Magic: the Gathering Watercolor Art

you know this medium you may not be an artist or a Critic you may have never been to a gallery or gazed upon the works of Masters whose names you have never known or the time itself has forgotten but you know what tools they used here you yourself have relocked in its Whimsy from its vibrant Hues to its semiopaque nature to the subtle Trail its pigment has left as it danced over the fibers of the canvas you you are delightfully acquainted with this the Master's medium [Music] watercolor has been used for centuries to depict Fantastical scenes and subjects from infant to Elder peasant scribe theologists scientist and master of art all have laid the simple mixture of pigment and water to paper dating as far back as the earliest records of Egyptian civilization and perhaps deeper into Paleolithic Europe watercolor has some of the deepest ties to human expression yet watercolor is oft called the Masters medium for its extreme difficulty to execute properly the very nature of water is unforgiving and immovable once seeped into its canvas it's a medium that requires precision and confidence particularly when executing more complex scenes unlike the more popular medium of oils which dries slow and can be pushed and smudged watercolor is quick to dry and has a mutable opacity watercolor is also extremely complementary to other mediums such as ink graphite and is even the basis of gouache it's beloved for its Whimsy a subtle texture left by its pigment its light dreamy quality reminiscent of stained glass the medium of watercolor lends massive power to the story The Artist is conveying in their composition as such it's married devoutly it seems to the high fantasy genre some of the greatest most powerful stories Ever Told Tales of knights Hermits Triumph vanquishment heresy Miracles dungeons dragons and Magic magic has its own history dating back to the summer of 1993 when the alpha set was released since its release Magic the Gathering has featured watercolor art on a massive array of cards one of the most notable of all time painted by Rob Alexander underground sea one of the 10 original Dual lands and an icon of the game and yes painted in watercolor we stand at the edge of the world beset by sheer Rocky Cliff faces at the bottom of frames small pockets of sand are pulled from the fine warm beach where it meets the soft rolling tide of our glistening sea Alexander's use of glassy greens and playful indigos blend softly in the water bending the light and changing the water's depth silky foam gathers over careful shades of blue to give the Rippling waves dimension calm and warm and inexplicably quiet the foam of the sea floats delicately towards us Alexander breaks the foreground and background with two Titanic Earthen pillars to either side which curl round to form the mouth of the cave green pockets of grass or algae line the base of the left monolith it's impossible to confuse this with a distant Forest because Rob has given us visual scale we understand the size of the waves in front of us and can compare that subconsciously with the readable detail in the monoliths thus without a thought we can perceive the distance at scale of the green Mass beyond the pillars pregnant cumulonimbus clouds move over the distant subdued Waters giving a sense of distance and depth soft loose brush strokes and smooth gradient generate the iconic fluffy shapes again the size of the clouds to the Rocks provide a reference to understand the scale of the scene across the top of the scene and sweeping beyond the frame altocumulus clouds wash over the glowing Orange Sky just above the horizon line hangs a rising sun or is it setting or perhaps this is an eternal Sun not a Celestial body but one grounded deeply beneath us you see at top right we see repeating Cliffs which are harshly into the distance multiplying until covered in atmosphere never truly ending this detail to me is where the genius of Rob Alexander's composition is realized an underground sea a sun which cannot set the core of a planet molten and glowing like a sun echoing Cliff faces for Visible eternity which sit higher than even the clouds a setting Possible only within an earth which is Hollow when I sit with this piece I can't help but think of hollow Earth theory and its influence on fantasy works is the very core of the world where we stand a slave to our spell book powerful secret one which only the most daring and learned wizard could obtain this would tie perfectly together with Magic's gameplay as well as the Mana which underground sea produces blue the color of knowledge and black the color of power no matter the cost Alexander's work is an excellent example of what a highly rendered out and realistic composition can be when watercolor is used by a master of The Craft Rob Alexander has birthed a myriad of masterpieces for magic many of which are lands including several original Dual lands I encourage you to explore your favorites and see what techniques and patterns you notice overall this is an outstanding piece of watercolor art in the halls of Magic the Gatherings rich and vibrant artistic history thousands of paintings could line the halls of a gallery were it dedicated to MTG art hundreds of names some you may not recognize there are however a handful of artists in Magic's three decades whose Works Champion endless praise and admiration from players a few in no particular order would include Seth McKinnon John Avon and Kev Walker All Sport a unique style and list of motifs which resonate with players but there's another name I'm sure you all know The Unofficial queen of magic Art Rebecca Quay Rebecca gray has a massive portfolio of magic commissions of particular notoriety to study and consume but I chose to focus on one of my favorites bitter blossom long sharp heavily angled ears pronounced but modest bone structure and skin of an almost patinaed porcelain this is the classically inspired Fae we see Lauren infested with insect-esque and modern interpretation guest Bay maintained strong human anatomy and proportion even as their form adopts its bug qualities the extreme foreground houses a fairy sweeping through frame from left to right which produces a sense of entering as opposed to fleeing the scene a strong profile and beautiful gesture achieved with the tight curving lines throughout the form chin pointed chest almost parallel to the ground and arms swept along the length of the Torso give a powerful sense of speed to this gliding Fey A sloped back forehead soft brow Ridge and an extremely modest nasal bone give a delicate not quite human appearance while still Escaping The Uncanny Valley pale green skin with teal spots blend with the anatomical Oddities balancing the human and insect features juicy purple eyeliner and long sweeping brows worn of the potential danger of these mischievous entities complementing the skin beautifully black slick hair floats