Tyler Myatt: Art in Board Games #52
I remember at one point in time I was working on a Kickstarter, making graphics for 2 other games, AND doing the art for another game. It was pretty stressful but you have to get use to cutting down vines one at a time, eventually you start to see a clearing ahead..
EDITORS NOTE: Board games often have creative or artistic directors to project manage and help ensure there’s a cohesive vision behind the work. This is especially important on games that have multiple artists involved. I’d been wanting to speak to more creative directors about how they work and I’m very grateful for Tyler for taking the time to speak to me. If you’re a creative/art director and want to speak to me about your work in the industry then get in touch!
Hi Tyler, thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
No Problem, Ross! Thanks for having me! I work as the Creative Director at Grey Fox Games here in Saint Louis Missouri. I also live about 5 minutes away from our office in a house with my lovely wife Morgan and my two cats Theron and Artemis. That is over in Maryland Heights.
My work includes Illustration, planning, and graphic design of board games from start to finish. A little less on the illustration side though, it is so time-consuming so we commission out a lot of it.
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
Well, I always loved the look and feel of board games. As an artist I was so drawn to games like Small World, and Sheriff of Nottingham, etc. just based off of the way they looked. The look of a game can totally sell me on it. Anyways, I saw a job opening for Grey Fox Games and immediately went to their Office and asked to be interviewed. I showed up in my best suit and had my portfolio ready! 2 weeks later I had the job.
My first assignment was to work on a game called Bushido and another game called Harvest Dice. Harvest Dice is a cute little roll and write game and is entirely done by me. All of the art and graphics, rulebook, etc. You should try it out! Bushido took a lot longer and we had some issues with the original character art. After taking it into consideration we decided to go with new character art, which set back the release time but it will be 100% worth the wait. The rest of the art and graphics in the game are done by me.
When you start a project, how early do you decide what will be done in-house and what will be produced externally? What are your first steps?
First off, we make sure the game is at a point to where there won't be very many huge changes to the game mechanics. That way we don't run into a situation where we have spent time and money on an aspect of the game which we then have to scrap because something changed.
So, when that point is achieved, we move forward and discuss what kind of audience we want to reach (kids, adults, gamer crowds, family, mass market, etc.) from there we will sometimes write down style aspects and feelings we want to convey or maybe even some backstory and elements of this "world" we want to bring to life.
Afterwards I will go on to some of my favorite sites like ArtStation, or Pinterest (I mainly use Pinterest) and look stuff up. I like to create boards on Pinterest. It is an amazing reference tool for artists and I think everyone should check it out. Once I get a bunch of findings together I will make a "mood board" which is really just a big document with a collage of references put together. I take that and show the Ceo, Shane, what I have and what I am thinking for the project.
He gives me the okay and then we discuss budgeting and how much of this project i will do and how much we will have farmed out. Usually, a lot of the big illustrations we will have one or more artists do. It's just so time-consuming, so we have to min/max a lot here. Let's take City Of Gears for example. We had two different artists do the building art and another artist do the front cover of the game. I did everything else. One important thing that I like to have done in this process is getting the cover art done first. That helps me figure out how the rest of the game can look from there so that you really get a look into the game from a glance at the cover.
We are constantly finding artists we like and try to keep their information for later use. The biggest thing we look for, however, is how good the work you can do in a short amount of time is. Making games is always on a time crunch so you gotta be quick. When we reach out to an artist we like to be very upfront. we take a few of their pieces that stand out to us and link it in the email, telling them what aspects we like about their work and how we would like to use it in our game. we then tell them what the game is about and wonder if they would be interested in working on the project with us. After that we tell them what the budget is and go from there.
I know lots of creatives use Pinterest as a sounding board for ideas. How important is it for your research and has it replaced more traditional methods for you?
So Pinterest is a site that allows you to make something called a "Board" these boards can have any number of things pinned to them. So for instance, one of the big projects I worked on recently was our Reavers of Midgard Kickstarter. I went on Pinterest because I knew the style I wanted to go with. At the top of the page I wanted this Carved wood header with all these cool runes and knot work and dragon heads.
Obviously I can't just pull that stuff out of my head and make it accurate. Most people can't haha. So I created a board called Viking stuff and then started searching for things like "Carved viking stuff" "viking symbols" "norse mythology" "viking ships" etc. then from there I started making all the art for the page. This method helps me stay consistent with the final outcome and helps me capture the feel of what I am trying to do.
If you don't use Pinterest you are doing yourself a disservice. It is so incredibly useful and you can find a lot of inspiration on there.
