List of illustrators

Here is a list of illustrators of Dominion cards and box covers. See Gallery of illustrations for the original art, all on one page.

Illustrator	Cards and box art
Alayna Danner	Box art: Cornucopia Harvest, Horn of Plenty, Duchess, Oasis, Spice Merchant, Dame Natalie, Mystic, Advisor, Soothsayer, Page, Treasure Hunter, Warrior, Hero, Champion, Royal Blacksmith, Groundskeeper
Alejandro Gutiérrez Franco	Ambassador, Lookout
Alexander Jung	Swindler
Alex Drummond	Familiar, Vault, Survivors, Storeroom, Procession
Brian Brinlee	Quarry, Tunnel, Necropolis, Blessed Village, Cobbler, Leprechaun, Tragic Hero, Sentinel, Royal Galley, Bonfire, Ball, Banquet, Conquest, Locusts, Silos, Academy, Crop Rotation, Ride, Transport, Invest, Stampede, Enclave, Cave Dwellers, Forest Dwellers, Island Folk, Mountain Folk, Order of Astrologers, Order of Masons
Christof Tisch	Workshop, Duke, Minion, Sea Hag
Claus Stephan	Box art: Alchemy, Empires Curse, Village, Mine, Coppersmith, Mining Village, Courtier, Replace, Farm, Haven, Blockade, Outpost, Pirate, Potion, Transmute, Worker's Village, Haggler, Abandoned Mine, Hermit, Madman, Pillage, Ranger, Storyteller, Hireling, Enchantress, Pixie, Goat, Imp, Fool, Lucky Coin, Devil's Workshop, Tormentor, Border Guard, Patron, Treasurer, Camel Train, Goatherd, Sheepdog, Snowy Village, Cardinal, Cavalry, Coven, Falconer, Hunting Lodge, Sanctuary, Animal Fair, Horse, Underling, Broker, Carpenter, Galleria, Skirmisher, Specialist, Basilica, Tower, Triumphal Arch, Greed, Lost in the Woods, Key, Lantern
Colin Throm	Hoard
Dennis Lohausen	Saboteur, Explorer, King's Court, Stables, Ironmonger, Count
Donald Crank	Aqueduct, Colonnade, Obelisk
Doris Matthäus	Ruined Village, Walled Village
Elisa Cella	Wheelwright, Engineer, Legionary, Overlord, Bard, Night Watchman, Skulk, Scholar, Silk Merchant, Spices, Groom, Hostelry, Kiln, Paddock, Sycophant, Guildmaster, Dismantle
Eric J Carter	Sentry, Talisman, Farmland, Highway, Forager, Hovel, Merchant Guild, Guide, Ratcatcher, Wine Merchant, Haunted Mirror, Ghost, Scrap, Barge, Highwayman, Prince, Fellowship of Scribes, Gang of Pickpockets, Sextant, Wealthy Village, Marchland
Franz Vohwinkel	Box art: Seaside (First Edition), Plunder Masquerade, Pawn, Torturer, Island, Pirate Ship, Native Village, Golem, Charlatan, Collection, Marauder, Scavenger, Bounty Hunter, Village Green, Mastermind, Swap, Marquis, Black Market, Delusion, Fear
Garret DeChellis	Box art: Nocturne Farming Village, Nomad Camp, Cauldron, Souk, Beggar, Sir Vander, Patrician, Emporium, Gatekeeper, Livery, Destrier, Wayfarer, Forts, Tent, Garrison, Hill Fort, Stronghold, Pilgrimage, Pathfinding, Battlefield, Mountain Pass, Fair
Grant Hansen	Box art: Renaissance Astrolabe, Cargo Ship, Druid, Flag Bearer, Lackeys, Monkey, Stockpile, Supplies, Werewolf, Star Chart, Flag, Way of the Chameleon, Way of the Rat, Band of Nomads, Circle of Witches
Guillaume Ducos	Wandering Minstrel
Hans Krill	Augurs, Herb Gatherer, Acolyte, Sorceress, Sibyl, Sinister Plot, Guildhall, Toil, Seize the Day, Alliance, Populate, Way of the Sheep,
