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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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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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.
What is your artistic background?
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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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