Wingspan Board Game Art - How the Hit Board Game was Made - Interview with Elizabeth Hargrave, Jamey Stegmaier, and Natalia Rojas (Issue #52)
Birds are the perfect subject to learn how to draw and to practice. There are so many species, different looking, so many colors, textures, etc and that’s why I enjoy it. Every bird illustration offers new challenges and more learning opportunities…
Welcome to Issue 52 in my series sharing the stories behind board game art.
The Wingspan board game is a global hit, selling millions of copies and being talked about everywhere from The New York Times to your local game store. In this interview, I speak to publisher Jamey Stegmaier, artist Natalia Rojas, and game designer Elizabeth Hargrave about creating the game. Enjoy!
Check out the interview archive for more great insights into board game art.
Thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Jamey: I’m Jamey Stegmaier, and for the last 6 years, I’ve run a board game publishing company called Stonemaier Games. I run this company full time from my home office in St. Louis, Missouri, which is a fairly large midwestern city. In addition to designing games, playing games, and doing a lot of business-related stuff, I love to cook and try new food (and old favorites) at local restaurants, watch movies, read fiction, and play/watch soccer. I have 2 cats that demand quite a bit of time and attention as well.
Natalia: Thank you for having me. I am a 33-year old artist from Medellin, Colombia, currently living St. Louis, MO. I’ve been married for 13 years and we have two daughters (ages 7 and 4) and a cute puppy named Pinto. I’m a dedicated mother and work around their schedules as I don’t want to miss out in their childhood.
I have a curious mind and like to learn about everything, so I read a lot and jump from one hobby to another. I do jewelry, watercolor painting, yoga, gym, and of course color pencil drawing. My family and my art are the most important things in my life. I do commission art work and Wingspan is my first big gig as a freelancer illustrator.
Elizabeth: I'm Elizabeth Hargrave, and I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. I moved here to work for the federal government, but now I'm a freelance consultant, which gives me some flexibility to do game design work and also to travel. In addition to birding I'm an all around nature geek: I'm on the board of the local mushroom club and I help my spouse with his landscape design work.
Photograph of Wingspan board game - Instagram @MoreGamesPlease
Natalia, as a self-taught illustrator, when did you start drawing?
N: Drawing has always been something so natural to me that I never saw it as something special. I’ve always done it, but the first time someone mentioned how good I was at it was my kindergarten teacher. Drawing was something I did just to pass the time or to take my mind away from places. I’m an avid reader and I used to get in trouble during my scholar years for drawing and/or reading instead of doing classwork. I wasn’t very academic and used to get in trouble because my mind was always busy with drawing stuff or reading books (I love Stephen King, Ken Follett, and other authors who write historic novels).
Natalia’s art studio
I never really set my mind to learn how to draw, I would just try to copy an image I liked such as book covers or Dragon ball notebooks, people from magazines, or anything I could find. After graduating from high school I didn’t consider art as a career, I guess because my passion for books was bigger than my passion for art. So, I wanted to study philology but was discouraged by my parents because, like with art, it’s hard to make a living out of books. I tried three different careers including business administration and journalism and dropped them all. I’ve also had normal jobs, too; I’ve done customer support, finance, procurement, etc. However, some years ago I finally came to the realization that I’m a natural artist and that’s what brings me joy. It took me many years and several jobs to take art seriously but when I did, I found my calling. It’s a funny to think how art was always there and I kept ignoring it.
Natalia’s art studio
After my epiphany I decided to try to get better at drawing and I just knew I needed to take my time and work slow to get the level of detail I like. I started to follow some great artists like Jay Depalma and Ileana Hunter on social media. Sometimes they’d share tools and materials that I would get and use on my next little project. After moving to United States in 2012 I started going to an amazing art studio for painting nights and got more involved in the artistic community.
