Artist Diary: Courtisans | BoardGameGeek News

by Noëmie Chevalier

When I received the prototype of Courtisans*, the six families were represented by anthropomorphic animals, and all of them belonged to a faction: minstrels, traders, diplomats, and so on**. I was free to stay within anthropomorphism — or I could go a totally different direction. The only rule I had was having six different families. I was more inspired by human characters, but animals are instinctively easier to distinguish. Hmm…

Talking with Clément from Catch Up Games, we had thought of having blazons for each family, and that prompted me to tie an animal to each family. I made a few tests to that effect, including the solution that made it into the game, which gives a lot of space to the animal. I chose a handful of animals I thought were easy to integrate into the characters themselves or their clothes thanks to feathers, armor like an insect shell, water motifs, and so on, then I started character designing.

Once the ideas of the cards and the animals were selected, finding characters and their design proved to be quite quick. I had already built my own database of med-fan characters and aesthetics since I had worked on illustrating books in this kind of universe, and I also love to explore this kind of theme in my own creations. Clément had mentioned such artwork when he approached me for the art of Courtisans***. What required research and reference was when we decided to make character powers apparent in the art. I now have an endless gallery of pictures of me holding a knife, with a more or less murderous look…

The remainder of the art went smoothly. Clément told me I could and should go all-in, make everything as different as I could. I could create an overall pattern. Frames and ornaments belong to each family, and these can be found in the shape and motifs of the chairs at the banquet. (Actually, the motifs are the ornaments of each family blended together!) I love detail work that creates an overall harmony.

I usually illustrate SF&F books (Book of the Stars by Erik L’Homme****, Les Héritiers de Brisaine by David Bry, L’Agence Perdido by Victor Dixen, etc.) as an illustrator, but also as a layout/DTP. I work on loads of novel, comic book, and manga covers. Working on Courtisans, I felt I had to approach this medium differently, especially since its constraints are so different.

On the book covers, I’m going to make a beautiful cover, but I’m also going to question the genre of the work, what audience it targets and how to reach it, how to sum up the universe brought forth by the author (to whom I owe a lot), what to put in the limelight, which other books will be released at the same time — all of that must be taken into consideration to give the cover a commercial edge.

For Courtisans, the expectations were not the same, and the codes were very different. I didn’t have to stick to a specific age bracket, even if the game was meant to be a family game. The questions I asked myself were different. I had to question the functionality of the game, its pace, and the much-needed immediacy of its imagery. I also had to think about how the game components are handled and taken.

What was striking was the freedom I had on the art itself. Contrary to a book, in this case I was designing the characters. I was an integral part in creating the universe of the game.

Second, the art was manipulated…a lot. On a book, you lure people in with the cover, then they flip the book to read its blurb and summary. On a game, it is much more complex and varies from one game to another. Having people test Courtisans in each step of the art was really a lifesaver. It allowed me to fix the mat, for example. At some point, I had well-defined areas on the mat for each family, and it was hard for people to not be tempted to play their cards on the mat. Starting my board game illustration journey with a game as accessible as Courtisans was a blessing!

I have a soft spot for people of the Carp family. As far as female characters go, I am often asked to draw little girls or Baba Yaga-like hags — but adult women I seldom draw, and I don’t usually like those I do. They tend to be drab, plain, without much character.

I think I succeeded in my personal challenge to overcome this tendency! I love the design I created, and the inner strength the character displays. And a Bilibin-inspired fish as an accompaniment — that is a hundred percent my jam!

In the end, I’m really happy with this collaboration. Everything went smoothly and was done in a friendly environment. I was given a lot of freedom, pushed to listen to my gut — and to do what I wanted to do, I was given agency. Catch Up Games put nice finishing touches on the design with the fabric mat and the gilding of the cards, and that worked very well – it all was a very pleasant process for me.

Clearly, this work made me crave more games, and I am to reiterate the experience soon for Moonlight: The Land of the Wolves. I am discovering a lot of extremely rich graphical universes – artists, designers, and publishers make amazing stuff. I am extremely curious to experiment with other game mechanisms, and I want to work on my art to serve those. I want to thank Catch Up Games, once again, for getting me into the boardgame world!

Noëmie Chevalier

Notes from the publisher:

* The prototype was still called Kaiji at the time, from the name of the Japanese whiskey that reportedly helped designers Romaric Galonnier and Anthony Perone to come up with the original game design. (“Very smooth” is how they describe this specific part of the process.)

** For this early prototype, the designers had borrowed cute art of tiny armed animals from a famous board game, which one could say is the root of the final art by Noëmie…

*** While looking for an artist for the game, Clément was instantly drawn by the medieval-looking characters on Noëmie’s Artstation page, and when he learned she also designs all the ornamentations that often embellish her art, he was sure it had to be her!

**** As a teenager, Noëmie was a fan of the book series. As an adult, she got to design the covers of the new edition. How cool is that?!