Game-based Art

 In addition to my creative works, I'm also a fan of tabletop games (that is, board games and tabletop roleplaying games). Sometimes, I like to combine the two. 

Here are some pieces of art that I have created incorporating board games.

The first set is what I call 'Dramatic Perspective Photos.' These are photos taken from a low angle, close up, to make the pieces look more like actors in a movie than bits of lifeless plastic. 

The second group is what I call 'Meeple Stock Photos.' I thought it would be fun to recreate some stock photos using meeples (the small wooden 'people' tokens used in many board games). The first twelve photos are regular stock photos, of generic people. The rest are recreations of stock photos using pawns (I often saw them labelled as meeples, even though they're not). 

I'd love to hear what you think of them!

Dramatic Perspective Photos

Click a photo to see it larger.

A series of multicoloured wooden huts on a board representing different areas of terrain: grasslands, mountains, lakes, etc.A series of multi-coloured wooden tokens in the shapes of mythical creatures like unicorns and manticores on a board divided into different brightly-coloured quadrants.
Clans

Creatures and Cupcakes
Two wooden tokens, one in the shape of Dracula and the other in the shape of Van Helsing, on a board that represents houses in a Victorian neighbourhood, with various cards face down on each house. Various plastic figures in the shape of hooded druids in groups of varying sizes on a board that represents different terrain types, hills, forests, lakes, etc.
Dracula

Fae
Wooden tokens shaped like cats in various colours on a board which represents houses in a suburban neighbourhood. Multi-coloured wooden tokens that look like houses on a hex-grid board with each hex representing different terrain: grasslands, mountains, rivers, etc.
Hot Tin RoofKingdom Builder

Plastic figurines in the shapes of characters from the book 'The Three Musketeers:' D'artagnan, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Milady, etc, on a board that represents the various rooms in the king's palace. Multicoloured plastic pieces resembling stones with a chinese-style dragon carved into it on a board made up of square cardboard tiles, each of which has several paths marked out on it, lain together in a grid.
The Three Musketeers: The Queen's PendantsTsuro

Meeple Stock Photos

These are presented side by side with the original stock photo which provided the inspiration for them. As always, you can click on a photo to see it larger.

Meeple Stock PhotoBase
Four meeples in a row with a fifth meeple standing in the foreground to one side. Four business people in soft focus in the background, with a businesswoman in close up in the foreground to one side.
Business Meeples

Business People

Eight meeples in a row with a ninth meeple in the foreground, obscuring the two meeples at one end of the line. A row of people in business attire, with a business man in the foreground, holding a hand up in a sign of victory.
Business Meeple in Front
of Business Meeples

Businessman in Front
of Business People

Four meeples, apparently six feet tall, in the hallway of an office building. Four people in business attire standing in the hallway of an office building.
Four Business Meeples

Four Business People

Nine meeples in a row. Nine people in various styles of clothing standing in a line.
Group of Meeples

Group of People

Three meeples close up, facing the camera, with two standing behind the third. A man standing in front of two women, all of them looking at the camera with excited expressions.
Happy Meeples

Happy People

Four meeples against a background of a sunset. Four people laughing and talking with a sunset in the background.
Meeples Talking at Sunset

People Talking at Sunset

Four views of a green meeple from different angles: front, side, back, and at a casual angle. Four different views of the same man in the same outfit, all from different angles: front, side, back, and at an odd angle.
Mick

Nick

Four meeples, two in front and two in back, against a background that looks like a large bush. A man and a woman, each smiling as they carry a child piggy-back in front of a large bush.
Parents and Kids

Parents and Kids

Ten meeples in a row stretching diagonally away from the camera, all facing the camera. Ten people in business attire standing in a row stretching away from the camera, each one stepping out slightly from the behind the person in front of them.
Business Meeples
Standing in a Row

Business People
Standing in a Row

Four meeples, each with a different colour speech balloon affixed above them. Four people in various styles of clothing, each holding up a large cardboard speech balloon.
Meeples Holding
Speech Balloons

