Phil Walker-Harding: Art in Board Games #4
For me, the funnest part of these titles is when you get a piece to fit perfectly in a space and fulfil a plan you have been working towards. So when I started the design that became Bärenpark, I tried to make these moments happen often and be the real payoff for the players throughout the game..
This week we have Phil Walker-Harding, a game designer who has created games such as Sushi Go Party!, Imhotep, Archaeology: The New Expedition, Cacao, Pack of Heroes and most recently Bärenpark. Along the way he has worked with such publishers as Kosmos, Gamewright, Z-Man Games, Abacusspiele and Wizkids.
Hello Phil, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I'm from Sydney, Australia and I have been designing games for around 10 years, and doing it a bit more seriously for the last three.
Now we know a little more about you, I have to ask, as a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
The earliest memory I have of this is wanting to be an author. I was very into reading in primary school and I loved to write my own stories, so the thought of getting to do that all the time sounded great! I studied film at university and have also played music, so I guess I have always wanted to go into a creative field.
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
From a young age I played board games with family and friends, and even designed some with my brother and my cousin. Of course, they were very simple and mainly pretty silly versions of the roll and move games we played. When I got into modern board gaming as an adult, I instantly became interested in designing again. After a bit of practice I decided to try my hand at self-publishing my first game, Archaeology.
Prototype of Bärenpark board game (known at that time as Wonderland)
When you are working on the art of a board game can you give us a quick overview of your creative or thought process and has this changed at all since you first started?
When I was self-publishing my designs I started out doing the artwork myself. I had some graphic design experience which was very useful, but I am not much of an illustrator! However, I always tried to make the artwork clear, simple and contribute to the atmosphere of the game. I always started with trying to imagine how the game should look on the shelf, and also on the table. If someone sees the game, or walks past it being played, what art style will draw them in? Now that I no longer self-publish, I obviously have less chance to do artwork. However, I always try to make my prototypes at least somewhat evocative for the players. I think late in the design process, applying good artwork to a prototype can help make the theme and the gameplay experience start to come alive.
Photos of Bärenpark by More Games Please
You were involved in the creation of Bärenpark, so could you tell us a little bit about what that involved and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
I started designing Bärenpark with just the simple idea that I wanted to do a game involving polyomino tiles. It took a whole lot of churning through concepts and testing to figure out where I wanted the game to go and what I wanted the focus to be. I would say the biggest single design challenge was figuring out how players gain new tiles to place. I wanted to give the players freedom to choose their pieces, but I also wanted the decisions in the game to be relatively quick and simple. In the end I used a mechanism I had been developing in another game. When a player covers certain icons on their board with a tile, this allows them to claim particular new tiles and add them to their supply.
What was the inspiration or core idea that drove your work on Bärenpark?
I have always enjoyed games that use polyomino pieces, such as Blokus, The Princes of Florence, Fits and Mosaix. Playing Patchwork more recently re-ignited my interest in doing a game where these tiles would be the main focus. For me, the funnest part of these titles is when you get a piece to fit perfectly in a space and fulfil a plan you have been working towards. So when I started the design that became Bärenpark, I tried to make these moments happen often and be the real payoff for the players throughout the game.
Photos of Bärenpark by More Games Please
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
For me, inspiration for game design usually comes from playing games rather than any other medium. I always try to play new and unique games as well as games outside of my comfort zone to see if any new ideas trigger in my brain. One day I'd like to design a more complex design that required research and interaction with other creative areas, but this hasn't come up for me much yet. Although, I did eat a lot of sushi when designing Sushi Go!
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the board game industry?
If you want to be a designer, all I can say is - design! Keep working on improving your games and getting them out there. Don’t wait for a big break, use avenues like print and play to just get your games in front of people. You will learn and grow from each experience. Publishing, even on a small scale, is quite a big job in terms of logistics and administration, so make sure you are ready to take that on if you choose that path.
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
My new tile-laying game Bärenpark is just being released in English now through Mayfair Games. There is nothing else ready to announce just yet, but expect some new additions to games I have already worked on ;) Lately, I have been trying to design something in the social deduction genre, so hopefully that will also turn into something one day!
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
I have a little web site at www.philwalkerharding.com and I’m also on twitter: @PWalkerHarding
Garen Ewing: Art in Board Games #3
I think I always wanted to be an illustrator, perhaps more specifically a comic artist - so I’ve been lucky. I was in hospital a lot as a child and my mum gave me comics to read and paper and pencils to draw with to keep me occupied - so perhaps my fate was sealed...
Today we have Garen Ewing, an artist who recently worked on the brand new release 'The Lost Expedition' with Osprey Games.
