Inside the Game: Quarter Past with Ameera Sheikh
If you have been following Darrington Press for a while now, you know how important our artists are to us. The time, creativity, and pride they put into their work is a joy to celebrate. We are so delighted to be able to share a little bit of “inside scoop” on some of the beautiful work that went into creating the art of our latest release, Queen by Midnight: Quarter Past, a new standalone expansion to our deck-building board game Queen by Midnight.
Let’s hear from Ameera Sheikh, one of the gifted artists behind both Queen by Midnight games.
Inside the Game with Artist Ameera Sheikh
Queen by Midnight is by far one of the best and most challenging projects I’ve ever worked on! The blend of an intense setting with the odd and unique characters definitely had its mark on me. When the team approached me to create additional characters, I was quite literally over the moon. Kyle Shire is a brilliant man. The briefs were so vividly written that once I read each character’s brief I got very inspired and immediately started imagining how they look and act, especially after reading their backstories.
When it comes to design, the most important aspects, in my opinion, are two things: a character’s facial features, and their stance. I tend to take video references of myself acting out how these characters would move and act, then I would take screenshots of the best looking poses and create a variety of sketches before sending them to the team. I would share those but that’s just blackmail material.
The new characters in Queen by Midnight: Quarter Past were very fun, but there is one particular character that has a special place in my heart: Qasima Al-Basar, the intrepid gentlewoman thief of The Lamp. The moment Kyle sent me her brief, I was like hey.. This feels close to home.. Maybe I could add a bit of spice to that! The team was kind enough to let me contribute to both her backstory and design, not to mention helping out with naming her as well! Her entire design is based on Saudi folklore, and her outfit specifically was inspired by traditional clothing of the Hijaz, the western prefecture of Saudi Arabia by the Red Sea, which is where I’m from. Despite her being from a familiar descent, she was actually the toughest princess to work on! It is quite a challenge to paint a fantastical character that kind of represents your people, so in her design I had to keep a balance between staying authentic and giving her unique attire that fits her persona without taking away too much. These little details are what truly make working with the Darrington Press team an incredible experience and an absolute delight, and I’m always looking forward to future projects with them.
Bio: Ameera Sheikh
Hi! I’m Ameera, a self taught concept artist and illustrator based in Saudi Arabia. Originally, I graduated with a BA in graphic design, but like any artist, I grew up loving to draw my favorite characters, which led to discovering that people could actually do that for a living. With full support from my family, I took many courses and practiced daily to become a professional artist. However, my career skyrocketed after creating the first fanart of Critical Role, which was a realistic portrait of Keyleth almost ten years ago. I had zero idea about D&D and its magical community, but I fell in love with the characters and wanted to share that with the world, unaware that it would get any attention. But it did, and the rest is history. <3
Many thanks to Ameera for giving us a peek into the creation of this beautiful art. Queen by Midnight: Quarter Past is on sale now at Darrington Press Guild Stores, Critical Role shops (US, CA, AU, and EU) and other friendly local game stores in the US, CA, AU, EU, and UK. To chat with other Darlings and stay up-to-date on Quarter Past and all things Darrington Press, be sure to join our Discord.