Done
First Set
Pencil, hundreds of variations, my son's picks. The ninety characters you just followed, in every box we ship today.
From a kitchen-table sketch to the card in your hand.
Every one of our characters took the same road: an idea, a pencil, a stack of versions, one pick, and months of finishing before anything was printed. This is the whole trip, start to finish, following Blizzmaul. Then we talk a bit about where our process is going in the future.
90
Characters
3
Life stages per character
18
Months on characters for the Base Set
100s → 1
Versions explored, one picked
01
A question, paper, and a pencil
The Origins
Every character starts with a long discussion between me and my son (often at our kitchen table): What would make for an awesome character? How can it be unique like nothing else we've ever seen? Who will they be at the beginning, and who do they become? My son and I spend hours talking about each character and jot it down in great written detail. Then I do my best to make a sketch of what we are thinking. Just the two of us, our ideas and a pencil.
02
Digitize the drawing
From Pencil to Pixels
The sketch is then scanned and cleaned into digital line work: the base every later version is built on, and the first place a character's proportions get locked.
03
100s of versions, One kid's choice
The Iteration Engine
We are a small family company going up against giants. But, here is one place our small company gets to work like a big one. We take our detailed write-up + sketch and use modern design tools, generative ones included, to explore hundreds (sometimes thousands) of variations of every character. We then whittle that down to the best 6-8 that represent what we were attempting to create in step one. Many times we even export out iterations, do hand photoshop work and import it back into the tools to continue iterating. The final call doesn't go to a committee. My son picks the final version of every single character. If it didn't make a kid lean in, it didn't make the set.
The Future: As Wondervale grows, we are actively reinvesting in the independent artist community. We are currently commissioning Special Illustration Rares from artists around the world, and our goal is for generative tools to eventually serve purely as concept inspiration, never final art. Learn more by clicking here.
Picked
04
Where the art turns into a game
A Finished Card Design
From here, we clean up the character images and then I personally design the card architecture by hand in Photoshop and build the cards out one at a time: frame, stats, tribe, stage, holo pattern, etc.
- 1Name
- 2Tribe
- 3Card Number
- 4Value
- 5Stats
- 6Relationship
- 7Strengths & Weaknesses
05
Print & Check
Three Generations, One Press Check
Proofs, press checks, holo foils, cut and collation. Fifty years of family printing knowledge chose the stock, the finish and the exact size, so a Wondervale card slides into any sleeve and grades like any other. We want everything to be premium when you experience Wondervale, so while it is many steps, we follow one process to ensure the highest quality and the right print every time.
06
The character's passport
Building For The Future
Characters don't end when their card is printed. We have a huge vision for the future. So, before a character appears anywhere else, artists draw it from every angle: front, three-quarter, side, back. Same proportions, same markings, same gear. From here on, every pose, every card and every render is checked against this. It's the reason a character looks like itself wherever you meet it.
Front
Back
Side
3/407
Off the card, into 3d
Creating Scale
From the turnaround, the character is built in three dimensions and finished by hand: it becomes the model behind renders, future figurines, and games + shows as the universe grows. Same sketch, same passport, now standing in 3D.
*Please note the render for web is far less quality than the final true renders. This is a rough example only.
Drag to Spin
08
Building a full universe
Into the Vale
With the character fully rendered we now have the ability to use it in all kinds of different ways, whether it is commissioning new art for special illustrations, creating human-drawn posters based on a locked set of images, building lore for books and shows, importing into video games, and more. The universe doesn't just end for us, it's all about future expansion.
Four parts of our process today. A fifth on the way.
The Founder
The idea, the pencil sketch and the card design for every character.
His Son
The mind full of ideas and the final pick on every single character.
Human Artists
Turnarounds, 3D and finishing today. Illustration rares starting. Every card's art next.
Design Software
Variations and inspiration in step three, generative tools included. Never the final word, and on the road ahead, never the final art.
The Art DirectorNext
One job: every card's art drawn by a person, and all of it looking like Wondervale.
Where the art goes next.
We started with a pencil and a lot of software because we were a family at a kitchen table. The plan was always to grow into a studio of artists. This is how far down that road we are.
Underway
Illustration Rares
Outside illustrators paint full-art versions of characters collectors already know, and the illustrator's name is printed on the card. We're sourcing artists now.
Planned
Family Built, Artist Made
An art director and a roster of illustrators, with the final art on every card drawn by a credited person. The variations go back to what they were on day one: inspiration. A goal we're building toward, not a date.
FAQ
Here are some questions we thought you might ask. For anything else, feel free to shoot us an email anytime.
Do you use A.I.?
For now, in the iteration step, yes: generative tools help us explore variations quickly. Every character is sketched by hand first, chosen by a person, and finished and checked before it's printed. It's also the part of the process that's changing over time: starting with the illustration rares, the final art on a card comes from a credited illustrator.
Who draws the cards?
The first sketches are the founder's. Turnarounds, 3D work, finishing and the upcoming illustration rares come from working artists. Artists can apply here.
Are artists credited?
Yes. As we employ new artists, every time someone other than the founder publishes, it will carry the illustrator's name on the card, and that will be the standard for everything that follows.
Why does the process matter to a collector?
Consistency. A character that has been through all eight steps looks like itself on every card, in every pose and at every age, which is what makes a set worth completing.
Draw for Wondervale
We're commissioning illustration rares and turnaround work from outside artists. Paid per piece, fully remote.
