Part of my job at Microsoft was to run the official Xbox blog “Gamerscoreblog.com”. As well as sharing information about the Xbox itself, we wanted to show the company’s human side. Part of this was achieved by sharing our own experiences with games available on Xbox. This is an interview I gave to Jo Chen, the artist behind the cover art for Fable II.

Employer: Microsoft (Volt)
Responsibility: Writer, Blog Administration

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While she may have worked behind the scenes on Fable II, the work this amazing artist has done back there is now recognized by millions. Meet Jo Chen – the woman behind the Fable II (and the original Fable) hero artwork. I got the chance to ask her a little about life, work and relaxation.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? Did you study art at school? What is some cool stuff you have worked on outside of Fable.

I was born and grew up in Taiwan; Taipei to be exact. Both my sister and I attended the Fu Hsin Trade and Arts School and we moved to the U.S. about a year after graduation. My first jobs in North America were drawing the interiors for Racer X for Wildstorm and Darkminds Macropolis for Dreamwave After the Dreamwave experience, I gave up creating interiors and concentrated on covers. I produced many of the Street Fighter covers for UDON, Robin for D.C., Runaways for Marvel and most recently Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 for Dark Horse.

You were responsible for the box art for both Fable and Fable II. Were you excited to learn that you would get to do the second cover?

Sure. FABLE was received very well and it led to package work on FABLE: The Lost Chapters and now FABLE II. Any opportunity to work with great artists and designers and then collect a paycheck for it is always cause for excitement and celebration.
What is involved in the process of designing a cover? Did you have to create multiple designs, have to please 800 people and make tiny revisions like moving a pixel to the left or right?
Yes and Yes. The capital investment in games is enormous and there is little room for error or dissatisfaction. I always produce a number of designs based and one is selected. That piece goes through multiple critiques and revisions before it”s complete.

It can be stressful trying to please so many people. Do you do anything out of the ordinary to relax (such as maybe putting someone”s face on a dartboard?)?

Of course. To relax, I work on my own characters and stories, read, chat with friends. Normal stuff. I do employ the dartboard-face occasionally. The difficult part is keeping the face recognizable after pinning it up on the dartboard (skin is so elastic after being separated from the skull).

What do you use to create your art? Do you paint on canvas or is it all created on the computer?

I start with a pencil sketch, and then use a combination of Photoshop, Painter and scanned bits of natural media (i.e. watercolor, acrylic, chocolate cake frosting, etc.) to create the entire composition. Also, I have built quite a few custom brushes in both of the software programs that I use regularly.

Are there any other Xbox games that you”d like to have the chance to do art for?

Recently, I did a nice package piece for the Blue Dragon game but it was dropped at the last minute. I might like a shot at that again. Halo is an obvious one. Maybe one of the Clancy games.

What advice do you give to aspiring artists and designers who are trying to break into the gaming/comic book industries?

Well, gaming and comic book industries are worlds apart in terms of earning potential. Most artists and writers in comics eke out a living. One works in comics because of a love for comics and not because there is oodles of dough to be made. Games have larger budgets and pay better but the work is less steady (at least for me).

To “break in” to these industries an artist has to have the chops; plain and simple. It”s not enough to just want it or to diddle around with it. That desire has to translate into commitment and the commitment into skill. An artist forsakes nearly everything else in life to become excellent. Once you”ve got the chops through study and endless of hours of practice, then you present yourself by submitting work via publisher submission guidelines, networking and portfolio reviews at cons, website galleries, etc. That”s how most of us do it. I know this sounds boring like there should be some secret back door into these areas of work but that”s about it. The quality of your work will speak for itself. It”s a tried and true path.

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I’d like to thank Jo for sharing these insights with us. You can find more about her and see other examples of her amazing work at jo-chen.com. For more information on Fable II, visit Xbox.com.