Artist Spotlight: Preston Stone

Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is beautiful. I'm not going to speak in hyperbole and say that I love every single piece of art, but I can honestly say I love most of them. The game is full of hundreds (thousands?) of cards that impress me and help immerse me in the world of Middle-earth. I sometimes pause (less often than I care to admit) to pick up an encounter card and just admire the detail that went into one of many cards in one of many quests.

Last week I was at the closing of a midnight prerelease for another game (hint: probably the only one that does midnight prereleases) waiting for prizes to be distributed before I could go home and get some needed rest (false: I went grocery shopping, hung out with my family, and then finally crashed). A couple of guys were talking next to me, including one who had stood out due to an awesome pull he made from one of his packs. Bits of their conversation floated over and, as the board game industry was mentioned and projects that could be discussed and not discussed, I realized this guy I had noticed before was doing art for games. Consider my interest peaked! Then he mentioned Fantasy Flight Games. Then he went through a small list, ending with Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. I had been slowly turning in the general direction of the conversation and I'm basically salivating with excitement and anticipation now. When there was an appropriate moment, I asked him for his name and what work he had done on the game. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Preston Stone.

(Preston's on the right. I assured him he looked just fine 

after 9 hours of gaming, which began at midnight).

In the interesting timey-wimey world of art commissioning, Preston is a fairly newcomer to players of the game. He had two pieces in the Agmar Awakened cycle and one piece featured in the Grey Havens deluxe box. But for Preston, these are pieces he completed and turned in a while a go. He had to think a bit about all the pieces he did. He remembered one with ghostly wargs, one with a guy being pulled from a ship, and he was not sure if a sword he had done went to print yet or not. Let's see what could be dug up:

White Warg (The Wastes of Eriador #21)

Daechanar's Brand (The Treachery of Rhudar #110)

Lingering Malevolence (The Grey Havens #34)

(Note: All images were lifted from The Hall of Beorn. Big thanks to The Second Hand Took for helping me learn how to use Beorn's tools to look up an artist. This game has a great community!).

I am not an art critic. My eye is pretty rough and my taste is along the lines of "I like that" or "eh." Ranking these three cards, I'm going to go for: Daechanar's Blade, Lingering Malevolence, and White Wargs. I do think they're all good pieces.

For the Blade, there is something about the clarity of the clean lines that emphasizes the horror of what you are seeing. At the same time, the lighting and placement of the blade draws your eye to the proper focus of the piece.

For Lingering Malevolence: Who would have thought you could summon up feelings of claustrophobia in a sea-based adventure? Preston told me this was actually part of a larger piece and he was sad to see the whole thing not used. I'm torn between sympathy for the artist and the judgement call of really just freaking out the player if they stare at the card too long. Imagine yourself in that guy's place! I will say, though, that the art and text of the card are a perfect pair but the name seems a bit out of place for one-time, harsh effect. Or maybe the name and art are perfect (for a condition attachment?) but the text is out of place. In any case, the card serves its purpose of freaking me out both artistically and in the way it may wreak my game plan.

White Warg has a great eerie feel to it, with the purples and muted tones. The card mentions nighttime effects (spoiler!) and this is an animal I would not want to face on a winter camping trip (which is basically what our heroes are doing, right?). The art conveys movement and you can just see that warg slowly creeping toward you in the night.

Now Preston does have more up his sleeve than just the shivers, as you can see over at his Deviant Art page (Forest Romp is a personal favorite). He even has at least one more Lord of the Rings piece (likely not for the game).

Preston was a great guy to chat with. Besides getting my question answered about the pieces he did, I got to hear what it is like to be an artist and the hopes he has for increasing his work. Now I have even more reason to pause, pick up a card, and admire the effort that went into bringing me the quality gaming experience that Lord of the Ring: The Card Game is.