This is one of the common questions I get.  And I got pretty lucky when I met Jeff Porter.  Jeff is a very talented artist, who has done artwork for a variety of games.  Most recently, he did artwork for Battletech and Warhammer 40K.  You can his find the full list and examples of his other work at jeffporterart.blogspot.com and jeffporterart.com

As I was saying though, there was a lot of luck involved in my meeting Jeff.  It was at the same game convention in Kansas City, where I built the first draft of my deck.  I had finished play testing the game and was pretty hyped after the positive feedback I'd gotten.  So, I decided to browse the vendors booths, not really looking for anything particular.

As I walked around, one booth in particular caught my attention, Jeff's.  In his spare time, Jeff liked drawing whimsical, alien creatures and he would sell prints of them at his booth.  The first one to catch my attention was a drawing of a one-eyed, one-legged chicken. (This creature would become the inspiration for one of the creatures in the game, Chyklops.) So I stopped and started flipping through the various creatures, quickly coming across several that fit perfectly with the theme I was going for with the game.

I immediately purchased the prints and struck up a conversation with Jeff.  I started telling him about my idea for the card game and how his drawings were exactly what I was looking for.  I briefly discussed with him the idea of working together on the game.  He said he was interested and gave me his contact information. 

I took those prints home with me that Sunday and it would be February before I would reach out to Jeff again.  By that time I gone through several iterations of the deck and a lot of play testing sessions. I was pleasantly surprised when Jeff responded to my email that he was still interested.  So we started collaborating on the project with me working the game design and other logistics and Jeff creating the artwork, oh, and doing some play testing too.  And 7 months later, Xenofera has some really awesome artwork.   

I have to say, Jeff has been great to work with.  He's done an excellent job taking the descriptions of the various creatures I've given him and bringing them to life.  I couldn't have asked for a better artist to work with.  His imagery of the alien landscapes and his eye for detail really brings players into the game. 

Just wait till you see the final artwork on the finished game!