Harald Lieske	Box art: Prosperity (First Edition), Prosperity (Second Edition) |Artisan, Library, Ruined Library, Throne Room, Bridge, Courtyard, Patrol, Embargo, Fishing Village, Herbalist, Trade Route, Clerk, Magnate, Sage, Squire, Peasant, Soldier, Fugitive, Disciple, Teacher, Temple, Villa, Wild Hunt, Monastery, Pooka, Cursed Gold, Mountain Village, Clashes, Battle Plan, Archer, Warlord, Territory, Wizards, Student, Conjurer, Sorcerer, Lich, Governor, Horn, City Gate, Citadel, Banish, Bargain, Demand, Reap, Way of the Otter
Ian Kirkpatrick	Rats
Jacob Corn	Philosopher's Stone
Jason Slavin	Royal Seal, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cultist, Changeling, Experiment, Villain, Bad Omens, Envy
Jason Snair	Bank
Jeff Himmelman	Horse Traders, Jester
Jesse Mead	Rogue, Quest, Raid, Training
Jessi J	Anvil, Young Witch, Fairgrounds, Oracle, Poor House, Dame Sylvia, Taxman, Herald, Swamp Hag, Encampment, Plunder, Settlers, Bustling Village, Old Witch, Sculptor, Importer, Emissary, Save, Plan, Haunting, Misery, Poverty, Delay, March, Way of the Horse, Way of the Mole
Joshua Stewart	Box art: Intrigue (Second Edition) (first printing) Merchant, Poacher, Peddler, Noble Brigand, Margrave, Vagrant, Sir Bailey, Sacrifice, Conclave, Exorcist, Cursed Village, Seer, Swashbuckler, Scouting Party, Expedition, Lost Arts, Triumph, Annex, Ritual, Wedding, Windfall, Keep, Wall, Treasure Chest, Cathedral, Canal
Julien Delval	Box art: Dominion (Second Edition), Intrigue (Second Edition) (reprint), Seaside (Second Edition) Vassal, Thief, Bandit, Laboratory, Great Hall, Warehouse, Sailor, Tide Pools, Sea Witch, Vineyard, Monument, Guard Dog, Scheme, Berserker, Witch's Hut, Graverobber, Sir Martin, Caravan Guard, Lost City, Castles, Humble Castle, Crumbling Castle, Small Castle, Haunted Castle, Opulent Castle, Sprawling Castle, Grand Castle, King's Castle, Will-o'-Wisp, Acting Troupe, Hideout, Inventor, Priest, Research, Recruiter, Townsfolk, Town Crier, Blacksmith, Miller, Elder, Merchant Camp, Odysseys, Old Map, Voyage, Sunken Treasure, Distant Shore, Courier, Innkeeper, Town, Barbarian, Hunter, Church, Captain, Travelling Fair, Seaway, Bandit Fort, Labyrinth, Museum, Plague, The Earth's Gift, The Field's Gift, The Flame's Gift, The Forest's Gift, The Moon's Gift, The Mountain's Gift, The River's Gift, The Sea's Gift, The Sky's Gift, The Sun's Gift, The Swamp's Gift, The Wind's Gift, War
Kelli Stakenas	Candlestick Maker, Masterpiece, Royal Carriage, Gladiator, Fortune
Kendra Dodsworth	Wolf Den
Kieron O'Gorman	Possession, Mountebank, Jack of All Trades
Kim Feigenbaum	Mint
Klemens Franz	Scrying Pool
Kurt Miller	Hamlet, Hunting Party, Border Village, Junk Dealer, Rebuild, Journeyman, Bridge Troll, Haunted Woods, Chariot Race, Defiled Shrine
Lee Smith	Venture
Lorraine Schleter	Box art: Adventures, Allies, Rising Sun Diplomat, Followers, Trader, Market Square, Dame Anna, Stonemason, Doctor
Lynell Ingram	Tiara, War Chest, Princess, Mandarin, Dame Josephine, Dame Molly, Baker, Butcher, Artificer, Crypt, Faithful Hound, Capital City, Contract, Modify, Borrow, Baths, Fountain, Orchard