down an elongated neck and guide our eye into the left of the frame where the dark brambles that house these Fey twist and contort presumably that of the bitter blossom our attention is pulled to the center of frame by the sudden contrast in color framed by these swirling Vines and branches our mid-ground hosts to morphe in full view wings of a generic bug-inspired shape spread wide a faint wash is used to allow the background detail to pass through creating a translucent look hair not quite as black so as not to disrupt priority and depth sprawls violently up and out of frame like a cyclone again Quay exhibits a powerful gesture full of energy a spear paper thin and sharp like a stinger is drawn like an arrow in an aggressive stance its Target out of frame right it gazes towards the foreground the same direction the primary phase stair points this Warrior fairy has its legs tucked beneath it as if it's just leapt into the air but here it gives more of a feeling of legs which are spring-loaded a type of fairy fighting stance something Nimble and athletic ready to explode into action like a sprinter on the line our final Fey is tucked low and off to the left one arm stretched forward gripping a bed of petals ready to creep and crawl as if prowling their pose suggests it's unready to give up its position but alert and cautious all the FAE in this scene are in active poses poised to pounce taking a post in this Bramble of Rich delicious purples and Blues the busyness and tightness of the composition evoke the feeling of bees in a hive agitated and ready to mobilize to defend their home such immense movement and energy is carved into this composition by Rebecca's tremendous use of active gestures and swirling line the palate is cool playful and shaded yet balanced magnificently with the warm Browns and ever so subtle Reds the extreme background outside of the safety of this Flora Cove is implied by suggesting an Overexposed light source and out-of-focus leaves behind the Archer Ferry guay's style which is mixed with color pencil makes full use of watercolor semi-opaque nature building saturation and controlling value as well as getting a little bit of that stained glass effect the masterful execution of lighting and depth in this piece denotes a wealth of understanding for the medial top to bottom Rebecca Gray's work showcases classic High fantasy inspiration and oozes cleverness and intelligence but even with the splendid story Rebecca's bitter blossom sings aligning with the very definition of fantasy art watercolor is not bound to any law more than any other artistic medium watercolor despite its natural and authoritative merriment is just another tool to be utilized by we the truly greatest of apes watercolor may just as well convey something darker more sinister and intentionally devoid of Vitality though no less saturated in Vigor enter Richard Kane Ferguson and his chiefest gift to the Magic World Dacon blackblade toxic sulfurous snide unforgiving neither monster nor man but something sickening and in between the last Nephilim doomed to walk the world of the living this is what goes through my mind when I look at r.k Ferguson's art for Dak on blackblade black and shadowy with blue gray mid-tones and limited highlights Dacon sits heavily in the middle of frame he Towers menacingly at almost a profile cheated out a hyper masculine bicep and tricep peer over a shield decorated with a hypnotic specter-like Effigy connected to a deltoid cloud with armor decorated with a skull this forward-facing arm gives us a sense of his physical strength the rest of his torso has its own adornment of form-fitting armor which mimic his overdeveloped pectoral's abdomen and obliques we can see his rib cage jutting away contrary to his abs creating a sharp Valley illustrating his non-existent body fat low on his hips a simple belt from which the tattered tendrils of his tunic wriggle eerily in the Wind the left of dakon's body sits heavy not just with the weight of a spiked bracer reminiscent of the Dark Knights but the namesake of this legendary summon the Black Blade a wicked Armament with a villainous decorative pommel two-handed Hilt and Titanic cross guard which gives birth to an Insidious blade one which sports its own two fangs at its midriff before coming to a curved back point a point indicative of a blade meant for hacking and chopping a blade of tremendous Mass perhaps one that even grows with power and gravity a possibility highlighted by the back facing cut which reduces the weight of such a tool it rests menacingly over the hidden trap of our subject tucked behind the dastardly head which crowns this Twisted stacker of corpses a Helm horned like a rhino beetle and decorated with vicious filigree adorns the northest point of Ferguson's unpenitent subject a Helm which hosts the ghoulish head of our calamity diluted down to nothing more than a Simeon scowl and the faint ungodly glow of a Beady red eye dakon's identity is left to the imagination if you can stomach it Richard Kane Ferguson draws hyper masculine proportion and Dark Fantasy inspiration from the movement of the 1970s and 1980s particularly you can see the inspiration of Frank Frazetta who also worked in watercolor from time to time but rkf isn't derivative he's found his own style which is on Full display here chaotic brush Strokes are used to form loose abstract shapes the result is energetic and overwhelming at times donning the viewer with the intensity of the scene the design of Dacon is well fleshed out the muscles while exaggerated are not ballooning off the body but rather look tight and sinewy this is especially highlighted in the use of Reflections and striation in the tricep RK exhibits a well-known technique for character design making the lower part of the design much darker and therefore heavier feeling grounding the character but also drawing less attention with all the weight and darkness in rkf's character there's a choice to balance it with the background one of a pungent yellow and Cyclery Orange in our mid-ground two yellow brown monoliths spiral from the base of the frame to the heavens Beyond it the snake-like forms could be lasting Effigies of a civilization Dacon has just raised the towers framing the subject on either side contrast very lightly with the wash of the background here RK makes use of watercolor's ability to be abstract and creates a murky Haze a brightly colored fog of pestilence or toxic gas a brilliant use of weight is applied to balance the scene further using higher saturation at the top gradiating to Almost White at the bottom to contrast the main subject's design while Richard Kane Ferguson utilizes much implied detail in his pieces he also uses touches of ink to create a hard outline around parts of the subject noticeably around the helm where RK lets the background bleed in to create a reflection like a rim light dakon Black Blade a Scourge from Magic's