The Evolution of Card Art

I thought it would be fun to show the various phases involved in getting to the final stage of art for each card. We'll use the card "Five Star Dining" as an example.

First step is where the card concept begins as a twinkle in my eye. :) I think up the scenario, and write a corresponding card description.

Description: "This high-quality grain and hay provide the much-needed fuel to keep your horse healthy and full of energy!"

The next step involves the illustration artist (in this case Bronwyn). I provide her with the write-up and usually no more. I don't like to influence the artist too early by mentioning any ideas I had in mind. Usually the illustrator comes up with a far better idea anyway!

The illustrator will then draft up a couple of rough sketches from which I'll choose one and provide input/feedback. Sometimes the rough sketch will be green-lit right away, sometimes we'll do a couple iterations and explore the theme a bit more.

Once the concept is fully flushed out, I'll give the go-ahead for the artist to clean up the linework and make the image look polished. Here's what it looks like cleaned up:
Next comes the shading pass. Then the pencil art is officially complete!!!
With the pencil work done, the digital painter comes aboard (in this case Zelda). I'll provide the polished pencil work and let her apply her own personal stamp to the piece. Sometimes I'll make requests for adjustments, sometimes sign-off occurs after the very first pass.

And here's the final image for the card "Five Star Dining!"
From this point on, there will be some post-processing, then assembly of the image into the card template. More on that another time. :)

~Kay