Paul Bourne Interview

GAZEBO INTERVIEW: PAUL BOURNE Brian talks to artist Paul Bourne about how he first got involved in the industry and what we can expect from him next

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rian: Those of us who hang around talking too much at cons know that you didn't really set out to be a designer & illustrator for RPGs. Can you tell us a little about how you got involved in the industry?

Paul: It started with a chance conversation with Malcolm Craig.

We had been friends for a number of years, and during that time Malc would talk about this roleplaying game he planned to write. One night we had a particularly in-depth conversation about it and came to an agreement that Malc

would write up some stuff for the game, and I would illustrate what he had written. We didn't have a plan to put things into print at this point though, we only planned on producing a website, to show the world the game was set in and a bit of the system so people could play it. After a while it became obvious that we could probably make a book out of what we had produced and publish it ourselves.

That game became a|state, which we eventually released about three years after that initial conversation.

After that we continued to produce supplements for a|state and I started to get offers to do some illustration from other games companies.

It all took off from there really.

Brian: The artwork for a|state attracted interest to the game over a year before the book was launched, what led you to produce those first, striking images?

Paul: Malc's writing was so easy to illustrate as it was so descriptive.

The writing was very dark and extremely detailed, so it was easy to take those characteristics and apply them to the illustrations. I wanted the art, especially the images of the city areas, to be as atmospheric and foreboding as possible so that

THE GAZEBO 12 days of Christmas

Brian Nisbet Brian Nisbet has been gaming since the early 80s and because just doing is never enough for him, he's been writing about it and organising events since the early 90s. He is more than willing to discuss almost anything to do with gaming, politics, history or networking and you can find him on twitter as @natural20 or in the bar. people could get a feel of what the whole city was like; not just in the way it looked, but its spirit too.

Brian: Did you look at a lot of other RPG art and design in the beginning and, if so, what kind of things?

Paul: I'm constantly looking at reference material and do a lot of research for every project I work on. For a|state, the main RPGs I looked at were Cyberpunk 2020 and SLA Industries, but I also looked at a lot of movie concept design.

Blade Runner and Alien were a big influence, as I loved the idea of a 'used future' where architecture and technology was advanced and new, but at the same time battered and worn. Now I spend a few days at the start of each project gathering reference material, to try and piece together the 'world' I'm going to be working in.

Brian: Within or without the RPG world, are there any artists or designers who particularly inspire you?

Paul: I'm lucky enough to be friends with a lot of people whose work I admire and inspires me. Jon Hodgson, Andy Hepworth and Scott Neil do fantastic work that really brings to life what's written on the page. I'm also big into matte painting and concept design,

so people like Paul Scott Canavan, Daniel Simon, John Liberto and Rudolf Herczog really float my boat! To be honest though, the list could go on forever.

Brian: You've made the work of writers like Malcolm Craig spring out of the page in visceral beauty, in most cases do you draw based on a single description, or is there a lot of back and forth between you and the writer?

Paul: It really all depends on what's written. If the brief or the description is good enough then you can get an idea straight away, but sometimes there needs to be a bit of back and forth to lock down the concept. Usually though, you can make a start with the brief given, then get back to the writer or Art Director with a rough idea, to see if you're on the right track or if they want any tweaks made.

Sometimes though, the art can

"I don't think I've ever created anything that scared me. The stuff I did for Dead of Night, and to a certain extent Hot War, did creep me out a bit though!

influence the writing. When we were working on a|state I showed Malc a city scene I had been playing around with that was not intended to be used for anything.

He thought it would make a strong image for the book so wrote up a city area to fit the scene. Those moments are pretty rare though!

Brian: Have you ever created something that scared you?

Paul: I don't think I've ever created anything that scared me. The stuff I did for Dead of Night, and to a certain extent Hot War, did creep me out a bit though! I think, when doing horror stuff, you're so much 'in the zone' that you become immune to anything that might normally give you a bit of a scare.

Brian: I've heard some interesting stories about how you got The One Ring gig involving fully drawn borders in Elvish and a bag of runes, care to tell the readers your version of events?

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"I wanted the art, especially the images of the city areas, to be as atmospheric and foreboding as possible so that people could get a feel of what the whole city was like; not just in the way it looked, but its spirit too"

Paul: I'd already been doing quite a bit of work for Cubicle 7 when I was asked by them to submit a treatment for The One Ring graphic design and layout. I came quite late to the project (which was, by this time, in its last stages), so the deadline to submit something was pretty tight. Obviously, Tolkien's work has a huge fanbase, so to work on a game based on his writings demanded a really worthy and considered approach. I felt that it was really important to not only represent the 'feel' of Middle-earth accurately, but to do something that would compliment the art that was going to be used. After

receiving the brief, I spent a couple of days researching, trying to get a handle on each Middle-earth culture and how they should be represented graphically. For the initial treatment, I submitted part of the introduction, fully laid out with the graphics for one Middle-earth culture in place, to show how the books would look. Luckily for me, everyone was happy with it, so I was brought on board.

some really fantastic projects over the last couple of years, so I'm not exactly missing out!

Brian: If you weren't working in the gaming industry, what do you think you'd be doing right now?

You can see more of Paul's work at Cubicle 7 and Contested Ground.

Paul: I'd love to think I'd still be doing something art or design related, but it's really hard to say.

Brian: If there was one game/ license that you wish you could work on, what would it be?

Paul: I've always been a big SciFi fan, so Star Trek or Star Wars are pretty much the ultimate in the SciFi stakes. Saying that though, I've had a chance to work on

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Brian: Finally, wishes aside, what next for Paul Bourne?

At the moment I'm working on the Doctor sourcebooks for Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, Victoriana 3rd Edition and Heart of the Wild for The One Ring, so it's a really busy time at the moment.

CREDITS EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Anita Murray & Noirin Curran DESIGN & LAYOUT

Cian O'Sullivan PROOF-READERS

Anita Murray & Rachel Scanlon ARTWORK

Paul Bourne