ART DESIGN PART I: THE FIGURES

ART DESIGN PART I: THE FIGURES

Suppose you found a western shootout board game at an antique store? Far in the back, next to a stack of old hats, a World's Fair souvenir beer stein, and some dried up fountain pens is a dusty box, a little worn around the edges, perhaps partly collapsed. How do you suppose it would look? How would the figures look?

The Victorians saw things through a peculiar lens, tinged with the absurd and grotesque. Look no further than a 19th-century circus to see how bizarre their tastes ran.

I am endlessly fascinated with the 19th-century's art design, particularly their love of flamboyant exaggeration. The golden era of the Old West, the 1870's and 80's, were smack dab in the middle of the this period.

Here are some examples of cartoons from the 1800s and some of GR's figure designs. These "colorized" renders come from the back of the character cards.