past which Echoes still through lore from corelash to the Black Blade reforged to Gideon Richard Kane Ferguson helped guide Magic's Universe from the very beginning unique in style and non-traditional in execution you might not have realized this was a watercolor piece Richard Kane Ferguson proves watercolor is merely a tool and not a rule set style execution depth palette implied detail render supplementary mediums these all play a role in how an artist tells a story they're being their inspiration their motifs a lot can be derived from an artist's work I was originally inspired to make this channel after a short exchange with renowned MTG artist Jason rainville he tweeted about how he wished content creators who got to preview cards talked about the art more rather than naming the artist and moving on to the mechanics of the card at best he also made a comment recently about how magic sets fly by which exacerbates people's unwillingness to slow down and really digest the art but frankly most people aren't art literate they're never taught how to consume and appreciate art its intricacy and its process I want people to appreciate and understand art more and be grateful to the artists who work on MTG what inspired me to explore this medium and help you digest this beloved and ancient practice another highly respected MTG artist made a comment on Twitter which immediately resonated with me it was a perfect example of what I wanted to absolve with this channel Sam asked why they got compared to Rebecca gray as often as they do they wondered if their last name was different if it would happen as often they aren't related and the only relation their art shares is the medium I told Sam I thought it was 50 50. half due to their last name and half due to the Layman being art illiterate the average magic player who through no fault of their own were never taught to understand and consume art Sam utilizes a very stylized and painterly method in their art for magic cards you can tell it's watercolor more than Richard Kane Ferguson's or Rob Alexander's pieces this creates an impression similar to Rebecca Gray's art when evaluated at a superficial level Sam seemed to agree with the possibility and added the obvious difference in their Style versus say Jason rainvilles rendered Fantastical realism being the majority of Magic the Gatherings Contemporary Art Direction I thought I could teach players the difference I could show them how to enjoy the art more and really love all the Styles artists present for magic players so I sat down and found a handful of watercolor artists with different styles to show you how to digest a composition and value all the work and story put into them so with our intent in mind and a job to do let's dive into our last two artists recently a new artist debuted in the magic the Gathering scene with work in the 2021 set adventures in the Forgotten Realms Sam guay as one of the latest additions to Magic's roster of artists Sam has very few pieces to speak on compared to the last artists yet it was no less difficult to pick one to highlight in the end I landed on innistrat and chose the art for demonic bargain the Striking palette makes me too giddy to ignore a Heavenly lavender with these subtle blues and low saturation blue green all divorced from a blacker than night background elevating it all though a hot gooey scummy pink it's disgusting how well Sam developed this palette and the Hues in the final render just look at this piece its color how do you feel [Music] the lightness in the face of the pop punk Bell rock-like demon which takes up most of the frame immediately catches your attention it's neon pink eyes squinting and contorting with the ether manifesting from the cup deep valleys and rolling Peaks make up the texture of the Demon's face and continue through the horns the dark blue hard lines act as recesses with white highlights opposite to create the depth the feeling is palpable as the texture radiates through the shape of the horns which dissolve towards the edges of the composition here the lines become more soft and blurred as the smoke diffuses and loses shape the color also becomes more of a wash as the purples blues and pinks bleed together it loses the form which was held in the center of the piece made by the pale purple highlights saturated purple Terminator and bluish purple shadow the horns curl in towards the center again leading your eye over a crusty veiny organic and rather massive chalice why would Sam make this so big oh moving back over the demon a stream of pink goo now presumably blood streams from the closed lips of the face which longingly hovers over the cup way achieved the viscosity of the blood masterfully with their value choices you can see the depth that it sits away from the face beautifully a deep sea blue-green face being lit from The Chalice into which it lears subdued reflections of pink bounce off the most pronounced forms of the face and rest in the corners of the eyes where the tear ducts sit confirming this liquid as blood expressionless yet clearly somber with sunken cheeks and a slack craned neck the Demon's victim is clearly dying and a pose reminiscent of classical depictions of Christ's death combined with the contrasting action of the hands below the cup one gripping desperately the other seemingly losing all strength the gesture of this human figure is intrinsic the story of someone who has given up their entire life force to a demonic entity power at any cost they think as they slip Faithfully into the great sleep the unceasing dream their scalloped hair invites small ghastly skulls glowing with the same pink Aura and one slipping grimly from the ear of our Madonna the soul of our subject casting a faint glow on its former vessel begins to slink into this cursed Grail the edges of the skulls in each victim's Soul stretch and warp communicating their immaterial form darker diffused ribbons of smoke frame all sides of the composition without drawing attention from the subject same guy stations the entire composition of this work in front of a pure black background creating a bold focus on the lighting and color of the scene while denoting the setting as somewhere beyond light further micro details such as the small glowing specks of light and Vapor Trails of the smoke cement the feeling of being in Between Worlds perhaps in the consciousness of our doomed traveler we are helplessly watching their final moments powerful Anatomy though simplified and slightly exaggerated help ground this stylized Dreamscape Sam utilizes a magnificent understanding of opacity and saturation in the use of color throughout this composition what's more a Brilliance in utilizing watercolor's natural noisy texture shines here as flakes of pigment are carried chaotically by the water over the canvas's fibers before it soaks into them leaving a subtle studded variation in saturation Sam bends this to