Marcel-André Casasola Merkle	Box art: Menagerie, Hinterlands (Second Edition) Festival, Secret Chamber, Mill, Nobles, Secret Passage, Lighthouse, Caravan, University, Grand Market, Nomads, Trail, Weaver, Ruined Market, Inn, Armory, Catacombs, Cemetery, Ghost Town, Wish, Sleigh, Displace, Fisherman, Exploration
Marco Primo	Investment, Crystal Ball, City, Develop, Embassy, Death Cart, Fortress, Sir Destry, Sir Michael, Gear, Magpie, Miser, Transmogrify, Giant, Treasure Trove, Archive, Capital, Charm, Crown, Necromancer, Zombie Apprentice, Zombie Mason, Zombie Spy, Ducat, Improve, Scepter, Black Cat, Trade, Summon, Way of the Butterfly, Way of the Frog, Way of the Goat, Way of the Monkey, Way of the Mouse, Way of the Mule, Way of the Owl, Way of the Pig, Way of the Seal, Way of the Squirrel, Way of the Turtle, Way of the Worm, City-state, Coastal Haven, League of Shopkeepers, Market Towns, Trappers' Lodge, Woodworkers' Guild, Foray, Invasion, Jewelled Egg, Launch, Looting, Mirror, Pickaxe, Rope, Rush, Tools
Mark Poole	Trusty Steed, Remake, Cartographer, Port, Den of Sin, Raider, Ferry, Inheritance, Delve, Palace,
Martin Hoffmann	Box art: Empires Estate, Duchy, Province, Harbinger, Lurker, Ironworks, Trading Post, Sea Chart, Cutpurse, Bazaar, Corsair, Tactician, Apprentice, Colony, Forge, Silk Road, Overgrown Estate, Urchin, Mercenary, Dungeon, Messenger, Guardian, Tracker, Pouch, Sacred Grove, Vampire, Bat, Stash, Mission, Advance, Donate, Dominate, Arena, Tomb, Famine, Capitalism, Fleet, Piazza, Barracks, Desperation, Gamble, Pursue, Enhance, Commerce, Architects' Guild, Crafters' Guild, Desert Guides, Family of Inventors, League of Bankers, Peaceful Cult
Matthew Tames	Menagerie
Matthias Catrein	Box art: Base Cards, Dominion (First Edition), Guilds, Intrigue (First Edition) Cellar, Chapel, Moat, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Bureaucrat, Feast, Gardens, Militia, Moneylender, Remodel, Smithy, Council Room, Market, Witch, Steward, Conspirator, Scout, Tribute, Upgrade, Treasure Map, Ghost Ship, Potion, Counting House, Crossroads, Feodum, Knights, Altar, Amulet, Distant Lands, City Quarter, Catapult, Rocks, Shepherd, Pasture, Envoy, Alms, Sewers, Road Network, Way of the Camel, Way of the Ox, Plateau Shepherds
Maura Kalusky	Shanty Town, Harem, Pearl Diver, Navigator
Michael Menzel	Spy
Michael Watson	Joust
Ossi Hiekkala	Sauna, Avanto
Raina Kuptz	Tax, Salt the Earth
Raven Mimura	Box art: Dark Ages Fortune Teller
RC Torres	Smugglers, Salvager, Contraband, Rabble, Cache, Band of Misfits, Bandit Camp, Raze
Rick Hershey	Watchtower
Rom	Bishop
Ryan Laukat	Box art: Hinterlands (First Edition) Copper, Silver, Gold, Adventurer, Wishing Well, Baron, Merchant Ship, Treasury, Apothecary, Platinum, Expand, Bag of Gold, Diadem, Fool's Gold, Spoils, Counterfeit, Plaza, Coin of the Realm, Duplicate, Relic, Farmers' Market, Forum, Idol, Secret Cave, Magic Lamp, Bauble, Pageant, Innovation
Simon Jannerland	Wharf, Alchemist, Loan, Hunting Grounds
Taylor Bennett	Tournament
Tu Pei-Shu	Goons

