Category: Traces

Artist gone rouge. Interview with Ryan Laukat.

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There are game designers making games, publishers that publish them and artists that illustrate them and then there are people like Ryan Laukat from Salt Lake City, Utah – who just do all of it. The games that Ryan ships out into the world are truly boardgame gems with a lot of personality. This is the story of Ryan the artist.

 

Tell us a little about your artistic background and how you got into making art for board games?

 

Painting has always been a hobby, and it’s usually been linked with my love of games. As a teenager I spent hours illustrating my own game designs with watercolor and india ink. I really wanted to be a professional artist and spent a lot of time thinking about it. In my early twenties, I submitted a game design to Rio Grande Games and was hired to illustrate cards for Dominion.

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The ink master Bazsó Lossonczy

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Do you like great poster design? I do! Sometimes I visit omgposters.com just to get a visual OD. Most of the art on that page could be characterised as; elaborate ink work with a limited color palette. A style you do not meet very often in board games. Saltlands the Mad Maxque board game, is just like that – filled with amazing inked and dark illustrations.

 

When I saw the illustrations for the game Critters Below I knew I had to speak with the artist behind them! Presenting the ink master Bazsó Lossonczy from Budapest, Hungary.

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Ruthless great art from Roland MacDonald.

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How great is Instagram in board game marketing? It feels like a difficult channel to get a high level of engagement. I am visual stimulus kind of person so I love the medium, scrolling through a stream of board game pictures is very inspiring. GreenHookGames strictly follow dedicated board game profiles to leave my feed untainted, but occasionally I also follow artist that I like, especially board game artists. This is how I came across the english board game artist Roland MacDonald. You might already know his work – because it is top of class and outstanding. He now live permanently in Utrecht Netherlands. 

 

Remake of a Classic

 

Can you tell us a little about your artistic background and how you got into making art for board games?

 

I have always enjoyed drawing and making things but my path to becoming an illustrator had more than a few detours. I studied fine art but it was conceptual/contemporary art and painting was heavily discouraged. I learned more about philosophy than art so that was a misstep after that I became a Chef which was an adventure but another diversion after doing an MA Game Design I got an art position at Sega/Creative Assembly doing 3D modelling for PS2 and PC games. I found modelling to be unsatisfying creatively as you are mostly making someone else’s concepts. So I started working hard to retrain myself to be a concept artist/illustrator.

 

1 of 200 custom event illustrations for Shogun Total War 2

 

I used every spare hour I had for two years and eventually got asked to do the concept art and illustrations for Shogun 2 Total War. That was an excellent opportunity.

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Designer, illustrator and sculptor Sean Sutter defies gatekeeping

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When Santorini was funded I asked Gavan Brown if he felt the success was due to the minis in the game. He did not think that but instead pointed towards the simple ruleset as the biggest draw. I think he might be right about that but following Kickstarter’s it seems like gamers just love miniatures.

Making a game with miniatures is not easy. There are soo many steps from your sketch to production. Sean Sutter, a concept & comic artist from California took the leap into making his dream project – a fantasy skirmish game full of miniatures called Relicblade.

Sean is a fantastic sculptor and also shares his experience with making minis on his youtube channel Metal King Studios. I am thrilled to present you an interview with Sean.

 

Tell us a little about your artistic background and how you got into making your own board game?

 

My artistic background is in the traditional two-dimensional art. I studied drawing vigorously throughout school and graduated with a BFA with an emphasis in painting. I have worked as a graphic designer, fine art painter, and comic book illustrator.

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Pat Piper’s journey into board game design with Crossroads of Heroes

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In a little booth in the far end of the annual board game convention Essen Spiel – something caught my attention. Crossroads of Heroes pulled me in, not only because of the kung-fu theme but also by the beautiful banners filled with loving characters in a harmonious color scheme topped with fascinating Chinese Hanzi calligraphy.

In a little booth in the far end of the annual board game convention Essen Spiel – something caught my attention. Crossroads of Heroes pulled me in, not only because of the kung-fu theme but also by the beautiful banners filled with loving characters in a harmonious color scheme topped with fascinating Chinese Hanzi calligraphy. I enjoyed a few rounds of play of a game that seemed really hard and fun. The game is the sole project of one man and his wife both currently residing in Hong Kong. His name is Patrick Lee and work under the artist name Pat Piper.