their will to give texture especially in the Smoky frame the movement line use and Rhythm throughout is fantastically well executed and shows a wealth of study in organic shapes and textures powerful intelligent Whimsical delicious elaborate these only scratch the surface of this remarkable piece by Sam guay Sam hands over a dream of theirs which took hours upon hours of Labor and Decades of study and curiosity to bring our game to life Frolic with me in the otherworldly microcosm captured and surrendered by a master of watercolor Sam guay Magic the Gathering has changed though thirty years ago Rob Alexander was not alone in delivering art to Wizards of the Coast painted in watercolor Rebecca gray never held a monopoly either The Exodus of watercolor art represented in Magic happened when the official style guide was updated focusing on more realistic rendered painterly art was the new Norm we're lucky to have Sam working with Wizards after such a drought and doubly so for the work of another first commissioned for throne of eldrin's showcase card art and returning for a single card in M21 our final artist rounds out all the variation in style we've seen and we'll meet them in kamigawa Wiley beckert an excellent partner to follow Sam's organic dreamy vibrant style Wiley beckert's brilliant restoration Sports a monochromatic palette harsh Line work geometric patterns and well it's still dreamy but less Alice in Wonderland and more biblically accurate softcore liminal nightmare in this piece Becker in line with the card's white color identity uses a slightly green leaning ocher palette this is a daring Choice as an artist because everything now relies on their ability to control their values value being the lightness to Darkness of a hue if overlapping features are the same value they blend and blur and the detail is lost despite the delicateness of this process Becker put forth a Sublime render a glowing orb of light molten or bubbly in texture glows like a small Sun full of energy and emitting rays of light along the Rays rectangles form a seemingly stylized lens flare you can see the subtle variations in saturation of the globe which help give it texture spots of almost white blotches of almost gray and definitively yellow softly mingle to create height spooling around the orb snaking through the entire scene a dragon comprised of smaller organic shapes a Regal head birthes a snout textured with Smoky lines and shifting planar faces carpesque fibers protrude from its lower jaw and no eyes rather masks of human faces on either side of its head and one in between which themselves have a large eye on the forehead a bizarre and beautiful detail fantastically inspired it is this eye that provides insight into this Godlike creature you see the eye seems to have a pupil but I believe Becker was inspired by an eye not found in mammals but in insects this dot is not a pupil but a light effect created in compound eyes such as the ones a praying mantis has a deeply subtle detail but once observed spotlights the omnipotence of this mysterious Kami above its snow floats unobsidian sphere perhaps this is the antimatter which contrasts the Sun the balance of this new universe the darkness to the light sprawling forth like hair from its head a thin flat papery appendages which form a Crest or main of ribbon-like geometry inspiring perhaps a paper craft-like effect in tandem with the folded prayer hands symbolizing this Kami as a manifestation of The Wishes and prayers of people on this plane some larger strands are pierced by Golden more mechanical spheres though they seem to carry no weight as they don't make the strands droop illustrating the lack of gravity in the scene [Music] the humanoid arms build the form of the neck as it sprawls from the head bent elbows forming the width of the neck and rib cage and clasped hands forming the mass of the esophagus and belly these forms Ripple through the length of the body along with the rectangular sails reinforcing the abstract and holy form of the main subject with no other appendages of its own the dragon's torso produces two human-like arms with five fingered hands outstretched with fingers splayed it probes for stability or perhaps they're molding some unseen energy needing and stretching matter in accordance with the name and function of the card these hands feature another Oddity you may have noticed though monochromatic the hands and snout of the Dragons seem to break the pallet subtly with a bit of orange to further highlight them without being visually jarring where this liminal space is absent of dragon and orb it is filled with cloudy formations imperative to beckert's style is her use of graphite she maintains her Line work in her paintings to give a clean chiseled look to her geometric patterns and the edges of organic shapes the clouds for example transition from beveled Stone forms to loose fluffy organic forms moving swirling to carving and back we see similar shapes in our subject its body full of beveled edges which seem to convex organically in between bowing slightly to maintain the fleshiness of the creature the ability to balance this dance is evidence of Becker's understanding of line weight and speed of line and speaks to her learnedness compare the thickness at the edge of the neck to the edges of the arms composing the neck this serves to give physical weight to the creature's Anatomy extreme care and consideration put into every line consistently throughout the composition is tantamount to the movement created by the varied line shape surgical Precision in the distribution of saturation through the length of the body pulls your focus to the center of the image where the richest yellows are concentrated along the belly spine and head less saturated mid-tone stretch over the parts of the body further towards the edges not only lighting the scene but controlling it Wiley Becker has an exquisitely unique style and produces highly controlled well-balanced detailed Works a brilliant artist with Transcendent Vision beckert's work serves as an excellent example of the diversity found in watercolor artists Style if only you take the time to look [Music] art imitates life first Noble Truth of Buddhism suggests to live is to suffer suffering cannot be perceived without a struggle an opposition this is to say that art is a whisper of life's truth of struggle of suffering the most destructive force on this planet is also the mother of life it shapes mountains and varies civilizations her name is water soothing cleansing warming cooling quenching but in a million ways damning water is chaotic Timeless and untameable but for a brief moment in a studio a few drops at a time it is coerced over a page to ride around a canvas before suffering its master moved by those who struggle against its chaos submitted by those who in turn submit to its imperfection dreamed suffered and surrendered in watercolor [Music]

