Hello, all!
As the June 16 launch date for The Blue Way creeps closer and closer, we wanted to share a design Q&A from the artist: the amazing Samuel Araya! If you’ve followed CMich Press projects before now, you’ll recognize his haunting style from art in Five Hundred Year Old Vampire and Dog Eat Dog. We enjoyed learning more about his approach to the art in The Blue Way — check out his Q&A below!
Q: How did you get involved in this project?
SA: Jonathan Truitt of CMich Press approached me and sent a game to see if it would spark some creative ideas. This turned into quite a fire.
I seek projects that give me creative freedom, especially in gaming. The Blue Way was a dream come true, a layered, complex project that is exceptionally unique in the atmosphere that it creates at a table. I loved the idea of the player tearing pieces of art, as destruction is an integral part of my artistic process and cutting paintings is something I do quite often.
Q: How did you develop the look of The Blue Way?
SA: At first, I was really fascinated by the art of Simon Bisley in the comic SLAINE, so I thought of something along these lines, something heroic and epic to contrast with the serious tone of the game. I tend to approach projects from a contradictory standpoint when given full liberty, just because I want to see what happens.
But the more I delved into the game, the more I was convinced I needed to portray the characters in a quiet, dignified way. I turned to the work of one of my favorite painters, Odd Nerdrum. At the time, I met some of his students and was inspired by their incredible work.
Nerdrum’s school teaches the classical sensibilities of art. But I have a strange sense of humor, so I wondered what would happen if I put some abstract painting within classically-inspired art. Again, my intention is not to offend anybody as I hold Odd and his student’s work in the highest of regard! But the act stuck as the sort of thing that wouldn’t make anyone happy, hah!
And that was it, that was the Blue Way! Tradition vs the new. Classically-inspired art against bold splashes of color. I decided on the square as the main theme because of the pun in the expression “square rules”. It also struck me that the square was the pixel. At the time of writing, I’m trying to cultivate a more healthy relationship with technology, so the art works on so many levels, not just as a functional piece of the game but also in a personal journal of my own.
Q: What inspired your interpretation of The Blue Way characters?
SA: I wanted these to feel like real people rather than heroic characters. I have seen too many portraits of characters doing quirky things or just raising one eyebrow in a sassy expression and this has scarred me for life.
“The Warrior,” for example, has an androgynous element. Initially, I really wanted a shield maiden type of character, but as the drawing progressed, I liked the idea of ambiguity, so people can project their own characteristics to the image.
Continuing with the theme of “tradition against the new,” I also took the illustrations of the Book of Kells as a theme for the characters. A painting teacher of mine, Vanessa Lemen, did a lot of work incorporating the Book of Kells into her paintings, and it fascinated me. The delicate, intricate knotwork illuminations are a stark contrast to the dripping square paint of the Blue Way.
Q: How does your work for The Blue Way fit into your catalog of other created works? Did you find connections between the monsters of your other pieces and the characters in this game?
SA: I like the idea that we human beings are made of boundless potential. This project serves me to explore different and subtler expressions.
But, I couldn’t help myself and bought some influences of the horror genre for The Blue Way. The “antagonists” are the prime example. Lord Gjerch Bravn is an eyeless ruler who belches narcissistic expressions, and his wife, Lady Kløyk Bravn, is a faceless thing whose singular eye only judges. If eyes are the mirror of the soul, Lord Gjerch has none and Lady Kløyk has a terrible, lidless one. If these interpretations are purely symbolic or literal, I leave that to the players.
Q: What art medium/s did you use to create the game art?
SA: It’s a mixture of acrylic, photography, and digital painting.
Q: What does the process of creating art look like for you? Did you try any new techniques or experiment with this process?
SA: Creating art for a project like this, where I have a lot of creative control, is a joy and a bit of a challenge. I discarded a lot of ideas and sketches, it simply wasn’t their time. I would usually complete a portrait in a day and work on the next one based on what I learned. It’s a fun process where I usually frankenstein features of the characters from various photographic sources and paint over to unify and create new faces.
I created textures in acrylic using a fun process called “Decalcomania”, which adds tactile elements to the work even if the final product is digital.
Q: Were there any art ideas that you did not use in your final designs?
SA: I thought of trying more conventional heraldry symbols but they diluted the impact of the blue squares as pieces of pop art. I wanted to include weapons like an executioner’s axe, but found it maybe too literal.
Q: What was one choice you made while creating the art for The Blue Way?
SA: ‘Do not make art like if it was a cinematic universe or video game franchise.’ I like these as much as anyone, but, ‘make art different’ because it’s my chance to say something deeply personal with illustration. In this case, my strange sense of humor served as a conceptual framework to portrait tragedy, sadness and the loss of stories. I couldn’t be luckier.
Q: Is there anything else you would like people to know about the art or how you created it?
SA: As with things, game art has trends. This is not necessarily bad.
What would be horrible is if everything followed the same trend. I like experimentation, showing something different, and mostly important, injecting a lot of my personal experiences in the work. Those are commodities in the tabletop gaming world (or at least I feel as they are). To me, it is a breath of fresh air to create something that could be not just a functional illustration but an autonomous piece of art as its own. I’m deeply thankful for that. I hope this feeling comes through the work and it brings you many days of joy.
Finally, the cover art deals with the loss of identity in the hands of a faceless judgmental ruler. Something we all can relate to, I think.
Thanks for the insights, Sam!
If you haven’t already, follow the prelaunch page of The Blue Way to get ready to secure your copy of the game dripping with Sam’s scarily gorgeous art!