Meet the Graphics and Art Team Behind SETI (Part I)

[Note: This article first appeared on the CGE Blog].

Did you know we have over ten people working on the graphic design and artwork for SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence? With over 200 cards and tons of intricate graphic design elements, it’s one of our most ambitious projects to date. In this multi-article series, we wanted to shine some light on the many creative individuals that are working behind-the-scenes to make SETI look amazing! Some of them are full-time at CGE, others are skilled freelancers. And you may recognize many of them from past CGE projects, too!

RADEK BOXAN

Lead graphic designer, typesetting and preparing the game for print, UI & UX, prototypes creation

Radek is the one responsible for the graphic side of SETI’s development. He works on the game from the very beginning when we decide to publish it, all the way until the game goes to print. Radek’s work begins with turning the designer’s early prototype into something that we can start working on more in-depth, developing it further with each playtest. He also prepares all materials and templates for other graphic designers and illustrators to work with, updating them through each development change along the way until everything is ready to be locked in and typeset for print.

We hired Radek to work for CGE in 2021, and he quickly established himself working on several big projects, including both Lost Ruins of Arnak expansions, Deal with the Devil, and Kutná Hora: The City of Silver. He usually prefers heavier games with unusual elements or interesting twists, so the decision to work on SETI was pretty natural.

Since Radek is an enthusiast gamer himself, he continually comes up with various clever and fun improvements that put the whole game experience on another level. He is especially good at designing various clever cardboard creations. You could recognize his work in the complex Deal with the Devil player screens, the turning wheel with attachable cogs on the Mechanic player board from the second Arnak expansion, and the recent cardboard computers in Kutná Hora. The rotating solar system in SETI is just another of those awesome cardboard creations that players love.

If you would like to find out more about the work of a graphic designer at CGE, we recommend checking out the recent “How we make games” video.

JAKUB POLITZER

Art direction, UI & UX, illustrations for the game elements (iconography, player boards, techs, solar system, boards, cards UI, cards backs, ets.), game logo

Web: https://www.jpdraws.com/

Instagram

While Jakub is not a regular CGE employee, he has a really long and rich history of working on CGE projects. You can appreciate his talents while playing Alchemists, Through the Ages, Adrenaline, Sanctum, Lost Ruins of Arnak, the new edition of Galaxy Trucker, Starship Captains, Kutná Hora, and now SETI.

Jakub has a lot of experience in leading other illustrators, while being a very good illustrator himself. We’ve started to put an even greater emphasis on the art and production side of CGE games with our recent titles, often putting together a whole team of illustrators. That’s where Jakub’s experience and art directioning skills came in really handy.

The whole process starts with figuring out the overall direction for the game’s art and finding illustrators suitable for the project. This phase often includes a lot of sketching and iterating. Sometimes worldbuilding is an important part too, like with Arnak and Starship Captains. Jakub is a big part of this, and he then guides the illustrators and makes sure that all the illustrations maintain the desired look and follow a coherent style.

Apart from the art direction, Jakub’s main job is the whole game interface, from icons to various card templates and other graphic elements. This is a critical part of board game creation. When it’s done right, players might not even notice it, but it’s what creates that smooth gameplay experience where you can dive deep in the game without any obstructions. It’s a very complex task, taking elements from art, logic, ergonomy, and even psychology. When it comes to UI & UX, Jakub has been the best we’ve been working with by far, and he might be one of the very best in the whole board game industry. He is very experienced, he understands the games, and he can bridge that gap between art and the technical needs this task requires.

ONDŘEJ HRDINA

Cover illustration

Portfolio: ondrejhrdina.art, artstation

Featured art: game cover

Ondra has been a great discovery for us. We first worked with him on Sanctum, where he drew all those magnificent terrain boards that you need to cross on your journey to face the demon lord. We were all astonished by his creative compositions, distinctive style of digital painting, great sense for colors, and the creative use of light. Sanctum was great, but it was Arnak where Ondra’s talent really emerged. He was the creator of the cover, the main board illustration, and the game’s lovely locations. Working on Arnak was a collaborative process of many great illustrators, but Ondra’s work was at the top of what makes this world so magical. He later collaborated on all the other Arnak endeavors, drawing the covers and all the leaders for both Arnak expansions.

When you meet Ondra, you’ll probably be surprised by how humble he is despite all this great work he has done. He’s pretty young but he won over our hearts with all this work we’ve done together so far.

SETI is a bit different in style and setting from the natural sceneries that suit Ondra so well. But the process of searching for a cover illustrator was still very brief and unanimous. We are really glad we asked Ondra because he surpasses himself with each new project. And he exceeded our expectations with the SETI cover once again.

“The SETI cover is a special one for me in terms of the process,” notes Ondra. “It was the most I had used 3D techniques in a project, researching the Very Large Array and modeling the scene so it fit reality and its possible near future. There was heavy overpainting and some creative license taken in the end, but I am very happy with the final image.”

