FanArt_ink.Fire

MTGinktober burns out Day 31, "Fire," starring Chandra, the Firebrand, Fanatical Firebrand, and Velican Dragon!

All right, that's the ballgame.  This year felt special, and after a nervous first couple illustrations as I got my traditional-art legs again, I feel like I really got back into the swing of traditional art--I've had a difficult relationship with art lately, but this year has helped me fall back in love with it, I'd say thanks to Clip Studio Paint, and now this Inktober run.  I'll definitely be sad to move on from these daily Magic drawings--the relentless grind requiring everything of you is the closest thing to Yale I've felt since graduation, I realized, which may be why I love this marathon so much--but a deep depression always follows Inktober, I've found, as I shift back into my usual uselessness, but since we got so many new subscribers this year, maybe people will stick around--I usually only pick up a couple, but Amalia alone got me a boatload.  We'll see.  But in any case, I'm definitely in need of some rest, my body's pretty beaten up, so I'll try to take it easy for a bit. 

 Indeed, MTGinktober 2023 is in the books, and with such a deceptively tricky final prompt for the road.  It's simple, but you don't want to just draw just something mundane for the finale, so I thought of drawing one of my all-time favorite characters, Chandra, but in Jaya's costume for the gag.  Complement with a little ragtag crew, one of which is also a firebrand (totally intentional!), and we're good to go.

Fun Facts:  I love drawing Chandra so much, I've lost count of how many times she's hit MTGinktober, but this might be her record twelfth appearance--one of the only characters to have made multiple appearances in a single year twice now--maybe with Liliana, since their kid versions kinda act as separate chars.  And I've finally accomplished my goal of drawing a Dreamcast card via Velican Dragon, though I read the name as "Velucan."  And though we didn't technically draw Jaya Ballard here, we did take her Secret Lair outfit, but used Oath of Chandra as our anchor.  

Easter Eggs:  The background's from Approach My Molten Realm, which is another "Magic expression"--an Archenemy Scheme--I've wanted to make sure I got.  After hitting a Dreamcast card, that leaves only a couple left as of now--I'm thinking a release event card like Battle the Horde, and so on--hope to complete the checklist by next year--ooh, do I have to draw a checklist card?  I mean, we actually drew stickers.

 All right, lastly, as is tradition, my usual closing offer--I'm happy to do a couple of requests if there was any character or card anyone was hoping to see that didn't make the cut.  Though if you're here, you know we have some 200 images in the archive, just click any October since 2016 and peruse as you will.  All right, thanks so much for tuning in, I really appreciate it, and hope to see you next year.

Reuxben