my tongue. Cate flicked some creds to the register, unlocked the weakly running refrigerator, and grabbed a can, tragically they only had original flavour. Then he heard the door of the café open.

Too late he realised that in purchasing a new drink, he had neglected to keep an eye on the front of the shop. He knew his seller showing up late was a red flag; his distaste for the seedy café had made him sloppy. Praying it was just another regular customer, Cate turned to see who had just entered. Two large people, one man one woman, dressed in clean-cut suits, and wearing something obviously bulky underneath were standing in the entranceway, scanning the café.

Cate’s thoughts ran quickly. First, they were obviously private security, and not very high-priced ones at that. Better goons would’ve been wearing more casual gear to at least attempt to blend in. Second, they didn’t know who he was yet, as they were looking at all the patrons and not just making a b-line for Cate. Which meant that third, they didn’t have a sniper in position outside the front of the building before entering. That kind of sloppiness suggested to Cate that, fourth, they probably didn’t have the rear guarded as well. Finally, fifth, as soon as Cate registered their presence, like he was doing now by staring at them a second too long, they’d pick up that he was their man

Without pausing to spare a further thought to analyzing the situation, Cate whipped the can of Diesel as hard as he could at the heads of the suits and vaulted over the counter, ducked, and ran for the door to the kitchen. A satisfying thud and a curse told him that his aim was still good. Still, as he hit the door, bits of plaster exploded beside him as presumably the other guard fired at him.

Cate ducked and rolled to the right once he passed inside the kitchen. The solid slugs of the handguns easily passing through the thin walls behind him in a hail of fire. He pushed himself up off the greasy kitchen floor, and keeping low, ran around the far side of the kitchen, past cowering cooks and towards the rear. The rear door of the kitchen was the mandated fire escape, and Cate desperately tried to wrench it open, but was blocked by a bolted on locked at eye-level.

“Fuck!” he swore, then turned back to the cooks “Key?”

They shook their heads. Either they didn’t have it, or they weren’t willing to help. At least the door swung outward.

“Fuck!” Cate swore again. He stood up and took a step back. By now the enfilade of bullets had stopped. Cate raised his right leg as high as he could and kicked the door. Once, twice, on the third attempt he put his whole weight behind the kick and nearly fell through the doorway as the lock peeled off. Sparing a glance behind himself, he saw that the two prisecs were coming through the newly ventilated kitchen entrance.

Cate stumbled into a back alley crowded with garbage. Adrenaline pumping, Cate sprinted through the alleyway. It wasn’t clear which direction would lead him back to a busy street where his pursuers might be less inclined to open fire. On the other hand, if he ran into any NAPD officers they’d surely side with the suits. Heck there could even be an APB out on him by now. Cate needed to get somewhere safe, fast. The nearest place where he could really lose himself was the slum a couple blocks south. The problem was, he was currently running north. He’d have to loop back past the prisecs somehow. Cate did have a small firearm on himself, but it was clear that he’d be massively outgunned in a firefight. He unclipped the gun from his shoulder holster and pulled it out anyhow.

He reached the middle of the alley when he heard the prisecs come out the fire exit behind him. Slowing as much as he dared, Cate twisted around and fired unaiming in their general direction. The man ducked back into the kitchen, while the woman threw herself into a pile of garbage. That bought Cate the time to reach the end of the alleyway. Randomizing in his head, he dashed to the left, smack dab into a third prisec. The guy had been ready for him, either his co-workers or the gunfire had alerted him. But evidently, he hadn’t expected Cate to be rounding the corner so quickly as Cate crashed through the suit’s pointed gun and into the man himself. Both of them fell to the ground, pistols scattering into the piles of refuse. Bewildered, the two of them stared at each other for a fraction of a second. The prisec started to cast about for his weapon, while Cate pushed himself off his ass and threw himself at the suit. Lost in a haze of adrenaline, Cate didn’t know quite what to do next. His assailant threw a few short punches into Cate’s ribs and was able to roll Cate off to his left. The man pushed himself up, while Cate rolled from his back onto his knees and into a crouched position. I need to disengage from this fast, before those other two get here he thought. The man swung a wide right fist at him. Cate let it hit his shoulder before grabbing it with his left hand. He pulled the man sharply down as he rose with an uppercut from his right. He felt the hit connect with the prisec’s chin and fracture a couple bones in Cate’s hand. The man went flying backwards.

