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cliquenabend.de: Hi Pierô! Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself what do you do?

Piero: I´m an illustrator and graphik designer... I´m actually working on boardgames. It´s 90 % of my work cause actually, I don´t even have the time to answer to others purposes.

cliquenabend.de: You are new in games, how did you get your footstep in it?

Piero: At the beginning, I took contact with Bruno Cathala (Mr Jack, shadows over camelot...etc) cause I wanted to do a website with my wife (she´s a web design graphist) about boardgames and I wanted to use card of the game "shadows over camelot"... So I send a mail to Bruno, we became friends and he asked me to work on the first version of what became Mr Jack.

cliquenabend.de: Which games did you illustrate?

Piero: Mr Jack (Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc), En garde (Reiner Knizia), Les poux (Chris Boelinger)



cliquenabend.de: Which of them has the biggest success and what is the reason for it?

Piero: Mr Jack for sure... And why ? I don´t know, in fact, cause it was a surprise that it was a such success.... But the game deserves it for sure !

cliquenabend.de: At the moment you are painting a lot for new essen games, what games are you illustrating?

Piero: I have finished "Hurry cup" from the game designer Antoine Bauza and "Ghost stories" from the same creator. Actually, I´m working on a third one, but I can´t talk to much about it cause it hasn´t been announced yet.

cliquenabend.de: Can you tell us a little about them?

Piero:The first one is a family game about old car races. It´s a funny game to play with the whole family.
"Ghost stories" will be published by "Repos Prod" And it´s one of the best games I´ve ever played. It´s a cooperative game you can play alone or with max. 4 players. You are a taoist monk who has to defend the village from the ghost´s master Wu Feng. The game is just perfect in my opinion, I really love it. Antoine Bauza the game designer is very very very good and will become a "name" to remember.
The last one is one of the games I´m playing the most actually. In fact, between this one and ghost stories, I rarely play with others games. I can´t talk too much about it... But it´s a game from Bruno Cathala and Ludo Maublanc (Mr Jack) and it takes place in the Wild West.

cliquenabend.de: Will you be in essen and paint pictures for essen guests in their game boxes?

Piero: Yep, of course, for the third consecutive year... It´s a very important "rendez vous". It´s always a real pleasure to meet people who play with the games you have illustrated. And Essen is THE convention you have to see if you´re the boardgames biz.

cliquenabend.de: Please tell us about a normal working day of Pierô...

Piero: It depends. Few months before Essen, Publishers realize they´re late.. So they´re all over you. So actually, since february, I wake up at 6 am... I´m working on my computer to 8pm, sometimes 10 or 11 pm if I´m very late... And that rythm 6 days out of 7. (Actually, it´s 7/7)

cliquenabend.de: If you could be a gamepeace what would it be and why?

Piero: I think I could be the board... In fact, I don´t know if I want to be a board, but I think it´s the gamepiece I prefer... I love games with big boards which form a story.

cliquenabend.de: Which are your favourite games at the moment?

Piero: "Ghost stories" and the one I´m working on :) and if you want to talk about games already published, I love "stone age", "kingsburg", "notre dame" and "pandemic".

cliquenabend.de: Do you have an idol in the gameindustry, who and why?

Piero: I don´t have an idol cause I´m not a "fan" ;), but I really appreciate a lot of people in the boardgames industry as friends or as game designers. Serge Laget, Bruno Faidutti, Bruno Cathala, Ludovic Maublanc and Antoine Bauza are friends of mine and I really appreciate their games... Sebastien Pauchon (Yspahan and Metropolys) is very talented and Roberto Fraga is one of the best in my opinion cause his games are just crazy :)

cliquenabend.de: What other gameillustrations do you like and why?

Piero: There are a lot like Michael Menzel, Francois Bruel, Franck Dion or Franz Vohwinkel. But the best for me is Matthieu Leysseyne known as "ANI" the genius who did Jamaica and Animalia. He is as talented as he is kind. He became a friend and I consider him one of the best illustrators ever.

cliquenabend.de: What else do you paint?

Piero: I work for movies (story boards and caracter design) and I´m a big comic reader. I´m sure I will draw one someday.. I just need time ;) Since the beginning, it is my real passion !

cliquenabend.de: How do you begin your work on an illustration? What do you get from the publisher? How many times do you have to repaint a thing, etc.?

Piero: It really depends of the publisher. Sometimes, I will just have a theme, some directives lines like "I need 6 cars" or sometimes it´s: "I need a ghost with orange clothes, claws, with that position..etc...." It really depends. Generally, I send roughs to show my idea and I wait for an answer, after that, I do a proper illustration and I wait for validation before doing the colors.

cliquenabend.de: Do you have a funny anecdote and tell us about it?

Piero: In fact, no... I don´t have one... I have plenty of anecdotes about my work in this industry.... It´s a very cool job, I really enjoy to work for boardgames, there are so many people to meet (players, publishers, games designers...) I think that the first anecdote coming to my mind is my first dedication of my life. It was at essen 2006 for the release of Mr Jack. A guy asked me if I can do a dedication in the box... In fact, I was here for that and I was SO nervous, I was uncapable of holding my pencil... But the guy looked at me and said "Could you draw me Bruno Cathala naked ?" I laughed during 10 minutes and I was so relaxed after that !

cliquenabend.de: Is there anything else you like to tell our readers?

Piero: See you in Essen in october with pleasure !

cliquenabend.de: Thanks for your time...

Piero: Thanks to you!



The Interview was held by Andreas Buhlmann for cliquenabend.de.

Thanks to Piero for his support.