Trivia

Art descriptions

Originally there was just the name, and maybe like "it's a medieval game or something."

Some Intrigue cards showed the wrong things. The original art for Pawn for example ended up on Goons. Steward showed a guy with a serving tray. So, after that, I typed up terse descriptions of what the card flavor was - a little for them to go on.

Guilds has mostly art by female artists. It still has mostly male characters though. For Adventures I started also specifying male/female on appropriate cards. For Empires I went further because I knew that "a crowd of people" would easily become "a crowd of only men." In fact there's an example in Empires of "a crowd of people including both men and women" drawn with all men anyway.

Wild Hunt is a European folklore thing - not so Roman but in the set anyway. I didn't go into that in the artist notes though.

Wild Hunt: A group of ghostly hunters, on horses and with hounds, in the sky, chasing prey.

The longest one for Empires is Enchantress.

Enchantress: A character like Circe in Homer's Odyssey; an enchantress who has apparently turned someone into a pig (but not shown doing magic).

And a few are very short.

Conquest: Visigoths attacking Rome.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

I don't think those are so interesting either. In general I leave as much as possible up to the artist. The whole point to the notes is just that some early cards had the wrong thing illustrated. The image on Goons was submitted for Pawn; Steward showed a guy with a serving dish. Not everyone was going to know the terms and sometimes they're ambiguous. Not everyone was going to feel like doing any research. So I started typing up notes.

Treasures often say "no people" because some of the Prosperity ones showed people and I didn't like that as much. A few times I've pointed out things not to do like "no New World crops" or "no gore." Sometimes I've noted the frame color or that something is an attack; I stopped doing that eventually but probably should have kept it up. In rare cases there has been something special to communicate, like the Ruins being ruined versions of things, or the Hermit/Madman connection.

There is an opening paragraph that probably they all get, that notes that the game is medieval, and says the expansion theme. It says that buildings can be shown from inside or outside, that people can be non-European. I used to say could be male or female, then I added, we don't get many females and would like more. Even female artists mostly drew men. For Adventures I just specified male or female on all of the cards that were a person. There will be some women in this art.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

At first they just drew stuff from the name. These days they get a terse description, trying not to limit what they do much, but covering some issues: making it clear what the card name means; getting us women on cards; avoiding certain cases I have singled out, like there are two people and you don't know which one is the one that card is referring to (yes it still comes up), or the card is a treasure but you see some stuff happening. For Nocturne of course all the notes specified day/night.

At first it just all happened and I saw the results. These days I get to see a lot of sketches though not all of them. I can say, "that isn't what I meant." Sometimes you can miss stuff from the sketch, and be sad later. Some artists are generous and will offer up more than one sketch to let you pick from. There is a chance to ask for changes in a final piece, but it's harder, especially if the change you want is "something completely different please."

For most sets Jay assigned art to whatever artists. For Nocturne I got to do initial assignments of art to artists (then if they couldn't do it, Jay reassigned the art, to whoever was extra available). I cut a few artists I didn't like, and tried to pair up artists with pieces I thought they'd do well on. I brought up a few artists who hadn't worked for us in a while, and a couple of them were available. Jay brought in a few new people to try them out.

Overall it did not work out perfectly, but uh, not for lack of trying.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Bonus Preview #5: Necromancer

Race

The setting does pretend to strive for historical accuracy, when it isn't fantasy; it is just constantly thwarted by artists showing castles with tons of brightly lit windows, or modern gardening outfits, or fields of corn though I said "no New World crops" as if that would be clear.

