Tag: interview

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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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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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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A different perspective. Interview with Henk Rolleman

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An associated art form to board games is the wonderful world of photography. In a time where social spaces online drive board game buzz – game photography has become an valuable and common sight. Pictures of games can bring out a different perspective on the game – staging meeples and game components for a beautiful shot.

I like to make a shoot where you can feel en see something like Terra Mystica and Settlers of Catan which have a lot of components, colors, shapes.

One photographer I have come across is the talented Henk Rolleman from Eemdijk near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. I’ve asked Henk some questions about photography of games.

 

MachiKoro

 

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Vincent Dutrait – master of board game art

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If there is such thing as an famous board game artist it must be Vincent Dutrait – master of board game art. The sheer number of successful titles, using his handcrafted images, make him very hard to overlook. Famous people have fans – and we at GHG are definitely fans of Vincent. That is why we hope you will enjoy his answers to our questions for him as much as we did. Vincent is from France but lives and work out of Korea. Let’s get rolling with,

Vincent Dutrait – master of board game art

Medici close up

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Bringing a new glow to the art of games. Meet Brazilian artist Weberson Santiago.

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With his wild and sparking textures and characters that ooze of personality Brazilian artist Weberson Santiago creates board game art like no one else. His artistic skills and wide portfolio range of commissioned work shines through in his work on games like Bloody Inn published by Pearl Games. And also artist on the newly funded deluxe Coup Brazilian edition. We are honored to present this interview the an artist we admire greatly – Mr. Santiago, from Brazil.

traditionall

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Get behind the art of Space Race: The card game with the artist Dalibor Krch

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Space Race: The Card game is a new strategic game from Boardcubator by designers Jan “Suki” Soukal and Marek Loskot.

space race

Players try to lead a space agency in a race to the victory – by finding synergies in the card combos. As Rahdo say “a rock solid card combo chain extravaganza”.

Alexei Leonov WO 2 Alexei Leonov WO 3 Alexei Leonov WO 4

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Get behind the art of Space Race: The card game

Following some of the development posts on BGG it was obvious that, regardless of the gameplay , this game was going to look stunning and we had to talk to the artist. We are happy to share this with you – so lets get behind the art of Space Race: The card game with the artist Dalibor Krch from the Czech Republic.

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