Even though I say I’m self-taught I’m thankful to have received great advice from other artists like Ana Martinez with whom I partnered to create the illustrations for Wingspan, and my husband who is always a tough critic, in a good way. He helps me see where I need to improve. I like to do research, and I use every available tool like books and videos but what has really worked for me is the practice and the patience to take my time in every piece.
I don’t really know how to explain it other than there’s a great connection between what I see and my ability to transfer it on paper.
Bird illustration by Natalia Rojas
Wingspan’s theme feels unique. What inspired you to make a game about bird enthusiasts? What came first, theme or mechanics?
E: It was definitely theme first, and in direct reaction to the fact that I'm not particularly excited about any of the themes that show up most frequently on board games.
J: When she (Elizabeth) pitched it to me, I was entranced by the idea of collecting different combinations of beautiful birds that each had different mechanical impacts on my strategy. So the theme itself was never a question—it was birds from start to finish. As much as I loved the theme and thought it would capture peoples’ attention after they played it, I wasn’t sure how quickly it would catch on. So I went with a fairly conservative number of games for our first print run (10,000 is conservative for us), which has turned out to be far too low.
Photo of Wingspan board game
Can you describe Wingspan to us and what makes it interesting?
J: Wingspan is a bird-collection, card-driven, engine-building game for 1-5 players. It features 170 unique bird cards, each with its own art and unique abilities. You’ll use these bird cards to enhance the core abilities of your habitats while also continually comboing the abilities of cards you’ve played in each of those habitats.
What makes Wingspan interesting to me is the wide variety of birds, which leads to every game feeling different. I like that there are a number of paths to victory, but even if I don’t win, I have a strong sense of satisfaction from my birds and what they’ve done over the course of the game.
How did you try to evoke the theme of birds more in the production?
J: This is where the artwork and components came into play. I wanted an Audubon look to the game, as I thought that would best trigger that “collectors” aspect that originally drew me to the theme. Fortunately, Natalia’s style and attention to detail was a perfect match for this style.
N: From the very beginning I knew they were looking for realism art and Jamey mentioned Audubon so I started to research him, and I offered Jamey a colored pencil drawing of a bird so they could decide if I was a good fit for the project (I was competing with other artists I think).
J: As for the components, I like to publish products that have a special, tactile, and attractive table presence. I want component hooks, basically. Elizabeth thought of the birdfeeder dice tower, and I pursued the egg miniatures, the fancy insert, chunky wooden dice, and large, journal-like player mats.
Image of Wingspan board game - image cred Kim Euker (supplied by Jamey Stegmaier)
Natalia, what inspires you when illustrating birds, and what do you look for in each drawing?
N: Accuracy is key when doing scientific illustration. I do my research of the bird and the differences according to genre, season, location, age, etc. Ana and I always look for the image that best represents the bird’s characteristics. However, we also wanted to include images that would present a challenge so we can continue to learn and grow artistically.
Elizabeth was a great coach and helped us learn about birds for this project. To be able to accurately illustrate birds we got in touch with wonderful wildlife photographers and we got permissions to draw from their pictures. Nevertheless, when we couldn’t find the perfect image we had to use several pictures and a lot of imagination to guarantee an unique illustration that would represent the bird as if it was alive.
Birds are the perfect subject to learn how to draw and to practice. There are so many species, different looking, so many colors, textures, etc and that’s why I enjoy it. Every bird illustration offers new challenges and more learning opportunities.
Illustrations by Natalia Rojas and Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, featured in the board game – Wingspan are available to purchase via Natalia’s shop
Playtesting is the real litmus test for how close a game is to being ready. How long did Wingspan spend in this phase, and how did it change during its development?
E: I worked on the game for a couple of years before pitching it to Jamey, and then I went back and forth with him on development for another year or so before sending it out for blind playtests. It got heavier over that time, but kept the streamlined feel of those simple base actions at its core.
