Step by Step with graphic artist JOHN DOTEGOWSKI

I was lucky enough to find graphic artist John Dotegowski from a recommendation from another author. I hired John to design the cover for our new fantasy, "ASSASSIN'S CURSE." John was kind enough to explain his process with another image he designed for a gaming company. This was pretty much the process we went through as well.  John is a talented artist and is a delight to work with. His work speaks for itself, but if anyone is looking for an artist to design a book cover, send John an email. You won't be disappointed! I've repeated his process under each image in case anyone has trouble reading the text over the image.This is a piece I did for a small for a small gaming company that produces miniatures for use in tabletop gaming. This particular game is called "Day of the Scourge" and has a terminator like theme where humans fight against machines for their survival.  The client gave me some basics to go with, but his important criteria be that it be "badass." 

I usually work up 4-5 thumbnails (some of them not more than blobs really) to get a sense of which way to go.  Then I work up 2-3 more detailed versions for the client to pick from.  Usually I'll send the client line work mixed with gray scale to show how I'm thinking of doing the lighting. 

I need to work with references. Some people make great stuff without them, but I've found I can't do very well unless I have something to use to get the lighting and proportions right. I may make a lot of changes from the original, but I need a solid base to work from.






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Image 1
Here I started blocking in shapes, working up some detail and getting a better handle on the lighting. I'll do most of the base gray and linework in Photoshop, then take it to Coral Painter to start "painting." At this point the client wasn't happy with the skeleton too much. He didn't like the way the head was and wanted a more exo-skeleton type body.







Image 2
Here I made the changes he wanted. The head was much more skull like and the body much more where before it looked like a humanoid body covered with armor. It took a few tries to get the head just right, but I did mange to get it figured out. This is where I started working more on the human figures as well.






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Image 3
And this is the final piece.  The title of the game goes to the upper part of the image and there is enough room in the lower middle to fit this company's name in. It was a pretty fun piece to work on and I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out. Most importantly, the client was too!. Contact info:



Site-  www.johndotegowski.comEmail- johndotegowski@gmail.comPhone 716-569-5993