How do you think wearing many hats in your job, such as graphic design, illustration and creative director work has changed your perspective on each role?
Well, at first hand, I thought working for a game company would be me sitting in a cubicle, drawing characters and monsters and items and whatnot all day long. That is very much not the case. I do all of that (minus the cubicle part), but also I answer emails, attend meetings, do graphics , make icons, sketch out crappy looking boxes for components, crawl through Pinterest constantly, play prototypes, make kickstarters, update graphics, make advertisements, and anything else that needs visuals. All of that happens at the same time haha. You really have to be good at time management. At the beginning of all this I was not the best at it but you really just kind of HAVE to learn it. Like, sink or swim.
I remember at one point in time I was working on a Kickstarter, making graphics for 2 other games, AND doing the art for another game. It was pretty stressful but you have to get use to cutting down vines one at a time, eventually you start to see a clearing ahead. I get way less stressed now than I used to and it is starting to become second nature.
What do you do to ensure you can stay on top of things, how do you prioritize and structure your daily or weekly workflow?
Well to be completely honest, this work is very chaotic. Work on this, now work on that, oh! also work on this while you are doing that, and then do these two things. It is a lot to keep up with. Therefore, I use a LOT of sticky notes, and also this cool pad of paper with cats on it :).
In order to keep things prioritized, however, there is a lot of making lists after talking with my boss and coworkers. We also use a system called Trello. It's a project management system based around making checklists and applying due dates on specifics parts of projects. I also get a lot of requests in email format so i use a small priority system in there as well.
You mention the timescales being quite short for turning around artwork on a board game project. Could you give us an idea of how long we're talking and how much art gets produced within that time?
This is a really good question and it is also very difficult to answer. This sort of thing varies from artist to artist. Let's take Reavers of Midgard for example. Reavers has a ton of BEAUTIFUL art by Yaroslav Radeckyi and let me tell you this guy is FAST. We were so fortunate to have him work on that game because he just pumps this stuff out. I'm talking full illustrations in like, 2 days. That is very fast compared to a lot of illustrators.
When we start this process we usually try to find different people with the same style we are looking for. We ask them some questions and really like to dwell on the "how fast can you do something like this?" referring to one of their pieces we like. Most of the time they say it was faster than it actually probably took but that's fine as long as it is close. You have to remember they are trying to sell themselves. So, depending on what their answer is we use that to gauge the time frame of what we expect the art turnaround to be. We always give some cushion room as well for our sake.
So lets say if we tasked Yaroslav with 50 illustrations and he can do let's say 3-5 a week. we would probably give him 12-13 weeks for the project. if we need the project done faster, we would get multiple people on it. and cut that time down to a third. Here's the thing, Illustration takes time, and when you understand that, there is less pressure.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the industry?
I believe that the best thing you should do is find out exactly what you want to do, go to your favorite games on your shelf, read who all made the game and reach out to those people in a humble way.
Just simply say something like "hey, I love your games and I would love to get into the industry myself, what kind of first steps did you take to get to where you are now?". Most people are nice and will email you back. Though, it might take awhile because we are always busy!
Characters art by Ryan James
People love being complimented on their work and I believe that is the best way to start a conversation. Also, if you are an artist, I suggest not sending them your art asking "what do you think about my art?" I can answer that question for you right now, What do YOU think about your art? If your art comes into the conversation organically then by all means feel free to share :)
If you think you have the skills necessary to do this, then put on your best suit and put together a great portfolio and start sending it out!
What are some non-game related creations (books, music, movies, etc) that you’re currently enjoying?
RETRO WAVEEEEEEEEE!!! I love this genre of music right now and it puts me in such a good mindset for creating.
My spotify playlist for this is really cool if you want to check it out! it's called Session:Neon. Musical artist suggestions - Mitch Murder, The Midnight, Timecop1983, FM-84, Kalax, Gunship. I also like this super happy EMD stuff lately likeeeee AIKA, HoneyComeBear, Cosmicosmo, succducc, JVNA, dark cat, Snail's House.
I'm a kid at heart so this really positive sounding stuff really speaks to me and I listened to a lot of this stuff while creating all of the art and graphics for Creatures and Cupcakes.
Do you have any recent projects, or upcoming that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
Yeah! We have just recently released Creatures and Cupcakes, Feelinks, and Bushido. Run Fight or Die! And Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down will be released shortly. Also, we are doing Kickstarters for 2 big games you NEED to look out for all coming VERY soon:
After the Empire - A Tower Defense, Worker Placement game set in the Middle Ages.
