JEFFREY RAY HAYES (Plasmafire Graphics)is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer living in the Austin metro area of Central Texas. He began his career doing pen and ink art and magazine layout work for Austin-based table-top gaming companies. Jeff also worked as a commercial artist and display designer for a Texas-based grocery company in the 1980s until he made a career change, serving for 30 years as a police officer until his retirement in 2019 at the rank of assistant police chief. During that time, he never stopped working as a freelance artist and formed Plasmafire Graphics, LLC. 

Jeff has worked in the art department on several indie television web-based productions and indie films in the United States and United Kingdom, creating promotional materials and key art for entertainment marketing. Today, his primary focus is cover illustration and graphic design for small-press publishers, indie authors, and game designers.

“I’ve had the pleasure to work with many talented authors, publishers, directors, and producers. I value my working relationships and the many collaborative opportunities. I enjoy trying to interpret the characters, locations, plots, and ideas that producers, directors, and writers have etched in their mind’s eye. I love the collaborative process and watching their faces light up when I have successfully captured that image in an illustration. I find just as much enjoyment when fans of a particular book, television or film get excited about seeing their heroes, or villains in some cases, come to life visually.”   – Jeff Hayes