Yesterday, with knots in my stomach and my head swimming with all the possible good-and-bad-and-in-between repercussions of doing so, I gave a presentation to the owner of my design agency, requesting they let me give up full time work, giving me time off...
Let me back up. For my day job, I'm a package designer. I have been for nearly a decade. I work as senior designer for an incredible design agency. We do work for some of the biggest brands in the world. Chances are, if I walked into your house and snooped around for a minute I could find a package that we've designed. In addition to doing cool work, the work environment is better than any agency I've worked for in the past, and the people are great. It's a well-paying gig and I'm extremely thankful to have it.
On top of all that, there's one extra-incredible aspect of my company that is unlike anywhere else I know. They have an entrepreneurial spirit that drives them to create new things, not just make our clients' products look pretty. They own a beer brand, launched a blog about cooking with tempeh, invented a tempeh oven, even created a men's soap. They encourage their employees to dream big, and they want them to chase those dreams.
My dream is board games.
Sure, part of me wishes my dream was something a bit more glamorous and lucrative but, if I'm being honest with myself, board games are the exact point where of all my passions and interests meet. I even made this venn diagram. And included it in my presentation:
In the past year I managed to get the tiniest bit of my foot in the door of the board game industry and the response has been amazing. I've been approached with dozens upon dozens of projects and opportunities, two full-time job offers, and made more connections and friends than I would have thought possible in such a short amount of time.
There have been so many opportunities that have come my way and I've attempted to take on as many as I can, but there just isn't enough time. There have been many nights were I have woken up, gone to work for 8-10 hours, gone home to work on games for 8-10 more, then dreamt of working on games for the few hours I actually slept.
Knowing this wasn't going to be sustainable, and realizing my wonderful girlfriend would toss me to the curb if I spent every free moment working on (and barely playing) board games, I decided I needed to work towards a change.
Now we're back to the beginning of this post. I put together a presentation encapsulating all of the above, conveying my growing passion for this industry, and asking my bosses for the opportunity to pursue it.
Guess what? They were into it. They were energized by my passion for an industry they were barely even aware of. Where another agency would respond, "Sorry, we own you, 40 hours a week, deal with it" my company responded, "We want employees like you, how can we help? What can we do?" I was/am flabbergasted, excited, nervous, overjoyed, thankful, hopeful - STOKED.
The TL;DR version: In the very near future, I will no longer be a full-time package designer. I'll be cutting back my hours daily, and working on board games instead.
In addition to all this, it will allow me to move forward with something I'm excited to announce, but can't quite yet. Instead, here's a pixely teaser thing:
Creating and working on games has been the most rewarding experience of my life so far, and every new project that comes along excites me more and more. Board games are the exact meeting point of the majority of my interests: creativity, storytelling, art, design, and entrepreneurialism (I spelled that correctly on my first try - I'm very proud).
Kingdom Land
Game Design / Graphic Design / Illustration
Published by Crash Games (2014)
Project: Auloma (Unannounced)
Graphic Design / Illustration
Published by XXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXX (2015)
Project: Magick (Unannounced)
Graphic Design / Illustration
Published by XXXXXXXXX XXXXX (2014)
Project: Darkcards (Unannounced)
Game Design / Graphic Design / Illustration
Published by XXXXXXXXX XXXXX (20??)
Project: Small Crime (Unannounced)
Graphic Design / Illustration
Published by XXXXX XXX XXXXX (20??)
Project: SQRCRDS (codesigned by J. Alex Kevern)
Game Design / Graphic Design / Illustration
Unsigned
Corn Age
Game Design / Graphic Design / Illustration
Unsigned
I'm also in talks over one or two other projects that I may or may not end up getting, but my plate is pretty full one way or the other. That's not to say I can't take more, it's just to say I am ready to devour all of these and come back for seconds!
‘Palendromeda’ by HARK
HARK's debut album was only released today and they are already one of my favorite bands. For fans of Baroness, Torche, groovier sections of Kvelertak, etc.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the Tuesday Knight Games guys commissioned me to do some cartoony mascot versions of them for the Two Rooms And A Boom rulebook. Here they are, in all their little cute glory.
The guys from Tuesday Knight Games asked me to do some cartoony mascot versions of themselves for the Two Rooms And A Boom rulebook. Now that Sean has shown them off in a Kickstarter update, I think I can show you guys this version of his 'toon. More poses and whatnot soon (gotta do some revisions, those guys are sticklers)...
Big congrats to the five Kickstarter-funded games that won a Golden Geek award! The winners (art from each pictured above):
Shadowrun Returns - Best Indie Game
1775 - Rebellion - Best War Game
Tiny Epic Kingdoms / Coin Age - Best Print & Play Game
Fate Core System - Best RPG
I’ve been on a search for the perfect planner to keep all my various game design projects and freelance opportunities organized, but realized that most of them blow a TON of space on timeframes that I won’t be using. Since I have a 9-5 IRL job, I put together this sweet little page that has slots for just evenings and weekends. Click here to get the full-sized version and feel free to print it out and use it if you think you’d also find it useful!
*This planner page was inspired heavily by the Passion Planner, which I bought and loved, it just didn't fit my needs exactly.
Here's the first promo image for my upcoming game, Kingdom Land. This handsome fella is King Krinklepot, the beloved (and somewhat unhinged) ruler of Kingdom Land. Also, he just died! Oh no! But now you have a shot at the crooked crown. Sound fun? It is. Probably.
Lineart by me, colors by my good old friend Oliver Meinerding.
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