The Art of Star Wars: Unlimited

There’s so much more to Star Wars™: Unlimited than just the gameplay and the experience of opening booster packs. In order for a trading card game of unlimited possibilities like this one to really leave a lasting impression, it needs to have some fantastic art to go with it. 

Thankfully, we have the best art team leading the charge on that front. Today, we’d like to share some insights from the team that brought this game’s art to life. So, without further ado, let’s turn things over to the Star Wars: Unlimited art direction team: Tony Bradt, Jeff Lee Johnson, Kate Swazee, and Steve Hamilton!

Tell our readers about yourself! When did you join FFG? What are your interests/hobbies (other than tabletop games, of course)?

Tony: I joined FFG as Managing Art Director in November of 2018. In my role as managing art director, I lead the FFG Art Team as we commission the artwork and illustrations for all our myriad games. My background is in art and design and, in addition to loving tabletop games, I love to play video games, to spend time with my wife and hanging out with our kids, and I love food.

Jeff: I am an illustrator by trade, with a quarter century of professional experience in multiple media and genres, and a much longer association with art and visual storytelling. I freelanced for Fantasy Flight Games for several years, working on many of their game lines in that time, and decided to try switching seats about seven years ago. All freelance artists want a peek behind the curtain. 

I thought at the time I would be here for a couple years, but it has turned out to be such a fun job I am still here and loving it. I create my own art all the time and when not doing that or my day job am an avid chess player and cook.

Kate: I initially joined FFG at the end of 2019 as a Graphic Designer within the Marketing department. Then a few years later when there was an opening in the Art Department, I took the opportunity to apply for an Art Director role. I was beyond thrilled to obtain the role because Illustration is my preferred creative pursuit. Outside of art, I am also a dedicated yoga practitioner and teacher. I also very much enjoy scouring thrift and antique stores for treasure.

Steve: I was originally a freelance illustrator who was part of the FFG stable for StarWars related projects and a few other titles for almost a decade. After I had expressed some interest in pivoting into art direction, the team brought me on board in August of 2021, and I have found that I might even enjoy it more than illustrating. Painting, hiking, factory-based video games, and enjoying art are among my favorite things to do! 

What exactly is an “art director”? Can you share some insights about the art direction process and what your role is for Star Wars: Unlimited?

Tony: An art director is a person that is trained in the visual arts who works with artists, directing their efforts to create a final art piece that matches the needs of a given game. 

At FFG we art directors work directly with freelance artists, guiding them to create the artwork we need for a specific game based on an art description provided by the studio. The artists send us their works in progress, and we give the artists feedback to ensure that the subject matter of the final art piece matches the art description, and that the quality of the final art piece meets the studio’s requirements.

Jeff: An art director at FFG is an intermediary between our freelance artists and the game developers. Our developers identify art needs and write art “briefs” for each of those needs, which are concise descriptions of content. We then identify optimal candidates for creation of those art assets, and shepherd these talented folks from contracting through to final, with a lively interchange involving internal assessment, developer feedback, and the artists’ own insights. 

I have been involved with Star Wars: Unlimited from the beginning. This includes helping puzzle out a new and fresh style for the art and putting together a core group of artists that grows over time. I remain involved in all aspects of the art side of the game.

Kate: I’ve noticed that the Art Director role can vary greatly depending on the industry. I used to work for a magazine studio in a Production role and the Art Directors there had a lot of photography experience in addition to their knowledge of editorial layout design.

Whereas in my experience at FFG, the Art Director role requires a solid understanding of art and design principles directed towards illustration and painting. This knowledge is then used to guide contract artists through the creation of their work commissioned for our needs. Other aspects aside from pure aesthetic quality need to be considered as well, such as how it fits into our graphic templates, and if the details are in line with licensor guidelines. I personally like to think the role can somewhat resemble a teaching role which can be very rewarding. I’ve seen many artist’s skills develop over time while working with FFG.

Steve: The title of art director can encompass a variety of roles and functions—here at FFG, our primary job is to facilitate the creation of artwork that fits the needs of the game, the needs of the licensor, and looks amazing on the final product.  This involves scouting for talent, onboarding them into our pool, and cultivating their talent to the best of their ability.  As the needs of each project dictate, we branch out into other duties as well, from style guide development to database/spreadsheet management.

Star Wars: Unlimited has a very different and more stylized visual identity than past Star Wars games by FFG. Could you share some insights into how that came to be, and/or how you helped forge the game’s distinct art style?

Tony: From the beginning, we wanted an exciting new look for Star Wars: Unlimited that was unlike the visuals of FFG’s previous Star Wars games. Star Wars: Unlimited needed to have its own unique personality and visual identity. We wanted art for Star Wars: Unlimited that was fresh, colorful, imaginative, and above all, fun. And we also wanted the game to have a visual style that would allow us to blend characters, vehicles, starships, locations, and situations from all across Star Wars media, including Star Wars animated art, comic art, live-action films, and TV shows.

