BEARS ON THE ROAD

Creating the artwork for Dodeka has been one of the most rewarding—and sometimes fiddliest—parts of designing our game. Our art process is a mix of research, inspiration, trial and error, and a lot of patience.

It all starts with Luc, our resident illustrator. He dives deep into research and gathers inspiration, figuring out the proportions, attributes, and details each god should have. Then comes the painstaking part: the hands. Realistic hands might seem like a small detail, but they can make or break the illustration. Luc experiments endlessly, adjusting positions, angles, and gestures until they feel just right. Only then does the illustration feel complete.

Once the line art is ready, it’s time to add color. Initially, Luc handled this step, but as the number of illustrations grew, Rens stepped in. The coloring follows a set of simple rules: gods are black, lines on black are white, lines on white are transparent. From there, small adjustments are made to ensure each illustration looks its best. Patterns are added, and temporary background colors are applied to help the image pop.

Finally, the illustrations are integrated into the card templates. This might sound straightforward, but it’s anything but. Some elements need to be cut out and layered carefully, attributes need to be moved to fit, everything must be centered, and all gods need to appear roughly the same size. It can be a fiddly process, but seeing the finished cards come together makes it all worthwhile.

Every step of this journey—from initial sketch to polished card—reminds us how much care goes into making a game both beautiful and playable. Art isn’t just decoration; it’s part of the story, the strategy, and the experience of Dodeka. And while it takes time and patience, it’s exactly this attention to detail that helps bring our gods—and our game—to life.