Science or Die! - A Real Time Dexterity game where players design and build cures to save the world from disease.
This is going to be a killer year for Grey Fox Games so keep your eyes peeled!
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
I try to keep up with my Instagram for art (check out my pet portraits!). I also stream on twitch sometimes.
All images supplied by Tyler Myatt.
If you’re new to the site, why not stick around a while? There are interviews with some of the best artists in the industry and if you’d like to read more you can them by heading over to the Interview Archive!
Matijos Gebreselassie: Art in Board Games #49
The art director should be in charge of the final stitching of art components so they come together as one. You try to avoid the effect of a Frankenstein being put together from lots of different elements. It doesn't mean that only your art style goes on top of the last edit, it could be anyone's from the team, it's just a matter of keeping it all consistent at the end.
Editors Note: I first noticed Matijos name on the Dinosaur Tea Party artwork and also happened to be one of the backers of Chronicles of Crime on Kickstarter. I knew I wanted to find out more about his particular style and of course that photo realistic work on Chronicles. Enjoy!
Hi Matijos, thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Hi Ross, thank you for reaching out to me. Yes, I always wonder where to start with introducing myself- I'm a Pole, mulatto with Ethiopian Roots that was born in Sankt Petersburg, Russia. It usually works on job interviews as from the start everyone is curious about the combination.
I got my education in Poland and lived there from my early years. I've always been very passionate about drawing and expressing myself through illustrations. With the right mix of my other loves, cinematography and comics, I guess I figured out a characteristic art style for myself; cartoony and atmospheric with heavy outline. I also started experimenting with bringing my artwork to life and that led me to graduate from Polish National Film School in Łódź.
NetEnt character from Lost Relics game
This was a great place that gave me the skills to execute animation in a professional way. While still studying I moved to the capital city and started working on animated movies, then later on, mobile games. Then I traveled to Kraków and that happened to create many opportunities for me. As an Art Director there I guided teams and was creating slot games. But by night I continued on delivering freelance passion projects - like board games.
Right now, I'm quite fresh after a relocation to Malta where I continue to work on slot games, this time with some additions in game design along with the art.
Gandalf Set - Vikings Gone Wild
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
While moving to Krakow I was already in contact with Lucky Duck Games. Everything started with that company. Earlier I saw an ad that they were looking for a supportive artist for their new title Master of Elements, an expansion of the successful ‘Vikings Gone Wild’. I was attracted by the fantasy theme and cartoony art style that this game had and I knew it wouldn't be a problem for me to deliver something similar after hours. I drew a couple of cards for a start but soon the Kickstarter campaign turned out to be such a huge hit that fans started reaching almost every stretch goal planned within a day or even a few hours. New artwork for cards was needed to be done extremely quickly in order to update the campaign. It was a very pleasant time full of challenges and late night emails: 'We need 3 more!'.
When the dust has settled the CEO and Founder of Lucky Duck Games, Vincent Vergonejeanne invited me to the office with an offer of a wider collaboration. He showed me the prototype of Chronicles of Crime invented by David Cicurel with only placeholders on a print. Everything was yet to be filled with proper art and I was absolutely blown away by the whole gameplay concept and innovation.
Once again full artistic freedom was given to me by Vince with lots of trust and professionalism. In my previous experience that wasn't very common. So board games with LDG became my true passion!
Chronicles of Crime - photo taken by More Games Please
Your work spans quite a number of fields, from animation, film, concept and game art. How do you think this experience changes how you approach each new project? What key lessons do you think you've learned that you can apply throughout your work?
At the beginning I tried to grab almost every job opportunity in the industry there was. As they joke:
“So why do you want this job?”
”Well, I've always been passionate about not starving to death, sir”
Personal artwork
My girlfriend at the time, now wife, supported me all the way in order to stay focused and on track no matter the obstacles. So I was always doing art. Art in different forms that each time brought me joy. My goal is to use cinematic eye wherever I can, to leave a characteristic mark on everything I do. Now I've got this privilege to get involved in new projects only because I'd like to, not because of necessity and board games are a perfect example of this.
I realized that in every job I have I use the same skill set package that is learned once. No matter if it's VFX for the film, costume or scenery design for a theater, mobile, slot or board game. It's always sketching, storyboards, polishing in different art styles and animating. Each field somehow needs to use those tools.
I loved to work on my own but as an Art Director I guess I've learned to focus on teamwork more and I like the different chemistry that it brings. Everyone learns from each other and push projects forward at a pace that you'd never achieve on your own.
