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Art styles and what fits best

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Fri, 04/05/2019 - 19:26
questccg
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Hello fellow Designers, I wanted to briefly "touch" on the topic of "Artwork". I know with "TradeWorlds" (TW), I have been very blessed working with Charles Vinh and his perfectionist realism in his Space "illustrations". Everyone loves the art and I am often told that Charles' artwork is amazing.

While I AGREE Charles' renditions for TW are indeed IMPRESSIVE... I am thinking about "Monster Keep" (MK) and the art style that would be best suited.

Sure if you look at some of the SAMPLES I posted in my BLOG using artwork from around the Internet (as placeholder artwork) ... I chose AGAIN very realistic illustrations.

Here's where all you Designers come in...

I don't think I WANT this for MK. Not because that artwork looks GREAT... But because it seems like everything ELSE (Magic: the Gathering and a TON of other fantasy games).

MK is a Special Design and is very SIMPLE to play, yet HARD to master. It's mathematical too ... even if scoring is identical when comparing two cards (this is actually AMAZING — since I could not have planned this any better... Once you do the math between two cards, it is identical BOTH ways). So if you compute 16 points, it's either -16 for your opponent or your opponent does -16 points to you!

BUT I'm thinking that I want to APPEAL to "Younger" players. Like 9+... Not saying that the game is not great to play for Millenials also. I'm just saying that I can picture a more "competitive" game for a slightly younger crowd.

And so that is the CRUX of the matter: "Do I go with artwork that looks more like Epic Spell Wars and have more comedic cartoon-like illustrations or should I go with something 'in-between' realism and cartoon like Guardian's Call???"

Here are samples from BOTH those games:

Lady Lazervere from "Epic Spell Wars":

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1317302/epic-spell-wars-battle-wizards-d...

Raven from "Guardian's Call":

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3761258/guardians-call

Please tell me which you prefer and how you think it would best suit MK...

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Sat, 04/06/2019 - 10:51
#1
MichaelJames
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Joined: 03/30/2019
Personally, I think That

Personally, I think That Guardian's Call artwork is the style you would want to go with. Epic Spell Wars lacks that certain cartoony appeal younger audiences might be looking for. Also, I know of a lot of games that use artwork like Guardian's Call, like "5 Minute Dungeon", that also appeals to older audiences.

SO, Guardian's Call style might be best for this new game you are making.

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Sat, 04/06/2019 - 12:55
#2
Jay103
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I am not a fan of the Epic

I am not a fan of the Epic Spell Wars art style.

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Sun, 04/07/2019 - 02:10
#3
apeloverage
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You're using quotation marks

Personally, if I were making a game with a fantasy theme, I would save money by using the enormous amount of public domain art that's out there such as Arthur Rackham. But I have no idea how commercially viable that would be.

Also, your posts would be easier to read if you got rid of the "quotation marks" and ALL CAPS.

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Sun, 04/07/2019 - 17:50
#4
questccg
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That's the way I type...

apeloverage wrote:
Personally, if I were making a game with a fantasy theme, I would save money by using the enormous amount of public domain art that's out there such as Arthur Rackham. But I have no idea how commercially viable that would be.

First of all, finding FREE artwork that "fits" is a bit like Googling for ART and then finding a BUNCH of "Copyrighted" art which is AMAZING ... But that you cannot use... So this is not commercially viable.

apeloverage wrote:
Also, your posts would be easier to read if you got rid of the "quotation marks" and ALL CAPS.

I like to emote when I type. Sorry!

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Sun, 04/07/2019 - 17:59
#5
questccg
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Thanks for your input!

MichaelJames wrote:
...SO, Guardian's Call style might be best for this new game you are making.

I have sent an e-mail to my artist... With some samples of "Guardian' Call" and we'll see what she says! I've asked her to make three (3) "rough sketches" to see what she can come up with... Stating that I wanted a bit cartoon-ish like artwork and LESS realism.

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Mon, 04/08/2019 - 03:26
#6
apeloverage
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questccg wrote:First of all,

questccg wrote:
First of all, finding FREE artwork that "fits" is a bit like Googling for ART and then finding a BUNCH of "Copyrighted" art which is AMAZING ... But that you cannot use... So this is not commercially viable.

You could look the 'art' tag on my blog:

http://apolitical.info/teleleli/?cat=7

There are lots of blogs with similar material, such as https://publicdomainreview.org/

When you find an artist you like, make sure their work is in the public domain and search for that artist on google.

I'd also recommend using the art for inspiration, rather than deciding on a theme and looking for art that fits that.

For example, your game might have a demon, but functionally would it matter if it were a dragon instead?

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