Interview With James Van Schaik

Doc Cosmos - private commission by James

Ye Pulp Citizen very recently had the great pleasure of interviewing sculptor (and industry all-rounder!) James Van Schaik. As well as working on Pulp City, James has sculpted extensively for Heroclix, and has had minis produced by Wyrd, Reaper, RAFM among others.

Hi James thanks for your time!

Pup Citizen: I know of you as a freelance sculptor; is that a fair description? Anything you want to add to that? Or have I undersold your interests?

James Van Schaik: No, sounds about right.  I am a freelance sculptor but I do offer other services and advice to companies I work with.  Actually, I have worked as a consultant for gaming businesses many times and while you can say that I work for a company, since I provide a service for them, many times, I am more of a collaborating sculptor and consultant.

PC: So I did undersell your work then! Apologies! I would like to ask about the consultancy later, but for now a lot of your work I associate with the supers/superheroes genre: with your Heroclix work, Pulp City and Chronoscope; are you a big fan of superheroes?

JVS: Yes, huge comic geek.  I bought my first X-Men comic when I was 8 years old.  Grew up reading comics so, yeah, you could say so.  Hahaha.

PC: So do you still read comic books? (From one comic geek to another)

JVS: Not as much as I would like to but I get the occasional one in.  I tend to read graphic novel collections now because I don't have the time to keep up with regular issues.  I do get to all the movies though.

PC: Outside of supers, are there other genres that you find particularly interesting?

JVS: Yeah, there are tons.  I like sci-fi, World War II, historical, fantasy and modern horror as well.  As far as sculpting goes, I like many different genres and usually go by the rule of cool.

A JVS sculpt - Crimson Oni painted by Pulp Citizen

PC: So is it important that your imagination is fired or captured by a genre?

JVS: No but it helps.  It is easier for me because I like all fantasy and sci-fi genres.  What matters sculpt wise is that you like what you are doing; it is not something that is specific to a genre so much as the concept.  If it is well thought out, interesting and you think it is cool, naturally it will turn out better.  If you aren't interested in something that much, the creative juices aren't flowing as well as they should.  As a professional, I try to stick to the art as much as I can whether the creative juices are flowing or not.  It is a skill I have developed over the last 15 years.

PC: And are there any genres that you like but have not yet really worked in?

JVS: World War II is the biggest one.  I have done a few pieces for that genre but not enough in my opinion.  I find there are not as many companies looking for sculptors in the larger scale WWII genre.

PC: Can you explain a little about how the consultancy process [mentioned earlier] works?

JVS: I have done mold making, manufacturing, game design, etc. so I offer all of this knowledge to the gaming companies I work with.  I have a unique perspective since I grew up in the gaming industry.  My dad owns RAFM Miniatures, which is one of the founding miniature companies.

PC: Can you talk us through the creative process you have for sculpting a new mini for a commercial commission? What kinds of stages does the process go through?

JVS: Sure, that is a great question.  I am actually covering that on my blog right now.  I do a lot of behind the scenes things on the blog and will be doing a lot more of it in the near future.  To give you some idea, I basically get the concept from the client.  From there we often (but not always) have a phone conversation, which is important to me because it enables me to be 100% sure of what the client wants.  We discuss the scale, where changes can be made and I discuss how the pose will affect production.  Once I am there, it is simply a matter of sitting down and sculpting. Again, I go into this in much more depth on my blog.  It is a little too hard to describe in one interview, you would have to make it a 10-parter.  Hahaha.

PC: We will have to look out for that in-depth study then! Are there any differences you would briefly highlight in the process with private commissions?

JVS: No, because I treat private commissions with the same amount of professionalism as I would a business client.  I am always making sure that the client gets exactly what they want no matter if it is commercial or private.  Private commissions often have less considerations when it comes to production so the figures themselves are usually more dynamic as there are less restraints.

PC: Do you ever get any kind or ‘artists block or ‘concept block’ when tackling a new project?

JVS: No, not artist block as the client is usually providing me with everything.  You do; however, run into difficulty with staying on task, especially in the summer when my kids are home and not in school.  That is a challenge for most home based businesses, though.

Red Hulk - HeroClix

PC: I had not considered those kinds of time-eating perils.

Moving on, do you have a miniatures sculpt, from any range, that you are most proud of?