I tweaked the layout of my prototype cards a lot over that whole process, to make them as clear and user friendly as possible, based on what people had trouble with in playtests. That definitely helped from a UI perspective -- and Christine (the graphic designer) left a lot of things in the same positions they were in on my prototype after all those iterations. But then she made everything prettier and gave it a more cohesive feel.
Image of Wingspan board game - courtesy of Instagram @ellalovesboardgames
J: I’ll speak specifically to the blind playtesting part of the process, as local playtesting (mostly by Elizabeth, some by me) is very different than having a bunch of people around the world playing the game all at once. The blind playtest process for Wingspan actually only took about 3 months (1 month per wave), as the game was in good shape by that point. It was really all about fine-tuning it, testing different paths to victory, and making sure the rules and the text on the birds and bonus cards was as clear as possible.
Natalia was working on the bird illustrations throughout the design and playtest process—we knew which birds were going to be in the game, so playtesting had no impact on the art (and vice versa). Even the player mat, which Beth Sobel illustrated, was firmly established before blind playtesting began, though we tweaked some of the graphic design elements of it as the result of blind playtesting.
N: I learned that creating a board game is a creative and complex process that requires great attention to detail and coordination in many different areas. When I started working on the illustrations I knew this project was a big jump in my career and I gave my best to make sure the art in Wingspan was a good representation of my work.
In all honesty, I knew very little about board games from my childhood but it was a big surprise to learn how big the gamer community is. I just learned how to play wingspan a few days ago and it makes me very happy that not only I did part of the art but that is the first board game I ever played. It makes it extra special.
Working with Stonemaier has taught me great lessons about managing my time in a more efficient manner and to keep clear communication with my clients to set timelines and expectations.
Wingspan illustrations - Natalia Rojas
Do you have any other projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
J: Natalia is currently working on the art for a Wingspan expansion (for which we have not announced details), and spring/summer Stonemaier Games releases include an expansion for Euphoria and a modular board for Scythe.
N: I’m currently working on the first expansion for Wingspan and already have a waiting list for a few portraits. People, dogs and more birds are on my list. I’m super excited because I’m having great exposure thanks to Wingspan and I’m making a living out of art which is not easy.
E: I'm working on a Wingspan expansion. I have an 18-card game called Tussie-Mussie that will come out around May from Button Shy, which is based on the Victorian fad of flower language. I have high hopes that it will also be beautiful, just in a much smaller package!
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
J: I find thematic inspiration in the variety of forms of fiction I consume; right now I’m reading the Broken Earth trilogy. I find mechanical inspiration in the games I’m playing (recent plays include Dice Throne, Aeon’s End Legacy, and AuZtralia). And I find business inspiration in certain podcasts and YouTube videos, like a recent Daniel Pink talk I listened to and the Masters of Scale podcast.
E: I try to keep taking in a lot of information about the world, and I use that to keep a running list of things that might make good board games. I love the podcasts Radiolab, Curiosity Daily, and Outside/In. When I worked on Capitol Hill, a speechwriter once told me the Washington Post obituary page was a source of great stories, and it's true -- there are many fascinating things that have happened in the world, and a lot of them end up there.
N: I’m studying a book about birds but can’t say the title without spoiling the expansion. I’m following a lot of artists and photographers in Instagram because I’m constantly looking for images to use as references for the drawings, but the main source of inspiration these days is my bird feeders and daily walks around the neighborhood. Wingspan not only gave me an opportunity to grow as an artist, but it gave me the love for birds and nature. Before starting working on this project I didn’t know anything about birds and never cared but now I’m full into bird watching and the whole family loves it to the point that my daughters dressed up as a Quail and a Blue Jay for Halloween. Is great to sit by the window with a coffee to watch all the different birds that visit the backyard.
Illustrations by Natalia Rojas and Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, featured in the board game – Wingspan are available to purchase via Natalia’s shop
Finally, if we’d like to see more of your work, where can we find you?
