Surrounded by beautiful forests in a town called Murphysboro you will find Daryl. He is a board game artist that broke into the industry with a personal passion project – The Dobbers. With his recent wonderful contribution to the game Freshwater Fly ( Only a few hours left on the Kickstarter) – I knew that we had to pick his brain and feature him here. Enjoy.
Tell us a little about what you do, your artistic background and how you got into making art and now board games?
I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember. My passion to draw really ignited in the late 80’s and 90’s when I fell in love with Marvel comic books. I have a full set of the original Infinity Gauntlet comics sitting on my desk with me as I type this. I later went to the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, majoring in Sequential Art. Sequential Art is basically comic books. There is a heavy emphasis on Illustration and Graphic Design, particularly for the purpose of story-telling. After college, I independently published a comic book, The Dobbers. It was a light-hearted tale of gnome-like, forest creatures who stumble upon a quest involving a great deal of treasure and a magical sword.
Some games are pretty and some games look cool – but the illustrations in the game Wingspan are jaw-dropping beautiful. The game is published by Stonemaier Games and designed by Elizabeth Hargrave. The production is sublime with cute little egg components and over 170 unique bird illustrations giving the game value that exceed pure gaming.
Player mat, dice tower (bird house) and card backs are made by byBeth Sobel. The lavishly realistic painted bird illustrations are made by the Colombian female artists & friends Ana María Martínez Jaramillo and Natalia Rojas. They are the wingtips of the project making Wingspan lift to the skies.
GreenHookGames are excited to bring you a team interview with BOTH Ana and Natalia. I encourage you afterwards to visit both of their individual portfolios. Welcome Ana & Natalia – tell us a little about yourselves.
It oozes warmth, family, tradition and fun. That could describe the art of Ryan Goldsberry from Livermore CA. Teaming up with the designer of Burgle Bros, Tim Fowers – was a turning point for Ryan. Enjoy the interview.
Tell us a little about yourself, what you do, your artistic background and how you got into making art for board games?
My artistic background mainly involves drawing hundreds of pictures of the Ghostbusters and Mr. T when I was a kid. Eventually I moved on to drawing other stuff…nothing quite as exciting though. In college I saw that they had animation classes, and I thought, “hey, that sounds nifty!” So I got into animation and worked in video games for around 12 years.
After college, when I was animating Lara Croft, along with all her assets, I was contacted by my good buddy Tim Fowers. He assumed that since I was an animator that I could probably draw pictures as well. He said he was making a video game and could I help with the illustration. I said “sure! Will it make us rich?”
The board game industry is flourishing with great game ideas but I must say I did not see this coming – a plantable card game . German Sebastian Sattler that recently moved back from Barcelona to Berlin is the author and designer of this wonderful innovative board game project where you can play a game of cards and afterward grow plants from the game. The game is very pretty and stylish and I am happy to speak to the designer about it. If you want to jump into the world of spider solitaire but are still unsure of the rules, then there is a handy guide on “how to play spider solitaire step by step” here for you to read through. You can also play the game in the same place too.
Tell us a little about your artistic background and how you got into making board games and graphics for board games?
