COUPLEOFKOOKS
Story is an important foundation to this artist’s designs
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background as an artist. Where did you start, and what got you into it?
I finished art high school here in Poland, then studied photography for a couple of years and took a break from drawing. After that I studied animation, which remains my primary work field to this day. Somewhere along the way, about ten years ago, I picked up drawing and painting again – this time in digital form, mostly to do personal work and fanart, and this gradually evolved into work. Currently I work as an animation teacher, PHD in Film Studies, and as a freelance illustrator and comic artist.
Do you play D&D yourself, and if so what’s the appeal to you?
Yes, once or twice a week for about four years now. The main appealing aspect for me is meeting with friends and telling a story together. The stories we create are a big source of inspiration for me and a drive to draw, paint and write.
D&D has a long history for artists, as well as gamers. How has it shaped your creative process and aesthetics?
I started to think about the art I make – no matter if it is for a D&D book or a personal work – as a piece of narrative, a story element, something that either adds to the existing story or prompts you to explore further. In art made for roleplaying games, be it for books or for our own campaigns, it is a given – the story is always the core element, everything revolves around it. But I’ve noticed that I started to think that way also about other, non-rpg related personal pieces. Coming up with a narrative context, even if it is not directly visible on the piece or ends up completely out of the picture, helps me in shaping out the idea, the mood and the form of it.
Do you have any heroes that have worked on D&D projects? Who are they, and any key pieces that you particularly love?
Tony Diterlizzi is the artist that made a big impression on me in the AD&D times and remains one of my favourite fantasy artists to this day. Particularly his work on Planescape (and Changeling: The Dreaming, a non-d&d RPG title) has stuck with me and I find myself coming back to these illustrations often. Unique designs, imperfect but beautiful faces, intriguing and intricate costume designs, the overall mood of the pieces that I always read as something drifting between very familiar and very alien – all that made me remember both his artwork and the worlds he presented in them.
When creating art for D&D, what inspires you? What’s your relationship to D&D from an artist’s perspective?
I had the pleasure of painting a couple of pieces (especially for the Ravenloft setting) that I could connect to characters I am playing in my own campaign, or find a connection to stories I participated in as a player, and this personal element I could put into the picture behind the scenes has turned out to be very helpful during the creative process.
Coming up with a story behind the picture I can connect to works is a great boost for me, so even if such connection doesn’t come naturally, I try to build even a small narrative around it. Very often it is something that already is prompted by the art description delivered by the art director: for example, a handmade amulet made out of bones and pieces of wood easily prompts an image of a character who could make it and wear it. Or, a coin carried in a pocket and used as a lucky charm allows me to add tiny personal touches. So again, little stories.
What is it about fantasy art, and D&D in particular, that you enjoy the most? As either an artist or as a consumer?
The story. In art made for roleplaying games even the smallest piece exists to add to the bigger story and create a bigger world, adding details to the story. Exploring this world is probably the favourite thing for me as a consumer, and adding to it, as an artist.
Is there anything from D&D that you would love to illustrate?
Anything from Planescape if this ever makes a return. Anything from Nine Hells too, the deeper the Circle the higher the excitement. Another thing I would one day love to do would be designing the villain for the campaign.