Jeff: Broadly speaking, we made a conscious decision to move away from highly rendered realism in favor of a more expressive, more graphical aesthetic. There is a LOT of beautiful realistic Star Wars art out there, including a great deal of work done for FFG’s other Star Wars games, and not wanting to go down that well-trodden path, we assessed that there is a place and even an eager audience for fresh visual takes on this beloved story. 

We left room for our artists to be themselves. Folks who are inclined to lean into detail, or painterly flourish, or bold formal characterization all have agency to do so, though with the constraint that they bend their style as needed to fit within our vision.

Once we had a good sense of where we wanted to go, we searched the art world for folks who either were working in a style that naturally fit our visual “sandbox” or were likely to be comfortable doing so. My role from the beginning has been to help establish that art pool, build on it, and facilitate our artists’ efforts in every stage of creation.

Kate: I transferred to the Art Department after the style of the game had already been determined. It felt like good timing as my style inclinations for illustration have always been drawn more towards graphic and comic book-style art that incorporates line art, high contrast lighting, and clever composition. I was very eager to jump right into the role and begin scouting for talent that could fit the needs of this new and exciting style direction.

Steve: I arrived at the project after the visual look for the game had been formalized, but I deeply appreciate the desire to step away from the traditional painterly renderings that had defined the look of FFG’s previous Star Wars games in favor of embracing a new spectrum for this huge project. I love the fact that it has allowed me to reach out to more niche/specialist artists that normally we would never have had the opportunity to work with. One of my major contributions has been scouting for and acquiring talent from all over the world to create artwork for this unique game line, and it is a joy to see that talent evolve set by set.

What is the most exciting aspect about directing the art for Star Wars: Unlimited to you? What’s most exciting about the first set specifically?

Tony: For me, the most exciting aspect about directing art for Star Wars: Unlimited has been working with our talented team to direct our freelance artists as they translate Star Wars to the game’s unique visual style. 

It has also been an absolute joy as we have discovered artists whose visual styles matched our needs. Each time we reviewed a new artist’s portfolio, while we worked to assemble our artist pool for Spark of Rebellion, our anticipation would increase. Once we started our artists on their work, each day was filled with excitement as we awaited the receipt of our artists’ works in progress. And each time we opened an art file submitted to us it was a little like opening a Christmas gift, hoping that what we found inside would be exactly what we wanted.

Jeff: Always and every day it is a thrill to see how our artists interpret their assignments, from sketch stage to final. I deeply admire the skill and insight they bring to bear in the creation of art for this game and get more pleasure out of their submissions than any other aspect of my job. There is always new art that simply astounds us with an elegant solution to a tough problem, remarkably impactful rendering, or sharp insight and wit, and often all the above. Our team art review is always filled with superlatives and exclamations of amazement. Our inner fan is indulged daily, and my inner 12-year-old is a happy camper.

To see this first set in print is very satisfying, as this game started development a good long while ago, and this is the longest developmental process I have been a part of either as a freelance artist or an art director. To have been here from the first discussion to now lends this moment real meaning to me.

Kate: Working with such an iconic franchise has been very fun and rewarding. There is a great admiration for so many of the elements featured in the Star Wars galaxy within our popular culture, and I feel very fortunate to contribute to this interest the unique and compelling interpretation that is Star Wars: Unlimited.

Steve: In line with my previous response—I love scouting! It’s a genuine thrill to find a diamond in the rough, and to give opportunities to undiscovered talent who turn around and amaze us. Having been on the other side as a freelancer, it can be a lifechanging event to join a project like this and grow to see your art enjoyed and appreciated by a worldwide audience. I love finding those people and watching them grow, and vicariously rejoicing with them with each success.   

I had admired the work of Andre Mealha, Amad Mir, and Francois Cannels for many years, and bringing them onboard for Spark of Rebellion was an amazing experience. I get the chance to become more than a fan of their work, and to know the real humans behind the illustrations. I love the work that they have brought to Star Wars: Unlimited, and even from the beginning of the ride in Spark of Rebellion, their work was already top-notch. 

What are some challenges you faced while getting the art made for this game? How did you overcome them? 

Tony: One of the most difficult challenges in commissioning art for Star Wars: Unlimited is making sure that the artworks our artists create look and feel like Star Wars. We often go back and forth with our artists to help them capture characters’ details and likenesses as accurately as possible in each of their (the artists’) individual styles. To ensure that the artwork in Star Wars: Unlimited is as accurate and as much like Star Wars as possible, we have to constantly study Star Wars references and watch Star Wars media. The more each member of our team knows about Star Wars, and what makes something visually feel like Star Wars, the more success we have directing our artists to make art for the game.