Ultimate Hulk - HeroClix

JVS: It would be hard to say.  I could give you a list of ones that I was happy with the end result but I am constantly learning new things and improving my skills, which I think is very important if you want to stay viable as an artist.  Pieces I was proud of five years ago were done at a different skill level than pieces I did yesterday.  I am very critical of my work so I look at a piece and think of ways that I could improve.  I'm proud of a lot of the comic characters that I did for WizKids because the challenge there was to do justice to my favorite comic heroes and the artists that created them.  I received a lot of feedback from the actual artists on how well they were done.  The World's Finest for HeroClix is one of them as it was really validating for me when Ed McGuinness, whose art that piece was based off of, sent me an email saying how great he thought the piece was.  It is always inspiring when your own heroes and role models from when you were a kid contact you and praise you.  Another example of this was when Len Wein sent a similar email about the Explosion set that WizKids did, being a huge Wolverine and X-Men fan, it was a highlight of my career.  Also, the HeroClix fans were always great with making me feel proud of my figures; they have always been supportive with praise over the years.  In the non-gaming industry, I was really proud when I created the Harry Potter figure, Kreacher, for a toy company. It really gave me a lot of knowledge into sculpting to likenesses.

PC: Following that, I have to share an anecdote – at Salute 2010 I approached Kev White [Hasslefree etc.] and asked him if he would be doing any supers minis any time soon. His reply was essentially that with the high standard of your own work, he name-checked you specifically, he could not see himself doing so. Just thought I should share that with you.

JVS: Thanks.

Nuclear Jones - studio paint

PC: Since the [Pulp Citizen] blog is primarily about Pulp City, I was wondering is there a particular PC mini you have sculpted that you have found most satisfying, or is again a case of constantly developing yourself?

JVS: There is the case of always wanting to improve as I said, but Nuke Jones is one of my favorite.  It is one of those figures that had great concept art.  It was so easy and enjoyable to sculpt because it just came together so perfectly.

PC: It is a great sculpt. Can you tell us how you came to be working with Maciej and Pulp Monsters?

JVS: I was taking a break from working with WizKids and decided to look for other companies doing superhero lines.  Pulp Monsters was the only other company around that was doing superheroes so I sent him an email.  My first piece for him was Sister Bedlam and he's been a great client ever since.

PC: If I had to guess, I would have thought you were ‘around’ before Sister Bedlam – that is how strongly I associate your work with the line as a fan! Pulp City is a game with some diverse visual touchstones, and you are probably the most prolific sculptor for Pulp City; do you find the diversity useful? Is it ever a hindrance?

JVS: Diversity is always good because you don't get bored with one thing. There is always something new to work on.  I have run into the lack of diversity with other companies.  You end up working on the same thing or same type of thing over and over again and it hinders your creativity.  Maciej has done a great job of providing the diversity you expect with superheroes.

Diorama by Adam Huenecke

PC: Do you ever look back to things you have sculpted, to see what painters have done with them? Or is a case of “next project, please”?

JVS: I love seeing what painters do with the sculpts I have done.  It is great to see what the fans are doing with my art and what they have done with painting.  I have a picture of a Wyrd set on my Facebook page that is amazing.  The painter, Adam Huenecke, took my figures to the next level.  What made the piece by Adam Huenecke better is that he did it for himself and it is amazing how much time and effort he put into it.  It is one thing to see that level of commitment for box art when they are being paid but it is really great to see people putting that commitment into it simply because my work inspired it in them.  That is what this hobby is all about; providing high quality miniatures for people who want to paint and game with them so I find it exciting to see them using my figures.  I also love getting feedback from fans and have started to really try to connect more with my fans.  I have a few events in the planning stages, which will be posted on my blog, so fans can have the opportunity to ask me about the sculpting process.  In the meantime, I am always open to being sent pictures of figures they have painted and I often check forums to see what people have done.

PC: That is a great insight James, thanks! Following on, do you have any particular influences you would highlight in the arena of miniatures sculpting?

JVS: Yeah, my influences go back to the old school sculptors from Ral Partha.  I trained with them back when I started working with Wizkids so I learned a lot from them.  Stephen Koo, who was a staff sculptor at RAFM when I was growing up, got me started in sculpting.  From there, Sandy Garrity was one of the first professional sculptors who reached out and taught me a lot.  This was back before there were tutorials and sculpting was a very closed profession.  The staff sculptors at the Cincinnati studio, who I apprenticed with, really helped me become a full time sculptor.  They were James Carter, Dave Summer, Jeff Grace, Steve Saunders and Jeff Willhelm.  Tommy Meier is probably the top of my list for all-time best miniature sculptors out there.  I am always looking at his work and striving to reach that level of ability.

