Llyn Hunter boasts one of the highest total number of contributions to Warlord with her work appearing on over 140 different cards, 50 of which are Elves. Primarily a traditional artist that used mix medium, Llyn was with Warlord from the beginning. She was responsible for one of the original twelve Warlords named Rathe as well as fan favorites such a Behlial and Lord Winter.

What got you interested in artwork in general and why was it gel pens? What was your first foray into illustration and how did that come about?

I have been a fantasy and science fiction geek forever. I used to clip Prince Valiant from the Sunday Comics when I was a tot and dreamed of owning the 100 piece plastic castle and knight set from the Sears catalogue. I grew up on Andrew Lang fairy tale books, and once I discovered the mythology section of the library, I ate up every one. I adore Alphonse Mucha, The Edwardian Romantics, Frank Frazetta, Mike Kaluta, and Brian Froud etc. (there are so many artists who have influenced me) and wanted to be all of them. I started in educational illustration, but kept hitting up every fantasy publisher I could. While working full time as storyboard artist for animation, I finally got AEG to notice me and started by doing work for 7th sea.

How did you come to hear about and work on Warlord? Were you black-mailed into it?

I was already working on 7th Sea and Doom Town so Jim Pinto asked if I would like to work on the project. I love that next question; blackmailed? - no way! It was the work I had been dreaming to do. When John Zinzer and Jim Pinto proposed Warlord, I was all in. I had already worked for about a year or so for them. The new game was a gamble, but I already worked full time in animation, so the illustration work I did was extra money the filled in the cracks. AEG was known for paying the artists last, but they always came through with what they promised. On top of that, Jim was going to let me do EVIL ELVES and Scheming Nothrogs! I was storyboarding Stewart Little and Baby Loony Toons. This was my escape to draw and paint the way I wanted to.

Did you get assigned specific races, factions, or classes? What kinds of images did you enjoy creating the most and why?

Sorry, I keep Jumping ahead of the questions. You bet - Jim asked me the factions I wanted and for the most part I got a lot of them. I loved the Warlord fantasy bad guys, especially the Elves and Nothrogs. My day job was doing cute, fun and silly, so I always looked forward to the illustration work I did in my off hours. Nothing like playing the villain! I love being the bad guy. It's the total opposite of who I am in real life, and the most fun you can have as an actor. And that's who we are as illustrators; visual storytellers and actors. I also loved the bone armor of the elves, and really got off on creating new designs with it. Honestly, I was just having too much fun.

What's it like rediscovering pieces you did decades ago - do you notice a significant change in your style then and now? Looking back over them, do any of your contributions to Warlord stick out as your favorite?

Rathe will always be my first and favorite piece and Sethusk my second. They are both works and characters dear to my heart and I'll never part with. They epitomize the characters I would play in the game, and came out just the way I wanted them to. Believe me, as an artist, few of your works really do that. When it comes to looking back, I miss the "wet stuff." All the art directors want super rendered digital work now, so that's what I'm presenting. Computer illustration was still in its infancy when the game started, so all the works were done traditionally, except for two. I still love paint, but for speed and changes we have to go with digital. I haven't been hired to do a fantasy piece in quite a while. The competition out there is fierce and international - trying to find work is difficult these days.

What's your best Warlord memory or story?

I was at San Diego Comicon right after the game had come out and had just starting getting popular. I was standing at a booth where someone had just bought a complete box of the booster packs of the game cards. I actually told the guy that I did several cards in the game, and asked him if he'd like me to sign some of them. When he realized I wasn't joking we sat down at one of the eating tables, and he opened all the packs so we could find the all the ones I did, and I signed them. It was the first time I got to sign cards. It made me so happy!

We're doing a Warlord art colosseum style battle royale! Who's your champion and why?

I take Rathe. He's my favorite boy in the art department. Great bone armor, and wicked expression. You know someone is about to be killed. If we're going for a power card, I'd take Taoth; she won a Gen-Con tournament and I based her bad ass on Kali.

Thanks for answering these and engaging the community in this way! What's going on with you these days? Anything you want to plug?

I'm reworking everything in my life at the present. I've been an storyboard artist for animation for 30 years (yes I'm am officially an old fart) and my network has died or retired, and HR thinks that hiring a kid out of school is a better Idea - so jobs are sporadic. I'm competing with amazing artists from all over the world in illustration department - so that's difficult too. That being said, I'm currently working on my own steampunk comic book Silk & Steele on Patreon. I also post almost daily with fun digital downloads on my Art Patreon. You can find my work all over social media through my link tree.