19 thoughts on “Board Game Smorgasbord – Public Domain Art”
The Elements cover is very obviously ai art, which is why it makes sense the title graphic design doesn't match, since they didn't hire real artists to design it
FWIW, Dali's works are not in the public domain. Art is protected up to 70 years from the artist's death. I find it shocking that Tom finds his work, and Georgie O'Keefe's (!) depressing. As for Zee's number one pick I'm a little surprised. It's a weak sauce version of something Dali did, more interestingly, all the time. They are all versions of "figure and ground."
Did anyone else notice that Exoworld Survival is being published by Starling Games? They did a little game called Everdell—I’m surprised that Zee or Milla didn’t point that out! And Tom, the designer’s name is Seguel, with a G, not a Q!
Did tom say wotc is owned by embracer group? I don't think that's right is it? Hasbro owns wotc and I don't think embracer group has any hand in Hasbro? (I could be wrong, just never heard that before and don't see it in print anywhere)
Three favorite paintings: 3. Daybreak by Maxfield Parrish 2. Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio 1. Tree of Life, Stocked Frieze by Gustav Klimt
Some interesting art discussions. I was a bit surprised by Camilla’s response to the cover of Pax Viking Junior’s cover (not saying it’s right or wrong) but I think the designer did a great job of creating a cool gray muted background to make the warm orange of main image pop as well as the game title. On a shelf of games, this is one that is very likely to catch someone’s eye.
I found the comments on the cover for The Element interesting as well. I do think the contrast between the bold title font and the ethereal background image works well, again popping out the title. The title is tied back into the background by use of color. Was it the best font to use … probably depends on the actual theme of the game. Comparing the dress of the character to the title makes me think of something along the lines of Tales from The Loop.I think this cover will also work well on a shelf of games to catch a person’s eye.
As far a favorite classical art is concerned I find Paul Klee’s Fish Magic an interesting piece — it’s not normally something I would go for with it’s grid-like arrangement but the the abstracted fish, colors and textures take me to a rather surreal place. I’ve always like Zee’s choice of Georges Seurat’s, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. And, since I’ve used to do Napoleonic wargaming, I would add Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jaques-Louis David. These are among my favorites but not really a top 3 since there are so many eras and styles to choose from — it all depends on what I’m currently in the mood for.
Finally, AI art: check out Adam Duff’s 3 video series on the his LUCIDPIXUL YouTube channel. It’s the best coverage that I’ve seen to date. (Yes, it is art but is it ethical art?)
Not to throw shade on any specific person, but I really prefer Smorgasbord with 3 on "bord". With 4 there's just too much talking on top of talking and interrupting and "Sorry. You go." "No, you go.". And the Top 3 just takes forever. This is time that could be better spent letting Chris and Mike do some of their sketch nonsense. I want to know if Chris ever figured out he wasn't sending voice messages to Mike!
And I LOVE the National Gallery of Art in DC! I could NOT have done a Top 3 paintings. My favorite American artist is Edward Hopper and how much depth and story are within one non-moving image. I much prefer those emanating loneliness over his more famous paintings like "Night Hawks" or "House by the Railroad", which is only well-known thanks to a certain scary movie that used the painting for its set design. (Seriously, look it up.) If I had to pick an actual favorite that people know, I'd probably go with the one Tom called out for Zee, making it sound like an insult: The Scream by Edvard Munch, and I can pretty much say all the stuff about it that Camilla said about Starry Night. But it's cool in real life.
The Persistence of Memory is NOT cool in real life. It's about the size of a piece of typing paper. Otherwise it is definitely one of the better Dali works. More impressive in the real world is the hilariously titled "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at a distance of 20 meters is transformed into the portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Homage to Rothko)", which is in the Dali Museum in St Pete.