PC: An impressive list of talents there. What about influences outside of the gaming/miniatures world?

JVS: There are tons. Bernini [Italian Baroque sculptor and architect – PC] for one is absolutely amazing.  Burne Hogarth [a cartoonist who illustrated Tarzan strips and wrote Dynamic Anatomy – PC] also heavily influences my anatomy and the way I do drapery.  Randy Bowen [contemporary commercial sculptor – PC] is another influential sculptor that has influenced me.  Many of the comic artists have influenced my work, of course;  Jim Lee, Ed McGuinness, Leinil Francis Yu, and many others from the superhero genre.  My interest in historical and WWII was inspired and influenced by a close family friend who fought in Vietnam.  I could on but it would take a while.

PC: I appreciate the time taken to answer the question. Any as-yet unmet ambitions in the field of sculpting for you?

JVS: Yes, there are many.  I would love to work on larger pieces and on pieces for toy companies.  I would love to branch out and do more pieces for movies.  It is a really good question because one thing I have realized is that sometimes, you are not going to get paid to do a subject matter that you want to do.  One of these was that I had an ambition to work for Games Workshop. I had the opportunity to interview with them and do a sample piece but in the end, the company was not the right fit for me.  Having that experience helped me realize that in order to cross those ambitions or dream jobs off the bucket list, I would need to do things on my own as a personal project.  That is the main reason why I am focusing on my blog.  I am going to be working on my dream pieces, such as possibly doing a Fastball Special with Wolverine, which I have wanted to do for years. Not for resale or to make a profit but because I want to see what I can do with the concept. The pieces that I finish, and feature on my blog, may be sitting on my shelf for years or they may go to a lucky fan as a prize.  Who knows.  In addition, I have decided it is time to really branch out into new mediums with sculpting.  I have always been a traditional sculptor, and will continue to offer traditional sculpting services to clients, but I am also learning digital sculpting right now and will be offering that additional sculpting in the near future.  Again, I will be looking at the difference between the two on my blog in the upcoming months.

Sovereign sculpt by JVS - painted by Pulp Citizen

PC: A couple of final questions, if I may. Do you paint miniatures or play skirmish games yourself? And what miniatures or games are you involved in?

JVS: Yeah, I do. I love to paint miniatures and play games but I don't get as much time as I would like.  I have several 40K armies (and most of them have been painted) and I play WWII (Warhammer WWII) about once a month.  We use a home grown version of 40K, which works really well.  Since I have been in the gaming industry for so long and have created several game systems for RAFM, I make up the occasional rule system for certain genres, especially with zombie games.

PC: A hobbyist of many interests then! Finally, in addition to the blog project(s) are there any upcoming projects you would like to highlight, James?

JVS: There are many I would love to highlight but I have NDA's to consider.  I am working with a bunch of great new companies that have exciting products.  As they release the projects, I will be updating my blog so I don't ruin the companies' surprise.  I have realized over the last few years that I have worked behind the scenes with helping other companies develop their brand.  It has been great and I will continue working in this capacity but I am also taking the time to develop my relationships with the fans who have followed me from company to company.  I am also working on expanding the services that I offer companies with consulting and with the digital sculpting.    Another part of my blog is to help aspiring artists and maybe even start training an apprentice.  There are a number of things like that on the horizon but right now they are at the think tank stage so people will have to watch and see where I am going over the next few months.

PC: Thank you very much for your time James, it has been a pleasure!

Some links for James and his work: 

James' blog (where he plans to reveal some tutorials in the future)

Flickr

Facebook

Interview With Melvin de Voor

This afternoon the Pulp Citizen was lucky enough to be able to interview Melvin de Voor, Pulp City's Art Director (for the Guide), leading concept designer, artist, graphic designer, DTP-guy, and all-round nice bloke.


Pulp Citizen: Hi Melvin; this is your first interview I believe? (If so I will try to be ‘gentle’).
Melvin de Voor: Hi Leon, yes, this is my first.

PC: Okay, can we start by talking about how you came to be working with Maciej and Pulp Monsters?
MdV: (I have to be careful not to get too long winded.) First I heard of Pulp City was at the old Confrontation forums; Maciej had a nice teaser of Guerilla and a *contact me if you want to learn more* signature. But the first contact that spawned us working together was at a Spiel Essen convention; Pulp City was still at its infancy but the preview miniatures of the initial ARC members made me fall in love immediately. We spoke about it, I sent in some samples, and that is how it all began in a nutshell. So blame the Ape Revolution Committee for that!