Hello Garen, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hello, Ross. I’ve worked as an illustrator since the late 1990s, working for a variety of businesses and publishers in a variety of areas. From posters, book covers, editorial illustrations, packaging, educational, theatrical … the list goes on! I also wrote and illustrated an adventure comic called ‘The Rainbow Orchid’ which was published in the UK in 2012 and has also been translated into several European languages. I live in West Sussex with my wife (a writer and editor) and two young children.
Now we know a little more about you, I have to ask, as a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
I think I always wanted to be an illustrator, perhaps more specifically a comic artist - so I’ve been lucky. I was in hospital a lot as a child and my mum gave me comics to read and paper and pencils to draw with to keep me occupied - so perhaps my fate was sealed.
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
This is my first work for a professional board game company (not counting the handful I home-made as a youngster). Duncan Molloy of Osprey Games contacted me, I think after seeing my Franco-Belgian style artwork in ‘The Rainbow Orchid’, and thinking it would suit the world of ‘The Lost Expedition’. Of course I didn’t have to think for very long to say yes.
When you are working on the art of a board game can you give us a quick overview of your creative or thought process and has this changed at all since you first started?
After absorbing the brief I’ll start on some rough sketches. This phase will usually involve a bit of light research, but not enough to slow down getting some basic ideas down. With ‘The Lost Expedition’ my initial idea for the box cover was for the explorer party to be just entering the thickness of the jungle, with little hints of some of the dangers they’d face in the darkness ahead. Osprey liked the basic idea but wanted them right in the thick of it, so I worked up a new sketch and this was approved. Quite often I find the first image that leaps into my head after reading the brief is pretty close to what I end up doing - though not always!
You were involved in the creation of The Lost Expedition, so could you tell us a little bit about what that involved and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
There were four main jobs within ‘The Lost Expedition’ - the cover, the character cards, the adventure cards and the map cards. The adventure cards were the biggest chunk (65 in all) and trying to choose the best image to convey the meaning of each event was probably the most challenging aspect. I also had to make sure there was a fairly even representation of the six different characters across the cards - so I kept a tally of who was appearing as I went along, and whose appearances I sometimes needed to boost a bit. Research was also a big part of the task - sometimes fascinating (researching the characters, who are all based on real people), and sometimes not so pleasant (hook worms, leeches, etc!)
The map cards were also a bit of a technical challenge as there were nine in all and I’ve made them so they can go in pairs in almost any order. Getting the tree lines on the edges to match up, as well as giving each card a bleed required a lot of concentration to avoid a big jungle-y mess.
What was the inspiration or core idea that drove your work on The Lost Expedition?
I knew I’d been chosen by Osprey for the ligne-claire styling of my comic work, so keeping that Tintin/Blake & Mortimer vibe to help create the feeling of classic high adventure was important - but that’s the stuff I love anyway, so it was fairly easy to stick to that vision. I’d also already read, a few years earlier, the main source material which inspired Peer Sylvester to write the game - David Grann’s ‘The Lost City of Z’ - so I kept that in mind too. It was enormous fun to work on.
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
I’m currently reading Dickens’ Oliver Twist - I love history, especially Victorian history, and particularly love the filmed versions of this story by David Lean and the Lionel Bart musical, but I’d never read the book before. I grabbed it on my way to the airport for a recent comic festival in Munich. As for listening - I’m enjoying a playlist of Studio Ghibli songs - I made it for my children after I got them hooked on the films. Watching … not a lot - regular Ghibli with my children, and for myself I’ve been slowly converting my ageing Akira Kurosawa DVD collection to Blu-Ray. I watched Indiana Jones and the last Crusade last week, which seems appropriate for this interview!
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the board game industry?
I’m pretty sure I’m not in any position to give advice on that, given that this is my first board game work! Do good work, get yourself out there, get involved in the community, network with the right people - not just online … all good advice that I should really follow more myself. Don’t wait for your work to be ‘perfect’ before you show it publicly - it never will be. I already wish I could redraw half the cards in ‘The Lost Expedition’ - but it all helps you to improve and then you move on to the next thing.
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
I’m doing a couple of private commissions at the moment as well as some illustrations for a web design company, and I’ve just completed the cover and packaging for ‘The Scarifyers’ (an audio adventure series from Bafflegab). I’m also working on the next Julius Chancer book - it’s all plotted and partially scripted - I just need to get on with the drawing.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
My (somewhat out-of-date) work website is at www.garenewing.co.uk, my comics website is at www.juliuschancer.co.uk, and my blog is at www.webbledegook.co.uk. Thank you!
(Sketches and artwork courtesy of Garen Ewing. Product photos by More Games Please).
