Waterdeep’s Board: Lightly Colorized Line Art
I’d had a bit of a challenge colorizing the Cartref illustrations, as the colors distracted players and reduced icon usability. Waterdeep suggests a solution.
Art Direction
What’s the overall look and feel of the game?
Lessons from the Video Game Industry on Art Direction
I haven’t found a textbook on art direction for tabletop games. Fortunately, the video game industry has many videos and other resources to aid art directors.
Understated Line Art and the Graphic Design of Cartref
For the past few months, I’ve worked on a new game that requires understated art. Several games have caught my attention and inspired an art direction.
Confirming Commonalities of Art in Awesome Fantasy Games
I previously identified commonalities in game art that players called awesome. In this post, I test if those generalizations apply to top-ranked fantasy games.
Commonalities of “Awesome Art” in Tabletop Games
What do the art pieces in successful games have in common? Let’s compare a sample of top-rated games that have reputedly “awesome art” to find commonalities.
Cute and Cozy Creatures Capture an Audience’s Attention
Some games feature cute creatures. Shamelessly cute creatures. Creatures so cute that you have to grab the box when browsing your friendly local game store.
Horror, Sex and Puns: The Humor of Munchkin
Get those players laughing. How? Push the boundaries. Which boundaries? How far? In what directions? Munchkin illustrates a few angles to approach the issue.
Gnomes Brighten Gardens: A Colorful Lesson about Happy Places
Taking my own advice about palettes, but not understanding how to apply it, led to a useful lesson.
Let’s Face It: A Compelling Character Irresistibly Hooks the Viewer
Although artists often can avoid it, rendering facial details can increase the emotional content of a card or box — making it more compelling and memorable.
Nut Hunt’s Useful and Interesting Example of How to Amplify Attention
The publisher of Nut Hunt took intentional steps to draw attention to key aspects of the game.