PC: Those communist Apes are responsible for a lot, aren't they?
MdV: Unofficially definitely, officially they are just "fiction", it’s all part of the master plan mind you.

PC: Can you outline your role in relation to the Pulp City game?
MdV: Not the easiest question, good start there.
I do a lot of concept art and illustration work for Pulp City based on concepts by the Pulp City development team; mostly when it’s the whimsical and the wicked I get the call.
But regularly I also bring in my own Supreme designs to the table like Vector, Night Fright and the Otherside Subfaction.
Besides that I also take care of a lot of graphic design elements, as well as the layout and DTP work of the Pulp City rulebook, and also general feedback and thoughts, and well, probably if this wasn’t an international feature, I’d make some lunch every now and then.

PC: Sorry for not going easy there! So your role is very diverse from the beginning (conceptual work) to the end (design/layout). How do you find that kind of lengthy process?
MdV: Sometimes it means I have to switch between different mind-modes, as my work is very dependent on my state of mind, so that sometimes is tough, but on the other hand the variation is great.
A lot of things I did for Pulp city were the first time I ever did those (for example, the rulebook work.), so in the end it’s also a learning process.

PC: Can you remember what was the first piece of art or design you created for Pulp City?
MdV: Yes, that would be Dr. Red - he will always have a special place there (that damn ARC again isn’t it).

PC: Can you talk us through the creative process you have for designing a new character concept? What stages does the process go through?
MdV: It depends whether it’s a *commissioned* or *proposed* design.
With commissioned designs I get a small brief; based on that I make initial drafts and sketches (though, I often forget to do that and go straight to the final outlines). After which, with feedback, I turn it into a finished inked line art piece; when that part is agreed I turn to digital coloring to finish it up.
Proposed pieces often start with me swamping Maciej with a dozen scribbles and drafts and afterthoughts behind them…and sometimes one of them can follow up in the same process as commissioned pieces.

PC: Do you ever get any kind of ‘artists block or ‘concept block’ when tackling a new project?
MdV: Yes, I actually had those a lot last year, but almost every project I tackle has at least a minor artist block; although it’s mostly about me being critical or picky on my own ideas or art all the time. More often I have communication blocks while working in full creative-mode though, resulting in me swamping Maciej with a lot of stuff at once. During these periods I sometimes forget what day it is even.

PC: Do you have a piece of Pulp City artwork or design that you are most proud of?
MdV: That’s a difficult one, due to the diversity of what I do... I’m very proud of the rulebook. It was a struggle, I literally pulled hairs from my head…but when the book came in I felt like I just held my firstborn child in my hands.
Night Fright I’m also proud of - it’s my favorite Pulp City concept.
And Red Bella deserves a mention too as I’m still amazed it actually worked out (an ape, with subtle comic book female sex appeal…its trickier than it sounds!).

PC: The Red Bella Piece did work very well indeed, and as a fan I love Night Fright and Leech. Moving on; as well as a contributor to the game, I am a fan, and even so I don’t know everything going on. We see stuff like ‘Infeartigo’ (p. 50 of the Guide) – is it weird to develop stuff that may take a long time to be created as a miniature?
MdV: Maciej does a tricky job on that; nobody but him knows all what is going on, and [I’m] partly thankful for that too…as a fan, you like surprises every now and then.
To be honest, for me it’s just the icing on the cake to finally see the miniature fleshed out. Most of the time I draw the characters because I want to draw them, knowing they can get a place in the rulebook at the very least.
But yeah, sometimes I get very anxious to see some of the longer standing concepts in the flesh (looking at Bad Alice especially), but sometimes, like with Night Fright, the process is very fast actually, as he got priority over Deadliner (and Feartigo).
The problem is that there are so many ideas between the entire development team, and only so many that can be realized.

PC: True enough about so many ideas and only so many resources. Looking at your Deviantart page, I see Captain Flash – was he an early version of Sovereign by any chance as I can see some thematic similarities?
MdV: I had to take a peek at him again [the art is from 2010 – PC], but no, completely unrelated. Captain Flash was commissioned as a steampunk miniature for Moonfleet Miniatures based on a classic British hero (I think?) [Flashman? - PC]. I think it was never made, definitely never released (as is sadly the case with a lot of my work for them…this being a tough business for small companies). In fact I did not create the Sovereign concept (though I made the drawing for the card based on the miniature.)
But I can see how you got that idea...I think the afterthought is the same - an all-British pulpy hero type character.