Sketch art for Dino Tea Party
I first came across your work in ‘Dinosaur Tea Party’. It’s characters are larger than life, so how did you create them?
Thank you, glad to hear that. At first I was given the theme and a core idea: 'Let's imagine dinosaurs wearing Downton Abbey clothes having a tea party'. With my character design I aimed for something family friendly and witty. I suggested my take on a single outlined sketch, it depicted a dino wearing a bow-tie, a hat and a monocle holding a bubble pipe. Then Restoration Games were kind enough to leave the entire art approach to me afterwards.
I was provided with a list of Dinosaurs names, not species types, actual names like Betty or Bob, which were gathered in Excel. This list contained visual characteristics required for the game play, assets like hats, glasses, flowers, patterns on the skin etc. Then I did some research on the different dinosaurs looks for inspiration. In the end some of them are based on real species, but with some mix of features as my imagination dictated. I just tried not to repeat myself visually. For the polishing part I used a technique in Photoshop that was new to me at the time, grey-scale maps. It was worth taking a shot at using it, as it's an extremely time saving technique, good for tight deadlines and it helped to keep everything consistent in style.
You mentioned you’ve learned to change how you work now that you’re an art director. What do you think are some of the most important aspects of this role?
To me it would be overall vision of the entire project and consistent art guidance towards the final product, plus creating a friendly atmosphere for the team because only then you can outperform the project in every aspect. For a long time in my artistic education I was very self-centered and tried to be self-sufficient in everything I did. The role of an art director (AD) opened different doors for my workflow model.
Chronicles of Crime - Draft box cover
The first thing is to know your team members; their strong fields of profession, even their attitudes toward different tasks. Only then you can assign the right one and control the development. The second very important aspect for me is the final composition. The AD should be in charge of the final stitching of art components so they come together as one. You should try to avoid the effect of a Frankenstein being put together from lots of different elements. It doesn't mean that only your art style goes on top of the last edit, it could be anyone's from the team, it's just a matter of keeping it all consistent at the end.
Chronicles of Crime ties it's narrative into real locations. How do you go about creating these art assets with the real world in mind?
At the beginning of the project I just needed to find the right style. I started with the character design of our victims/suspects cards, where with the studio we've chosen black comic book outline and a slight exaggeration of some features as a guideline for the entire game. It's actually something in which I feel the most comfortable.
Then I aimed in translating this to the location cards and 360 VR panoramas, which was a bit different because this time I wasn't designing from my imagination. The locations are based on the real London districts so I needed to stick to the right look. I began with photo research, and I created a library of references. Sometimes it takes half an hour, but with more complex views it may even take a couple of days.
Chronicles of Crime - VR scenery
Then comes the most engaging and important part of the entire process, compositing photos together. After this there's a time for the outline, which basically does major part in compositing because it blends everything nicely. Then a couple of Photoshop filters and lots of brush over-painting, that simplifies the shadings and gradients which gets away from the realistic feel and brings in more of an illustrated effect. The best part is this last stage where you already see everything in its place and the only aspect left is playing with the light, rim lights, reflections and gentle touches of brush stroke.
I learned this technique at the beginning of my freelance path where I was designing Hidden Object Games using photobashing.
Chronicles of Crime Location - Camden Town
Photobashing is the technique of combining photographs or images, using painting and editing to create larger pictures. Although it's a common technique in digital art some have accused it as being "cheating". What would you say to people with this opinion and how does photobashing help illustrators work?
Photobashing is for sure an excellent technique for concept art and the mood board stage. In many fields in the industry it helps artists deliver multiple high quality illustrations in a short time. It works similarly to story boarding in a sense, in that it clarifies visually where you’re aiming with the style and overall look. But when doing your final renderings it's of course all about being smart and having in mind intellectual rights, with heavy editing a must. This means cuts and edits, with strong over-painting that will change the basic look. It's just another technique you can reach for if you decide to achieve a photo realistic effect, it goes along with over-painting 3D models and pasting photo textures which is absolutely fine with me. If you manage to do it right, you can have unique and fresh visuals out of pre-made materials.
Chronicles of Crime Location - Soho
You mention looking to leave a charismatic mark on everything you do, so in a practical sense how do you approach each piece of art to ensure you do this?
When working on different projects that vary from each other I want to find the right technique that supports the core vision and a story, but my relatives always mention that they can spot my style in everything I do, so I guess I'm not that elastic after all and fail with each trial!
