Black Chantry Productions

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle artist in focus: Edward Beard Jr.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and for the set commemorating this released earlier this year, we reached out to some of the card artists who were creating for the game in the very beginning. One of the most prolific contributors is the talented Edward Beard Jr. Let’s talk with him!

Ed, how are you doing today?
– Ready to embrace the madness at all times with a zest for the next benchmark, so I guess “driven” is the word. The life of a self-employed artist is ALWAYS “organized chaos”. You must be ready to do battle with the gauntlet of creative energies and whatever life throws at you.

How about you background as an artist – how did it all start out for you?
– I was kicked out of art class in 9th grade, told that fantasy, horror and sci-fi were not true art and mere commercial by default. After multiple “Failing grades” for daring to stick a dragon or gargoyle hidden within the boring fruit bowl and watching my teacher hang my work up at the school shows with all the A graded work so she could receive accolades from my work while giving me a failing grade, I brought her before the superintendent and called her out for her hypocrisy. That got me permanently banned from art for the remaining of my schooling. As such I was self taught.

What kind of illustrator assignments do you usually prefer?
– The ones that require me to be challenged to capture a pinnacle moment or concept that most exemplifies what the clients’ desires and most of the time do not even know what that is.

What artistic techniques do you prefer?
– I generally work in black/white and color tangible mediums such as graphite and acrylic paint. I use a combination of mixed media and base that decision on whatever the subject demands to achieve the best effect. I don’t try to force every subject into a standard medium.

We guess many who read this have seen your work for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. What else have you worked with?
– I illustrated about 126 cards for Magic: The Gathering over my time with them from 1993-2005. I also did some work for Dungeons & Dragons. My largest body of works come from my licensing art done for over 1 000 different products over my 42 years in fantasy and non-fiction art for companies products like calendars for Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Borders, cell phone covers, throw blankets, posters for many companies like Hot Topic and Spencer Gifts retail chain stores.

You did some work for the very first sets of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, including the iconic Pulled Fangs one that is reprinted in the 30th Anniversary. What can you tell us about that one piece, or in general about those early times?
– I always loved gothic horror and vampires so when the chance to create some cool vampire related art came up with Vampire: The Eternal Struggle I jumped at it. I also created a self portrait of myself in that set on the card Praxis Seizure: Boston. Since I lived close to Boston, I thought it to be the perfect opportunity to sneak me into the set since I had not created a self portrait since the 1970’s.

– The most memorable experience I can remember was in 1994-95 when I was informed that the Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” TV show was condemning Vampire: The Masquerade role playing and card games along with other “evil products”. Evidently, he might have featured my work and several other cards on a segment condemning the set due to its anti-religious and what Pat deemed satanic evil nature. I was informed by multiple fans that the specific card that he deemed most offensive was Telepathic Misdirection, that I created, due to the repelling of the cross. His commentary focused on how in the set the vampires are stronger than God and can repel the power of God as featured in my art. Evidently Pat never heard of “make believe” and Hollywood. All I know is, it was a huge explosion for my website at that time and earned me thousands of fans of my art.

What other work do you have upcoming?
– I am very excited to be working on game art for the first time since 2005 on the newly released card game Sorcery: Contested Realm. I was reached out to by the creator Erik Olofsson who was a fan of my work when he was young playing Magic: The Gathering. He asked me to create my own “mini set” featuring dragons. The reason I agreed was because ALL of the art for the entire game is always 100% hand painted, something we have not seen in the game illustration world since 1993.

Thanks Ed for this interview. To learn more about his work, check out www.edbeardjr.com and www.airbrushbybeard.com, and follow him on Youtube (Fantasy Artist Ed Beard Jr), Facebook (Ed Beard Jr, Fantasy Artist), Instagram (Ed Beard Jr), X (Ed Beard Jr) and Tiktok (Artist Ed Beard Jr).