PC: Gotcha. Pulp City is a very visual game, even down to the character cards – there are lots of icons in use there. Did you design those or were they in place before you came aboard?
MdV: I’m currently designing additional icons for **removed by the Pulp City department of censorship and intelligence **
However, the current card icons were already there when I came aboard.

PC: I see the censors hit us there! Changing tack - Do you have any favorite artists in the gaming world? Or outside of it?
MdV: I’m actually not that well versed in comic books, most of it I started to do research on after I started working with Pulp Monsters, and there are some artists I like that have become inspiring to me, but I have to shamefully admit their names escape me right now. Design and idea wise my main inspirations actually come from 80s and 90s cartoons, you know, back when cartoons were allowed to be epic! C.O.P.S, TMNT, Bionic Six, to name a few.
And Batman; I always love Batman, but more so his enemies.

The only comic books I had regularly bought (and count as inspirations) are Spawn, the Darkness and some of the Aspen [Comics] line-up.
Within the gaming world, Paul Bonner has had a huge influence on me as did Eduiard Guiton...the art of both fellas actually drew me to the gaming world

PC: On the gaming front, as a conceptual artist, when you see a 3 dimensional model of one of your 2 dimensional drawings, does that influence or affect the way you work or approach new concepts?
MdV: Yes, even before Pulp City I had longstanding concept art relations with Impact miniatures, and that proved to be educational. With a concept I regularly take into account the casting of the miniature; for for example were the miniature would be cut in two, then it’s better to add a design element in that position that could mask the cut.
Also, most of my concepts are straight-up front as opposed to exciting extreme perspective camera angles, since that is much clearer for the sculptor to work from…eventually, all these things just became part of my style... I wonder if your blog readers even want to read this much - I can never say things short.

PC: I am sure they do. Do you paint miniatures or play skirmish games yourself? And what miniatures or games are you involved in?
MdV: I do paint miniatures, sometimes, but so little time to do that. As for gaming, not really. I like the whole *making a crew up* meta-game, but don’t know many gamers until next month.
I have played Warhammer when I was younger, and Confrontation too…in both cases, to be completely honest, I found the experience less enjoyable than painting and crew-building.
I do like board games, and also games like Space Crusade, Heroquest etc., and I think when I get to miniature gaming, skirmish games (and especially Pulp City) might be closer to that experience.
Collecting-wise, I actually work for the games/ranges I currently like the most…Pulp City, Malifaux, Freebooters Fate and 15mm sci-fi. So that’s also where I’m involved hobby wise.

PC: Have you painted many of those figures that have been sculpted from your designs? If so, did you follow your own art as a guideline?
MdV: One; I have finished only a single miniature I did concept work for myself (Puppet Seamus); and there I did follow my own art colors...everything else is in unfinished stages.
I have to admit that I really never had a good place to paint, but next month in my new apartment, there might be more space. I figure that I have done concepts for between 100 and 200 miniatures, so 1% or 0.5% is a really tiny amount of painting.

PC: Ha-ha - you will get there one day, only 99.5% to go! Good luck with the move also. One final question. Would you like to share with the readers a sneak peak of a piece of art for Pulp City that has not been seen before?
MdV: Yep, but it’s so hard to take a pick…we have new master villain called Voices and his lunatic Imps; we have the intergalactic bounty hunter with an attitude Slug Muldoon; and we have Deadguard, the monstrous last missing piece for the Coven players. So, which would you like to see?

PC: I think 100 Voices has been mentioned on the Forum, so I am sure folks would love to see him! Thank you very much for your time Melvin. I really appreciate you taking time out like this.
MdV: Thank you for the interview, it was an honor.

Some contact links for Melvin:
http://melvindevoor.deviantart.com/

melvindevoor.com (note - this is still under construction)

Also note, that not all of those concepts above will ever be realised in miniature form, and some may have been already, in a different way.


Images © Pulp Monsters 2012, used with permission

Interview with Maciej Żylewicz (part 2)

Part 2 of the interview that I conducted with Maciej in April, at Salute in London.

I cannot thank Maciej enough for graciously giving me his time, both on the day and with some follow up questions, and for supplying a couple of cool images to accompany the interview. For me it was great to get a sense of how things work for a manufacturer.

