Festering Mummy - Amonkhet - PROCESS

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 April of 2017, the Festering Mummy. This was the first opportunity to create a self-portrait on a Magic card, and I had a lot of fun working on it. To start things off, here is the final art for Festering Mummy.

Festering Mummy
Magic the Gathering - Amonkhet 
PRINTS available at OMA!
ARTIST PROOFS available over on my web store!   
14 x 10.2- Digital 
© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

As with all of my pieces I began with a photo shoot of reference to get my head around the physicality of the piece, composition, and lighting. Dear Wife took many a silly photo of me being a mummy. Once the photo shoot was completed, I got to work on a series of thumbnails that distilled my ideas down to something usable. Many of these I was excited to work on.

Festering Mummy - Thumbnails

© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

As you can see option 'B' was the winner. I was putting my money on 'A,' 'D,' and 'E,' but it was not meant to be. There was concept work in the style guide for this set of Magic that depicted mummies without arms. I was fascinated by that and had wanted to do a mummy that was armless but still a danger with its mouth. Maybe another day. Now that I had an approved thumbnail it was time to work on the final drawing.

Festering Mummy
Magic the Gathering - Amonkhet
17 x 14 -Pencil on paper
 SOLD
© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

This drawing came together quickly and easily. You can even watch the drawing being created with this handy dandy time-lapse video I shot while working on this set. Now you can watch and learn all my drawing secrets.

Festering Mummy Drawing Time Lapse

With a finished drawing, it was time for the tonal study for the piece where I work out the lighting and values. Not much more to add. It is just the heavy lifting of figuring out the painting.

Festering Mummy - Tonal study
Magic the Gathering - Amonkhet
17 x 14 -Pencil on paper 
Original available NOW!
© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

Now that all the prep work was completed and I had a little bit of an idea of what  I was going to do with this piece it was time to paint. This piece came together quickly and was a straight forward painting. A relatively isolated figure on a low definition background. No horror stories to share on this one, it was only a matter of putting in the time working to get it completed.

Festering Mummy - Process progression 
© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

To better show, the painting taking shape here is an animated progression of the painting taking shape. Little by little it becomes a monster.

Festering Mummy - Animated process 
© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

 
And with that, the painting was completed. There were no edits or revisions with this piece, and it was approved after submission. Here again, is the final art of the Festering Mummy as well as the production card.

Festering Mummy

PRINTS available at OMA!

ARTIST PROOFS available over on my web store!   
© 2017 Wizards of the Coast

Festering Mummy in handy dandy card form

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com