A premier visual artist for immersive experiences.
If MJ could live in a theme park or escape room, he probably would.
(You should see his apartment.)
With 5 years of experience working on immersive entertainment, interactive marketing, board games, and more, MJ Blackwood is the creative for your next themed project.
His mixed background of professional illustration and user experience design makes him the ideal teammate when your visuals need to look stunning as well as function perfectly.
MJ understands the particular needs of immersive and interactive projects, and prides himself on his dedication to clear communication, outstanding service, and incredible art.
MJ has created work for….
Interactive Element Art & Design
When an audience needs to interact with a visual, it’s so important that the piece doesn’t just look good but that it functions too.
From puzzle art to activity booklets to game elements, MJ has years of experience crafting art that will both stun your audience and work too!
Juliana and Ariel of the Wild Optimists
“MJ Blackwood is an incredibly talented and versatile artist
who we have hired again and again because his work is always thoughtful, beautiful, and exactly what the project calls for. He possesses a unique understanding of puzzles, is diligent and conscientious about details, and is an all around joy to work with.
We feel so fortunate to have him as our go-to artist!”
live experience Concept art
Need stunning graphics to really pull together your pitch deck? Or maybe you’re looking for someone to translate your killer idea into a piece of concept art?
Conceptual visuals are often the best way to take a pitch or ideation stage to the next level. Being told something will be awesome is one thing, but seeing how cool it will be is another entirely!
MJ can help you show people how your great ideas will look.
Ready to create amazing together?
Tabletop game art
Engaging characters and narrative scenes are MJ’s roots as an illustrator.
His first and forever love, MJ excels at creating illustrations for any of your tabletop projects: from board games to ttrpgs to card games, he will match your brand and needs in order to deliver you stunning artwork every time.
Want to see more unique characters and stunning illustrations?
But whats it like working with you?”
“Cool stuff!
If you’re interested in what it’s like to work with me as a freelance client, here is a very brief overview of what that might look like!
Once you’ve contacted me, we’ve discussed the project’s terms, and we both decide it’s a good fit: I will send you an artwork agreement laying out all the terms of the project, including exact deliverable descriptions, deadlines, compensation, etc.
From there we make something cool! See below for a real-life example of the process it takes to create a commercial illustration.
STAGE 0: The most important step. You can see a basic layout and description here, provided by the client. The more robust the description of necessary elements, the more time we save later on.
STAGE 1: Thumbnailing. Normally I make these for myself to get the gist of the composition. You may or may not see these, it depends on the complexity of the project. (This is a little more "cleaned up" then the normal thumbnails I make.)
STAGE 2: Rough Sketch. It depends on the project, but often you'll receive two to three options from which you'll pick one to move forward with.
STAGE 3: Final sketch. Everything should be understandable and in its final places. A great time to fix issues with functionality (if needed) before rendering. (More complex pieces will often have a final sketch with values included.)
STAGE 3.5: Color studies. Again, depends on the project, but often you'll receive 1-4 rough color studies before I complete the render. This ensures we're still walking down the right direction.
STAGE 4: "The Final". This is the piece in its completed form. I always provide for a minor revision in my artwork agreements at this stage, as project needs often change from the start of a project to the end.
STAGE 5: Final - Revised. Not always needed, but in the case of this work, the client had decided the color palette needed to feel more strongly of "Christmas", so an adjustment was made. (I added a couple extra christmas-y elements, just for good measure.)
STAGE 6: Ready to Print. In the case of this piece, which is an activity booklet cover, graphic design elements needed to be added before it could be printed. I also did the design for this project, so here is the final-Final!