INDEPENDENT TTRPG ARTIST CREATOR INTERVIEW: ARTCHER

I was lucky enough to come across Artcher on Twitter, when one of their whimsical monster/murder hobo pieces (an Owl Warrior with a cupboard door as a shield.)  I loved it so asked if they were available for interview.  

Artcher, who started creating pieces for indie TTRPG's two years ago, is a fantasy artist who is available for commissions and dreams of working with some of the major publishers here are their answers to our questions...

Totally Pawsome: As an artist, what comes first for you, the story or a snapshot and why? Artcher: A good question! It’s definitely a bit of both for me as an artist, however I do lean a bit more towards being more interested in the story when it comes to designing characters and animals. The story and it’s background, environments, and most importantly it’s circumstances heavily impact how a character is designed, and how they’re portrayed in an illustration and I find that it helps a ton to think of those things while I work. TP: What would you say sells your art to people? A: Oh I like this question! I personally think that my art’s main selling point is its overwhelming personality I try to put into each work. I also think my main work’s cuteness, whimsicality and personality for each character and illustration is a large selling point. I do work with tough, super cool TTRPG characters as well though, so I think personality is the best answer for this one! 

TP: Why the TTRPG space? A: I’ve always worked in the TTRPG space, even back in my beginner days on Tumblr I was uploading TTRPG characters and little else. It’s where I feel at home, and I’ve learned how to turn that massive interest of mine into a career because it’s an artistic niche I love! TTRPGs have beena large part of my life since I was a teenager, so I feel it was only natural that I’d start illustrating them into adulthood.

 

TP: What is your favourite piece that you've created and why? A: I actually have three! But my biggest favorite of them is one of my most popular I think: I have this illustration of three Pet Adventurers, two dogfolk and one catfolk and they’re all very happy, and just having a good ol’ time adventuring. I really like how happy I was able to make all of them look even though they’re animals so I think that may be my “favorite” among favorites. I’ll include them in this answer for clarity. I think the “why” simply boils down to the personality and colors in each one, honestly. I love drawing and painting happy things, and each one of these is a “happy thing” so to speak. ( Artist’s clarification: The first one pictured here is the first part of that answer if that helps in your formatting at all!) TP: Coming up with a piece is often an idea that gets written into a journal to come back on. How often do you find yourself working on one piece and another comes to mind and can you give an example? A: Oh, all the time. I tend to work on commissions in big sets of 4-5 at a time, so as I’m working and looking through references or inspiration images (especially on Pinterest!) I’ll constantly have new inspiration for new artworks. For example: I have a long running worldbuilding/brainstorming project for my small Pet Adventurers called Over Rock, Under Hill that I work on when I have time or when I can. I worked on this spreadsheet over the course of a week because I had many illustration orders I was working on at the time as well, but the ideas for this project constantly come to me here and there while working.

TP: What do you think is most inspiring about your pieces and why? A: Oh this is a very hard question. I suppose I’ll go off of what others have told me: I’ve been told that my colors, expressions, and overall painting technique are inspiring for others! I create works with a lot of painterly brush strokes and a good friend of mine has described my technique as “a bunch of scribbles that when you zoom out it’s fully rendered” and I’ve heard a good few folks say that they like that painted quality to my work! TP: Where do you see your artwork taking you in 5 years? A: Oh that’s hard to answer! I honestly couldn’t quite accurately tell you. I really love where I’m at right now, so as I grow my family in the coming years I hope to continue making fantasy art and illustrating TTRPGs as well as getting to draw cute little dudes all the time like I do now. In 5 years I am hoping to sell more prints and have a larger name for my art, but other than that I’d be quite happy if things stayed in a similar spot to now, just with more financial stability and a larger “fanbase” if you’d call it that! However I do see myself working on one or two games in the future if I’m given the chance, I’d really love to work on a cutesy game and design characters or critters for it! TP: If you were given the time and opportunity to create anything you wanted what would it be and why? A: I’d create a full art book for my Pet Adventurers series, Over Rock; Under Hill. I’m really in love with the little LOTR, Frog and Toad style world I’ve placed the characters in, and I never have enough time to fully illustrate my ideas! I’d really love to create more for this little series of mine, and do honestly plan to in the coming years.

TP: Who do you admire in the fantasy art community and why? A: Oh, so many people. It’s really difficult to place one person, honestly. I think my two highest folks I hold a lot of admiration for are Tales from Myriad TTRPG and Teegketch, the artist and creator behind the Knight Light TTRPG. These are the types of TTRPGs I would really really love to work on, and I’m pretty sure they’re both creating them largely by themselves, which I could possibly see myself doing a long way down the road, or creating one with my fiancé ! TP: What got you into TTRPG's in the first place? A: My fiancé! We’ve been together for 10 years, and in our first year together we started playing D&D 3.5e and I’ve been absolutely hooked both mentally and artistically ever since.