Thursday, September 17, 2009

Zendikar is almost here.

My first card in the Zendikar block was just leaked on MagictheGathering.com. Note that by the silver icon below the image, you can tell it's an "uncommon" card: one step above "common," one step below "rare." But I'm moving up in the world! I have 4 or 5 more Zendikar cards coming out in a couple weeks, and I swear, not all of them are landscapes.

This card depicts a small encampment on the edge of Sejiri, an icy region in Zendikar. It's part of a 5-card uncommon dual land group in Zendikar. Dual land, meaning it is aligned with two colors; in this case Blue and White. If you don't play the game, however, you probably don't care.

I painted this image twice. After I finished the first 18x24 canvas, and I was sure I just ruined my chances of getting more work from Magic. I really didn't like it. It had too many colors and didn't look nearly "cold" enough. The image might have been acceptable (you never know), but I still had a week left so I decided not to take the risk. I primed a new canvas and gave it a second shot, which I liked much better.

I should have saved the first attempt at Sejiri Refuge, as it would have been an interesting example of what might have been. But I didn't. I put gesso over the image and painted another Magic commission right over it.

2 comments:

  1. Painting over old paintings, just like the Renaissance masters.

    Perhaps in a few hundred years scholars and art historians will be x-raying your work to see what's underneath.

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  2. Ha! Exactly like the Renaissance masters ... without all that pesky cultural significance.

    But you never know.

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