Artist Interview: Álvaro Jiménez & Legends of Exandria Print

Over the past 10 years, Critical Role has captured the love and attention of thousands of fans with diverse, dynamic characters, epic storytelling, and heart-wrenching and heartwarming adventures. Through stunning fantasy designs and settings, the campaigns also provide endless inspiration for artists across the world. Álvaro Jiménez recently tackled a 10th anniversary illustration encompassing Vox Machina, the Mighty Nein, and Bells Hells.

Featuring 35 total characters, the Critical Role: Legends of Exandria Fine Art Print pays tribute to a decade of adventuring parties and their allies from the first three campaigns of the hit fantasy series. We sat down for an interview with artist Álvaro Jiménez to learn more about the action-packed triptych — including his process, the challenges of taking on such a sprawling scene, and his own experience with TTRPGs.

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Artist Interview with Álvaro Jiménez

Hello again! Thanks so much for taking the time for a second interview. Last time we talked all things Lord of the Rings, and now we’re back to cover another beloved fantasy property: Critical Role. What was your experience with Critical Role prior to beginning this project?

Hi there! I’m so happy to be back answering your questions, so let’s start:

To be honest, [my experience was] only Amazon Prime’s Vox Machina show, and to keep being honest, I’ve never considered myself a tabletop games fan except for video games like Baldur’s Gate, but since I’ve been involved in this project … they created a monster, haha, and now I can properly say that I’m a huge fan, not only of the show but of playing real TTRPGs.

What interested you most in tackling this 10th anniversary art piece? What are you most proud of when you reflect on the final results?

The challenge itself is what drew me in — I’ve never managed so many characters before, and I wanted to demonstrate to myself I could do it. Critical Role has become a huge brand and I wanted to live up to it.

I’m most proud of the fact that everything looks cohesive, despite the amount of detail. I would say this has been the biggest work of my career.

[When the art was approved], a tear just dropped out of my eye. Knowing that the CR team liked it was a shock, for good reason of course. The only thing I could do was just sit down and enjoy the silence.

Who are your favorite characters or dynamics in Critical Role? Were there any moments or scenes in the animated series that really drew you to them?

Probably one of the dynamics that touched my heart the most is the one shared between Grog and Pike. They are so sweet and care a lot for each other. Now, talking about favorite characters, Scanlan is the best. I can’t stop laughing every time he shows up! And I also must admit I love Percy and his dark side. 😀

Also the epic transformation of Vax in the second season [of TLOVM]. I think it’s amazing and makes him even cooler and offfffff course I have to mention THAT DEEP moment with the Acid Dragon [Umbrasyl].

Speaking of Critical Role characters — the Critical Role: Legends of Exandria Fine Art Print is an epic celebration of 10 years’ worth of character rosters, including NPCs. How did you go about designing the layout and arrangements for such a packed composition? Were there any major challenges during this process?

Between the layout, designs, and number of characters, the entire image presented a challenge.

The first sketch came out quite fast, only needing a couple of composition changes at the beginning.

The main focus was on placement of the heroes and their allies, taking into consideration their dynamics and relationships. As we were progressing, some new challenges appeared as elements were added or changed, but thanks to my art directors, it wasn’t that bad in the end.

Anyway, I think the most important factor was to make something readable despite all characters involved, and I think we made it.

With so many different unique characters, how did you match the tone and color palettes across all three eras/campaigns to ensure the print remained cohesive?

Simple: I worked this as a whole illustration instead of individual pieces, so I could see all the characters and how they fit into the image together.

Actually, for the separate campaign posters, I split the main piece in three parts and repainted things like the backgrounds and effects at the borders.

Do you have any favorite fantasy designs, either in Critical Role or another property? What do you tend to enjoy about a character’s visuals?

I do love Essek and Vax’s designs. Although each of the characters has lovely designs, I usually tend to enjoy the darker ones. My illustrator career is based in the grimdark. I started working for Games Workshop 10 years ago and am currently still working for them, and that tells you almost everything about me and how much I love dark designs, haha.

But if we speak about Baldur’s Gate 3: I love Karlach, Orin the Red, and Raphael, and, aside from Warhammer, I can’t stop talking about my most beloved grimdark saga ever, Diablo.

What type of hero or role would you want to take on in a fantasy setting? Would you rather be a spellcaster, brawler, healer, or something else entirely?

In almost every role game I play, I usually choose necromancers, barbarians, or druids. I’m an action guy, so I leave the healers and spellcasters (aside from the necromancers) for other people, hahaha.

Finally, are you excited to see the fan reaction to this print?

I am both nervous and excited, hahahaha. Critical Role has a huge fandom, so it’s important to me that I’ve done all the characters justice so fans can enjoy this piece!

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Bring the legends to life in your own collection — pre-order the Critical Role: Legends of Exandria Canvas Art Print by Álvaro Jiménez today.