Local artist takes on game illustrations

By EVELYN LONG –

William “Bill” Bricker, a life long artist/illustrator, has achieved another notable goal with the work he has com­pleted for the board game, “Dun­geon Heroes,” pro­duced by Crash Games Com­pany. The Kick­starter Cam­paign for this project began Octo­ber 16 and can be found on the web site, www.crashgamesaz.com where pledges can be made.

The Mount Gilead res­i­dent said this is the first time he has done all of the illus­tra­tions for a board game.

“I have illus­trated game cov­ers — did the spots inside — but never the entire game,” he said.

Dur­ing the past year he has com­pleted illus­tra­tions for Uber Goober Games, Clevel Mojo Games, Strong­hold Games, Panik Pro­duc­tions, DGS Games and the cur­rent Crash Games.

His illus­tra­tions, done through his com­pany, W. E. B.’s Designs, are eye catch­ing scenes in softly muted col­ors and range from his­tor­i­cal scenes (“my dad’s favorite is one of Gen­eral Custer”) to the futur­is­tic fig­ures and scenes related to fan­tasy games and other ven­tures. The world of art has been his focus since he was a tod­dler when he was described by some as a protégé.

Bricker, who was born in Nel­sonville, Ohio, and grew up in “a holler,” demon­strated artis­tic abil­ity at a very young age. His par­ents rec­og­nized this and encour­aged him to develop it. “I use to draw Sun­day comics,” said the affa­ble artist. “I drew such fig­ures as Prince Valiant and Spi­der­man, free hand.”

He appren­ticed when he was 14 years old.

“A man named Clay­ton Parker helped me when my illus­tra­tions were placed on bill boards.” He added that he even did screen designs on under­wear for a rock band. I also learned let­ter­ing at that time.”

He was 15 years old when his par­ents moved him and his sib­lings to Mor­row County.

“Dad worked at Rock­well and it was closer for him,” said Bricker. His par­ents pushed him into con­tests where he won vir­tu­ally every one, even those on the national level. While attend­ing Card­ing­ton School he was men­tored and taught by art teacher Valda Fitz­patrick and was offered a full schol­ar­ship to Colum­bus Col­lege of Art and Design. Between his junior and seniors years he cre­ated between 2,000 and 3,000 pieces of art work. Some of his art work hangs in the Ohio His­tor­i­cal Museum.

At that time he worked with pen and ink and water­col­ors. He stud­ied at the Art Insti­tute in Pitts­burg and learned the spe­cial effects of film.

Later, he worked for a local the­ater where he painted the mural on the wall and was offered a job with the the­ater that included learn­ing more of the intri­ca­cies of busi­ness which helps him today.

Today he works strictly from his home — no on site work — and most is done by computer.

“Ninety nine per cent of what I do are board and card games.” He is an illus­tra­tor, he noted, not an artist. He likes all sub­ject mat­ter but not abstract.

”I like to tell sto­ries with my illus­tra­tions,” he sad.

Bricker encour­ages all inter­ested per­sons to check the Web site for the Kick Starter Cam­paign. For more infor­ma­tion go to www.bbricker.com.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Nov 7 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.