Houda Belgharbi on digital artwork, portraiture inspiration, and letting the process lead the way
As one of Fablecraft’s main concept artists, Houda has defined the look of both our Highlanders (note: rock-textured skin is harder to create than we expected!) and Woodlanders (one day we will create a clothing line based on these folk!). With six portraits completed and more in the works, Fablecraft players will meet (or play!) at least a few of Houda’s characters during their adventures.
Name: Houda Belgharbi
Socials: Instagram @houda_belgharbi.art | Twitter @belgharbihouda
Website: houdabelgharbi.com
Location: Canada
Artistic superpower: Character portraits that leave you deeply invested in a pretty set of pixels
Interests beyond painting: Local café hopping, cosplaying, perpetually squatting fictional worlds
Couldn't live without: My supportive friends and family, my cats Phoebe, Mozart and Loki (even when the scoundrel tries to eat my earbuds)
Favorite ice cream flavor: Ice cubes
Obsidian "Sid" Hightower: A former miner with arms of steel and a heart of gold.
Can you tell us how you came to be a professional artist?
HOUDA: Choosing what to do after high school in 2017, I essentially stumbled into the Illustration technical program at Dawson College here in Montreal, which was an incredibly lucky feat. All I knew was that I wished to pursue arts, and three years later I was exactly where I wanted to be. Around then, my classmates and I got invested in roleplaying games like D&D. I drew our fantasy adventurers a silly amount, so when our graduating summer of 2020 arrived, opening commissions online to draw more people’s cherished characters was a natural transition. The TTRPG community is hungry to have their stylish heroes illustrated! It has allowed me to aggressively practice portraiture for an incredibly diverse pool of people very quickly. That caught the eye of a few folks in the scene, and I’ve been working freelance ever since, dabbling in book covers and character art of all sorts.
Who are your biggest artistic influences?
HOUDA: Hard to keep track, there’s so many! I know for sure that Kevin Wada’s work, whether on the Simon Snow trilogy or comic book characters, made me excited to pursue illustration. It’s so unabashedly fun and full of confident looking people in fashionable clothes. It definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I can draw heartthrobs for a living! Similarly, it’s always thrilling to see Valentina Remenar’s artwork, with its incredible rendering, strong shapes and bold colours. Same with several awesome artists I follow online, like littleulvar, siobhanchiffon, PrinceCanary, kiwi.byrd, the list goes on!
Pepper Rockland: A bright-eyed Highlander with a thirst for adventure!
Tell us about your favorite medium.
HOUDA: I honestly love what I can achieve with digital art; it’s flexible, adaptable and gives you access to the whole spectrum of colours without having to run to the store to stock up on expensive paints. Though I must say a classic graphite pencil on some quality sketchbook paper is truly satisfying. Whenever I go back to traditional sketching, it’s fun to see how my work evolves, what I am taking from hours of digital practice and putting down physically. Everytime my shadows get smoother or my shapes and lines become stronger, I pat myself on the back and say “I still got it!”
When is your favorite time of day to create?
HOUDA: This is a tough one, because I don’t think it’s about time of day for me. Context is so important, I still haven’t figured out the exact variables that go into the equation of perfect productivity. I’m sure many artists struggle with that too – chasing the moments where one is in the right headspace can be challenging. Sometimes motivation strikes when the sun is bright and my posture is impeccable, or it happens at 12 AM when I’m already in bed–which I’m trying to move away from, for my poor back’s sake. Some pieces come incredibly naturally and are done in a heartbeat, while others are much more of an effort and require all the help I can get. Any time my friends bully me into staying focused, on Discord calls or at a café, that might be my favourite time to power through it.
Calidonna Quick Fingers: Sneaky, sassy, and damn good at stealing.
Can you walk us through your process when working on Fablecraft artwork, from brief through to final execution?
HOUDA: Gladly! First of all, I’m always excited to read through character briefs. It’s like meeting new people I know I’m going to adore. Those include a little insight into who the individual is and what they might look like. They are full of reference images to get my brain going. I give those my undivided attention, then I get to thinking, simultaneously looking up some photos of textures, possible models with interesting features, and letting those ideas marinate.
