About
Chris Hawkes
Art director. Illustrator. Thirty-five years of pictures built to be stared at.
Chris Hawkes has spent 35 years drawing for a living — from published Marvel Spider-Man trading cards in the mid-’90s to directing the art on more than 45 slot game titles played on casino floors around the world.
Today he is Art Director at Wild Streak Gaming, Bragg's Las Vegas studio, where he leads a team of artists and animators from first concept sketch to final delivery. His stops along the way include IGT, Bally, Caesars, Sony, and Westwood Studios — with highlights like the Ghostbusters cinematic intro effects and the concept art for Snoopy Flying Ace.
He also built his studio's first AI-assisted art pipeline and trained the whole team to use it. That's the same approach you see in the Vault here: every piece starts with a real drawing. Some stay drawings. Some get remixed across a dozen AI-painted directions — always labeled, never hidden.
35
Years making art professionally
45+
Shipped slot game titles
11
Artists & animators directed
1995
First published Marvel card art
Career
2023 – Now
Art Director — Wild Streak Gaming (Bragg) · Las Vegas
Leads all visual development for the studio — and built its first AI-assisted art pipeline.
2019 – 2023
Concept Artist / Illustrator — Fusion Bull Entertainment
Full visual development for an Oculus VR title.
2017 – 2019
Associate Art Director — Incredible Technologies · Las Vegas
Directed two game teams; 8 published titles.
2015 – 2017
Illustrator — Studio 88 Games · Sydney
All marketing and in-game art for three slot titles.
2015
Senior Illustrator — Caesars Entertainment
Created the complete visual identity for the House of Fun mobile launch.
2013 – 2015
Senior Artist — Bally Technologies · Las Vegas
Rebuilt the art pipeline; cabinet, marketing, and in-game art for 8 released titles.
Earlier
Senior Artist & Concept Artist — IGT · Smart Bomb Interactive · Sony · Westwood Studios
Ghostbusters cinematic FMV effects, Snoopy Flying Ace concept art, and more.
Recognition
- 1995 Fleer Ultra Spider-Man — published card artist
- Spider-Man Premium ’96 — published card artist
- The Best of Marvel Art
- ImagineFX Magazine (featured 3×)
- Spectrum Fantastic Art
- BDAC Statewide Competition for Professionals — 3× winner
- Springville Salon — First Place
- Eleanor Ettinger Gallery · Four Color Images Gallery
On AI
Chris built and trained the first Midjourney and Stable Diffusion pipeline at his studio — so the AI work here isn't a shortcut, it's a discipline. Every AI-painted variant on this site is grown from a Chris Hawkes original sketch, and it says so on the label.
The Worlds