J: The hub for all things Stonemaier is www.stonemaiergames.com.
N: My websites is www.nataliarojasart.com or you can find me on Facebook and Instagram.
E: I’m active on BlueSky as @elizhargrave.
Thanks to Ella Loves Boardgames for sharing some images of Wingspan with me. You can find her on Instagram over here! (All other images are courtesy of Natalia, Jamey, and if no note given, myself)
If this is your first time visiting the site then why not stick around a while! I’d really recommend checking out the communities Top 10 Best Art of 2018 to see some absolutely gorgeous games and then head to my interview archive for a wealth of wonderful stories.
PARKS Board Game Art - Communicating Through Color and Illustrating the National Parks - Interview with 59 Parks Project(Issue #50)
A commercial artist isn't in the field just to execute someone else's vision. We like to approach the series as a collaboration and most feedback starts or ends with "what do you think?". That's because we value each artist's insights and ideas. Artists also work incredibly hard on their craft…
Welcome to Issue 50 in my series sharing the stories behind board game art.
Today, I’m talking to JP Boneyard, one of the founders of the Fifty-Nine Parks print series. Parks is a board game that combines the gorgeous art of this series with game mechanics from Keymaster Games. It’s a wonderful celebration of the US national parks, well worth seeing. Check it out below!
Check out the interview archive for more great insights into board game art.
Hi JP, thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Thank you for making the time! I provide creative direction for The Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series. The series is a celebration of National Parks, design, and printmaking. Our origins are tied to DIY music, screen printed posters, and a love of the parks. During high school friends and I set up all ages art and music events in our small town. 100 of those shows took place in a backyard shed and we hosted bands from all over the world. As a necessity to promote those events friends and I developed a love for design and printmaking. Little did we know we'd later have a career in both!
In the early 2000's we spent a lot of time touring the country in bands and on road trips. This is where we developed an awareness of and appreciation for the parks. Being from a small isolated town in Massachusetts we couldn't believe some the awe inspiring natural wonders out there! 18 years and 350+ events later we've combined all of our favorite things into our full time focus. We still tour often but now it's with a traveling collection of gig posters and parks prints!
You helped found the Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series. Can you explain the series and what some of the biggest challenges were in creating it?
The parks series began shortly after I moved to Austin, TX for a design job in 2015. One of the biggest challenges is finding the combination of the right artist with the right park. It's really important to find a scene that really represents the park, too. We're incredibly mindful about each artists strengths and interests. That often informs which park folks work on. Another challenge has to do with time. Since each posters costs about $3,500 to produce we have to be intentional and strategic about which park we release and when. Especially since we can only afford to release two posters a month. We know some parks only have a few thousand visitors each year. Since we've committed to making a poster of every park we know we won't recoup that initial investment for a year or two — and that's okay. But since each new release essentially kickstarts the next we have to be savvy about our release schedule. The first two years were pretty lean for us. Fortunately it feels like we're starting to gain some momentum now that we have almost every park represented.
In terms of cohesion we rely on the beautiful typeface Riley Cran designed and a simple but effective poster template. The rest is curation, some art direction, and careful color choices.
You're working with Keymaster Games on the card game PARKS. How did this collaboration happen, and what made you want to get involved?
We've loved Keymasters work for a few years now and we often travel with a copy of Campy Creatures on road trips — it's one of our favorite games we own! We were in touch with Keymaster after meeting Josh Emrich who did most of (or all of?!) the design work for Campy. The quality of the products, the game mechanics, and the appreciation for solid design really makes them stand out. I have a philosophy that basically says "swing at everything" and don't fear rejection. It was a long shot but we talked with Mattox at Keymaster and it turned out they were aware of the series! Shortly after a few enthusiastic conversations we began collaborating on PARKS! We're stoked to work together!
What kind of research goes into finding those scenes? Do you have guiding principles, or is it more instinctive than that?
