Joe Slucher – Designer

I am best known for my digital paintings of fantasy and surreal subjects. I love to paint the drama of covers,the action in gaming art and the beautifully melancholy in my personal work. The strength of my work lies in composition,textures and ability to capture light. My most recent work has all been for Magic the Gathering but my client list includes Wizards of the Coast, Hex Entertainment, Valve Software, Monte Cook Games and many others including a list of indie authors.

I have a process that I think helps make sure the cover is something the author has approved at every step and is never suddenly surprised by what the final product is and I never have unpleasant surprises either. If you have a very specific image in mind from the beginning then the process may go from sketch to color rough to final.

Preferred Process
1.Author sends a couple of scene descriptions
2. I create a variety of thumbnails to cover several different directions. Thumbnails are very simple and just convey the rough idea of a composition. I listen to your feedback.
3.Rough sketch stage for one or possibly two of the directions. The rough sketch makes clear the perspective and poses of the characters and there is some implied costuming and expressions but they may not be very clear.
4.Author feedback and revisions. The poses,camera angle and composition are locked in upon approval.
5.Final drawing. The final drawing is where we see the details in the costuming,expressions,proportions,etc. This is the point when the author should voice any concerns or objections about these new details. I'll listen to feedback and make edits. Once approved those details are locked in.
6.Color rough(this may occur earlier if it is vital to the image). I provide a rough color treatment of the illustration and listen to feedback from the author. This is determining what the lighting and colors of things will be. Once this is approved I won't change the lighting scenario.
7. Finished illustration. At this point nothing should be a surprise about the final image as we have talked about and walked through each aspect of the project. After turning in the final the only revisions should be small color or value tweaks such as reddening some lips, making an alien a bit more green,etc.

The above process can be shortened if you want to trust more in me and need your cover as soon as possible. For a rush job I expect a single clear description and I will provide rough sketches for approval and then go straight to final. After the final is turned in I will only make small tweaks.