“As with all CGE projects, the results would have been lacking without the valuable feedback from designers and other artists, especially Jakub Politzer, who again taught me something new about colors and composition. As astronomy is near to my heart, I also learned something new about radio telescopes and various future imaging projects, which made me even more excited for what is to come in this field.”

JIŘÍ MIKOVEC

Card illustrations, setting the desirable style for the illustrations

Portfolio link: Behance

Featured SETI art: Very Large Array, Cassini Probe

You may already know Jirka Mikovec from Starship Captains where he illustrated a large number of missions and all of the solo passengers. We tend to give each of our games a distinctive graphic style, and it was Jirka who helped us define the style of that goofy Starship Captains universe.

For SETI, the first two illustrations we asked him to do came out so well that they became a reference for measuring the other illustrations on the project. We chose one reference set on Earth, the iconic VLA telescopes in New Mexico, and a second scene set in space, the Cassini Probe studying Saturn and its system. Jirka impressed us once again, by elegantly avoiding the overused dark space and sci-fi style. Instead, he was able to put bright colors and a great sense of optimism into those illustrations.

Instead of going photo-realistic, we decided to try a more concept art-like approach for SETI’s art, with apparent brush strokes, distinct edges and bright coloring. We often went back to those two illustrations when working on the game further if we needed to remind ourselves about what impression the game should evoke in people. The Very Large Array illustration also helped us in finding the motif for the game’s cover.

(The Very Large Array)

“The VLA (Very Large Array) was the first card we created, making for an excellent starting point. It features a complex and iconic cylindrical component – a shape we expected to see quite often in the game,” says Jirka. “In terms of composition, there weren’t many issues to address. The real challenge was establishing a style that would both look appealing on a card and be easy for other artists to replicate. I wanted to use a style relying on graphical elements, where the emphasis would be on the brushstrokes and various interesting shapes created by them, rather than on intricate details or exact resemblance to real-life structures.”

“Honestly, this project was quite challenging for me,” he adds. “I typically focus on character design and development, and my style tends to be on the cartoony side. Venturing into environment and hard surface design was somewhat uncharted territory for me. But hey, that’s how you grow.”

(The Cassini Probe)

JIŘÍ KŮS

Card illustrations

Portfolio link: yirikus.cz

Featured SETI art: Green Bank Telescope

Jiří Kůs is also no stranger to CGE games. He breathed life into some of the Sanctum demons and most of Arnak’s guardians. He’s also behind some of the most fun and creative missions and tech card illustrations from Starship Captains.

It’s always a pleasure to work with, and he often inspired others in the team with his ideas. Together with Jiří Mikovec he was the obvious pick for SETI’s core team. While Jiří has a very nice style of his own, he is also very good in matching the style of others if needed, which is especially important in those projects incorporating several different illustrators.

“When I am starting with a new illustration I always try to think about a few things – what is the signature feature, how best do I show that and what light/color situation we have not used yet. Then I gather references and try to combine those that work for me,” says Jiří.

(The Greenbank Telescope)

“For the Greenbank Telescope I liked the metal structure supporting the main dish so I wanted to show that. Above my monitor I have a poster by Simon Stalenhag with three towers in the background. And I thought I might do something like that: put the telescope further away, since it is very large and I obscure it a bit by atmosphere. We did not have mist and sunset yet, so I tried to sketch that. When the team chooses the option they like the best, then it is just about refining while keeping the spirit of the original sketch.”

FRANTIŠEK SEDLÁČEK

Card illustrations

Portfolio: artstation

Featured art: Hubble Space Telescope

Fanda is the only illustrator from the bunch who also works for CGE as a regular employee. His main focus in the company is in the digital implementations of our games, but he is always eager to help out with the board games too. You might know him from Sanctum, Arnak and especially Starship Captains where he drew several memorable missions. Sometimes it’s easy to recognize Fanda’s work, because he often hides some fun reference to his beloved pug companion Tempos in the illustration.

His domain is usually a more cartoony art but he still made at least a brief appearance in SETI with the famous Hubble telescope.

It soon became apparent that a project the size of SETI would be too much for just two main illustrators, especially with plans to have over 200 cards in total. So we needed to look further. We contacted several other illustrators and asked each of them for a reference illustration.

We are usually very happy to work with foreign illustrators from around the world. While CGE is a Czech company, we also have a US department and most of our in-house communication is in English anyway. But with a project of this size we decided to go with only Czech illustrators to make it all easier to manage and to make it easier for the illustrators themselves too.

For each game project, we usually establish a common Slack channel for the art team where all the communication occurs. Illustrators get assignments from there, they send their progress, get feedback, often not just from us but they sometimes even help each other and give each other advice. From our experience it is far more motivational when you can see how others progress and how the project is brought to life with each new cool illustration.

In the end we managed to put together a pretty strong and robust team surprisingly fast. Illustrations-wise, it is the biggest board game project we’ve done till this day. Stay tuned for the next installment, where we’ll see and hear from more of SETI’s illustrators!

Click here to read further in part ii