Channel: Vagabond Gallery

Views: 3,390

Keywords: magic the gathering watercolor art, magic the gathering, watercolor art, mtg watercolor art, magic watercolor art, mtg watercolor, magic the gathering watercolor, watercolor, mtg art, magic art, magic the gathering art, mtg artist, magic artist, magic the gathering artist, magic artist proof, sam guay, rebecca guay, rob alexander, wylie beckert, rk ferguson, richard kane ferguson, dakkon blackblade, bitterblossom, underground sea, mtg, edh, mtg arena, magic online

Id: Kk3Iw9KUgJo

Length: 35min 26sec (2126 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 25 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/Yhettiskull73]

Hey everyone!

I'm Yhetti and I recently decided to start a channel on YouTube with the goal of discussing the art of Magic: the Gathering. Art has always been integral to the game but I felt there was a disconnect between the players and the artists. After a few exchanges with different MTG artists, I realized most people don't know how to get everything they could out of art because no one ever taught them how!

This is my first video and in it, I'll help you study some of the best art in the game and how to recognize the beloved medium of watercolor. By the end, you should have a great idea of how to identify the medium, appreciate the composition, learn some new names, and break down the story the artist is telling. Take a look, learn something amazing, get the most out of the game, and of course, thank your favorite artists for everything they give to make our game incredible!