TTRPG INDEPENDENT ARTIST CREATOR: Edward Yorke

Having seen an ad for the cover art of forthcoming game Rune (a fab collaboration between Gila RPG's, NS Miniatures and artist Edward Yorke), I was more than intrigued and dug into finding out about the artist.  I loved his dark themes and so when I saw that he was a Freelance Artist doing contract work as well as commissions for D&D I had to contact him to discover more.

Here he answers our first set of interview questions and reveals a few things about himself...

Totally Pawsome:  As an artist, what comes first for you, the story or a snapshot and why?

Ed Yorke:  Personally to me the image always comes first, as they say an image says 1000 words so crafting the right image is first and foremost. The story is right up there second, but I can enjoy art that tells a story all by itself without having any context. 

TP:  What would you say sells your art to people?

EY:  My TTRPG art is fairly dark, I tend to approach things with a bit of grit and grime. In my mind adventuring is mucky business and I like my artwork to reflect that, I think people respond to that mood well.

Why the TTRPG space?

EY:  I don’t actually play TTRPG’s myself, the connection was purely down to putting my art out there and getting a good response from the folks in that community. I like working on projects that include world building, narrative, and overarching themes, which is the bread and butter of TTRPGs so it’s a natural fit. Even though I’m not a player myself, I relate to the feeling of losing yourself in imagined worlds, I feel that is enough to make art without understanding what all the stats and rolls mean.

What is your favourite piece that you've created and why?

EY:  Thats a hard one to answer, I think personally my favourite piece was Rain. I ran a contest on Twitter for some art, and the winner let me do whatever I wanted. I had just finished a bunch of highly prescriptive briefs so was feeling ready to do my own thing, and I let loose on Rain. I enjoy paintings that look like paintings, but since I work 99% digitally it’s an interesting process to get the look of an Oil Painting, which I really had fun recreating here.

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?

EY:  That’s a problem I don’t really have at the moment, I’m working on a few TTRPG’s and a video game, in between commissions. I don’t really have much time for personal work. However when I do I tend to drop everything to get it done, I don’t have a journal of ideas but maybe I should keep one…

TP:  What do you think is most inspiring about your pieces and why?

EY:  I don’t think I’d call my work inspiring, maybe interesting due to the textures and colours I use.

TP:  Where do you see your artwork taking you in 5 years?

EY:  I hope to be working on my own ideas in the future. Developing my own work and partnering with writers and designers to help flesh the ideas into something for other people to enjoy. I’ve got some world building brewing in a document that is waiting for me to really dive into making art for. I’m also developing video games, I hope that I can create some niche for myself there and make some interesting new ideas in that space.

TP:  If you were given the time and opportunity to create anything you wanted what would it be and why?

EY:  I’d get weird, I love the idea of exploring different media such as VR and animation. An infinite budget and I’d just hire a bunch of my friends to drop everything and create strange and new experiences for people, paintings coming to life in Virtual Reality with music and sensory accoutrements to elevate the experience. I would eventually return to my comfort zone of painting but I want to really explore visual communication and all the esoteric forms it can take, before bringing it back to painting.

TP:  Who do you admire in the fantasy art community and why?

EY:  So many people, I find new artists, writers, designers and developers every day. To name just a few I really love the work of Ivan Kohetnov, Tooth Wu, Sergey Kolesov, Greg Rutkowski, Karla Ortiz, Dominik Mayer, Anato Finnstark, Betty Jiang, Edward Delandre. Those are all names I’d say are the giants I admire in the art form, I’m sure I’ve missed a million but they come to mind first today.

TP:  What got you into TTRPG's in the first place?

EY:  Since I don’t play TTRPG’s myself, it’s got to be the community. The folks in this space (generally) are very accepting, open minded, and excitable! I always enjoy talking to people about the art I’m going to be making with them, since it’s collaborative, they always get so excited and that is such a fun dynamic.