Of course, cartoon looks and black lines comes naturally as I sketch at the beginning of everything. Even when I decide to skip the outline in polishing I usually go for very strong rim lights (that does almost the same job but with opposite, bright colors) and that was the case of Dinosaur Tea Party made for Restoration Games for instance.
But aside from the technique, I guess I always go for a certain look of a human or monster body that is taken from the pop culture that I value. I push with a specific character design that I developed naturally through my learning process. So it doesn't matter if it's a scary and realistic horror project (concepts for a theme park attraction with VR technology) or concepts for more friendly Fireball Island board game - you'll always find my way of drawing muscles, eyes or hands. Even, or only, those small details.
How do you keep the balance between your work as a freelancer? Do you have any advice?
Actually I don't think I keep the balance at all. I should be the last person to give advice on that matter, but if I have to:
”Kids, if you'd like to follow my footsteps I suggest unhealthy little amount of sleep, late chocolate snacks and a good playlist in your ears”.
Night is perfect for art challenges, it's like winning an extra day.
The Bridgevale Train Company Conductor
What are some non-game related creations (books, music, movies, etc) that you’re currently enjoying?
I'll refer to something that I enjoy listening to while working on my projects. My playlist is always very strange because it mixes Rammstein with Vivaldi and Max Richter, but as a polish, patriotic move I'll recommend to all amazing bands like Bass Astral x Igo and Kwiat Jabłoni. I also look for interviews with writers and people of cinema, recently the Hollywood Reporter gave nice insight releasing on Youtube 'the Roundtable', a series of discussion panels. I think that cinema is something that I’ve had in my blood from birth, but while working I limit myself to audio only. I think almost every stand-up on Netflix I've got checked as 'watched'.
Screen from music video for Bass Astral x Igo and Sistars
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
Feel free to check my Instagram where I usually post more often. Then there is my ArtStation account where I try to keep my work organized.
(All images supplied by Matijos Gebreselassie)
If you’re new to the site, why not stick around a while? There are interviews with some of the best artists in the industry and if you’d like to read more you can them by heading over to the Interview Archive!
Tania Walker: Art in Board Games #25
Achieving my life’s dream at 21 was eye-opening. Setting aside the 70-hour working weeks, what I found at Disney was that I didn’t enjoy being a cog in an enormous machine. Turned out what I really wanted was not to work with a specific company, but rather, the chance to shape my creative work in a meaningful way...
This week we have Tania Walker an art director, illustrator and graphic designer who has worked on games such as Dracula’s Feast, The Lady & the Tiger, and Goblin Quest, and with companies/publishers such as Jellybean Games, Rule & Make, and Greater Than Games.
Hello Tania, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hi, thanks for having me! Aside from spending most of my time making adorable games, I write as a sideline and have been published in several speculative fiction magazines. I live in Tasmania where it’s nice and cold (fun fact: parts of Australia are, occasionally, snowy!) and, outside of my assorted creative work, my proudest accomplishment has been teaching my cat to walk on a leash. I love tabletop roleplaying games and it’s a bit of a life’s dream to work as the Art Director on a project along those lines - so if you’re reading and you’ve developed something like that... (makes the ‘call me’ gesture).
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?
At first, I wanted to be a vet, like James Herriot. Then I realised this would require putting down a substantial number of animals, and I’m too much of a softie for that. Next, I got obsessed with Disney films and decided I wanted to be a Disney animator. That one, I never grew out of – by the time I was 21 I was working for Walt Disney Animation Australia.
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
Achieving my life’s dream at 21 was eye-opening. Setting aside the 70-hour working weeks, what I found at Disney was that I didn’t enjoy being a cog in an enormous machine. Turned out what I really wanted was not to work with a specific company, but rather, the chance to shape my creative work in a meaningful way. After that, I spent years bouncing from one kind of art job to the next, looking for the elusive role that would let me feel like I had creative freedom and trust within a team of like-minded people.
During that time I also started playing modern tabletop games. Killer Bunnies was first. I recall looking at the art and deciding: “I could do a better job of it. I’d love to do this someday.” Yet it didn’t occur to me to aim for a job making boardgames; I didn’t think that was something you could do in Australia, and I had already decided against moving overseas for my career, as I love where I live.
So I continued freelancing and periodically working for companies in a wide variety of art and design jobs. One day an old acquaintance from Brisbane approached me – I’m sorry, this is the most Australian employment story ever – he was a guy who’d once bought a fridge from me, and he’d decided on the basis of my DVD collection that we should be friends, and added me on Facebook. We’d loosely kept tabs on one another ever since. That guy was Peter C. Hayward. He told me he’d started a boardgame company – Jellybean Games – and as he admired my art, would I like to come on board as a freelancer to work on a game called ‘Dracula’s Feast’?