This was Cate’s window to leave, and he jogged as fast as he could out of the alley. Even through the adrenaline his muscles ground like mismatched gears. He burst out of the alley onto a busy walkway. Pedestrians leapt back and hurried away. He must look like some wild stim-head from a bad sensie. Cate thought he heard shouting from the alleyway behind. He figured there was a 50/50 chance that his pursuers gave up the chase on him to tend to their co-worker, however Cate had gotten into this mess by being sloppy, now was the time to start being diligent. He slowed his gait to a brisk walk as he headed north, other pedestrians still giving him a pretty wild berth. The slower pace allowed him to catch his breath, but also for his adrenaline to wear off and for his injuries’ pains to bubble up to the surface. He forced himself to turn the corner up ahead, sparing a quick glance back to the alley. It didn’t look like anyone had followed him from the alleyway.

Cate allowed himself a few moments rest leaning against the side of a building, but he couldn’t rest long. It was going to be a long circuitous route back to safety.

[anr-art-blog]

Don’t know if I’d shared this one (an older card)

Interns, by  Flo Minowa  http://www.flominowa.com/ - one of the few arts I haven’t found personally, this was copied from the excellent https://www.instagram.com/netrunnerart/ (who does what I do, but better)

[anr-art-blog]

The three Original Core set consoles (don’t think I’ve posted these before):

Grimoir by Jonathan Lee

Toolbox by  Michael Hamlett

Desperado by Outland Entertainment LLC

[anr-art-blog]

Just going to repost this with an addition, rather than make a whole separate post for one new pic -  even if it is one of my favourite IDs in the game!

I wonder (hope) if this is going to be a trend of uploading older art every now and then 

https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/emkun/

Every time, I say I should post more (I do have more to post, honest!) and every time I end up taking another break.

Some more of  Emilio Rodriguez ‘s work - two for FFG, one for NISEI: ACME, Azmari, and the Syndicate

https://www.instagram.com/_emkun_/

[anr-art-blog]

A couple more by the amazing Liiga Smilshkalne - unity for Nisei, and the alt-art of Snare! (sadly the original Snare! is proving elusive as anything)

Liiga Smilshkalne’s site links - https://linktr.ee/liiga_s_art

[anr-art-blog]

Every time, I say I should post more (I do have more to post, honest!) and every time I end up taking another break.

Some more of  Emilio Rodriguez ‘s work - two for FFG, one for NISEI: ACME, Azmari, and the Syndicate

https://www.instagram.com/_emkun_/

[anr-art-blog]

Always nice to see Matt Z’s art (he’s done personal pieces for several community members now), and good to see a longtime player still invested (to a point) 

I’m thrilled to finally unveil this portrait of me by the one and only Matt Zeilinger.

For my 50th birthday, my wife wanted to get me something special, and very quickly we realized that I’d always wanted a portrait by Matt, so we set out to commission him to do one. Given how important Netrunner was to me for many years, this seemed like a natural and great opportunity to honor how significant that game was in my life while also, in some ways, putting it in a broader context.

Initially, my request was to do something that referenced a pair of my favorite cards, Mushin No Shin and Push Your Luck (RIP, both), as well as something that incorporated the number 50 in some way. In real life, I’m a University professor who teaches Media Studies courses. I realized quickly that if the Android Universe is roughly set in the 2X80s, then it would have been about 30 years since someone of my age had graduated from a University, just like it’s been about 30 years since I did. So, we settled on the “Class of 50″ as a way to nod to my real-life age as well as what someone in my career might have on their wall, were I working at Breaker Bay University or Levy University.

The center of the image is clearly me in a pose that should be familiar to most Netrunner players, but the rest of the room really evolved into a cool balance of media clutter. It’s my milieu! I am an obsessive hoarder and also have a million media interests — I’m teaching a course on superhero media in the fall, I regularly teach game design courses and comics creation courses, I hoard Gothic horror movies, I’m getting increasingly interested in my many electric guitars again. The more we talked about the list of things I wanted in the portrait, the more the list grew to include these other things, these parts of my life that really didn’t connect with Netrunner, but were a key part of how I saw this image needing to evolve as it went.