Peter Wocken: Art in Board Games #2
I had visited La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona when I was living over in France, and it was an amazing and beautiful structure! When the game was picked to me, I got really excited about the setting. I had also been playing around with stained glass as a graphical element in a couple of games before Sagrada...
Today we have Peter Wocken a Board Game Graphic Designer who has worked with on a variety of games such as Sagrada, Dead of Winter, Xia: Legends of a Drift System, and Vault Wars and with companies and publishers such as Plaid Hat Games, Fantasy Flight Games (FFG), Floodgate Games, CMON, and a bunch of other companies with “Game(s)” in their name.
Hello Peter thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hi Ross, it’s my pleasure talking to you. I’m a full time freelance Board Game Graphic Designer based in Minneapolis, MN.
Now we know a little more about you, I have to ask, as a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an illustrator or comic book artist. I was super inspired by geeky things growing up, and was constantly looking for new fantasy and sci-fi art. I purchased my first Magic the Gathering cards in probably third or fourth grade just for the art, but I didn’t learn how to actually play the game until maybe five years ago. I was also a voracious reader and read everything in the DragonLance and Star Wars universe.
Dead of Winter: The Long Night
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
I was laid off from Best Buy as a Lead Production Artist (creating signage such as “Hot DVDs Just..”) and was looking to switch up what I was working on for a daily basis. I had some friends that worked at FFG and I knew that I loved gaming, so I applied as an intern and was quickly hired on full time as a Marketing Graphic Designer. After a few years in Marketing, I moved departments and became a Game Graphic Designer.
When you are working on the art of a board game can you give us a quick overview of your creative or thought process and has this changed at all since you first started?
I try to start in my sketchbook. It helps me quickly brainstorm components and icons before working on them in the computer. It’s too easy to have work start to feel precious once it’s on the computer, and it’s tempting to keep adding more details. For a while, I was only working on the computer, and when I started sketching again, my hand kept trying to find the keyboard and hit [command]+[z] and undo. At that point, I told myself that when starting a new project, I at least needed to sketch a bit of the brainstorming so I didn’t get too rusty.
You were involved in the creation of Sagrada, so could you tell us a little bit about what that involved and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
For most of the games I work on, I’m doing graphic art, so lots of borders, card layouts, logos, icons, etcetera, but I tend to stay away from doing the illustrations themselves. It’s not that I can’t do them, it’s more that my rates are high enough where generally it makes more sense for a client to hire a separate illustrator. For Sagrada though, it’s the seventh game that I’ve done for Floodgate Games. After talking through the visuals during our kickoff meeting, we knew that there wasn’t much need for illustrations since most of the cards were primarily graphics “heavy”. We agreed that I would do the end-to-end visuals on the game.
What was the inspiration or core idea that drove your work on Sagrada?
I had visited La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona when I was living over in France, and it was an amazing and beautiful structure! When the game was picked to me, I got really excited about the setting. I had also been playing around with stained glass as a graphical element in a couple of games before Sagrada, Council of Blackthorn and Dark Frontier, so I had been honing my technique. Then, it was a matter of creating stained glass visual elements like they have in La Sagrada Familia, so no gothic super intricate windows with lots of figures in them, but something a bit more modern and abstract. The publisher also suggested creating a gradient across all four player windows, which was an awesome idea, so I just went from there and created thousands of panes of glass, but tried to recycle enough elements between windows where I didn’t have to do everything from scratch.
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
As long as I’m not dealing with text or rulebooks, I tend to listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks. I recently finished listening to The Wheel of Time series, and now am returning to reading the Dark Tower series, which I revisit every few years. Podcast wise (and alphabetically), I love listening to Board Games Insider, Breaking Into Board Games, Comedy Bang Bang, The Dice Tower, Fear the Boot, Ludology, MBMBaM, Planet Money, Spontaneanation, StartUp, Thrilling Adventure Hour, and 99% Invisible. I’ll also pepper in other podcasts, especially if they’re board game related, so I can stay on the pulse of the hobby game industry.
Bioshock Infinite board game card
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the board game industry?
Do it, but don’t quit your day job until you’ve got a few games under your belt. It’s also important to specialize and get paid what you’re worth. It’s not worth making slightly more than minimum wage unless you’re independently wealthy and are doing it ‘cause you love board games.
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
There are a lot of games happening behind the scenes, but unless they’ve been talked about by a publisher, I can’t talk about what I’m working on since almost everything is under NDA. I will say that you should check out News@11, which I’m working on with Floodgate Games. It’s not out yet, and I’m still working on the visuals, but it’s super-duper fun.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
The best place to find my work is at: www.BoardGame.design. I don’t update it nearly as often as I should, but that’s my personal site.
I also tweet at @PeterWocken, am on BGG, and I occasionally update LinkedIn.
