Project BREAKDOWN
CREATING FAN ART FOR THE CYBERPUNK TCG
DATE UPLOADED: April 2026
PROJECT TYPE: Personal Project
PROJECT FOCUS: Illustration and Character Development
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Passion project in honor of the Cyberpunk TCG’s Kickstarter campaign where I design a fictitious character set within the Cyberpunk universe of Mike Pondsmith and CD PROJEKT RED and illustrate three game card variations for it.
The making of this project can also be viewed on my YouTube channel
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THIS PROJECT
My goal with this project was to create a series of professional-quality fan art pieces for the Cyberpunk TCG during its Kickstarter campaign from March–April 2026. I’ve always been drawn to the Cyberpunk universe that was created by Mike Pondsmith and expanded by CD PROJEKT RED, so when I discovered that WeirdCo was developing a trading card game based on this IP, I immediately felt inspired to contribute in my own way.
After studying the existing cards from the first set, I began designing a small series of my own. What started as a simple fan art exercise quickly evolved into something more ambitious. As a storyteller at heart, I found myself developing a cast of original characters, each grounded in the established lore of the Cyberpunk universe.
To support this, I dove deeper into the world’s history and themes. Having already completed Cyberpunk 2077 and its expansion Phantom Liberty multiple times, I wanted to push beyond surface-level inspiration and create something that felt authentic, while still adding a personal narrative layer to the project.
WHERE THE IDEA CAME FROM
Given my passion for narrative-driven work, I naturally gravitated toward creating a character with a clear and compelling story. However, it quickly became apparent that a single character wasn’t enough — I wanted to explore something larger. This led me to the idea of building a small, cohesive micro-set of cards, each representing a character tied to one of the many gangs operating within Night City. As I researched the world, I identified eleven prominent gangs, which inspired the structure of the set. To complement this, I introduced a twelfth, hidden bonus card connected to the Night City Police Department, adding an extra layer of mystery and narrative depth. With this foundation in place, I began developing individual backstories for each character — grounding them in the established lore while giving them their own identity and emotional weight. One of the first characters to emerge from this process was Marisol Reyes, a Valentinos assassin.
Night City’s Gang logos were designed by CD PROJEKT RED.
Orphaned by gang violence in Heywood and raised by the Valentinos, Marisol became a feared assassin whose uncanny survival earned her the whispered title La Bendecida de la Muerte, meaning the one who is blessed by death. With this story as a foundation, I could move on to the next stage — concept art.
DESIGNING THE CHARACTER
Before diving into the card illustrations, I knew I needed a clear visual direction for Marisol. Drawing from her backstory, I began developing her concept art. Unlike my usual process—where I explore multiple thumbnail variations—I chose to build everything on a single page this time, knowing I’d be recording the entire process for my YouTube channel. You can view that process right here. If you watch the YouTube “making of” video, you’ll notice several alternative designs that don’t appear on the final sheet.
As is often the case in character design, weaker concepts are set aside while the strongest ones are refined to best capture the story behind the character. As the design evolved, I created four variations of Marisol to reflect her transformation over time. Her youngest version, at 18, appears on the far left, and as you move to the right, she becomes increasingly augmented—more “chromed up”—to handle progressively more dangerous assassination targets. Below you can see a few close ups of each character design.
CREATING THE ILLUSTRATIONS
With the character design in place, I moved on to exploring the first illustration concepts. From the outset, I knew I didn’t want to limit myself to a single image—I wanted to capture the kind of variety you typically see in game cards. Since the entire process would be recorded for YouTube, I kept everything within a single canvas and developed three variations side by side.
I began with quick black-and-white sketches, adding subtle tonal values to establish composition and storytelling. Once I felt confident in the direction, I pushed all three concepts to a near-final level of polish—close to what I would deliver for a finished illustration.
For the text and card graphics, I took a research-driven approach. I analyzed the fonts, sizes, and visual language used by WeirdCo on their original cards, studying and recreating the graphic elements to achieve an authentic look. Since the Cyberpunk TCG was still in development, I relied solely on the publicly available material at the time.
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE ORIGINAL QUALITY AND ART STYLE
It was essential to me that my card designs felt consistent with the official Cyberpunk TCG artwork. To achieve this, I kept reference cards close at all times. WeirdCo was regularly revealing new cards from their first commercial set, which gave me a steady stream of visual benchmarks. I studied these closely—many of them rooted in existing Cyberpunk concept art from the video game and its extended comic universe—to ensure my illustrations could stand alongside them without feeling out of place.
At the same time, I needed to understand the game mechanics, as I hadn’t yet had the chance to play with any of the available alpha cards. Through observation and analysis, I developed my own set of rules for the card, aiming for something that felt balanced, coherent, and playable. While doing so, I grounded those mechanics in Marisol’s story and personality, ensuring that both the gameplay and the narrative remained true to her character and the broader Cyberpunk universe.
The first three cards in this image are mine, the rest are from other artists.
FINAL RESULT