So, this didn’t stay a “Netrunner” commission for long. Matt and I exchanged nearly one hundred emails over the past few months, moving this from a card homage into something that reflected, well, me and my life. It’s turned into a real “Cyberfuture Antiquarian Media Professor” portrait, with dozens of references, large and small, peppered throughout, many of which might be only visible on the highest resolution image. Matt was amazing to work with on this part of the commission in particular — he included clever spins on favorite Netrunner cards/experiences, things I made in the Netrunner community, and even contributed some small commentary on the history of the game’s development. Additionally, there are so many media references that every corner of the piece has some meaning to me, atop all the connections to my family, our pets, and even my heritage. Literally every corner of the image has some meaning.

I encouraged Matt to find room for his interests as well, as I saw this commission as the opportunity to try to not just dictate what I wanted but actually collaborate with Matt. He brought in media references he enjoyed and also several prominent nods to his favorite Netrunner card art he’d worked on. He was so wonderful to work with and I strongly recommend him to anyone interested in a similar project. My wife tells me that I need to write up a key or legend so our eventual grandkids can figure out what’s all in here.

I’m very happy to finally join the club of people who have their own MZ portraits. I’m not actively playing this game very much these days and not really interacting with the community at all these days, so perhaps this is a nice way to cap off about 7-8 years of intense love and frustration with a particular hobby. Like I said, though, this is more than just a Android or Netrunner portrait and is one that, when I step back from it, helps me see this hobby as one important one among a very great many in my life. And that’s something I have to thank Matt for one more time; he was a joy to work with, and I’m really thrilled with our final results. Hope you enjoy looking at it, too.

[anr-art-blog]

Every time, I say I should post more (I do have more to post, honest!) and every time I end up taking another break.

Some more of  Emilio Rodriguez ‘s work - two for FFG, one for NISEI: ACME, Azmari, and the Syndicate

https://www.instagram.com/_emkun_/

[anr-art-blog]

Netrunner has a need for lots of different types of art - cyberspace stuff, and characters of course, but also machines, scenes and more abstract elements that make the flow of the game what it is - for illustrating corporate plots or runner schemes it isn’t always something flash that’s needed. What netrunner has always done well though was is getting serviceably good art to match the more abstract or less “typically cyberpunk” events.

These are all good examples, made by Del Borovic:

https://delborovic.tumblr.com/ 

https://www.artstation.com/deltastic

[anr-art-blog]

More awesome art from the new Netrunner Starter Set, by the excellent Cat Shen - https://www.instagram.com/kysra.art/?hl=en - Buzzsaw, Fermenter, Cleaver, Cookbook

The starter set as a whole has great art, a HUGE amount of effort went into it (and a not considerable amount of money), but I’d say it’s really impressive how consistent the continuity of art styles have been maintained with FFG’s work

[anr-art-blog]

NISEI’s System Gateway - Scott Uminga Collection 

I want to thank Project NISEI for the opportunity and for respectfully understanding my creative boundaries, it really ignited something for me and I hope to create this way for a long time. 

[anr-art-blog]

Tithe - NISEI’s System Gateway - Scott Uminga   

Please comment, follow, like, and share. 

https://www.artstation.com/scottuminga 

https://www.instagram.com/scott_uminga/ 

https://twitter.com/ScottUminga 

Buy the cards here: 

https://nisei.net/products/system-gateway/

[anr-art-blog]

Mayfly - NISEI’s System Gateway - Scott Uminga  

Please comment, follow, like, and share. https://www.artstation.com/scottuminga

https://www.instagram.com/scott_uminga/

https://twitter.com/ScottUminga

Buy the cards here:

https://nisei.net/products/system-gateway/

[anr-art-blog]

Palisade - NISEI’s System Gateway - Scott Uminga  

Please comment, follow, like, and share. https://www.artstation.com/scottuminga

https://www.instagram.com/scott_uminga/

https://twitter.com/ScottUminga

Buy the cards here:

https://nisei.net/products/system-gateway/

[anr-art-blog]

Superconducting Hub - NISEI’s System Gateway - Scott Uminga 

Please comment, follow, like, and share. 

https://www.artstation.com/scottuminga

https://www.instagram.com/scott_uminga/

https://twitter.com/ScottUminga

Buy the cards here:

https://nisei.net/products/system-gateway/

[anr-art-blog]

Overclock - NISEI’s System Gateway - Scott Uminga  

https://www.artstation.com/scottuminga

https://www.instagram.com/scott_uminga/

https://twitter.com/ScottUminga

Buy the cards here:

https://nisei.net/products/system-gateway/