Today, I have a pair of recent Magic the Gathering artist proofs that I added art to their backs. All available artist proofs and art options can be found
That's all for another exciting Friday on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...
I am thrilled to share another new piece from The Grand Bazaar of Ethra VanDalia! This illustration is for Book Two: The Completed Circle. This is one of the numerous pieces of spot art throughout the book. Depicted here are a pair of boots that have ended up wrapped around some wires. It is not so much the boots or the wire that is the story in this piece, but more of why when a species determines it collectively needs covering for its ambulatory appendages, within a short amount of time, they eventually end up tied together and placed somewhere far out of reach. This seems to be a universal manifestation, making it much more curious. I present Boots on a Wire.
As a bonus, I have some images of the rendering process of this piece so that you can get a better idea of it taking shape. I made a small mistake that couldn't be addressed in the piece and was corrected digitally. I wasn't watching close enough, and the lower right corner flares out a bit more than it should. I fixed it digitally, but on the original, you can tell that it curves out a bit at the bottom. No biggie, but I try to be a bit more careful than that.
That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...
Today, another episode of my work that was reprinted and released that I never knew about till now! This time around, it is the Dracolich that I originally created for Talisman: The Dragons way back in 2011. With a published year of
At one time, I did a lot of work on the Talisman games. I cut my teeth on the game and made some pretty good pieces for the game and some, shall we say, less successful pieces. Working on the game, with its TINY card size, meant that I could experiment, play, and take some chances with the art because when it is printed, it will be condensed and lose a lot of the fine detail. Also, these sets had a ton of cards with art from a ton of different artists, so turning in a dud now and again wasn't the level of issue it would be on other projects.
Finally, here is a look at the final production card. As far as I know, it is the same card with the same stats and abilities as the card initially released in the Dragons expansion.
In this age of plagiarism algorithms, rampant theft of the arts, and nonartists speaking as if they know and understand the breadth and width of being an artist, I wanted to share some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head for a time. I have read and heard so much talk from people who haven't picked up a stylus to create since they were in kindergarten, expounding on how humans create and get ideas. Strangely, they claim that algorithms learn and create in the same exact way. As you know, historically, humans are not algorithms, nor are they machines. Any artist could tell you that all this talk, excuses, and claims that artists are somehow magic and we are keeping secrets is complete garbage.
Before we get too far, I would like to mention that if you have ten artists, you will have fifteen or more methods to do any one thing. We are all different, and our approaches are all completely different. Even if you have two artists making the exact same style of work, they will often have two completely disparate approaches to creating their work. I know this firsthand from learning from artists and working alongside artists at workshops. We all do this in our own unique way, with our own unique voice.
One thing that rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning was the narrative that the algorithms somehow create the way humans do. Somehow, humans can look at art, chop it up, and spit out something.
To put it bluntly, I have so many ideas inside me that I will never need to look at someone else's work to get ideas, even if I were to live five lifetimes. Every day, I come up with more ideas and more things that I would love to create. My observations of the world around me ground my ideas into a more believable reality, and they challenge me to push myself with each piece to be something entirely new for me. My feeling from the beginning with these algorithms is that there is a conceivably ZERO chance that it would generate anything for me that would be new, usable, or good enough to challenge my skill sets and imagination. My work is informed by my (soon to be 50) years on this planet as I live, dream, succeed, fail, laugh, cry, look, listen, and explore. That is a whole lot of variables that you will NOT find in a stolen slurry of art files made by the artists of the world. All that life and living goes into every new piece we make. There simply is no way to create my next work by only looking at everything I have already done. There are times I don't even know how I will meet the
That is a lot to chew on, so let's dive in and look at some specifics.
I hope this sheds some light on how I work, what I look to for reference, and how I derive my ideas. At the end of the day, all of my creations are in response to the world around me. The good, the bad, and everything in between. My work is extremely autobiographical on so many levels, but the veneer of monstrous imagery gives it an abstraction that allows it to become fantastical. I would like to see an algorithm try that.
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
I am pleased to share that all remaining Magic
Here is a closer look and direct links to all currently available proofs. All but the Beholder have metallic gold signatures with black shadows; the Beholder is signed in only black. All the art is a mix of pencil, marker, ink, and
At Gen Con 2022, I had an excellent opportunity to speak with the folks behind the upcoming documentary about Magic the Gathering, The Gathering is the Magic. It was a lot of fun and always a good time to talk about art, monsters, and more. Last month I did a follow up interview where I talked about my work on the game in greater detail as well as other topics. The first clip from the recent interview has been shared, which means I am now sharing it with you.
That is all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here on Monday! Until then...
For many reasons, Gen Con is my biggest show of the year. It has the most attendees, vendors, artists, and activities, and it is in the largest convention center and city of any show I do in a year. It also costs the most to attend and to be a part of. Gen Con has been good to me over the years. There have been rocky spots and some bumpy years, but we keep coming back to Gen Con. It is also the show I feel like I worked the hardest while at the show as well as preparing for it. I am still processing this year's show. I feel like I am spending more time thinking about how shows perform, what worked, what didn't work, and what I can do differently moving forward in ways I never did before COVID-19. While I think this is primarily due to my complete focus on the Grand Bazaar, which is my creation and not that of my clients, I also think I am looking at conventions differently - which is all a good thing.
And here we are at Gen Con 2024. This year was my best Gen Con to date. Saleswise, it was the best I have had as it surpassed my record last year. Emotionally, it was my best as well, but this has a lot to do with winning the Doug Kovacs award at the Gen Con Art Show awards. This award has a history and a story to it, and I am not really prepared to go into it here. Let me just say it means a great deal to me (like, REALLY A LOT), and I share this award with many other great artists. It is just really, really special when the universe taps you on the shoulder and gives you a nod. Many thanks to all the judges, Barbara Fisher and, of course, Wayne Reynolds.
A HUGE thanks to all who came by the booth this year. It was great to share the Grand Bazaar with you. I am not sure that the couple will ever see this, but you walked away saying that I was giving you the 'hard sale.' That is not something I do or like. I was letting you know that the item you were interested in has been selling out at events that I have done this year and, at the time, was tracking that way at Gen Con. I just wanted you to know the reality of the situation. I am sorry if I offended you, but I was just trying to be honest and to help you find what you were looking for. Moving on... It was SO wonderful to see so many friends and familiar faces this year! Many that I haven't seen since before COVID. I wish that we had more time together, but hopefully, this means we will cross paths again soon.
But as I said before, I am still processing the convention. I have some early takeaways, but I am sure more will become clear as I move further from the event and continue to ponder and ruminate on things. For now, enjoy these photos from Gen Con 2024 and some additional thoughts!
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
