Defining the style

The artist for Scratch is the very talented Jason Kingsley who I came in contact with through Board Game Geek. I imagine I wrote him substantially more and substantially longer emails than he is used to for a pre-engagement set of discussions, but the outcome was certainly worth it in my opinion.

Some back story reminders. Scratch gets its name because the game board and tokens were originally scratch paper and spare change (i.e. a little scratch). The casualness of the ancillary pieces of the game were supported by the casualness of the card design and all together gave Scratch a really accessible feel. It felt like the kind of game you could pick up with ease and toss down when you were bored. I liked that and didn't want to lose it, but I also realized that when I brought a professional on board the cards probably wouldn't look shabby and unassuming any more. So we needed to define a style that still made Scratch feel accessible and approachable while also looking professional and engaging.

The style itself. The benchmark we kept coming back to was "worn leather." High quality leather just keeps looking better and better, even as it gets scratched up and worn out. A solid leather chair looks great in your grandpa's den that stopped aging in the '60's or in a modern minimalist house. It's just a good look. All of the colors in Scratch are just a touch on the muted side and the presence of scratches, gashes, and nicks can be seen throughout. I love it.

We also wanted to incorporate this mentality into the actual content of the cards. So when there is a rocky outcropping, it is rugged. When there is a castle wall, it has been smashed and is slowly being rebuilt. The implied world of Scratch is itself scratched. There are battles here, fortresses and bastions are won and lost before being retaken, and that, too, we wanted that reflected.

You can also see how Jason left the occasional pencil line unfinished or just implied a part of the art. The idea here was to make it as though even the artist was harried or decided things were "good enough" and moved on, just as they would in rebuilding their walls. (To be sure, that wasn't Jason's actual mentality since I watched him go through revision after revision and it takes a master to make something look casual.) Collectively, it sets a style where the artist, the content, and the colors all push a vision of a world that is scuffed up but still worth fighting for, like an old leather chair that everyone loves.

Idle Hands

I have not been idle on Scratch. In fact, I've actually been working on it more diligently than ever this last month but it wasn't in a context that I was able or willing to really share. I was going through the slow and meticulous process of working with an artist to develop the art for the game. The process involved hundreds of emails and hours of back and forth as we hammered out the aesthetic. I am incredibly happy with the results and the end result is everything I hoped it would be. I plan to slowly start dolling out samples and sharing the story of its production in the days to come.