"Sunday Afternoon" is also one of my favorite paintings and it was also the inspiration for the Stephen Sondheim musical "Sunday in the Park with George"
Please give links to the news. Embracer Group employs almost 17,000 people, and they announced that they will have cut-backs. Actually, now the have announced to close some studios. But they are not letting go of all of their people 😉
I have to slightly disagree with all the contributor's opinions in Backtalk. If it's appropriate to the theme, classic, classical, or public domain art is not only acceptable, but desirable in a board game. Let's say there's a new game coming out called "Rembrandt" or "Da Vinci". Would you NOT expect to see their art used in those games? How about a game called "Film Noir" and the designer decided to use classic movie poster art in the game? Or perhaps a game called "Cubism" with famous art in that style. In just the 15 minutes or so since watching this episode, I've come up with at least 10 different ideas for games where, in my opinion, classic or public domain art would work perfectly. Just my 2 cents…
Thanks for a great Smorgasbord! In no particular order: The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (Rembrandt’s only seascape that was sadly stolen in 1990 and remains missing) Master Bedroom by Andrew Wyeth Cafe Terrace at Night by Van Gogh
At least with AI art you need to come up with the right prompts to get exactly what you want out of it, or do some artistic work by plugging in the image(s) you want to use as your color pallete or balance etc.. it definitely takes some effort to get what you want out of it. It's MUCH better in my opinion than just using stock images or public domain art.
My 3 fav paintings are "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" by Richard Dadd, Alphonse Mucha's "Slav Epic cycle No.20: The Apotheosis of the Slavs"(I also love his art nouveau prints) and finally a more common one "Girl with a pearl earring" by Vermeer.
Thanks; there is so much art but as a Dutch I am a little bit cheating and will go for 4 paintings of artists who are well known for most people in the Netherlands, but I guess not for the rest of the world: 1) Panorama (it's a cyclorama(!)) Mesdag 2) Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters – Hendrick Avercamp (very recognisable as a Dutch, because everyone in the Netherlands has ever skated in the Winter) 3) De Zeppelin – Carel Willink (magic realism) 4) Beware of Luxury – Jan Steen (a Dutch proverb (een huishouden van Jan Steen) is very well known, because of his paintings of very humoristic daily life scene's)
The Elements cover is very obviously ai art, which is why it makes sense the title graphic design doesn't match, since they didn't hire real artists to design it
FWIW, Dali's works are not in the public domain. Art is protected up to 70 years from the artist's death. I find it shocking that Tom finds his work, and Georgie O'Keefe's (!) depressing. As for Zee's number one pick I'm a little surprised. It's a weak sauce version of something Dali did, more interestingly, all the time. They are all versions of "figure and ground."
My favorite arts-
Frida Kahlo – the two fridas
HR Giger – necronom IV
Takashi Murakami – the pandas say they’re happy
With Final Touch the board game I wish they had put the name of the artist on the cards.
Did anyone else notice that Exoworld Survival is being published by Starling Games? They did a little game called Everdell—I’m surprised that Zee or Milla didn’t point that out! And Tom, the designer’s name is Seguel, with a G, not a Q!
Did tom say wotc is owned by embracer group? I don't think that's right is it? Hasbro owns wotc and I don't think embracer group has any hand in Hasbro? (I could be wrong, just never heard that before and don't see it in print anywhere)
This was my favorite Top 3! Great job, everyone!
Nighthawks – Edward Hopper
Three favorite paintings:
3. Daybreak by Maxfield Parrish
2. Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio
1. Tree of Life, Stocked Frieze by Gustav Klimt
Some interesting art discussions. I was a bit surprised by Camilla’s response to the cover of Pax Viking Junior’s cover (not saying it’s right or wrong) but I think the designer did a great job of creating a cool gray muted background to make the warm orange of main image pop as well as the game title. On a shelf of games, this is one that is very likely to catch someone’s eye.
I found the comments on the cover for The Element interesting as well. I do think the contrast between the bold title font and the ethereal background image works well, again popping out the title. The title is tied back into the background by use of color. Was it the best font to use … probably depends on the actual theme of the game. Comparing the dress of the character to the title makes me think of something along the lines of Tales from The Loop.I think this cover will also work well on a shelf of games to catch a person’s eye.
