Artist Interview – Nicole Cardiff

- First, please tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm a freelancer presently living in Burbank, CA. I do genre illustration and game art asset production full-time, and you can see my professional portfolio at http://www.artofnicolecardiff.com.

- How long have you been an artist?
I've been drawing off and on since elementary school; I started taking it more seriously when I was in seventh grade and discovered comics. I copied a lot of other people's superhero drawings and transitioned into figure drawing from there.

- How did you get started? Could you tell us how your talent has progressed since the beginning?
I distantly remember doodling stuff as a little kid because I wanted to draw the stuff in the fantasy stories I read (mostly unicorns and horses.) I initially did a lot of copying other people's work, and eventually graduated into doing my own compositions and drawings. I think I've always had a better color sense than a sense of structure, so most of my studies post-graduation have focused on improving my anatomy knowledge and draftsmanship.

- Have you had any professional schooling/training?
Yes, I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design for my bachelor's degree. I initially attended for 3D animation, but switched back to illustration (my first artistic love) before long. I still occasionally go to workshops and such that are local to me these days, since I think regularly hearing and applying other people's thoughts about my work is an important part of improving it.

- What media do you work in and what is your favorite?
Digital. I switched to it from traditional media in my last year of art school. I wish modern genre illustration still had the time and budget to support most of it being done in oils, but I can't say I miss the fumes, expense, or drying time!

- What or who inspires you?
Artistically, the Orientalists, Jean-Leon Gerome chief among them, as I really admire his control of value and detail. I also like the Brandywine illustrators, like N. C. Wyeth and Dean Cornwell, as I think their compositions are very well thought out, and I appreciate the sense of drama in most of their work. As for living illustrators, I'm a huge fan of Donato, Greg Manchess, and Jaime Jones.

Content-wise, low-fantasy novels like George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire and Guy Gavriel Kay - I usually prefer grittier fantasy worlds in general - or the kind of stories I really fell in love with as a kid, like the Arabian Nights or Robin Hood.

- What do you use for references? Do you use real models?
My fiance or myself are almost invariably photographed for most of the figures I render. I also have a collection of human anatomy reference and a Freedom of Teach figure if I need to do more muscular detail than either of us possess. I also swear by the photo light I bought last year.

- Who is your favorite character to render in LoN?
I'm not sure I have a favorite - I tend to particularly like wizards and rogue/thief characters in general, though.

- Could you explain the process you go through when creating card art for LoN?
I sketch thumbnails around 2-3 inches in pencil to get a composition I like, shoot references, do cleaner sketches, scan and then clean them up some more in Painter, email them to my art directors, make any changes as necessary, fill in a warm brown under my lines, block in colors, tweak as necessary, and then plow through to the final, detailed piece.

- Any tips or tricks for aspiring artists out there?
Do a lot of figurative drawing, have a critique partner whose opinion you value, and study more than one artist (preferably at least one classical one) to figure out the principles underpinning the success in their work. Make sure to spend part of your time doing subjects or angles you aren't comfortable drawing, so that you don't plateau. As for specific recommendations, Bridgman and Goldfinger's anatomy books are an excellent resource.

- Anything else you think is important?
I really think I've been lucky to work with the Sony art directors - they're definitely one of my favorite companies to work for, and the amount of artistic freedom they let us have means I get to have a lot of fun. Thanks, guys!