The Dudley Bug Ball gets its name from the famous Dudley bug (calymene blumenbachii), a species of trilobite found in limestone quarries of Dudley during excavations carried out from the 1830s, and which has become a symbol of the town, included within its coat-of-arms.
When the Dudley Bug Ball first formed, the challenge of turning this into a friendly logo for the gaming convention fell to Ken Jarvis. A recent excavation unearthed, this old sketch – possibly one of the few remaining of the old design.
In 1997, Gillian Pearce was tasked with creating a new vision. This was Gill’s first professional work and the Dudley Bug Ball marked the first time she exhibited her work publicly. Since then, Gill has accrued a long list of art credentials within the gaming industry.
Unfortunately, there is no extant copy of Gill’s original work, which was a tribute to Frank Frazetta‘s Conan the Adventurer cover. However, Gill has very kindly reconstructed her old design.
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Fast forward to the rebirth of the Dudley Bug Ball and now the task fell to Linda M Jones, but with a brief to make Duggley a little more family focussed, a friendlier interpretation of the Dudley Bug – a little more anthropomorphised. Linda, also known by the name SheBlackDragon, has worked in both the gaming and commercial industries as an artist. Her art has appeared in numerous game books as well as giftware products.
From this early sketch, Cromarty Forge made a 3D design for an exclusive miniature produced by WordForge Games. These exclusive miniatures are free to the first 200 delegates!
Finally, Linda fully rendered the complete sketch, creating an evolved, family-friendly hero of the Dudley Bug Ball!
A large framed version of this picture will appear in the raffle and photo-sized prints will be available for sale from Linda with £2 going towards charity.