Maciej Frolow - Pt. 1
Welcome to the Flick Family, Maciej.
Please tell us more about the imagery and design around your deck, especially the K, Q, J & A cards.
- This deck is a new version of my 2020 Victorian Playing cards where I chose to replace the original figures with symbols: a sceptre for the King, a rose for the Queen and a pistol for the Jack. It worked well and now I changed the style from Victorian to steampunk so with gears and pipes. There will be a paper version available probably in spring.
For us folks less familiar with rendering and modelling in 3D - can you explain how the magic happens in a few sentences?
- 3D is closer to sculpture than drawing, it’s all about building a 3D shape, texturing it, lighting it and taking a shot (render) of it. It can be a simple object or a complex animation the basics are still the same, it’s just more work 😊 As in photography, all the magic is in using the right camera angles and light to build a believable (or surreal) scene.
How important is narrative when creating art? How do you come up with your ideas?
- I’m mostly working in advertising so the description is always the most important. My job is to tell a story with images to explain what the client wants to sell, a product, a service, or a charity auction. Illustrators are here to help the client to communicate his idea to the public.
How did you get started in your specialism?
- I’m self-taught. I always wanted to work with images. I had the chance to start working in an animation studio in Marseille where I learned a lot. After I moved to an advertising agency and went freelance in 2001 where I feel good and free to choose the projects on which I’ll work.
Do you play solitaire? What do you like to do to relax?
- Nah after 12 hours in front of a computer I prefer to go to the forest, visit some friends (no they don’t live in the forest, not all of them) or even go to the seaside as it’s one hour drive from my village.
What percentage of your final art projects are imagination Vs. realism? Which do you prefer? Can one stifle another?
- I love both from abstract digital paintings to hi-tech killer drones 😊 I can’t say about percentages as it’s very different from client to client. Even on personal projects, I like to work on many different styles and concepts.
Following your successful Kickstarter project in 2021 - Victorian Playing Cards was born! Congratulations. How did you find the experience and what did you enjoy/learn?
- Thank you. It was great at all levels and I learned a lot, especially how to make a readable design in such a small format. I also learned it’s hard work to create all the campaigns, printing and fulfilment. Thanks to my friend Max (www.maxplayingcards.com) we managed to make this a success as he helped me a lot with the campaign/logistics of the project.
What inspired you to design a deck, what is it about playing cards?
- I was always surprised that so many decks have incredibly nice boxes, superb card backs and boring card figures. One of the first decks which inspired me to work on my cards is Wylie’s Beckert Wicked Kingdom playing cards. It’s just fabulous and the amount of work she put into it is amazing. Also, the Luminosity deck designed by Jody Eklund is superb too. Now there are a lot of nice projects on Kickstarter you can help with by your contribution so they can go live.
Do you collect anything? Playing cards, maybe! 🤗
- Yes after a few months of being interested in the industry I started to collect a few decks haha. Got about twenty which is not a lot but the collection is growing. I’m also collecting art books, I have a lot of them, mostly about the art of made-for movies like Star Wars, Elysium or Dune.
What is it about the Victorian era that inspired the art and project?
- It’s just fabulous about the details, the craft of everyday life objects is just exquisite and the delicate patterns, often based on plain shapes are amazing.
If you could go back to any time in history - (not Victoria, sorry) when would it be and why?
- As a geek, I’m good here or I’d prefer to travel forward in time. See more progress and the conquest of the solar system and beyond.
