The Art of Pack of Heroes

Pack of Heroes was always going to need some pretty cool art. There are heaps of different characters in the game, and each one needs to evoke the feeling of a classic comic book hero. Plus, there's a whole history of comic art to be reference and be inspired by!

I knew an artist for this project would be expensive. Character design is something that takes a lot of time for an illustrator, and I knew I would need at least 30 unique characters! Looking at some preliminary quotes from some local illustrators confirmed my suspicions. The artwork costs were getting close to making this humble little self-published card game unmakable!

Enter, John D-C! A local artist who owns a cool art shop / gallery space in my suburb, Sweets Workshop. Not only is he a cool guy and great illustrator, he loves comics! And the icing on the cake - he was so taken with the sound of the project that he offered to work for a percentage! Woo! No upfront costs, yeah!

So here are John's qualifications:
1. He's a great illustrator and graphic artist.
2. He loves and collects classic comics.
3. He has a customised hulk van. Yes, A CUSTOMISED HULK VAN!!

You can check out John's most recent exhibition on his blog here.

John and I have sparked quite the collaboration, and things are progressing really well. He is excellent at taking my character ideas and making them 50% more fun, unique or just plain crazy. Plus, he has come up with plenty of character ideas on his own, which often puts new ideas into my head for powers and character interactions.

And to finish this post, I thought I'd share one of my favourite early sketches from John's notebooks... Ladies and gentlemen, I give you GENERAL RHINOCEROS!

General Rhinoceros - half rhino... all man.