One of the best things about making games is getting to work with great artists to bring your vision to life. We're especially excited about the art in Zhenya's Wonder Tales!

Working with Momatoes was a joy; not only did they really dig into the visual material we provided, but they brought their own sensibility to the project that really elevated it. Some of the pieces breezed through from early sketches, as seen here, to finals with very few notes or changes.

For example, the art brief for Klara read: "A beautiful but poor young woman. It’d be great if her clothing echoed Dorota’s a little bit, but of course in the bright colors of youth. Unknown to her, she is also [REDACTED], so like Ondrej, something about her clothing should suggest feathers."

Other pieces changed a lot between sketch and final. Originally the abstract roles in Night's Funeral were going to be represented by shadowy human figures but this evolved into a more metaphorical approach as seen in the final for The Pretender. Olga got a little less innocent and more haughty, as befits a true [REDACTED]. Working with Momatoes was such a good choice—we're so happy with the finished art and know players will be, too.

Similarly, we brought Sovanny on board to help us with all the other graphics and layout beyond the illustrations, and her work is also amazing. You can see it all over this campaign page and the design of the box and branding for the game, but in particular she took our idle musings about a map of the land where all the tales are set, and what she made was fantastic!

We gave both Momatoes and Sovanny a thorough art brief, including references and aesthetic goals. The main references are the great Ivan Bilibin, whose elaborate and colorful paintings of Russian folklore are well-known and right on target for Zhenya’s Wonder Tales.

Even more influential to the art vision is the Russian painter Viktor Vasnetsov, whose work shares elements of Bilibin while being more naturalistic and grounded in its details while retaining maximalist folkloric themes.

The third influence, purely a design aesthetic, were Ukrainian Vytynanky paper cut-outs and Eastern orthodox icons and the use of metallic inks to illuminate and highlight. We shared examples of these, along with a big collection of costume history from across the region, with no particular time or place in mind. You will see a range of styles and motifs that Momatoes picked up on across the game’s illustrations. 

Beyond a certain “Slavic-ness” inspired by ethnic costume, Bilibin, and Vasnetsov, we chose Momatoes for their ability to deliver a visually distinct identity. At BPG we value originality in art and design and love to let artists express themselves through the art brief. Momatoes hit it out of the park!

We hope you love all this artwork as much as we do! 

- The Bully Pulpit Crew