We research every scene with each artist. Sometimes this is easier if we've been to the park ourselves. Some parks — like the ones in Alaska — are tougher to get to so we often reach out to friends or other artists who may have been. We also do as much visual and historical research as possible via the internet. We prefer basing each composition on our personal photos and experiences whenever possible though. When picking a scene we like to play to an artists strengths and choose something iconic enough to represent the park. We also like to include a loose narrative in each poster — that's often why you'll see hikers or wildlife in each poster.
How do you use colour to communicate more about the parks themselves?
We use color to represent each park in the best light. In most cases we're being pretty faithful to the natural colors found within the parks. Some artists take a more stylistic approach to their work so we may have a color palette that is stylized but somewhat representative. We also have constraints with the number of colors we can use since each poster is a 6-8 color screen print. That in itself is a fun challenge. Showing the parks in the best light possible often means leaning towards vibrant scenes that evoke a sense of wonder and awe. This is largely conveyed through the rendering of each park and the scene we choose — the color palettes help drive this home though.
How do you go about translating the larger prints of the Fifty-Nine Parks project into the much more scaled-down version we see here in the game?
Most of the illustrations were designed to look great large and still read well somewhat small. That's because we're considering what the images look like as a print and what they look like (smaller) online. The only snag we really hit was with longer park names. In some instances we had to make some tweaks to park name or the background of an image. Otherwise the illustrations felt like they worked pretty well within the context of the board game!
How has your perception of the board game industry changed while working on this game?
We had no idea how much play testing went into board games. It's brilliant! Usability testing exists in so many other fields, why not here!? I'm not sure why this was a surprise to us but it really speaks to the dedication of both game publishers and players!
With this project you’ve collaborated with a lot of different creatives, so what advice would you give to anyone wanting to work with artists?
I'd say the biggest consideration is respect. A commercial artist isn't in the field just to execute someone else's vision. We like to approach the series as a collaboration and most feedback starts or ends with "what do you think?". That's because we value each artist's insights and ideas. Artists also work incredibly hard on their craft. Respect in communicating what may not be working and acknowledgement of what is, is crucial. Almost every email exchange ends with "thank you". That's because I really do appreciate that someone made the time to work with us — and in many cases — made something pretty remarkable in the process.
Additionally, what advice would you give to anyone who wanted to work as an artist?
Stick with it. Practice. No matter what. And don't take design feedback or rejection personally — it's all in the interest of refining your craft. If you really do goof up on something, own it, learn from it, and move forward. At the same time be mindful of who you listen to. Message boards and comment sections are filled with critics who haven't put in the work themselves. Art is subjective and your worth as an artist — or as a human — isn't derived from other peoples approval. It's derived from loving what you do and doing your best at this moment in time. If your best doesn't feel like enough continue to work and refine your craft — you'll get there eventually!
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
Art directing the series means I'm working closely with dozens of artists at once. For books anything by basketball coach John Wooden, NBA legend Bill Russell, mythologist Joseph Campbell, or anything on stoicism. This is often where I go for insight into working with others or finding more inspiration to enjoy this whole experience — meaning my work but also being alive! Music is all over the place but Minutemen, Kendrick Lamar, Sam Cooke, Aaliyah always do the trick. Instagram is a great resource for inspiring images of parks and finding new artists to work with.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of your work, where can we find you online?
You can find us on Instagram at @fiftynineparks and online at 59parks.net. 5% of each poster sale is donated to the National Park Service and we screen print every poster here in the USA! Thank you for making time to talk with us!
PARKS: The Board Game, a game about exploring and discovering the US National Parks is on Kickstarter until 20th Feb!
(All images courtesy and copyright of Keymaster Games and the Fifty Nine Parks project).
If this is your first time visiting the site then why not stick around a while! I’d really recommend checking out the communities Top 10 Best Art of 2018 to see some absolutely gorgeous games and then head to my interview archive, as there are a wealth of wonderful stories in there.