"MEADOW"
Board Game project with my watercolor handmade Illustrations
Collab with Rebel studio
Start your journey into nature and collect cards to become true nature observer
Meadow is an engaging set collection game with over two hundred unique cards containing hand-painted watercolor illustrations. In the game, players take the role of explorers competing for the title of the most skilled nature observer. To win, they collect cards with the most valuable species, landscapes, and discoveries. Their journey is led by passion, a curiosity of the world, an inquiring mind, and a desire to discover the mysteries of nature. The competition continues at the bonfire where the players race to fulfill the goals of their adventures.
In this medium-weight board game for 1-4 players, you take turns placing path tokens on one of the two boards. Placing a token on the main board allows the player to get cards, but playing them requires meeting certain requirements. Playing a token on the bonfire board activates special actions (which helps to implement a chosen strategy) and gives the opportunity to achieve goals that provide additional points. Throughout the game, players collect cards in their meadow and surroundings area. At the end, the player with the most points on cards and on the bonfire board wins.
Why Nature is a good theme to explore in games?
Today, nature requires our attention like never before. I am very glad that publishers of board games more and more often reach not only for fantastic worlds, but they also present our own in an interesting way. It turns out that fascinating stories can happen every day in the grass outside your window. There are plenty of themes and ways to use the nature theme in the game. We chose one of them - slow down, observe nature, discover and develop your curiosity. I will be happy if "Meadow" will not only provide great entertainment, but also inspire players to wander around in their own neighborhood with a view to discovering the local nature. It would be wonderful!
Traditional Architecture
I was impressed with the work done by Klemens Kalicki and his list of card objects. Animals, plants, and environments were meaningfully and interestingly intertwined. Rebel studio was also open to my ideas. I suggested that the architecture should also not be accidental. The house structures on each card represent different styles of regional architecture. I drew inspiration from the existing open-air museums. In the index attached to the game, you can find out not only the species of animals or plants, but also interesting facts from the world of culture and architecture.
How does the game tell us about the way people, plants and animals work together?
In the times of supermarkets, we have forgotten a bit how close the relationship between man and nature is. We experience moments of reflection looking at the past, for example during a visit to an open-air museum. We wanted to evoke some of this reflection in "Meadow", which is why we avoid references to the present day in the game. In the illustrations, the world of people is intertwined with the world of animals and plants, but in a familiar, not invasive way. The regional architecture is made of natural, local raw materials, as are the items found while hiking. Many animals are associated with the habitat of humans, such as swallows or pigeons. We wanted to show that we can find beauty not only in nature itself, but also in its relationship with man. when human influence is not too invasive and destructive of course.
The artistic approach to the game
I painted each illustration by hand, using watercolors on paper. I scanned it and then the graphic designer put it on the card. My illustrations were taken over by Katarzyna Fiebiger, who developed the layouts of cards and boxes, tokens and beautiful iconography. "Meadow" creates an atmosphere of escape from the present to nature. The choice of traditional watercolor painting fit perfectly here. I love this technique because of the luminous colors and the transparent interpenetration of the layers. Watercolor is also very unpredictable, but I consider it an advantage because it usually surprises me positively with the way the paint flows and blends. Usually… because sometimes it happened that one illustration was painted by me several times, but the satisfaction with a successful painting compensated for it. The graphics are full of light and colors, and it is supposed to be like that, because this is what a wild meadow is like.