Left: Master Sagittarius, Ulthar

ON HEROES WITHIN THE INDUSTRY
Pulp Citizen: Pulp City is a game about heroes and villains, so who are your heroes in the gaming world?
Maciej Żylewicz: I would definitely have to stress the people that I have a great co-operation with. Rob from Darkson Designs – what an amazing guy; we know each other’s pains and we know each other’s successes. So he has given me a lot of support, he is definitely my hero. Other heroes – Stewart Griffin, the best caster in the world; the kind of guy you can rely on. And you know, when I have heard only spectacular things about him, I thought there was some British bias towards him, “He is one of ours so we have to support him”, but you know he is just unbelievable, he is not a craftsman, he is an artist. And then I have to mention Przemek from MaxMini. You know you sometimes just call these guys and talk about the things that have happened. It makes you feel as though you have gone to therapy [laughs]. Those are my heroes. I’ll keep my villains hidden [more laughter].

PC: it seems quite a modern and recent phenomenon in war gaming, but in the last decade or so we have seen a lot of other manufacturers come through.
MZ: I think it looks very simple to do, especially from the outside. And if you have got the sculptor on your team, it looks like a perfect investment; not that many costs and a lot of income, but that is half true because you can reach the garage level, and then when you try to go out of it you either succeed or you fail. And as you look at some of the skirmish games that have been around for quite a while, they have not disappeared, but they are sort of in the recess.

PC: Within that context – you see Pulp City as growing – you don’t want it to get to that stagnation?
MZ: Definitely. That’s the death of the game, let’s face it. The next step is you can go all direct sales and sort of fold yourself up back to your little comfort zone. So I don’t want to do that.

PC: So in that, where would you like to see the game in twelve months?
MZ: What’s going to happen? My plan is to have the printed rule-book around Gencon time in August- September. It is extremely difficult, especially when you start your journey; there is twenty volunteers- begging to do something for the book. And then suddenly your contact list on Facebook or on your email suddenly grows short as those people suddenly stop replying to your emails. So I got over it easily. It is always a little frustrating – I can understand real-life taking over, but I cannot understand why people would switch off, suddenly hiding somewhere and not replying to your emails.
Some people need the printed book validation to say ‘this is the game I want to commit myself to’; it is always an easier start once you have a reference source. And after having some hiccups with the sculpting process, I do have a lot of sculpts lined up, and each is really good quality. Yes, I am really happy about how they turned out, and also how much fun they will provide people game-wise and hobby-wise.

ON FUTURE PLANS
PC: You’re a business man, you have other interests, but knowing you are a business man you probably work in short, medium and long-term plans – so what do your plan for the medium term?
MZ: For me the medium-term plan is August, Gencon, and being able to deliver the game launch supported by something that will happen for the first time on a bigger scale which is tournaments, have a bigger event, and have at the same time introduction of all great rule changes in the book. Now this should be followed up closely by my sales guy raising the awareness of the game, and those are the things you cannot build overnight. He has actually been in the industry for a couple of years and knows exactly which people are responsible for what, and knows how to make the game go around. So I am putting a lot of hope on that.
That will be my medium-term plan, as for the long-term plan? The result of those combined works will answer the basic questions: can we keep up the same production volume? Can we keep up the same new releases volume? Or should we step up in a bit, or slow down in a bit? It is all going to be verified by the market.
I do have some other plans, but they are absolutely not Pulp City related, they are Pulp Monsters related.

PC: So is the Pulp Monsters stuff further down the line? Much further?
MZ: I won’t answer that, I honestly don’t know.

PC: Do you get time for your hobby at all?
MZ: No. Recently absolutely no hobby time. I recently managed to get time to paint a crew for Darkson Design’s game, AE-Bounty, but that required me to get three models painted to enjoy the game. I am lowering my expectations each year because I used to claim that I am not able to play games that require ten or more painted models, now about five models I guess. So Pulp City fits the bill.
I am actually pretty fast [as a painter] and people are amazed how fast I get those minis painted. It is about a lack of time, or you come back and you feel so mentally strained that picking up the brush...it used to be about relaxation for me, but recently not, I don’t know why, but I do enjoy other activities as my free-time, more.

