Super busy. Lots going on. Here are some completely randomly selected pieces that I have done over the years.
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Firday! Until then...
I am back from an amazing and exhausting Gen Con. The remaining Gen Con exclusive final Magic the Gathering artist proofs with art are now available on my store. Still plenty to choose from and an opportunity to get one before they are gone. I just wish my images of the art looked as good as they do in person!
Here is a better look at the art on the cards. Again, I sure wish these images looked as good as the real thing. I am extremely happy with how all of these turned out!
That is all for another exciting day on the blog. See you back here very soon! Until then...
I shared the process for making the Breaching Hippocamp painting ten years ago on this very blog. You can see how some of these concepts were used to create the finalized concept drawings for this monster.
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Lastly, here is a look at the final painting and the card these concept sketches led to. If you missed the links to my store above, you can check out these concept sketches here!
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
Due to my schedule and workload, I generally do not take on private commissions and only offer black and white ink and marker drawings on the back of Magic the Gathering's artist proofs. That said, occasionally, I find myself taking on a piece I would not otherwise accept. The first person to my table at Pensacon asked if I would do a paint alter extension of the Breaching Hippocamp Magic the Gathering card. This is something I no longer offer, but as they were first to my table, agreed to the price, and were fine with me doing it after the convention, I found myself with a paint alter needing to be done. It didn't hurt that this was the second card I painted for MtG, so it has a special meaning for me. Here is the altered card.
I have not traditionally painted anything since September 2016. Yes, that long. That was the completion date of the final Star Wars painting that I took on. Since then, I have been working digitally for any client work I accept. My books, which take up nearly all my time, are limited to black and white colored pencil, black ink, and white acrylic paint. Yes, I am still using white paint, but this was more involved than that. In fact, I was a little nervous about taking this on since it has been so long since I painted anything with actual paint. I was worried about something that I didn't need to worry about. I was amazed at how it all came back to me, even after a nearly six-year gap. I will be honest, one of my artist faults, if you want to call it that, is that I am not great at generating color from thin air. I look at a lot of color reference, and I have a workflow both digitally and traditionally that generates a color mess on the canvas that I can then respond to and work on top of. Even though I can not pull colors quickly or easily from the ether, I can match what I see and work with and from the color on a surface. In other words, it takes me a lot of work to (digitally) paint that sky initially, but I can quickly match it with paint and extend it. I am also not a big fan of working as small as the MtG cards are, but I find a way to make it work. In the end, I am thrilled with how the card turned out, and it almost - ALMOST, makes me want to do more. Here is the Breaching Hippocamp card before I got to work.
That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...
Early in my convention days, with my first Magic the Gathering artist proofs, I would have a person interested in a card with a drawing pay when they returned to pick up their finished card. From time to time, the person never returned, and I was left with an AP with a drawing on the back and no home to go to. Eventually, I started requesting payment upfront, and cards were no longer left unclaimed at the end of a convention. It has been a while since I did an in-person convention, and as I begin to prep for events to start happening again, I have started digging through and sorting my convention materials. I came across these unclaimed cards, and I am now offering them 50% off to find a forever home. I even went back and did a little more work on the drawings to be more consistent with the quality I offer currently. If you have been wanted an AP with a drawing, this is the perfect opportunity to get one at a discount!
That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...
Recently, the Mythic Odysseys of Theros was released for Dungeons & Dragons. This supplement brings the Magic the Gathering world of Theros into the worlds and realms of D&D, which frankly is pretty cool. The new supplement is filled with Magic the Gathering art, which means there was a good chance I had a piece in the book since Theros was the first Magic set I worked on. As it would turn out, I do have a pice in the book. I believe it is only one, but it is hard to say for sure since I only looked at the book once so far. That's on me, but a lot is going on. Anyway, the Breaching Hippocamp that I designed and illustrated for Magic the Gathering - Theros is in Mythic Odysseys of Theros as the main art for the Hippocamp in the monster section. There is some interesting cropping, but it is great to see this monster get some new life breathed into it as a D&D monster. Here is a look at the book and the original Breaching Hippocamp.
The Breaching Hippocamp was the second Magic card that I was commissioned to do and was the first monster for Magic that I had the opportunity to design from the ground up for the card. Crazy to think that I painted this at the end of 2012. Where does the time go? I shared the process and steps that went into this piece back in 2014 and shared the concept designs that I submitted for it. I still really like some of the versions that were not accepted, and since WotC doesn't own them, I might need to do back and do something with them. I wonder how they would look visiting the Sunken Stalls?
That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Friday, since I will be offline on Wednesday. Until then...
