FanArt_ink.SourSpiritII

MTGinktober stings and haunts Day 11, "Sour Spirit (II)," starring Dina, Soul Steeper and Topplegeist!

Spirit is our first parallel-thinking repeat prompt across art challenges (Inktober and Magictober), just days apart, actually, though we've had similar prompts before in Poisonous and Poison and a literal repeat with Dizzy from last year and 2019 (two of my least favorite pieces, actually.

Fun Facts: I've been wanting to use Topplegeist for some time, and almost did for the previous Spirit prompt this year, but I'm glad we were able to get him in there.  We went light on this one because I've noticed some back pain trying to wake up, so I have to be on guard.

Easter Eggs: The idea is they're at a lemonade stand and rather than sell it for 5 cents, as I had originally written, I switched it to 1 generic mana, like a typical tax.  I hope that reads.

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FanArt_ink.PickTransform

MTGinktober chooses and reinvents Day 10, "Pick Transform," starring Rowan, Scholar of Sparks!

This was another tricky one, in that we're crunched for time, but I really feel like we have to be doing stronger pieces.  I tried resting more but that still leaves a time limitation, despite finally having the energy to do more.   And only just as I was prepping this post, did it dawn on me that this is not technically a transform card, but an MDFC.  However, I believe if animated into a creature and hit with a transform effect, she would flip, so...technically it works...if I'm not mistaken...so we're good. 

Fun Facts: This is the twins' third MTGinktober appearance, though Rowan is taking a leading role here for the first time.  I was debating replacing the nib I've been using all this time so far, but thought I'd give it one more piece, and wouldn't you know it, it snagged and blotted out the first glyph.  Gotta heat up the next nib, clearly.

 Easter Eggs: The concept here Rowan picking a Lorwyn command from her other side, Will, Scholar of Frost.

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FanArt_ink.PressureFlashback

 MTGinktober imposes upon and recalls Day 9, "Pressure Flashback," starring Killian, Ink Duelist! 

This was another tough one, since I've been so exhausted and need some breathing room to sleep, but that just cuts down on drawing time, so these recent pieces have had to be more limited in scope, though I have wanted to make a conscious effort to stop hatching as much and just go more for solid shapes and fills, to see if that improves things.

Fun Facts:  I dunno, I feel like we coulda done a better concept, so I'm not terribly happy with this one, but it was tough to crunch out something more interesting beyond--what inadvertently turned out to be--a bit of a camera rotation on the appropriately named Crushing Disappointment.  I studied the key art for Killian mostly, and his actual card for the costuming, though.

 Easter Eggs: It felt like making the background Bump in the Night fit pretty well into a reasonable scenario Killian might be involved in during a late night studying, so that's what we went with.

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FanArt_ink.WatchDayNight

 MTGinktober checks out early and late into Day 8, "Watch Day/Night," starring Village Watch!

This was another tricky one because I don't want to use modernization if I can avoid it--though I briefly considered spoofing a timepiece ad--and so far I'm not liking how on-the-nose the Magictober prompts are, so that there's too narrow a focus.  But I went with a Daybound/Nightbound creature that has watch in its name, and the twist is she's making the Oath of the Gatewatch pose.  

Fun Facts: While I usually draw multiple characters--and legendary ones at that--this illustration had to be more limited in scope because I am feeling quite tired and need to revamp my sleep schedule so I can prevent crunch and maybe post at a better timeslot, or at least draw better compositions.  Since this prompt wasn't terribly exciting, it felt like a good day to take it easy.  Conveniently, the showcase version was a much more simplified costume, so this also influenced choosing this card to star.

Easter Eggs: The pose here is after Oath of Liliana.  Eagle-eyed viewers will notice I messed up and inked in a portion of the moon, despite making a mental note not to do that.

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FanArt_ink.FanInvestigate

MTGinktober forms a parasocial relationship with and digs deep into the personal space of Day 7, "Fan Investigate," starring Young Pyromancer, Young Necromancer, and Floodhound!

This concept came to me after a little bit of thought--I wanted to draw the (presently) two Planeswalker superfans in Magic hanging out, but since they're such fans, what if they also went overboard and were into their heroes to an unhealthy degree?  There was a Twitch leak yesterday about how much certain people, including Magic streamers make, so I figured that might be something these nerds would be into learning and gossiping about.  I wanted to keep it reasonably in-universe, so they're chatting about Jace literally streaming for money...you know, with water. 

Fun Facts: While only mentioned here, Jace himself has only appeared during MTGinktober once, though as a decapitated head, since I refuse to draw him and implicitly endorse the way they so blatantly plastered him everywhere as the stand-in for Magic players at large. 

 Easter Eggs: The background is from Young Necromancer's background.  Also, Liliana and Chandra are in their respective fans' medallions, but that doesn't count as an MTGinktober appearance for either, who already appear plenty.

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FanArt_ink.SpiritDecayed

 MTGinktober haunts and falls apart at Day 6 "Spirit Decayed," starring Graveborn Muse!

I had a few inklings of what to draw for these prompts, but this sorta tug-of-war between Spirits and Zombies won out, as it turns out Graveborn Muse is the only Zombie Spirit in Magic, as of yet, so it'd be neat if both tribes were trying to woo her.

Fun Facts: This is Graveborn Muse's second MTGinktober appearance, believe it or not--quite an achievement for a non-legendary card, but she was uniquely perfect for this prompt that had to incorporate both states of undeath--ethereal and rotting.

 Easter Eggs: Of course, the two tribal representatives trying to coax her to their side are Benevolent Geist and the Decayed Zombie Token.
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FanArt_ink.RavenDoubleFaced

 MTGinktober crows and is duplicitous towards Day 5, "Raven Double-Faced," starring Liliana, Heretical Healer and Hakka, Whispering Raven! 

