With the Kickstarter launching tomorrow, I bring you the last of our artists!
H. Emiko Ogasawara works in a dizzying variety of media: woodblock prints, pop-up books, ceramics, and more. I've known her for a few years -- I think we met at the San Jose Worldcon in 2018 -- and not only is she a great artist, but she has the kind of mind that digs deep into the context of the art; on the Discord server for our readers, she at one point asked about what type of paper-making is practiced in Vraszan, given that we talk about them having printing presses. Y'all know me; you know I love thinking through my worldbuilding in depth. Emiko managed to catch me flat-footed: I had not given so much as a moment's thought to that question. But it absolutely delighted me that she asked!
We say in the story that pattern decks can either be hand-painted (for the fancy ones) or woodblock-printed (for those without so much money). Obviously we're going more of a hand-painted style for the fronts of the cards, but for the backs, I really loved Emiko's eye for design and attention to technology. In fact, she's cut actual printing blocks for her backing! We're not going to actually use them to print all the decks, of course -- that would be wildly unfeasible -- but she's gone to work with carving tools and several stages of lino blocks to give the image that authentic look, which is above and beyond the call of duty.
As for her work in general, you can check out her website to see her range! For visual art, I was particularly charmed by this fellow:
![Hanafuda Hannya Joker by H. Emiko Ogasawara, showing a grinning, horned wooden demon mask in the Japanese style]()
And with that, you have met all of our artists! Tomorrow, we kick this Kickstarter into gear!
(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/VfSBkD)
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H. Emiko Ogasawara works in a dizzying variety of media: woodblock prints, pop-up books, ceramics, and more. I've known her for a few years -- I think we met at the San Jose Worldcon in 2018 -- and not only is she a great artist, but she has the kind of mind that digs deep into the context of the art; on the Discord server for our readers, she at one point asked about what type of paper-making is practiced in Vraszan, given that we talk about them having printing presses. Y'all know me; you know I love thinking through my worldbuilding in depth. Emiko managed to catch me flat-footed: I had not given so much as a moment's thought to that question. But it absolutely delighted me that she asked!
We say in the story that pattern decks can either be hand-painted (for the fancy ones) or woodblock-printed (for those without so much money). Obviously we're going more of a hand-painted style for the fronts of the cards, but for the backs, I really loved Emiko's eye for design and attention to technology. In fact, she's cut actual printing blocks for her backing! We're not going to actually use them to print all the decks, of course -- that would be wildly unfeasible -- but she's gone to work with carving tools and several stages of lino blocks to give the image that authentic look, which is above and beyond the call of duty.
As for her work in general, you can check out her website to see her range! For visual art, I was particularly charmed by this fellow:
And with that, you have met all of our artists! Tomorrow, we kick this Kickstarter into gear!
(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/VfSBkD)