The Art of Planarist
The visual world of Planarist is brought to life by a talented group of illustrators, painters, and designers. We believe great art deserves credit; and that creative processes should be discussed openly, especially in the technological age we live in.
On this page, we highlight the artists who have contributed to Planarist, explain how different pieces are created, and are transparent about where generative tools are, and aren’t, used. Each artwork’s methodology is clearly listed at the bottom of its card, and some artists may use different approaches on different pieces.
In the end, every piece of artwork in Planarist is artist-driven: judged, guided, and finished by human hands.
Meet the Artists
Sasa Radivojevic
Art Director
Sasa (or Sasha) is veteran artist from Serbia. His impressive portfolio includes works for Blizzard Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, and more. With Sasa’s help, Planarist was born. His contributions range from concept art, the beautiful card layouts, card backs, game logo, game board, and also a wide range of card arts leveraging all of the methodologies seen below. He also was a major contributor with game design and feedback. His professional eye and talent have surged the game into the spotlight of a professional quality trading card game.
Elena Krutenko
Lead Artist
Tbilisi, Georgia
From Tbilisi, Georgia, Elena Krutenko is another talented artist. Elena’s large number of impressive contributions has been critical to Planarist’s artistic success. Not only has she been a top card art contributor, but she also did the art for the token sheet as well as much of the holographic masking work.
Valeriia Stetsenko
Lead Card Artist
Lviv, Ukraine
Valeriia is a freelance artist who has experience illustrating books, games, and custom characters. With her strong discipline and talent she has completed a large number of beautiful card artworks for Planarist.
Makenna Karp
Starter Deck Box Artist
Arcata, California, United States
Makenna is a skilled, classically trained painter. Trained at the Pratt Institute and later the Watts Atelier, Makenna has been featured in multiple publications for her magical visual style. Makenna graced the project with her gorgeous original paintings for the first three starter decks of the game.
Geraldo Prado
Card Artist
Taubate, Brazil
Geraldo was trained in illustration at Black Fox Studios. From there, he was worked a number of gaming related projects. He contributed several of the card artworks for Planarist, most notably the time spells.
Zayane
Card Artist
France
A traditionally trained artist, Zayane studied art for three years at Watts Atelier, which was certified as one of the top five ateliers in the world by the Art Renewal Center in 2019.
Tereza Abgaryan
Card Artist
Yerevan, Armenia
Tereza boasts a broad range of artistic skills from graphic design to original illustration. She led art direction for a number of games from mobile games to board games.
Karolina Ostapenko
Card Artist
Krivoy Rog, Ukraine
Karolina is a fully time 2D freelance artist with 10 years of experience. She has contributed to many projects from mobile to physical games. She has an open mind to all kinds of potential projects, but particularly loves ones based in realism.
Ilonia Buitova
Holographic Masking Artist
Kharkiv, Ukraine
A graphic designer with 15 years of experience, Ilonia excels in graphic and creative design. With her help, Planarist got a large number of its holographic card masks done.
Gamze Derinoz
Graphic Designer
London, England
A business owner and highly experienced graphic designer, Gamze was the graphic designer for the printed instruction booklet included with every Planarist starter deck. She has a larger international presence and is highly experienced with game and UX graphic design projects.
Art Methods
We use several workflows depending on the card, schedule, and artist preference. What matters most to us is quality, originality, and artistic control. Each card has its method labeled at the bottom along with its lead artist. Some pieces may have had multiple artists contribute edits, but the primary artist receives the credit.
Digital Composite
Listed as “Comp.” on a card.
A generated base is used as the structural foundation for composition and lighting. From there, the illustrator rebuilds the artwork at high resolution. They repaint it, correcting anatomy and perspective, and refine every major element to match Planarist’s visual style and narrative goals.
In this process, the base functions more like an early sketch than a finished image. The final artwork is shaped through the artist’s brushwork, storytelling choices, and finishing polish.
Hybrid Illustration
Listed as “Hybr.” on a card.
Forest Fairy has a composite main subject with a fully original background.
A combination of original illustration and carefully controlled generative tools. In these pieces, the artist may hand-paint the primary subject or key elements, while using generative expansion to extend backgrounds or refine secondary details. A graphic designer may also integrate real reference elements, such as stained-glass windows, which the artist then repaints and blends into the scene.
This workflow lets technology support the process, while the artist maintains full creative control over composition, storytelling, and final polish.
Original Illustration
Listed as “Illus.” on a card.
A fully hand-crafted piece created entirely by a single artist; from rough thumbnail to final rendering. These works involve initial sketching, linework and blocking, layered painting and rendering, and final color grading and polish. No generative inputs are used in this workflow.
Questions?
If you have questions about the artwork or the process, feel free to reach out. We are always happy to talk about how Planarist is made.