/pic1349449.jpg)
/pic1063921.jpg)
My brother Jim – game artist C. James Parks – frequented the world-famous Deviant Art website and had done us the favor of compiling a list of about fifty different artists whose styles matched the sort of edgy, dark, and dramatic mood that we were trying to achieve in the game. And so Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold set about emailing these artists to see whether there was any interest in allowing us to use some of their existing, non-licensed pieces for the set.
/pic1317618.jpg)
Civil War
Art: Maciej Rebisz
The good news was that we received a lot of nice responses, and several artists allowed us to use some incredible pieces for the game. The bad news is that this covered only about two dozen of our illustrations. We still needed over a hundred images to finish the set.
Then along comes Polish sci-fi artist, Maciej Rebisz.
"Yes, I will do it," he responds in an email.
To which Stephen replies, "You will let us use some of your pieces?"
"No, I will do the set. The whole set."
/pic1349447.jpg)
Empress Elona
Art: Maciej Rebisz
And thus were we introduced to the wonderful work of this incredible artist. Mac is a self-taught artist who's been drawing and designing since before he could walk. He's been featured many times in online artist networks, websites, and printed publications (deviantART, Shadowness, Expose 8, Advanced Photoshop, 2DArtist). He's painted covers for several science fiction novels and stories, including The Exiles of the New World by Conor P. Dempsey, Red Serpent: The Falsifier and Red Serpent: The Prophet's Secrets by Delson Armstrong, Chasing Vegas by Tad Vezner, and other works awaiting release.
Maciej (or "Mac") set about creating initial samples for the Core Worlds base game – Superior Engineering, Troop Transport, and Recovery Mission – which blew us away. Mac then started painting one image at a time, designing amazing starships, vehicles, and planets until he had filled our galactic space with more than one hundred original pieces of art. Supplemented by several pieces from other artists, the Core Worlds universe now had its own look and feel, an inspired look which helped distinguish it from other games in the genre. One of the things that struck us the most about Mac's work was his use of color, how he could evoke a sense of mood and tell a story with each subtle brushstroke.
/pic1349448.jpg)
Raven (Core World)
Art: Maciej Rebisz
/pic1355474.jpg)
We are thrilled to have found Mac, and we hope he will continue to work on the Core Worlds universe throughout the years to come!
Andrew Parks
The Argo
Art: Maciej Rebisz
Maciej Rebisz is currently studying architectural design and is also working on an artbook project and a series of exhibitions. You can visit his websites at maciejrebisz.com and at Deviant Art, where we found him!
/pic1115193.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic1325366.jpg)
/pic1096846.jpg)
:strip_icc()/pic1361254.jpg)