As far a favorite classical art is concerned I find Paul Klee’s Fish Magic an interesting piece — it’s not normally something I would go for with it’s grid-like arrangement but the the abstracted fish, colors and textures take me to a rather surreal place. I’ve always like Zee’s choice of Georges Seurat’s, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. And, since I’ve used to do Napoleonic wargaming, I would add Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jaques-Louis David. These are among my favorites but not really a top 3 since there are so many eras and styles to choose from — it all depends on what I’m currently in the mood for.
Finally, AI art: check out Adam Duff’s 3 video series on the his LUCIDPIXUL YouTube channel. It’s the best coverage that I’ve seen to date. (Yes, it is art but is it ethical art?)
Not to throw shade on any specific person, but I really prefer Smorgasbord with 3 on "bord". With 4 there's just too much talking on top of talking and interrupting and "Sorry. You go." "No, you go.". And the Top 3 just takes forever. This is time that could be better spent letting Chris and Mike do some of their sketch nonsense. I want to know if Chris ever figured out he wasn't sending voice messages to Mike!
And I LOVE the National Gallery of Art in DC! I could NOT have done a Top 3 paintings. My favorite American artist is Edward Hopper and how much depth and story are within one non-moving image. I much prefer those emanating loneliness over his more famous paintings like "Night Hawks" or "House by the Railroad", which is only well-known thanks to a certain scary movie that used the painting for its set design. (Seriously, look it up.) If I had to pick an actual favorite that people know, I'd probably go with the one Tom called out for Zee, making it sound like an insult: The Scream by Edvard Munch, and I can pretty much say all the stuff about it that Camilla said about Starry Night. But it's cool in real life.
The Persistence of Memory is NOT cool in real life. It's about the size of a piece of typing paper. Otherwise it is definitely one of the better Dali works. More impressive in the real world is the hilariously titled "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at a distance of 20 meters is transformed into the portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Homage to Rothko)", which is in the Dali Museum in St Pete.
"Sunday Afternoon" is also one of my favorite paintings and it was also the inspiration for the Stephen Sondheim musical "Sunday in the Park with George"
Why isn't the cat on the Pax Viking Junior a Norsk Skogskatt(Norwegian Forest Cat)?
Please give links to the news. Embracer Group employs almost 17,000 people, and they announced that they will have cut-backs. Actually, now the have announced to close some studios. But they are not letting go of all of their people 😉
I have to slightly disagree with all the contributor's opinions in Backtalk. If it's appropriate to the theme, classic, classical, or public domain art is not only acceptable, but desirable in a board game.
Let's say there's a new game coming out called "Rembrandt" or "Da Vinci". Would you NOT expect to see their art used in those games? How about a game called "Film Noir" and the designer decided to use classic movie poster art in the game? Or perhaps a game called "Cubism" with famous art in that style.
In just the 15 minutes or so since watching this episode, I've come up with at least 10 different ideas for games where, in my opinion, classic or public domain art would work perfectly.
Just my 2 cents…
Thanks for a great Smorgasbord!
In no particular order:
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (Rembrandt’s only seascape that was sadly stolen in 1990 and remains missing)
Master Bedroom by Andrew Wyeth
Cafe Terrace at Night by Van Gogh
At least with AI art you need to come up with the right prompts to get exactly what you want out of it, or do some artistic work by plugging in the image(s) you want to use as your color pallete or balance etc.. it definitely takes some effort to get what you want out of it. It's MUCH better in my opinion than just using stock images or public domain art.
My 3 fav paintings are "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" by Richard Dadd, Alphonse Mucha's "Slav Epic cycle No.20: The Apotheosis of the Slavs"(I also love his art nouveau prints) and finally a more common one "Girl with a pearl earring" by Vermeer.
Thanks; there is so much art but as a Dutch I am a little bit cheating and will go for 4 paintings of artists who are well known for most people in the Netherlands, but I guess not for the rest of the world:
1) Panorama (it's a cyclorama(!)) Mesdag
2) Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters – Hendrick Avercamp (very recognisable as a Dutch, because everyone in the Netherlands has ever skated in the Winter)
3) De Zeppelin – Carel Willink (magic realism)
4) Beware of Luxury – Jan Steen (a Dutch proverb (een huishouden van Jan Steen) is very well known, because of his paintings of very humoristic daily life scene's)