What I found at Jellybean was a team of like-minded people who shared my creative goals and sense of humour, and who valued my contributions. Jellybean quickly became my core client, and I’m extraordinarily proud of the games we’ve made together.
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?
My role has deepened – initially, I was just a freelance illustrator with Jellybean, but as an art director I get a more substantial opportunity to shape the look and feel of our games. What I love about this role is that I get to think about the art of our games both from a macro and micro point of view – I have to consider how all the elements will work together as a package, but also have to zoom my attention close in to every tiny illustration and icon and border and make sure that each of these works individually. For tabletop games, illustrations in particular need to stand up to repeated scrutiny, because they’re going to be looked at again and again, sometimes for extended periods of time. If an illustration is low quality or if some detail is wrong, people will notice, and it’ll bother them.
So, at the start of a new project the whole team develops a theme for the game. It must reinforce the game's mechanics, must be relatively original (or at least be an original take on an old theme), and to be honest it has to be a theme we can all get excited about – because if we’re not interested in it, the art won’t be interesting and the players won’t be interested either.
I then start to think about broad art decisions like what kind of style and colour palette communicates this theme best? Realistic? Stylised? Cartoony? Pastel watercolours? Dark and gritty digital painting? What feel does this choice create; what expectations will it set up about the nature of the game? There’s a whole world of choices and approaches out there. I also consider what else is currently in the marketplace, and how we can make this game stand out from that crowd. For this last reason, I avoid the straightforward ‘semi-realistic saturated digital painting’ style, because no matter how well it’s done, it’s so prevalent right now that any game using it will visually merge into every other game on the shelf. I also consider: what are my strengths as an artist, and am I the best artist to create the kind of art this game needs?
Once all this is nailed down to the team’s satisfaction, I begin to gather references and visual inspiration, and from there I create my first card for the game (or the box art, in games that aren’t as heavily card-based), and that becomes both my place to experiment with technique and, when it’s done, my touchstone for the game art that follows.
I also do a lot of the graphic design for Jellybean, and I tend to develop that in conjunction with the illustrations, which allows me to get a more visually cohesive approach going than you’ll often get when a designer comes along once the illustrations are done and just designs around/over them.
There’s so much more to it than this, but you did say “briefly”, and I think I’ve blown past “brief” some time ago. I’ll add that the above encompasses what’s changed for me since I started with Jellybean: I’ve gone from creating illustrations on spec, to developing the look and feel of a game before I begin illustrating.
You were involved in the creation of The Lady & The Tiger, so could you tell us a little bit about what that involved and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
The great thing about L&T is that Peter just happened to approach me with this game idea that ticked all my personal creative boxes. I’ve always drawn cats of all kinds, and I adore drawing women, and here was a game entirely built around women and (very large) cats. Furthermore, we quickly agreed that my ‘core’ style – clean, bright and Disney-influenced – would be ideal for this game, which removed the usual start-of-project period I spend figuring out how to pull off a brand new style.
I really do enjoy working in a variety of styles; the challenge is fun and it keeps me from getting bored. But it was so nice to go with the flow on this one. The clear dichotomies in the suits in this game – Lady/Tiger and Red/Blue – set limitations that fostered creativity, really. The limited colour palette, rather than constraining me, kept that side of the project fairly simple. Constraints foster creativity; never let anyone tell you otherwise. The scariest thing in the world is complete freedom and a blank sheet of paper.
Probably the biggest challenge in this project was that for every Lady in the game, there was a Tiger, and it was getting difficult to come up with new ideas for the tigers (there are eight in the game, and I wanted each of them to be distinct). With Ladies, you can work with distinct ages, body shapes, ethnicities, clothing, body decoration, hairstyles, etc. Tigers lack a lot of these differences, and while they really do have a lot of variety (after studying dozens of tiger photos, I can confirm this!), we’re not trained to notice it so much. So getting eight big stripey cats to look distinct from each other required a lot of jiggery-pokery. (That’s the technical term.)
What was the inspiration or core idea that drove your work on The Lady and the Tiger?
Peter’s interest in it was piqued by a combination of the famous story, The Lady and the Tiger, and the They Might Be Giants song based on the same. He popped that onto the game as a working theme, meaning to replace it later, but when I heard the premise I was so excited to work with it we ended up keeping it.
