Sam Burley on finding inspiration, working with great mentors, and keeping up with change
From vibrant Coastal scenes (and the creatures who inhabit them), to the most famous ship in Mythas (The Tipsy Pearl herself!), Sam Burley is a master of shape, color, and composition. Pink sands and puffy clouds? Sam’s got it down. Oozey blobfish monsters that are still kinda cute? Sam’s got that covered too. He’s really made a… ahem… splash with his stellar designs! In fact, we’d go so far as to dub him the o”fish”al Coral Coast King! Players will have the opportunity to take a closer look at Sam’s work in Fablecraft’s upcoming adventure, The Murder on the Tipsy Pearl.
Name: Sam Burley
Socials: @SamBurleyArt | @samburleyart | samburley.com
Can you tell us a bit about how you became a professional artist?
SAM: I was always into art projects as a kid and was lucky enough to have a supportive family alongside a high school with spectacular art programs. That got me into an art college where I meandered a bit until some really great mentors helped me see the path towards fantasy illustration and subsequently guided me toward it.
A ship sails across the Mythan Sea.
After school I had a couple of odd jobs with matte painting, 3D texturing, and concept art… but my fantasy portfolio wasn’t quite where it needed to be yet, so I was doing a lot of personal projects on the side geared towards that. Eventually I was able to get some illustration work with small clients, which gradually grew into more and larger clients from there.
The Coral Coastline and a stilted town in the distance.
The Captain’s quarters aboard the Tipsy Pearl.
Today I happily split my time between various illustration and concept art jobs, mostly within the sphere of table-top gaming. And also I’m not good at most other things so it’s really really nice that career path worked out!
A Malevolent Ooze. These shapeless blobs form when cruel wishes are made at a wishing well.
Who are your biggest artistic influences?
SAM: Lars Grant West is one of those mentors I mentioned earlier and he is an exceptionally kind soul in addition to being a world class fantasy artist. He’s somebody I admire greatly, and it’s impossible to overstate the profound impact he’s had on my art and career. There’s also the Hudson River School artists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole which are some classic landscape favorites of mine. Finally I’d say Gary Tonge and Raymond Swanland are two contemporaries that I always find myself coming back to. In both cases I love their sense of shape, color, and dynamic compositions.
A vibrant and bustling Coastal marketplace.
Tell us about your favorite medium.
SAM: I’m a Photoshop guy. I was brought up on traditional mediums, but made a full switch during art school. I occasionally mess around with other tools, but nothing else ever quite sticks for me.
A Sandlander concept piece.
A hypnotizing chorus of Sandlanders evoke pleasant memories, luring targets into a trancelike state.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
SAM: Oh gosh, everything. Nature, clouds, animals, national parks, the cosmos, mythology, games, books, television, and of course other artists. I’m constantly taking pictures of random leaves and textures, and screenshotting various media, most of which I’ll never even look at again.
Coastal towns are alive with art and music. The local tavern crowds are renowned for breaking out into sea shanties at regular intervals, and once one person starts to sing, the other patrons find it hard to resist joining in.
It could be as simple as the color palette of a movie frame, or the wildly deep and complex job system of whatever RPG I’m playing. Sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse; there’s always a dozen half-formed ideas bouncing around my skull, but pinning any one of them down long enough to actually act upon is the challenge.
Below decks aboard the infamous Tipsy pearl.
What is your favorite piece of Fablecraft work that you didn't work on? We would love it if you would shout out another artist whose work you admire!
SAM: Robson Michel’s Bone Collector. Really cool design, and it’s especially challenging to make things creepy AND cool, but not totally gross. I just love the anatomy which feels equally mysterious and plausible.
Robson Michel’s Bone Collector, proudly displaying the bones of its victims.
How would you personally define success as an artist?
SAM: The easy answer is enough fame to keep clients coming in the door, and enough fortune to keep the bills paid. But for me the truer and more elusive goals is simply making art that I’m proud to have my name on and, more importantly, to keep my anxiety in check. I think many artists struggle with stress, imposter syndrome, and a compulsion to constantly be improving.
Decorator Crabs bedazzle their shells with found items. They seek what others most desire, whether trash or treasure, and are open to trade if the price is right.
As a result we (certainly I) love beating ourselves up and can forget to zoom out and enjoy the 20,000 foot view sometimes. It’s so easy to fall into a static rhythm of day-to-day, deadline-to-deadline, and “Sure, I can squeeze in one more assignment...”. Lately I’ve been making an effort to schedule time off and ask myself “Should I take this assignment,” instead of “Can I take this?” The distinction is not always an option unfortunately, but that’s the goal at least.
A ship approaches on the Coastal horizon… but something appears to be lurking in the water!
Any advice for aspiring artists out there?
SAM: My biggest recommendation for getting into the industry is to target specific clients you want to work for. If you want to be an illustrator for a specific brand, then have several pieces in your portfolio that match the quality, style, and subject matter of that brand. Eliminating any risks and leaps of faith on the art director’s part is what will make you appealing as illustrator.
A deserted island during the day.
A deserted island after night has fallen.
And I can’t help but acknowledge the elephant in the room, AI. There’s a lot of noise right now, but I don’t think anyone can say for certain where some of the very real legal and moral issues will land, or how image generators will fit into the future bottom-lines of any industries you’re hoping to get into.
A beautifully adorned room aboard the Tipsy Pearl.
My own advice though would be to stay relevant by playing around with it yourself. You don’t have to be a master or even an advocate. But it’s prudent to have some grasp of how it works, what the AI’s strengths and weaknesses are, and be able to identify when it’s being used by others. A warning too though: don’t become dependent on it, and avoid inputs that will easily lead to plagiarism (even accidentally). The best and safest option IMO is to treat the AI images as though another human created them… don’t take credit for having created them yourself and restrict your usage to visual inspiration only rather than integrating images into your own work directly.
A vicious Tidemaw emerges from the water.
Finally, make sure your portfolio is easily accessible online, and try to limit it to your best work. Social media is progressing rapidly enough that I don’t have the firmest grasp on the best options out there these days… but I know plenty of art directors still surf Art Station for new talent. Instagram comes to mind too. If you ever have the opportunity to show your portfolio to a possible client in person (like at a convention), even better, and even if you don’t feel ready yet!
The colorful deck of the one and only Tipsy Pearl.
Check out more of Sam’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.