The artist notes usually make no mention of race. Four expansions have themes that push race and so some cards specify. Empires is Roman and a lot of cards specify Romans, a few Gauls or Celts (e.g. Dominate); Nocturne has a Celtic mythology theme, so Druid and Exorcist are specified Celtic; Renaissance has some specific Italian things, e.g. Patron says to show Lorenzo de' Medici, Priest says Roman Catholic, Recruiter says condottieri (Italian mercenaries); Hinterlands specifically has non-European places, so the titles imply race for a few cards - Mandarin, Nomad Camp - though the artist notes don't specify. And then, a few cards illustrate specific real-life people connected to Dominion somehow, and so are that race - 10 people I know for the Knights, Dale Yu on Navigator, Valerie Putman on Harem, Wei-Hwa Huang on Pearl Diver, RTT on Captain. Beyond that I think there's only one card where I specified race: for Diplomat, I specified Spanish, trying to think of what would be most plausible for a female medieval diplomat.

That was a bunch really but still for most cards there is no specification, it's just whatever the artist drew.

I've floated the idea of doing a medieval Japan expansion. And someone immediately said, oh but you have to get a Japanese person to make sure that everything is respectful. And then other people chimed in to say, yes absolutely, so important. I can't stop the artist from turning in the art for Mandarin though. The only way to make sure there's no horrendously offensive Japanese stuff is to not do Japan. I've also floated the idea of a Vikings expansion; there is no such issue there. That's the sad way of the world. Which hasn't just ruled out Japan, but you know. Last time out I went with animals; maximally inoffensive. No-one minds which breed of dog it is.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, White and POC cards

How things worked has changed over the years, but it's not so weird to have it be a small number of people working on a game. Rio Grande Games is one guy, Jay. "I also do the windows," as he puts it. Though he must have some employees in a warehouse somewhere - he doesn't live where the warehouse is.

I deliver card texts to Jay. These days I also deliver artist notes, and assign most of the art to specific artists (but some go to new artists Jay picks, and some work is reassigned because the artist is busy). Jay does the card layout, which I endlessly proofread; I also give him a rulebook and he does that layout and that gets proofread. The artists submit sketches, which usually I see, and if we approve them the artist submits artwork. This can take a while.

Originally there were no artist notes, but we'd get e.g. the art for Goons turned in for Pawn. Then there were artist notes. Then we added gender because the art almost always showed men. You have to go above 50% female to hope to get 50%, because artists will randomly add people to non-person cards, and oops make them men. For Plunder I also specified race (or rather, some specifed race, and the assumption that the rest would get turned in as white turned out to be accurate).

The time is just how long it takes, however long that is. I turn in the set when it's all but ready; we then expect the set to come out at a particular time based on how long the art and printing and shipping will take, then sadly find out that shipping took longer and the set is delayed.

Many games have a single artist, who I think typically also does the layout; we have lots of artists, which does speed things up.

The artists have no particular incentive to leak things - starting with, they aren't likely to know anyone who would care. And all they have is a card name and the artist notes anyway. A few times an artist has put an image out on their website in advance, and it's been fine.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Reddit, 2022

Artwork inspiring cards

The art for Goons was submitted for Pawn; one of the things that resulted in me typing up artist notes for each set after that (also the Steward image was a guy with a serving dish). I came up with a name for the art and then abilities for the name (then tried other things until I had a card that worked, which did not end up as Goons-like but what can you do).

The art for Storeroom was submitted for Vault. I think there the artist offered multiple directions. The art sat around for a while, waiting for a card.

The art for Bazaar was submitted for Market; there there were just accidentally two people doing the art. I had a card called Bazaar in Seaside and said, we can use that art there.

City was called Boomtown until art was being made. I said "make sure it's not Wild-West-y" and Jay was all, uh maybe we should change that name. Then he used the same art for City and for a Carcassonne product.

Names for Alchemy were locked in before the cards were done. Alchemist and Golem were new cards trying to fit the names of outtakes; then Scrying Pool got an attack because it was the most attack-like sounding name other than Golem which I didn't want to change when that time came.

Governor has cropped art from an edition of Puerto Rico, and was designed to relate to Puerto Rico.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X