Part of my excitement comes from the flipside of The Tiger Problem – the Ladies! Women are woefully underrepresented both in the board game industry and within games themselves. Generally, I aim to depict gender parity in every game I illustrate, but this one allowed me the opportunity to draw just women from start to finish: young, old, all different shapes and sizes and ethnicities and attitudes. Honestly, I wish I’d been able to draw even more – I had so many ideas I didn’t get to use!
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
I’m constantly buried in a speculative fiction novel or two – just finished a streak of reading recent Australian YA post-apocalyptic books, and topped that off with ‘Who Fears Death’ by Nnedi Okorafor, and I’m listening to the audiobook of Stephen King’s ‘Sleeping Beauties’ now. Sadly I can’t listen to books while I work; it’s too distracting. Even music with lyrics is sometimes a bit much, so when working I tend to find one of those Youtube “eight hours of study music” compilations to put on in the background.
I’m always looking at everything; I draw a lot of inspiration from the natural world where I live in Tasmania, and aside from that I encounter amazing artists and art daily on Twitter and Pinterest. I’ve also got my own big reference library of art technique books on illustration, character design, digital painting and so on, and I turn to that when I need to figure out how to do something specific I haven’t done before. Beyond that, there’s always Google.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the board game industry?
Get your skills up. Chances are companies will need you to do a little of everything, so if you’re precious about only ever working with one style or one subject matter you’re gonna have a hard time. Master working digitally, as that’s how games are made now. For goodness sake, if you’re drawing only anime, stop. If you’re only drawing women with big boobies, move on from that too, because the industry is moving on and you don’t want to be that one embarrassing dinosaur left behind.
Take on all kinds of freelance work anywhere you can; every job teaches you something. Find mentors (formal or informal) in the industry and ask advice. Formal schooling is not a must-have, but it doesn’t hurt! If you decide against formal schooling, make sure you’re incredibly self-driven and constantly learning – technical books on the craft of illustration are increasingly in-depth and easy to find, and the internet is a rich resource for tutorials (but be critical about what advice you take, and find what works for you). Approach your work with humility and the understanding that you can always grow.
Games art isn’t just about technical skills either. You’ll be working with (and for) others, so stow your ego. A game is a team effort. Your art will have a lot of fresh, critical eyes on it and they will notice things you don’t. Sometimes your piece will be technically great but simply doesn’t get across the message or feeling required for that part of the game, and you’ll need to take another run at it. The ability to listen to and apply constructive feedback will get you a long way. Nothing you make is so perfect it can’t be improved.
Oh, and be kind to people. Not just the people ‘above’ you in the industry, but everyone. It’s a small industry. People talk. Make sure you give them nice things to say.
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
I just finished up the design for Jellybean’s next release, ‘Show & Tile’. Imagine Pictionary but with tangram tiles, so you’re building artworks out of mostly triangles. It’s a big laugh both with kids and as a party game. Creating the art for it was fun; we went down an abstract colours-and-shapes route that’ll visually leap off the shelves. Nice change of pace!
Now I’ve switched over to working on Village Pillage, a card game of warring medieval villages, best described as “Game of Thrones if all the roles were played by Baldrick”. I’m going with a broad cartoony style for that, lots of super varied characters with extreme expressions. This puts me back into another part of my comfort zone so I’m having an absolute blast.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
I’m most active as @TaniaWalker on Twitter, where you’ll find a heady mix of art WIPs, daily life nonsense and inappropriate jokes. You could always keep an eye on my portfolio at www.taniawalker.com too, but know that I’m usually too busy making art to keep it properly updated, which is very naughty of me. Finally, keeping tabs on Jellybean Games at www.jellybean-games.com and on various social medias as @PlayJellybean is a great idea; they’re way better at promoting my art than I am! Be sure to visit our web store while you’re there. ;)
(All images provided by and copyright of Tania Walker).
Gary Paitre and Natalie Dombois: Art in Board Games #15
The Canadian Woods and Nature in general were big inspirations but I also wanted to give the game a little “nordic” feeling, which shows in the characters that have warrior paintings and heads that looks a little like skulls. [..] KIWETIN should be mysterious and friendly without becoming too obviously magical...
This week we're lucky enough to have a joint interview with Gary Paitre (Art Director and Designer) and Natalie Dombois (illustrator) who worked together on KIWETIN by Flyos Games.
Hello Gary and Natalie thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Gary: I’m from Montreal, Canada. I’ve been working for advertising agencies for about a decade and I also had my own agency for a while but now I freelance. My best friend and I decided to create Flyos Games and create the games we wanted to play a year ago.