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle 30th Anniversary

The 30th Anniversary set for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is available in your favorite store and also from our own webshop. It consists of a powerful 100 card Toreador preconstructed deck we call “The Endless Dance”, plus an extra 20 cards, including new Camarilla Justicars and nice reprints. For full deck list and previews, check out the product page.

Copyright © 2024 Paradox Interactive AB. www.paradoxinteractive.com. All rights reserved. Vampire: The Eternal Struggle and Vampire: The Masquerade® are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB. All rights reserved.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle rulebook now in Japanese!

Of course the world best game needs a rulebook in Japanese too, when English, French, Spanish and Latin are already available. The translation is by Kazuyuki Okuda, a true Methuselah hero. Check it out at blackchantry.com/utilities/rulebook!

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle artist in focus: Lawrence Snelly

It is the 30th Anniversary of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, and for the recently released celebration set we got in touch with some artists that have been with the game for a looong time to once again grace some cards with their illustrations. One of the most productive VTES artists is the great Lawrence “Larry” Snelly, working with the game since the very first set back in 1994. Let´s have a chat with him!

Hello Larry, thanks for taking your time. How are things in your life today?

Things are good in southern California and I’m between jobs at the moment so that means a lot of collage work and cleaning is getting done.

You have a long and varied career by now, but how did it start. Are you an educated or self-taught?

I went to art school and have a Bachelor in Fine Art.

What kind of assignments do you prefer the most?

Collage and illustration assignments are my favs, but nothing beats working on your own ideas with no oversight.

You have used a bunch of different styles for VTES over the years. What artistic techniques do you prefer?

I like a combination of Photoshop and hand-made collage pieces using found paper.

Could you tell us about this, your favorite process?

The first step is finding printed source material, like vintage tabloids, muscle magazines, crime rags, comics books and old paper ephemera. I frequent Ebay and shop used book stores whenever I travel. I prefer material from the 1960-70s and the more damaged, the better.

I then take the pieces and scan them using a desktop scanner. I keep the resolution high (800-1200 dpi) and once scanned, I archive them into specific folders.

The next step is sketching out an idea and begin looking through my scans to see what images will work best. This is the most important stage of the process.

I bring those scans into Photoshop (as smart objects) and begin layering images one on top of another. This is where I re-size, duplicate, mask and utilize filters and effects to build the image.

Once I’m satisfied, I’ll print the image out on photo paper and wheat paste that to a canvas or plywood backing. I then paint or print on top of the photo, seal the piece with polyurethane and get it ready to hang. Sometimes, I have my work printed as a transparency and mounted on a back-lit frame for an illuminated piece.

Do you also work with models?

I only use models when I do illustration work that I photograph myself.

We guess many who read this have seen your work for VTES. What else have you worked with? What of your work are you most proud of?

Once I moved out to Los Angeles, I worked for Mattel, Disney, Hulu and other big corporations but prefer the work I do with smaller organizations like design studios and individual commissions.

You did some work for VTES 30th Anniversary. What can you tell us about those pieces?

It was fun to update the Donal O’Connor art since the photo reference is a great Irish guy I worked with at Ral Partha named Dave Summers. Vampire cards will always be a favorite and I’m grateful to have been asked to contribute.

What other work do you have upcoming?

I’ve been working in collage and decollage for the last few years and you can view my art at larrysnelly.com.

Thanks for those words Larry Snelly, and thanks for all the fantastic card art all these years!

Lost in the shadows?

Do you need some guidance with your brand new Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Fifth Edition Lasombra preconstructed deck? No worries! Just like for our other Fifth Edition decks, there´s a practical 1-page strategy guide free for download at blackchantry.com > Utilities > Helpsheets. Check it out!

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle at Spiel Essen 2024!

YES! We are at Essen this weekend, or at least our distributor Asmodee and a number of HEROIC demo game volunteers are. The not yet officially released Fifth Edition Lasombra preconstructed deck is for sale here, almost a month before real launch, and if you participate in a demo game, you can get some fancy full art promo cards. The place is the EPN stand in Hall 2!