So how did you first get involved in making board games?

I got reeled in much like other people by getting invited to a board game night and playing increasingly complex games. Then at my day job I met Austin and got brought on to do some playtesting and artwork after he knew I had a good amount of experience with playing games.

After Private Die, and just before shipping The End is Nigh to backers, I got brought on as the fourth member of Mystic Ape Games.

When you are working on the art of a board game can you give us a quick overview of your creative or thought process and has this changed at all since you first started?

The first thing I keep in mind is the tone of the game, and what I would want the game to look like if I were playing it. It’s actually pretty difficult for me visualize exactly how a game will look before mechanics are about 70% concrete. The feel of the game while playing should match the visual aesthetic. I start with creating a folder full of inspiration images (interiors, people, colors, etc.) then refine the style over time based on how mechanics change.

I came into Private Die pretty late in the development stages, so everything was pretty final, and it has a very defined style. I actually picked up the artwork after it had already been started, so adapting to the decided-upon style was the biggest challenge there.

For The End is Nigh, I really got to decide early what the art would look like and somewhat selfishly choose a process that was most appealing to me. Most of the character art in The End is Nigh was done by sketching first and doing digital painting based on that sketch.