Jeff: Our biggest hurdle was to settle on a visual style, which we have coined our art “sandbox,” that would cohere and still give a variety of artistic styes room to exist within it. Then, especially at first as we felt our way through things, putting together a core group of artists to create powerful imagery for the game. This involved a lot of internal discussion, and though challenging, it was very exciting, given that we were breaking new artistic ground for our studio on a major project. 

Fellow art director Deborah Garcia, who has moved to other endeavours, was a huge asset in these early stages, as was current Managing Art Director Tony Bradt, and of course Brian Schomburg, our Visual Creative Director, who laid out the broad strokes of our visual style for this game so well.

Kate: Any new endeavor that is a departure from the norm will bring about new difficulties to address. One of these difficulties was creating almost an entirely new roster of artists since the visual style was of a distinctly different nature than FFG’s previous Star Wars titles. Certain artists that FFG fans may already be familiar with such as Borja Pindado, Amlie Hutt, and David Nash were able to adjust their approach and apply their skills in a new way very effectively under our direction. However, most artists were new talent who were specifically scouted for their stylistic approach to rendering, who then had to be vetted by the entire art team on their skills, and finally onboarded onto the project.

Steve: There is always some degree of risk when bringing new talent onto a game line, and even more so when building an entire artist pool from scratch. I’d have to say that was the biggest hurdle in that we not only needed to find a whole new visual spectrum of artists to collaborate with, but that we also needed a reliable system for tracking those artists and the hundreds of briefs that they were being assigned. This project is at a scope that is radically different than anything else FFG has done in the past. Thankfully, I deeply enjoy creating spreadsheets for some strange reason. Building an internal database for artist management, brief assigning, and data tracking are strange things for an artist to enjoy, but I do! Our pool is ever more robust, our systems are streamlined, and we are always improving and growing across the board. 

What is your favorite art piece from the game’s first set, Spark of Rebellion, that you were involved with or otherwise?

Tony: No matter how many times I go through the artwork for Spark of Rebellion, I am drawn back to Omercan Cirit’s artwork for Benthic “Two Tubes”. Not only is “Two Tubes” one of the most visually interesting character designs from Star Wars media to me, but Omercan’s rendition of “Two Tubes” is masterfully executed, from the excellent line work to the well-balanced composition. I didn’t have the pleasure to work with Omercan directly on this piece, but it was always a pleasure to be part of our team review each time Omercan submitted a work in progress as this art piece progressed to its final state.

Jeff: Jabba the Hutt by David Nash. It was one of our first commissions as we were laying out the parameters of the art playground. When I saw that piece in final, I was sure we were on to something with our style approach. 

David is a very versatile artist who immediately understood what we were asking for and effortlessly (don’t spoil the illusion by telling me otherwise, Dave) created a great composition with a cast of well-known characters, yet uniquely interpreted in the artist’s vision. Enormously fun, engaging, and fresh.

Kate: Selecting a favorite is quite difficult! There are so many amazing contributions in this first set alone. For me, anything created by Robynn Frauhn immediately comes to mind. I love her approach to rendering; she incorporates enough graphic stylization while remaining aware of enough realism to ensure her pieces feel dynamic and vivid but also very concrete – all with exquisite levels of detail!

Steve: It’s so hard to pick! I love Christina Laviña’s arwork for Vigilance; she effortlessly brought that piece together and it looks fantastic in-template. Francois Cannel’s Imperial Interceptor and Overwhelming Barrage, Borja Pindado’s Entrenched and everything that Ivan Dedov and Andre Mealha did for us would be at the top of my list.   

But if I could get any two pieces as posters on my wall, it would be Amad Mir’s IG-88 and Ivan Dedov’s Han Solo showcase cards (in-template)—my jaw hit the floor when I saw those! 

Are there any additional thoughts about the art in Star Wars: Unlimited that you would like to share?

Tony: Star Wars: Unlimited has been a labor of love from its very inception. From the game design to the game’s artwork, we have tried to make Star Wars: Unlimited something unique and enjoyable. I hope that everyone who plays StarWars: Unlimited will feel the same sense of fun and wonder that I have felt as we at FFG have worked to bring this game to our players.

Jeff: I sincerely hope this game’s art generates a great deal of positive interest in the contributing artists, who put so much work into their contributions. It would be a great testament to their collective ability if years from now the art for this game stands out for its innovation, passion, and storytelling.

Kate: It is my sincere hope that the unique and dynamic art style of this title can help enrich the player’s experience and encourage continued engagement.

Steve: I love our artists, and I love that FFG has become a part of their lives and an opportunity for a worldwide audience to enjoy their work.  The evolution of our pool set by set is breathtaking—there are some immensely talented, hardworking and humble people working to make this game as beautiful as possible, and I am honored to be able to collaborate with them.  I am very excited to see Star Wars: Unlimited fans watch this journey unfold!