Natalie: I’m from Hamburg, Germany. I’ve worked in various different fields, e.g. Advertising, Books and Animation. KIWETIN was my first try at Board Game art and I immediately fell in love with this field.
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?
G: Like many children, I wanted to become an astronaut. But my father told me that I had to be fluent in Russian, so finally I changed my mind and decided to become a bus driver. Yep, kids.
N: I wanted to join Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. When I realized that this wasn’t possible I started to change my mind on a weekly basis. Police officer and Artist were on the same level for a long time. But the Artist direction definitely works better for me.
So how did you first get involved in making board games?
G: I played many RPGs, video games and board games when I was a teenager. The idea of making our own games started a couple of years ago with my best friend. I had a lot of stories to tell and we were finally mature enough. So we founded our own game company and benefit the Kickstarter tools.
N: My friends have held a Board Game night every Friday for several years now. The first time I thought that it would be cool to do the Artwork for board games was when I joined them once and saw all the amazing games. But in the end I didn’t until I was contacted by Gary who told me about KIWETIN and I promptly was head over heels.
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?
G: When I work on a game aesthetic, my priority is to build a credible universe. I also focus a lot on finding the right illustrator for the right story to tell. It’s also very important for me to bring an original design to an industry that is used to Trolls, Dwarves, Orcs and Elves with a classical drawing style.
N: Like Gary I enjoy trying new things and while I appreciate the classic art a lot I’m all in for refreshing directions that haven’t been played with a lot. Usually I try to find the right feeling for a world and try to capture this feeling into the illustrations with little details. Nature and Culture inspires me a lot.
You were involved in the creation of KIWETIN, so could you tell us a little bit about what that involved and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
G: The biggest challenge I had to face building Kiwetin was to keep the creative and visual focus all along the process. When you’re your own boss you are responsible for the choices you make, and it’s quite easy to scatter and lose the creative vision. Plus when you make a game for the first time you have to learn to accept a back and forth of changes and criticism because your game play has to evolve … a lot.
N: Gary and Thomas were really great to work with and I had fun working on the game all day long. They told me what was important to them, but also gave me a lot of free space. It was most challenging to understand the game in the first place when there was only a summary of how the game would work. Afterwards, they created a prototype with blank pieces and that helped a lot.
What was the inspiration or core idea that drove your work on KIWETIN?
G: I wanted to cross two universes that were important to me. The first one was the native American. I immigrated to Canada almost 15 years ago and I wanted to explore and pay tribute to this culture. The second is the world of Ghibli’s studio approach. As a kid, I spent so many hours watching Miyazaki’s movies that my mind is full of its magic. It was a natural convergence to me.
N: The Canadian Woods and Nature in general were big inspirations but I also wanted to give the game a little “nordic” feeling, which shows in the characters that have warrior paintings and heads that looks a little like skulls. I also tried to capture the wind theme and the subtle magic in my paintings. KIWETIN should be mysterious and friendly without becoming too obviously magical.
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
G: I spend a lot of time every day browsing portfolios on Behance. I’m also part of a famous website awards jury (Awwwards), so I’m aware of new tendencies in various domains. I’m very curious by nature, so i’m open to draw inspiration from any kind of creative field. I just finished reading the complete Foundation by Asimov and I’m moving on to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. I’m listening a lot to old albums from Twin Shadow and some random playlists on Spotify. I cannot live without music
N: I like to listen to instrumental music (the original soundtracks of movies are my favorite). That inspires me a lot. Also impressive landscapes, culture and society in general blend into and fuel my work, not forgetting I have a thing for science, especially space.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to work in the board game industry?
G: Work, work and work. Having ideas is one thing. I have thousands of ideas, but the real challenge is work. So stay focused on your objectives. Don’t let go and be original. Due to hard work, results will arrive.
N: I think it is important to try new things and to give your best during the project. Like Gary said it is important not to stop with the ideas but also to finish a project, so people can see and experience the result. You’ll learn from every step.
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
G: We are currently working of 4 new productions. Our next game will be quite different from our first one. We are re-interpreting a classical game in a more strategic avenue with a great digital tool. Stay tuned ;)
N: I'm currently working with “Thundergryph” on a game called “Spirits of the Forest” which will be appearing soon on Kickstarter.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
G: My portfolio is available on Behance : www.behance.net/garypaitre
N: You can find my work on http://nataliedombois.de/ or https://www.behance.net/nataliedombois
(All images supplied by Gary Paitre and Natalie Dombois).