PC: One final question - any other scoop or revelation for anyone who may read this?
MZ: Okay. Let’s see. Some people may already know this, but around August there will be a whole bunch of new Supremes that are aliens, and these guys will introduce some interesting synergies in the game, being the invaders, making Heroes stand side-by-side with Villains, and taking on the new challenge.
You will also see some different sculptors featured. I know there is a lot of demand for the fan-favourites – they will still be there, but you will see a lot of new sculptors. And this time again I am extremely happy to say that I didn’t have to step back in terms of settling for quality because these guys are my personal heroes in terms of sculpting.
There’s going to be one more thing that everyone might find surprising at Gencon. You have got to look for the preview of something, but I am not saying much more about it. I am looking for new avenues of artistic production, so I have been experimenting a lot with 3-D sculpting, and as much as it is a pretty common tool when you deal with mass combat games and you deal with a huge budget, in the skirmish world I guess 3-D sculpting is still not the most obvious choice. So, the results that you see sometimes online of other sculpts, while I admit that I love some of them (like the Kingdom Death stuff, it is really amazingly well in some cases digitally sculpted), I am aiming at this level or higher.
I am looking forwards to as well, that 3-D sculpting allows you the amazing ability to sculpt bigger miniatures for relatively the same cost as you would end up paying for a regular human-sized miniature, because the designer does not have to spend more time.

PC: Thank you very much.
MZ: Thank you so much, good to meet you.


Images © Pulp Monsters 2010

Interview with Maciej Żylewicz (part 1)

The Pulp Citizen recently had time to meet and chat with Maciej Żylewicz, the man behind Pulp Monsters and therefore Pulp City, at Salute 2010. We discussed all things Pulp City - the tabletop superhero and villains skirmish game - as well as his thoughts about the gaming industry. Part 1 posted today, part 2 will follow tomorrow.

Left: Libra Sensei, Ulthar

ON CONVENTIONS:
Pulp Citizen: So this is your first Salute?
Maciej Żylewicz: Yeah. I am planning on coming back with a more organised thing, this was very spontaneous, basically to come over and help out the guys at MaxMini, and have some stuff with me as well. If you want to do the show you have got to do it properly, otherwise it is a waste of effort.

PC: I was going to ask about the partnerships you have with the likes of MaxMini.
MZ: Oh we’re just friends. We used to be painters in the same city, we used to get together and talk ideas. Then I started my enterprise and and Przemek followed, and they are doing amazing.

PC: Is that helping you formulate what you would like to do next time?
MZ: I am fine with what I do at Gencon, but Gencon is a formula, you need to spend at least a couple of months preparing for that, so you need to add more stuff. At my first Gencon when I went pretty much by myself and only had my friend take care of the sales. I was so wasted, I had to sleep for a week after. Gencon is more straining because it is four days.
But last year it was great, I got a lot of support from the people that like the game and are willing to do things for the game, so the demo team last year was just unbelievable.

PC: so maybe demos next year for Salute?
MZ: yeah, that’s the only way you can do it.

ON PULP CITY’S ORIGINS
PC: Can we talk a little bit about how Pulp City came about?
MZ: I guess it starts pretty much the same with everybody. I don’t know any people who start this as a business venture meant to bring you millions. It is mostly fans. Half the way you can go professional or you quit. I am pretty good at pursuing the cause, so I decided to go more professional.
So I had the idea. I knew there definitely was a group of people that both love comic books and love the idea of miniature gaming, there was absolutely nothing on the market in terms of the quality you want to provide people with. It starts with a very idealistic approach and then you have to start verifying certain assumptions you have made along the way. So you think it is easy to find a sculptor – no it’s not. I believe there are about twenty sculptors in the world who can deliver a certain level of quality. This is the level of quality I want. Half measures don’t work here. People will buy ‘half measure’ miniatures only if they are very cheap and have a lot of auxiliary uses. As much as I would like it, you cannot use Pulp City miniatures to play Warhammer, there is not that much crossover as there would be with other games. I guess the same thing applies to Wyrd Games. They do have their specific miniatures that end up being very good in their own environment and very odd in the others.
So you have to climb the barrier and start with the sculptors. There are two approaches. One is to fire a price which will knock you down and see if we are willing to follow, and the other is to build up the interest of your sculptor in your project. I have been fortunate to work with some good people along the way, but you learn a lot.
The first stage of me working with artists is that it was not easy for me to say “Look, I don’t like the way it looks. Please change it”. So you gain a lot of assertiveness, but it’s rarely something you get from the very start.

