portfolio for Board games?
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What do you think should be in a portfolio that is geared towards boardgame art?
instagram: instagram.com/hufflearts
facebook: facebook.com/hufflearts -
@shelley-james-0 I am no expert on this subject at all and board games differ in styles and content sooooo much that there may be no really good way to approach it. But I suspect that having a variety of things that would be useful to board game creators would be good. Design mock up cards or create your own box art ideas. Some character design ideas would probably be good and maybe sheets of weapons or potions? Many games require some sort of map board design so it may be good to show you can do that.
In the same way that illustrators sometimes get work by redesigning their own versions of famous book covers, you could do the same for popular board game art like Candyland or Go Fish? Or mabey somthing more current and complicated depending on what kind of work you want to get (kids games, high fantasy or sci-fi ect.) Think about what types of games and age groups would best fit your art style. Hope this helps
K.Flagg
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Hi @Shelley-James-0 ! I agree with @K-Flagg - I have done one board game, am halfway through my second, and my brother makes them and has hired other artists for them too. He usually finds his artists on instagram and to my knowledge none of them were doing board games previously- their styles worked with his vision and it went from there. From my experience there aren't any specifics in what SHOULD be in a board game portfolio because games are really all over the place- I would just put in it what you like to draw. Maybe thats not that helpful lol. But, I would post your work as much as you can, do mock ups, really try to be apart of the board game online community, and throw out in the great internet abyss that you are interested!
I LOVE doing board games because you get to design characters, object cards, and all the fun stuff! Good luck!!
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@annaaronson exactly! I like to do a bit of everything. I like world creation. And I have fallen into a ton of worlds through board games. On the podcast I have heard the trio talking about getting burned out from drawing the same character over and over. I feel with lots of board games that wouldn't be an issue.
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@k-flagg Yes, I like the mock-up plan. On the podcast, the trio always mentions making art look like it was FOR something, not just a random illustration. cards, the map/board, tokens, some heavy games even have illustrations in their rules book. Heck some of the games I have played have 3 separate rule books. lol
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I suspect just like illustrators looking to go into children's picture books would like at picture books, find games you love, styles you love, and create an assortment (cards, maps, fixed boards, floating tiles and also look at designs that go on and around the box, and in the rules, and player pieces). You can really explore world creation, in depth character, creature and prop design. Yes for sure do mock ups. It is such a wonderful area to explore and have fun in!
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@annaaronson funny, my brother is also a board game creator! I wouldn’t be too surprised if our brothers know each other or at least know of each other since it seems to be a pretty tight nit community. Ask him if he knows Pete McPherson!
On another note, I’ve been thinking more and more about getting into board game illustration. How did you get into it?
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@griffin oh fun!! I will! I just looked him up- I have seen his game! My brother’s name is Daniel Aronson- he does El Dorado Games. They mostly do strategy games. I did a game with them called Capone, and then have done some random card work- the game I am currently working on was with people that Daniel introduced me to
