Soon after joining Ubisoft as a marketing artist, I found myself at a firing range, handling many of the real firearms depicted in Tom Clancy’s video games. It was my first indication that the experience would be both intense and remarkably authentic. Our North Carolina studio specialized in military games, so Special Forces visitors taught us how soldiers moved, carried their equipment, and responded in real situations. We even suited up in military uniforms and gear for photo shoots in the nearby forests.

The realism of the Tom Clancy games demanded equally convincing artwork. At Ubisoft, I developed an illustration process that I still use today: first, I sketch until the idea and composition are strong; then I combine painting with photography, 3D models, custom brushes, and other visual assets. There is still plenty of drawing and painting involved, but this hybrid approach allows me to create complex images far more efficiently than building every element from scratch.

I also learned the value of creative initiative. During occasional downtime, I gathered 3D models of soldiers, weapons, and vehicles from the games and began making images simply because I enjoyed it. Those experiments became exactly the kind of artwork Ubisoft needed when publications such as Xbox Magazine came calling. That pattern has repeated throughout my career: a little free time, a self-initiated project, and sometimes an unexpected opportunity.

What do samurai zombies, alien cyclopes, giant cybernetic space worms, Roman soldiers carrying Colt .45s, and Disney villains have in common? They have all appeared on book covers I have painted.

I love creating covers because I never know what wonderfully unexpected subject might arrive next. Video games and slot machines often work within established genres, but authors are free to combine history, science fiction, fantasy, and pure imagination in ways no one has attempted before. One assignment might take me to ancient Rome; the next might send me across the galaxy—or into battle with something I could never have dreamed up myself.

The challenge is to distill that strange and complicated world into a single compelling image. A cover should reveal just enough of the story to ignite the reader’s curiosity without giving everything away. For me, every new book is an invitation to step into someone else’s imagination and make the impossible feel real.