The stage for a visual presentation of the game was set from the moment I received the first prototype from Jasper. The Habit cards were very colorful, the Muses deck was white, and the Hardship deck was black. There was some placeholder art, or no art whatsoever, but when I drew black card, I already, immediately, in a split second knew the trouble is here.
Simple and brilliant. All my team had to do was not to screw it.
Habit cards
It is the biggest deck in the game. Hania Kuik, who works at Portal Games full-time, started to play with it. We asked her to use watercolour techniques or something similar; we wanted the deck to be bright, light, playful. She had just finished creating dark and grim art for the new edition of Neuroshima Hex; she was delighted with the change. Soon, we received a dozen variants. Both, me and Jasper were more than excited for this stage of work.
Hania did an outstanding job, and to be honest, we were so excited with her illustrations that at some point, I decided to stop sending new pieces to Jasper, and I just gave him access to the Portal Games Dropbox where Hania was uploading new pieces. We were in a treat. Over the next 3 months, we gave her zero comments on the art; she nailed it from the very first illustration. With Jasper, we turned into fanboys.
Muses
For a Muses deck, I reached out to Tomasz Jędruszek. You might know him as an artist behind Game of Thrones LCG, Arkham Horror LCG, Magic The Gathering, Flesh and Blood, and many more, long story short, he is the MVP of the industry. You might not know the fact that Tomasz is highly involved in supporting young artists, that he is doing lectures and training sessions, and that he does a lot to help young talents get into the hobby. I know that, and that is why I reached him. I wanted to find a young talent to join the Bohemians project and do a Muses deck for us.
I talked with Tomasz, I described the game and what I am looking for. The surprise waited around the corner.
‘How many of these Muses?’, he asked.
‘Twenty so’, I said. We were still playtesting, and the final count was not exactly final.
‘Deadline?’ he asked.
‘4 weeks. Maybe 6 if more time is really needed.’ I said. It was 8 weeks, but my 25 years of experience in the industry taught me a few lessons. One of them, never, ever tell a real deadline to the artist. No, we are not going into these stories today…
‘I’ll do it.’ he said.
‘What?’
‘I’ll do it. It sounds awesome. I want to be part of the project. Sing me in.’
Tomasz, I cannot afford it. I don’t have budged like WotC or Asmodee.’
‘Don’t worry. Sing me in. I want to do this game. I am in.’
So while Hania was doing all Habit cards, suddenly we ended up signing a top-notch artist for a Muses deck. With Hania being on fire with Habit deck, and Tomasz joining the project, I must say – that was a dream come true.
Tomasz did portraits of Muses, the cards have a distinctive, very unique style, and although they are bright and light, like Habit cards, they are still very different. When you draw a Muse card, you know it, you recognize it immediately. Mission accomplished.
Hardships
For a Hardship deck, we contacted Roman Kucharski, with whom we had previously worked for Empires of the North and Imperial Settlers. And to be honest, the name of the deck was sort of foreshadow of the task. It didn’t go that easily, as with the previous two. I asked Roman to make a grim, dark, terrifying art that is similar in theme and feeling to the works of Zdzisław Beksiński.
Roman did a first sketch, and it was not that.
I explained once again what we need, what style we are looking for, and what is the look of the deck we need.
Roman did a sketch. It was not that again.
We had a call, we talked long time about what I need for the Hardship deck.
Roman did a sketch. It was not what I wanted again, but I had to admit, it was pretty cool. I showed it to Jasper, I showed it to my team at Portal Games, and we decided that I will abandon my initial vision, we will not have grim, dark, Beksiński-style artwork, but we will have something awesome anyway. The Hardship deck got a green light, and Roman started doing cards.
Final touch
Then Hania did icons for the game, she did atelier board art, she did art for a solo cards, she is all over the place and she gave this awesome general look of the game. With two gentlemen who supported her with the Muses and Hardship decks, we managed to have a consistent look of the whole game, but also a little spice to it with all these decks looking different.
We did a game about being an artist. And I think artists who worked with us on this project have outdone themselves. All my team had to do was not to screw it. I believe we didn’t. You, my fellow gamers, are in for a treat with this game.
I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it.
That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.