People Holding
Speech Balloons

Five meeples in a row, all facing the camera, with a long strip of paper affixed to the front of them that runs the length of the row. Five people, each wearing different types of work clothes, standing in a row, holding a poster board in front of them.
Meeples with Diverse
Professions Holding Placard

People with Diverse
Professions Holding Placard

Three meeples, seen from above, on a grey brick surface. Three business people seen from above, looking up at the camera, walking across a paved surface.
Top View Business
Meeples Go

Top View Business
People Go

Five meeples in a semicircle facing a sixth meeple, lying down in the middle of the semicircle. Five board game pawns in a semicircle with a sixth pawn lying on its side in the centre of the semicircle.
Accident

Accident

A row of red meeples and a row of blue meeples with a black die between them. A row of red board game pawns and a row of blue pawns with a black die between them.
Colourful Meeples with Black Die

Colourful Pawns with Black Die

Four pairs of meeples around a pair of Fate dice (dice that, instead of the numbers 1 through 6, have two plus faces, two minus faces, and two blank faces). Four pairs of board game pawns around a pair of regular six-sided dice.
Four Pairs of Meeples
in Different Colours
Standing Around Dice

Four Pairs of Pawns
in Different Colours
Standing Around Dice

A circle of red, blue, and yellow meeples with a single green meeple in the centre of the circle. A circle of red, blue, and yellow board game pawns with a single green pawn in the centre of the circle.
Green Meeple Surrounded
By Other Meeples

Green Pawn Surrounded
By Other Pawns

A red meeple in the foreground, two green and two blue meeples in the middle ground, and two yellow meeples in the middle ground. Two red board game pawns in the foreground, two green and two blue pawns in the middle ground, and two yellow pawns in the middle ground.
Let Us Play a Game
With the Meeples

Let Us Play a Game
With the Pawns

A row of blue meeples, with arrows laid out pointing forward, and a row of red meeples running diagonally to the row of blue meeples so that it looks like the red ones are moving forward. A row of blue board game pawns, with arrows laid out pointing forward, and a row of red pawns running diagonally to the row of blue pawns so that it looks like the red ones are moving forward.
Meeples Following the Right
Way for Successful Life

Pawns Following the Right
Way for Successful Life

A cluster of blue meeples, with a hand removing a red meeple from the middle of the group of blue ones. A cluster of blue board game pawns, with a hand removing a red pawn from the middle of the group of blue ones.
Removing Red Meeple
From Blue Meeples

Removing Red Pawn
From Blue Pawns

Three pairs of meeples in different colours, with a speech balloon over each of the four leftmost meeples. Three pairs of board game pawns in natural wood tones, with a speech balloon over each of the four leftmost pawns.
Six Meeples Talking

Six Pawns Talking

Three small containers with screw-top lids. The one on the right has a blue meeple in it, the one in the centre has a yellow meeple, and the one on the right has a red meeple. Three small jars with screw-top lids. The one on the right has a blue board game pawn in it, the one in the centre has a yellow pawn, and the one on the right has a red pawn.
Three Meeples in
Three Glasses

Three Pawns in
Three Glasses

A couple of fingers of a hand appear to be coming from out of frame, with a bunch of meeples in different colours scattered across the photos as if they have just been released from the hand. A couple of fingers of a hand appear to be coming from out of frame, with a bunch of board game pawns in different colours scattered across the photos as if they have just been released from the hand.
Throwing Meeples

Throwing Pawns

A group of four blue meeples on the left and a group of four red meeples on the right, with a single green meeple in the background. A group of four blue board game pawns on the left and a group of four red pawns on the right, with a single green pawn in the background.
Two Groups of  Meeples
Against the Green Meeple		Two Groups of Pawns
Against the Green Pawn

Copyright notice: Although I believe in the public domain, and I want as many people as possible to enjoy my work, please don't try to pass any of my creations off as your own. Share my art, music, and writing. Just don't claim that you were the one to create it. Thank you.

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