PC: So how was it the first time you had to deal with that?
MZ: When you take the basic starters [starter sets], there are a couple of things I’d like to improve over time. I said there are no half measures, but you also have to settle for some deadlines, and striving for perfection would mean that everything would be delayed another couple of months or years and we couldn’t afford that. At some point you get to a breaking point where you have invested so much money, that you would really like to start having some returns.
And you come across some really good co-operators. It usually lasts for a long time once you see that the co-operation is going well. Then there are times you think something is going to be good but it is not. Or somebody provides you something excellent in their portfolio and then it fails. I don’t like doing test pieces where people ask you “I’ll do something for you for free”, and if you like it you’ll buy it. So I usually try to have the sculptors and the artists that I really do like to work on our projects. Of course then you have to find the balance between the price of the artist and the quality he or she provides.

PC: For a long time, sculptors and creative collaborators aside, you [Pulp Monsters] have been a one man show, haven’t you?
MZ: It is actually still a one-man show. I had some co-operators but the people I worked with – and I honestly don’t blame them – were not able to focus on the long-term goals, so the interest died at early stages. But at the same time I came across some people that as I changed to them, it clicked and is working perfectly now.
Right now I am more of a two-man show, as soon as my sales manager takes over the entire business part. Again you cannot forget that I am being supported by a group of people that are willing to commit to a lot of things and help you out.
Now one thing is that they will commit to it and the real-life issues will sometimes show up, but there is always somebody to step in their place and take over. So it is comforting to know that you are not left with certain thoughts unverified by the others; that is super-important for the creative process.

PC: Now you are able to step a little bit away from the business side, where do you see your role heading?
MZ: You know I always wanted to be ‘Creative Director’. I seem to have a lot of talents, but never very well developed; I do draw but never good enough to provide the pieces for my own game. I do paint but not as good as I would like my miniatures painted, and you suddenly find out that that you find a lot of enjoyment in seeing other people do that. You just stand there and feed them with ideas.

ON GAMING BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
PC: Something that’s evident with Pulp City, and you have talked about quality all along, is the high production values - packaging, painting, sculpting especially.
MZ: It is not like it is a golden solution that provides you with all of the answers. There are different ways of manufacturers appealing to customers. It is equally important to appeal to your retailers. Some people choose the easy way, and go direct. This way they can sell the miniatures at extremely low prices and still make some profit. While remembering that if you go retail and distribution you lose fifty-sixty per cent of the final price of the miniatures. So if you add in that it is a niche amount of product produced, you end up with high maintenance costs. So some people say “Get over it, if it’s going to sell it’s going to sell in blisters with unified card backs printed”.
I didn’t do it [go with unified blisters]; I keep going back and forth, to see how it works out. So far it is working okay, but again the next level of commitment has to happen for the game to step up.

PC: When you say about stepping up, do you mean for the game itself, or for the brand?
MZ: I think for market penetration. Being recognisable in many more places than we are right now. And I know it sounds hard, but take a look at the US distribution. We do have a lot of distributors. But not much effort to push the game.
You are just basically waiting for the retail to ask you “Hey, do you have that game?; okay we can sell you that”.
Now look at the French market. It is unbelievable what one man with a team of other people can do (Antre du Blup). The game in the French market is thriving, and I sometimes feel guilty that I am not dedicating enough effort to keep it promoted over there, but it also shows in not only the retail sales we get over there, but also the individual sales.

PC: If a market like France is very hungry for a game like Pulp City, and the US is perhaps a little more resistant, what would you put that down to?
MZ: I guess it’s about determination of retail or distribution, to get the game at low cost, because that is what Pulp City is about. You can get the game at really low cost without having to stock tons and tons of products.
One of the downfalls of Confrontation [here referring to Confrontation up to third edition] was that you had to support about 15 different armies, and in each of them you need at least 10 blisters to create a reasonable army. With Pulp City this is not a problem because you can stock ten products, and still be able to offer your customers a very game-able army. So I guess the game should be easy to promote, also with its production values, but again we are talking about the niche. It is easier at the same effort to push many more board games than it is to push a skirmish game.

PC: So when you say a niche do mean within war-gaming specifically or gaming as a whole?
MZ: I think that war gaming is a niche. If you think about the turnover of two major companies that is still going to be low compared to the production of socks or bottle caps, so we are not talking those volumes. But then within the niche, there is another niche which is not post-Tolkienist fantasy or non-classic sci-fi, and so we are in that niche. But as you see some other games get a lot of success on the way, but they are also niche games. There is a lot about the determination of the manufacturer.
I really admire Nathan from Wyrd Games, and how Malifaux is becoming more and more recognised throughout the world. I guess he set a new standard that there is for niche companies.


Image © Pulp Monsters, used with permission