by Justin Bell

The ongoing “is it AI art or not?” conversations in tabletop are important…and, exhausting. It feels like every day, there’s a fresh round of discussion that I have to work through online, as supersleuths real and imagined attempt to navigate whether an upcoming game’s illustrations were drawn by hand, built by a mix of human and artificial means, or generated purely through AI tools. I get why it’s a thing…and it’s also why I’m excited to focus on a different lane.

I’m a fan of so many incredible artists in this space, so I thought now would be the right time to interview some of the industry contacts I’ve made over the years to learn more about their process, by highlighting some of the images that will be included in an upcoming or recently-released title. I will ask these individuals a series of questions in an offline interview to demonstrate how they create an image or a series of images from scratch.

What are their inspirations? When are they involved in the game’s lifecycle? What changes from the time an artist begins composing an image to the time a game arrives on my doorstep? As a massive fan of the storyboarding process used in the film business, I’m always fascinated by an artist’s original ideas and what changes are implemented during a game’s development process.

In that spirit, welcome to our “Illustrator Avenue” series, focused on an individual’s body of work (separate from our Artist Diary series, which focuses on one specific game). My hope is that, at least once a quarter, I’ll bring forward an interview and the associated progression of images from a person whose work I enjoy, a name that you might know but that I think everyone should know eventually. (In that vein, with no disrespect to “household” tabletop artist names such as Ian O’Toole, Beth Sobel, or The Mico, I’ll try my best to shine a light on some lesser-known stars whose work I’ve obsessed over recently.)

For this edition of Illustrator Avenue, I spoke with David Sitbon, the in-house illustrator at Sorry We Are French (SWAF), the publisher of titles such as Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon, IKI, and Kingdom Crossing. David and I recently had an offline back-and-forth. (My broken French and David’s excellent French meant that Google Translate was very much our friend during this exchange!)

Justin Bell (JB): David! Thanks for taking the time to “speak” with me. I’ve got to know: how did you hook up with the team at Sorry We Are French to become their lead in-house illustrator? What were you doing prior to your time in the tabletop industry?

David Sitbon (DS): To answer that, I need to start with the second question—which means going back more than nine years! Before joining the SWAF team, I had studied with the goal of working in the video game industry. Unfortunately, breaking into that field was much more difficult—even back then. I eventually bounced between various creative jobs for two years, none of which held much personal interest for me. During that time, I discovered board games; I would visit a local shop every now and then and strike up friendships with the people I met there. Then, in the course of a casual conversation, a friend from the shop showed me a job posting for a studio looking to hire an in-house illustrator for board games (spoiler alert: it was SWAF).

I laid my cards on the table and poured everything I had—every skill I’d acquired—into my application, telling myself that this was my one and only chance to work in an environment where I could finally find artistic fulfillment. After several days of intense effort, I landed the permanent position—and here I am, still with them to this day. No matter what difficulties life throws our way, we must keep fighting for the things we hold dear.

JB: My first experience with your work came during plays of the medium-weight Euro title Galileo Project. I loved your style from the jump, be it the distinct nature of the humans drawn on the game’s box cover to the illustrations on the tech and robot cards. What was the first game you worked on for SWAF?

DS: When I arrived, the studio was truly in its foundational stages. There were two projects underway: Ganymede and Immortal 8. Ganymede was entrusted to the talented Oliver Mootoo—a project for which I created the HUD elements for the cards and game boards.

It was on Immortal 8 that I produced my very first illustrations, as well as the game’s graphic design. In fact, one of the characters (EZ) had served as one of my job application tests for SWAF.

JB: One of my favorite ironies of the board game industry is that many of my contacts don’t play board games at all. How about you? Do you consider yourself a player?

DS: Yes! In fact, it was even a prerequisite for working at SWAF—especially since working in-house allows me to go beyond just illustration and graphic design to participate in development, playtesting, brainstorming, and so on. This has greatly enriched my knowledge of board games. And I still play constantly, whether internally or in my spare time. This background proves invaluable whenever I have to illustrate or design game components.

JB: Working in-house probably makes it easier to have visibility on SWAF’s upcoming pipeline; you already work together with the same teams, but each title is designed by a different set of authors. When do you typically get involved? And how many projects are you juggling at any one time?

DS: As I mentioned earlier, I am fortunate enough to be able to observe—and even participate in—the game development process. It is usually around this stage that I begin to visualize the project. Being able to play the game and witness the prototype’s evolution allows me to anticipate and fully grasp the ins and outs of the game before I start illustrating it. Generally, I work on one or two projects simultaneously (very rarely three). It all depends on the complexity of the game I’m working on. An expert-level game is far more demanding than a family game—haha!

JB: I’m a huge fan of Shackleton Base, so I’m really curious about the art that is featured in the new expansion, Shackleton Base: Below. Within. Above. Can you tell us about one of the images (the cover, the project cards, etc.) that will be included in the game, and give us more detail on the journey of that image?

DS: As a brief aside regarding the game’s cover art: it serves as a mirror image of the original game’s cover. Through the visor, one can observe just how much the development of the lunar base has evolved since the core game. It also features various visual nods to the different corporations introduced in this expansion.

As for the cards, co-designer Fabio Lopiano provided a wealth of ideas—drawing upon existing concepts as well as projections of realistic hardware within this futuristic setting. From there, I would begin researching appropriate visual references.

The Shackleton Base expansion introduces three new corporations; Undermoon, in particular, specializes in drilling the lunar surface to facilitate resource extraction. For the illustration of one of the Undermoon cards, I needed to depict a machine excavating a crater. My mind immediately went to a drill—specifically, its tapered, streamlined shape. I wanted to combine this with a piece of heavy construction machinery capable of effectively “breaking through” the lunar surface. The caterpillar tracks—clearly visible in the initial sketch (and subtly suggested in the final version by the tracks left on the ground)—reinforce this dynamic of a powerful, heavy-duty vehicle. The figures surrounding the drill serve to emphasize its colossal scale.

My creative process always follows the same routine: research and reference gathering, sketching, inking (using a light table), and finally, coloring. From the very outset of the process, I make sure to account for the fact that the illustration will ultimately be integrated into a HUD (complete with various banners and information panels); this ensures that all visual elements are positioned optimally within the final artwork.

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A big thanks to David for spending some time answering my questions for this interview. Also, a big thanks to Pauline Lebel and the team at Sorry We Are French for collaborating on our inaugural Illustrator Avenue article. You can check out the complete SWAF catalog at https://sorryweare.fr/en/.

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Are you an illustrator and/or graphic designer involved in the creation of images and iconography for the tabletop space? Please reach out! I’m building up a repository of people interested in contributing to this series. Just message me here on BGG and we’ll get to work. Thanks for reading!