 

 

How did you get into making art for board games?
I studied art and classical animation. Crossroad of Heroes is the only board game I have ever worked on and the single reason why I got into making art for board games.
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Meet the talented board game illustrator and graphic designer Ian O’Toole

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All games that passes Ian O’Toole’s hands has a superior level of art. Ian is both a talented board game illustrator and graphic designer which shines through in his work. The ability to create a variety of styles, equally beautiful, like Lisboa and Khan of Khans – takes a special talent. He already made the art for several great titles and I am sure that with his skills we will see a lot more. That is why, I am thrilled to present an interview with one of my favourites in the industry – Ian O’Toole from Perth, Australia.

 

Tell us a little about your artistic background and how you got into making art for board games?

 

I’ve worked as a graphic designer, illustrator and Art Director in all sorts of industries and environments for about 15 years. Advertising, marketing, animation etc. In 2013 I started to work for myself as a freelancer and decided to dip my toe into creating illustration and design for boardgames. More as a hobby project at the start, but it quickly gained momentum and now the majority of my work is board game related.
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Meet game designer, thinker and artist Todd Sanders.

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Some people just repeatedly make innovative, interesting and beautiful stuff. Todd Sanders from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is one of them. As Scott Allen from Narrow Gate Games recently said in a BGG thread – Well, you can’t be good at everything Todd. You’ll just have to settle for concertina bookmaking, and game design, and graphic design, and woodworking. Todd is a big name in the indie Print And Play board game community. For most of the games he makes, he creates art on his own – leaning to his graphic design experience. – and I am thrilled to present an interview with him to you here.

Well, you can’t be good at everything Todd. You’ll just have to settle for concertina bookmaking, and game design, and graphic design, and woodworking

You are are a craftsman, thinker and seem to have an eye for minimalism and aesthetics in all you do. Tell us a little about your artistic background and how you got into making art for board games?

 

Being described as a thinker is a new one. Thanks for that. I studied in college to be an architect and worked as an architectural designer for a couple of years. For the last 20 or so I have been a graphic designer and book maker. I got into board game design about 6 years ago, first redesigning the artwork for some games I had in my collection as well as older games that I took on the challenge of doing a makeover for and then progressed to my own game designs. I suppose the minimalism comes from my former training as an architect.

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Daniel Solis the multitalented game and graphic designer.

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We will kick the new year off with an interview with a self-publisher, game designer, and graphic designer. You probably know him for his iconic profile images only showing the top of his head and his curly dark hair. Since the dawn of GreenHookGames, I’ve wanted to interview him. Daniel Solis the multitalented and super productive mentor of the industry. I title him mentor because he has alongside his own designs managed to share many tutorials, tricks, and articles on the topic of the graphic layout of games. Enjoy!

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Ossi Hiekkala – Finnish board game archipictor on fire!

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Anyone who visited the Lautapelit booth at Essen this year would have seen multiple titles that Finnish Ossi Hiekkala has worked on – “Honshu” the new map building game set in feudal Japan by Kalle Malmioja, and the ingenious fast paced bicycling race “La Flamme Rouge” from the designer Asger Harding Granerud . On both of these games, Ossi worked together with graphic designer Jere Kasanen. On a normal day, I would probably be reluctant to sit down for a bicycling game – but the art of La Flamme Rouge combined with seeing how it plays blows my mind and make me turn on a dime.

Looking into the world of the archipictor Ossi Hiekkala as he calls himself, you will find an extraordinary artistic visual universe. That is why I am happy to share this interview with him together with comments from the La Flamme Rouge designer Asger and co-artist Jere.

 

flamme1

What is your artistic background?

 

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The experience geek & game graphic designer Peter Wocken

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Many of the artists that I have interviewed are more illustrators than graphic designers (even if that distinction is a fluid line) I would say that the man from Minneapolis, MN, I have at the table today is an all-round artist with a predominance to the design. He worked with several big game companies during the last decade and has a lot of experience in working with graphic design in games. Welcome Peter Wocken.

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