Today I have for you an overdue post about the process and steps that went into a Magic the Gathering piece of mine that I first shared with you way back in September of 2016, the
Narnam Cobra. This is by far my favorite piece from the Kaladesh block and I am still really happy with how it turned out. To start things off, here is how the final art for Narnam Cobra turned out...
Narnam Cobra
Magic the Gathering - Kaladesh
14 x 10.2- Digital
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
As always, thumbnails got things started. For this
piece I needed to design a mechanical cobra based on the art direction of other mechanical animals in the style guide. I really like the idea of this and got to work designing the cobra and working out an environment that best suited it. There was mention that this piece had a connection to green and I think there was some mention
to it being deadly, so I wanted to try to touch on both those things in this piece. The green aspect would come later, but I was imagining the cobra entering a home or building ready to dispatch a target it was sent after. Coiled and ready to strike I was imaging the cobra back lit with some nice frontal glow. Here are how the thumbnails turned out...
Narnam Cobra - Thumbnails
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
Option "D" was the winner, but there was concern that the columns were just too real world like and I was asked to rework them to make them more Kaladesh. This was an easy enough request and I was happy to make it. Here is how the updated thumbnail turned out...
Narnam Cobra - Revised thumbnail
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
The updated thumbnail was approved and I was given the
go ahead to work up a finalized drawing. This piece had a ton of pattern and detail in it and making sure it all worked, looked good, and obeyed perspective took some time. In the
end I was really happy with how the drawing turned out. Here is how the final drawing turned out...
Narnam Cobra - Drawing
Kaladesh
17 x 14 - Pencil on paper
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
For myself, I worked up a tonal study of the piece as well. Figuring out if the plan in my head is going to actually work out the way I want it to. Here is the tonal study for this piece...
Narnam Cobra - Toned drawing
Kaladesh
14 x 11 - Pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
Now that I had an approved final drawing it was time to get started on the painting. There were no further comments or requests from production so it was just a matter of getting started. In just 18 easy steps, you too can have a digital painting... or not...
Narnam Cobra - Process progression
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
This piece was a breeze to work on. It just took time and a bit of pushing and pulling to make sure all the different planes read and worked well. I wanted a really bright back light with a dark middle ground and an eerie glow lighting the foreground. I think I got it all to work. There
was the shine and reflection of the gold and the glow of the aether in the cobra to worry about, but I think I controlled it all. There was a lot here to keep wrangled in, but at the end of the day it just takes time and a slow even pace to get it done. Maintaining the low contrast muted background and pushing the columns
backwards ended up being some of the hardest aspects
to this piece. Here is an animated progression of this piece coming together so that you can better see each step layering to create the final painting...
Narnam Cobra - Animated process progression
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
As mentioned above, this is still my favorite of the Kaladesh block and still one of my favorite Magic pieces to date. I think it reads well on the card and in the art and creates a nice mood. For
me it reminds me of the kind of things that drew me to Magic in the first place. It might seem like a regular card, but for
me it was a big challenge to make it special for myself, and hopefully the players.
Again, here is the finished Narnam Cobra painting and the final production card...
Narnam Cobra
© 2016 Wizards of the Coast
Narnam Cobra in handy dandy card form.
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...
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