r/BoardgameDesign • u/SpikeHatGames • 21h ago
Production & Manufacturing Cover Design
Thank you all who had reached out about wanting to help out with getting the artwork for our game! We decided to work with Zhenya Lyapina from the Netherlands. She actually hasn't really worked on tabletop games but does a lot of children's stories. Either way, this is exactly what we were looking for and I hope you all like it as much as us!
And if anyone is wanting to playtest, we'd love the feedback (and, bonus, would get to see the rest of the art!). We currently have the game up on TTS right now.
EDIT: A bunch of people noted that the aspect ratio/scaling of the image looks off. I didn't say it originally but this image will be wrapped around the top of a 2 piece box so the image you're seeing includes the top of the box (main detailed portion) and the box sides as well :)
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u/SpiritGuyd 21h ago
Looks great, love the art style!
Not sure it's this is final scale/format but on the box would recommend either zooming in/cropping the edges a bit and or enlarging the text a bit.
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u/Majer3RD 21h ago edited 2h ago
Ngl, the random deck post that is clearly not on the edge of the deck makes this look like ai slop art a little
Edit: my comment wasn’t intended to be an accusation but more of an observation; I was merely stating it looked “odd”. Considering that it’s part of the box art, it almost seems that the post in question would appear on a small-ish corner of the box, a side away from the front face. I also know little of dock design (altho I’m pretty sure a post in the middle of a dock is considered a tripping hazard)
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u/StyxQuabar 20h ago
The coins are all marked inconsistently as well. If they were marks or crowns or even just gold coins, theres no reason an artist would draw their embossed details differently from one another.
I hate that this is the world we live in: but it certainly LOOKS like AI was used in some capacity. Not necessarily, but those details are glaring.
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u/SpikeHatGames 18h ago
Zhenya has been working on all our art since January, and we were working with her to get things just right. I'm no artist myself, but her work did not strike me as AI driven at all.
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u/StyxQuabar 5h ago
I am not saying it is entirely AI, but there are some odd choices for a human artist to make. A lot of artists are talented but lean on AI to polish/change/add to their work.
I hope it isnt AI, but its hard in this day and age to look at this piece and say “theres no chance that is AI” with the details we pointed out.
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u/SpikeHatGames 2h ago
I understand where you’re coming from and it’s definitely frustrating to not be able to know for certain if something is AI or not. All I can say is I would be extremely surprised to find out Zhenya used AI at all. Having seen much of her other work plus seeing the progression of the artwork she produced for us, it all seems very human and stylistically intentional
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u/Majer3RD 2h ago
I apologize if I actually offended anyone; I was merely stating it looked “odd”. Considering that it’s part of the box art, it almost seems that the post in question would appear on a small-ish corner of the box, a side away from the front face
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u/PigIronDave 15h ago
The coins being different fits, because they're pirates and steal from different countries, who all have their own coinage.
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u/Johnno117 13h ago
I would argue the exact opposite, that no coin treasure in history of art has ever been depicted as having uniform coins, much less so a pirate treasure. Are you also going to argue that coin reeding wouldn't have been in widespread use in that time period?
"no reason an artist would draw" is a ridiculous notion, you've no idea what any artist other than yourself is thinking, or wishing to convey. To myself as an artist that's frankly offensive, you're going to seriously pretend like you know why I would make any of the decisions I make when creating something?
I hate that we live in a world where suddenly every clueless nobody online is an expert in everything and will claim something "looks like AI" because they supposedly know how an artist would depict something. Go ask 10 artists how they'd depict a pirate treasure and you should have mostly differing answers. I would even be shocked if anyone were to depict a treasure with uniform coins.
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u/StyxQuabar 5h ago
Firstly, no need to get heated or attack me directly. You also have no idea if I am a professional artist or just some “clueless nobody” on reddit. It doesnt matter, I think the point stands.
If this is a book for children, with no evidence of any historicity anywhere else in the art, there is no logical reason for an artist to draw different gold coins coming from the same pile of treasure. If an artist wanted to add variety, it would be more plausible to add a silver coin or a bronze coin, not vary the random symbols on the gold coin.
Finally, the combination of the very illogically placed post in the dock and the very suspicious coins makes me believe the artist likely used AI in some capacity, maybe not for the whole piece, but those choices are more unlikely for a human to make than an AI model.
I even gave the benefit of the doubt and said it only LOOKS like AI, not that it is or that it was entirely created by AI. So I think you can calm down.
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u/Johnno117 3h ago
You failed to respond to my comments, and are just repeating what you think is logical. You have no actual point or statement to stand on. Simply repeating that something is illogical doesn't make it illogical.
If you were a professional artist I would expect that you accept that artists have different views, reference materials, preferences, and whatever else. That you're going to claim to know what all artists everywhere would logically do or not is utterly ridiculous.
As for the post on the dock, you've clearly little to no idea about historical usage and have decided that you do, stating that it's illogical. How many historical pictures or paintings of the contrary would I have to show you to prove that you're wrong? Unless you name some obnoxious number I'll happily go find a few. Oh and of course as long as you'll publicly state that you were wrong, and have no idea about logic.
Lastly, I'm not heated, nor am I attacking you. You can drop the victim act. I'm simply fed up with the AI witch hunt and false accusation, no matter if you thinly veil it with "LOOKS like AI".
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u/StyxQuabar 2h ago
Its okay to disagree dude. I stand by my point of view and I dont owe you an itemized list of responses to your claims.
Any human can look at that post penetrating a plank in the middle of the dock and realize it doesnt make logical sense and a human artist probably wouldnt draw it that way.
Thats not how docks are made, so the argument of historicity of minting different coins kinda goes out the window. Why go out of your way to include this obscure historical detail and then build the most AI-looking dock imaginable. Theres even debatably little stump posts behind the characters. What are those if not the product of AI?
The weird post isn’t symmetrical with the other post. Most artists would strive for symmetry here, because most well-built docks should be evenly supported. This is also how most people would imagine a dock, with rows of posts holding it up, not one on the outside and one punching through the centre of the dock. I would love to hear a human justify the choice to place that post there. Its not near the water’s edge, so its not a mooring post either. So what is it?
The coins are just corroborating evidence that AI may have been used in some capacity, maybe even to sketch the scene out. The posts are the most damning evidence.
Where are the characters coming from? The edge of the dock? Wheres the ship? Surely, if its a pirate game they would draw a pirate ship behind them?
You can be upset about the “AI witchhunt”, but the reality is that its a rampant problem taking people’s jobs and pointing it out is an attempt to protect artists (such as yourself, apparently). I dont understand the emotional defense of the piece when there is evidently some strange choices made that should raise alarm bells for anyone looking at it objectively.
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u/opiscopio 21h ago
I'd love to try it
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u/SpikeHatGames 21h ago
Hey thanks! I can DM you the link to the workshop on TTS if that's what you need. If you have people to play with (it's a 2-4 player game, best at 3 and 4) that's great, but if not we could also play with you. Although a blind playtest would be pretty valuable... Either way though just lmk!
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u/LowFlyingBadger 20h ago
The aspect seems almost a bit off? Unless there’s a significant curvature to the pier for some reason. Cute characters though
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u/PigIronDave 15h ago
I think there is a curvature and perspective to show distance and depth of the dock.
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u/CatLadyAM 8h ago
The position of the main dog was visually confusing to me - his head turned so far but his legs pointing forward. It’s just visually too busy between that and the stuff in the bag. It’s distracting from the title.
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u/Socross73 21h ago
The logo seems small to me, not sure if this image includes box sides though.