Then I get to sketching! Mostly very crudely at first, though sometimes I get to a clean sketch earlier on, which is always a relief. Every piece is a little different in that way; some follow the thumbnail-sketch-lines-colour-render pipeline to a T, others end up jumping from one to the other a little more sporadically. Gotta let it do its own thing sometimes!
HOUDA: I’m always bouncing ideas off of our creative director, Darci Manley, who helps a ton when I’m feeling indecisive. Once we’re at the color stage, it’s usually a straight line to the finish. That last stretch can be an upward hill or a fast descending slope, that’s always a coin toss!
Loads of references nearby, I hone in on textures, light and finishing touches. By the end, if I can capture the vibrant, magical feel of Mythas and its endearing people, I’m always pleased!
Woodlander Guard: An NPC ready to lay down the law in your next adventure!
Talk us through one of your Fablecraft pieces. Which element(s) are you happiest with? What was the most challenging part of working on this piece?
HOUDA: I’m very fond of Sparks, our resident pyro guy. The artwork tells you immediately what kind of person he is through body language, it’s quirky, inviting and he’s the right amount of charmingly caught off guard, in my opinion! Additionally, many rendering aspects turned out nicely, from the rocky skin texture on his arm and back, to the tousled hair, flame lit face and goggles. I was really pleased with that!
There was a bit of back and forth, deciding how to keep the piece saturated enough in his dark and messy workshop. The other Mythans I’ve worked on have bright blue skies and the outdoors to help keep things colourful, so when it came to Sammy, who is all alabaster, we had to bring in colour through his clothing, accessories and the flaming hand wave. We got there in the end!
Sparks Boulderblast: A Highland Inventor with a penchant for pyrotechnics.
What is your favorite piece of Fablecraft work that you didn't work on?
HOUDA: Oh there’s so many. Speaking of vibrant and colourful, I really love Sam Burley’s environment pieces for the Coasts and the Tipsy Pearl. They make me crave a tropical getaway, yearning for summer to get to Québec sooner.
Vibrant watertop towns are a hallmark of the Coral Coasts., illustrated by Sam Burley.
HOUDA: Also Andreas Rocha’s Wildwoods, they really set the scene for the Woodlanders to come to life. How he gets those tree shapes to weave so wonderfully together is beyond me!
I have so much respect for environment design. I really want to improve in that aspect, so I’m learning as much as I can through osmosis!
In the ever-changing Wildwoods, adventurers must choose their path wisely. Illustrated by Andreas Rocha.
How would you personally define success as an artist?
HOUDA: If I’m doing what I essentially was hoping to be doing, I’m happy with that. It’s so easy to get lost in thoughts of what I could be achieving, how much better certain aspects of my art or my workflow could be, that it makes me forget all the hard work I am actively putting into what I do.
The imposter syndrome often creeps in, but if I remember that my art makes people happy, occasionally myself included — as harsh of a judge I can be on myself at times — that’s so much more important. Yes, it’s good to keep aiming for more, because we do learn and grow through practice, it’s just a fine line between being aspirational and overly self critical.
If my younger self would be impressed with what I’m doing right now, then I’m doing OK!
Sylas Timberline: A Woodlander Sage who finds answers in the forest.
If you could live in any fantasy world, which would it be?
HOUDA: That’s tricky, because exciting magical worlds are too dangerous for the bystanders that don’t have main character immunity… Perhaps a spellcaster in the Simon Snow world (all their spells are popular phrases and idioms, which I find adorable) or a water bender in Avatar. Maybe a Grisha—no that’s too scary.
Are there any upcoming projects that you are excited for?
HOUDA: I’ve been reading a lot for work lately, some charming Fey romance and supernatural worlds, so keep an eye out for some Rainbow Crate special edition covers from yours truly. I’m also often involved in zines, like the merfolk art anthology Fathoms, where I get to render a pretty fish person. I’m also itching to get back into in-person conventions, selling art at a table with friends. Fun stuff in the works!
Check out more of Houda’s work on Riftweaver’s new TTRPG, Fablecraft. Fablecraft is a cooperative digital tabletop roleplaying game set in the vibrant, hopeful world of Mythas. The platform integrates interactive battlemaps, video, audio, and text chat, digital dice and unique game system, and a library of artwork and music, to bring your stories to life.