(Images supplied by Peter Wocken)
Joan Guardiet: Art in Board Games #1
I wanted the art to somehow convey a story, to have that Cold War vibe that the game needed. But also wanted to keep it light hearted. Once I had the first character created everything else flowed from it..
Today we have Joan Guardiet an Artist who has worked with Expeditious Retreat Press on several RPG adventures and most worked on Checkpoint Charlie with Devir Games.
Hello Joan, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure! I'm an illustrator from Barcelona and I'm kinda new in the gaming industry, though I've worked for several years as a freelance artist. I started a little illustration studio (called Pistacchio) with Núria Aparicio, working with clients in advertising and publishing. We even made animation projects. But now I'm going solo, and board games have always been an interest of mine.
Now we know a little more about you, I have to ask, as a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a comic book artist. Other kids were playing soccer or watching TV, but I was always drawing or reading. I guess I had an archaeologist period as well, after watching Indiana Jones.
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
Well, I've always been connected somehow to the gaming culture. I'm part of a regular group that get together to play several games, mainly RPG, but also board games. I've also illustrated for RPG companies. One of my best friends, David Esbrí, is an editor at Devir, and also an illustrator himself. When he started developing the concept for Checkpoint Charlie, he approached me and asked me if I would be interested. I jumped at the opportunity.
When you are working on the art of a board game can you give us a quick overview of your creative or thought process and has this changed at all since you first started?
I approach it as I approach every project I work on, though it has specific challenges. First I dive into the idea, talking with everyone involved in it (the creator of the game, the publisher, the people that work in graphic design and so on). Then I play the game. Even if it's in its early stages I want to get the feeling of how it works. Then I move to references, looking for the best style and approach for the project. I sketch several ideas and propose them to the publisher, discussing with them what I think are the strong and weak points of every proposal. After we have agreed on how to proceed, I try to finish an illustration with all the specs I have, so we can all be on the same page regarding the final look. If it all goes well then I work on every illustration needed for the project and keep updating everyone so there are no surprises. Finally I make a final phase of checking out everything, to see if something doesn't work or can be improved.
Checkpoint Charlie card game
You were involved in the creation of Checkpoint Charlie, so could you tell us a little bit about what that involved and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
Checkpoint Charlie is a card deduction game created by Jose Antonio Abascal, where you have to find the main spy that tries to pass through the border you are tasked to watch. The suspects are cats, and the players are dogs so it's a lot of fun. It was a challenging process. I had to illustrate several breeds of dogs, in a kind of vintage style. And I also had to illustrate a cat, with several possible combinations of elements. Those elements had to be easy to spot but also integrated in the overall art. I also wanted the art to somehow convey a story, to have that Cold War vibe that the game needed. But also wanted to keep it light hearted. Seems like a lot, but honestly it was fun to work on and kind of intuitive. Once I had the first character created everything else flowed from it.
What was the inspiration or core idea that drove your work on Checkpoint Charlie?
I looked at several artists I love, like Andrew Kolb, Derek Yaniger or Owen Davey. I used Tom Clohosy Cole and Marcin Wolski's work for the Cold War feeling I needed, especially the color palette. I also took inspiration for the animals from the excellent Tumblr Daily Cat Drawings. I made a lot of research for the clothes as well, mainly via Pinterest.
Checkpoint Charlie Cards
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
I think artists must look for references and inspiration all the time, and this is a part of the job I especially love. I've just discovered Dean Cornwell lately, and his compositions blow my mind. I'm currently reading a lot around the subject of spying (I'm running a Night's Black Agents RPG campaign), but also comic-books. I listen to a lot of podcasts while I work (S*Town at the moment), as well as all kind of music (most recently Future Islands). I love animation as well and fortunately my two daughters keep me watching it. Also, who doesn't like the current TV shows? My wife and I are watching The Expanse and Black Mirror, and just finished all of Mad Men. It's a golden era for the inspiration junkies of the world!
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the board game industry?
I'm not sure I'm qualified to give any advice, since I'm really new in this field. I guess the best thing I can say is that you must work every day, look all the time for inspiration and draw, draw and draw. Also, don't forget that you're your own company, so to speak, so concentrate some time on marketing yourself and learn the basics of legal and financial stuff too.
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
I delivered to Devir some time ago the new art for a fun little game called 1, 2, 3! that's going to be published soon (I hope!) The game itself already existed, but they wanted a new look for it. It's been a really fun project as well, using some old animation characters as inspiration. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on a finished copy.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
You can visit my website www.joanguardiet.com, or my studio's site as well www.pistacch.io. You can find me at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Behance. If it's Joan Guardiet, it's most probably me. Please keep in touch!
(Images supplied by Joan Guardiet)