 This was another tricky one, but I had this idea of maybe going deep on "double-faced" by having Liliana and Garruk dress as Raven and Beast Boy or vice versa, but in the end, a kind of face-to-face of Liliana with her face-changed brother, along with Magic's very own double-faced, legendary raven giving her profile a wingspan seemed like an interesting visual.

 Fun Facts:  This is actually Lil'iana's fourth MTGinktober appearance, though she's shown up as an adult a few other times. Meanwhile Josu has appeared as a baby, a teen, and now, at last, a decapitated Zombie Knight.

 Easter Eggs:  The background is another double-faced card, the ZNR land, Malakir Mire, and the other face Liliana is facing here is none other than Josu Vess, Lich Knight.

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FanArt_ink.KnotDisturb

MTGinktober ties up and bugs Day 4 "Knot Disturb," starring Gisa and Geralf!

 This was another tricky prompt, since nothing immediately came to mind, but then I got back to the old trope I've done of these two pestering each other in the style of Deedee and Dexter.  Are they really like that in lore?  No idea, but I hope it's something like that.

 Fun Facts: I really don't enjoy drawing Geralf, but this is his third MTGinktober appearance, whereas I love drawing Gisa, and this is her fourth appearance, as she has appeared solo a couple years.

 Easter Eggs: The background is taken from Tree of Redemption, though who knows why they're operating out in the open like that.

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FanArt_ink.VesselPumpkin

 MTGinktober floats over and pumps into Day 3 "Vessel Pumpkin," starring Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain and Weatherlight!

 Man, this was the first tricky one!  I thought I had this killer concept, but then upon looking up the definition of Vessel, just to double check that it could mean basically any kind of vehicle, it became just about intolerable to stretch the definition to anything but a sea- or air-faring vehicle, so I had to scramble for an alternate idea.

 Fun Facts:  This is Jhoira's second MTGinktober appearance, though this one is focused on her Brad Rigney interpretation, which wasn't around back in 2016.  This is also my first time warping a character--if you can call The Weatherlight a character--so radically. I noticed it kinda looked like a pumkin, so I made it more evidently into one.

 Easter Eggs:  The background is from the old Ice Age Brushland, which I've never forgotten has pumpkins for some reason--and no, we're never taking the easy way out.

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FanArt_ink.SuitMoon

MTGinktober dresses up and flashes Day 2 "Suit Moon," starring Davriel, Soul Broker and Blood Moon!

I knew almost immediately what to draw when I saw the initial sartorial prompt (with regrets we couldn't work Tamiyo in there)--since pretty much no one in the entirety of Magic wears a non-armor suit, if at all.  But rather than just draw Davriel looking suave, I randomly thought it'd be funny to have him reenact the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme. But after looking up reference, I realized the better Leonardo DiCaprio drinking meme would be the smug martini pose, holding what else but a stupid Blood Moon, presumably locking out his opponent in as arrogant a fashion as possible.

 Fun Facts: I don't think I've ever seen a Leonardo DiCaprio movie except for The Departed (so I haven't even seen Django Unchained, just know the meme).  I can only ever think of him as the teenybopper heartthrob from Titanic, which triggered my instinctual apathy whenever he's in a movie, so its tough to take him seriously, though I gather he's a highly respected actor nowadays.  I don't watch many movies, so it's all really beyond me.  Anyway, this marks our first digital-exclusive card appearing in an MTGinktober--what a world.

Easter Eggs:  I went with the 8th Edition Blood Moon since it's the version I always think of (had no idea it was from The Dark until years later, since it has a white border, and people get annoyed by that for some reason, so it felt smugly in character--I imagine Davriel's got some kind of punisher/prison BR deck here...

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FanArt_ink.CrystalFungus

MTGinktober twinkles and molds back over to overtake Day 1 "Crystal Fungus" starring Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer; Slimefoot, the Stowaway; and That Which Was Taken!   I'm actually excited to get back into this, and since we now have an official Magic prompt list, I'll try to mix both the official Inktober list and the Magic one, hence a revolutionary, two-word prompt!
 

 Man, I was seriously worried, and even a little frightened to get back into Inktober--I physically didn't feel ready, but I can't tell you how serene I felt as soon as my G-Pen hit the paper.  It was just so soothing, and the world just fades away--I really feel like I can do this.

 I always feel like I forget how to draw, and some of the hesitance and nervousness remains, but I really feel like I've reconnected with something just hunkering down on this illustration, so I'm optimistic about the rest of the run. 

 Fun Facts: I was blown away at how relatively quickly this illustration went!  Huge credit to this (literally) little notebook I received that I'm drawing in.  It forces me to make smaller, less labor-intensive illustrations, so I can't get carried away with too elaborate of an illustration, meaning less all-consuming hours are likely this month.
Easter Eggs: Of course, there's not a lot of space for a background, but they're hanging out in the cave in Crystal Vein--a card whose art I've always disliked, but felt I had to include to fit more crystalline elements into this illustration.  Let's-a go,

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Fun_InkTestaV

As is my nervous tradition, I did a quick materials test to prepare for Inktober this year, including a file-prep session so I can remember how to upload and post art here.  I thought last year might be my final run, but I decided to give it another try, but man, this test has really spooked me that I'm extremely rusty and will have to spend too many of the 31 pieces getting re-acclimated to traditional art.

I didn't want to do another year because first, for all the brutal effort and physical exhaustion and monstrous withdrawal (I pretty much step back from everything else to focus on these), it felt like it was ultimately fruitless--it's my most successful period every year, with a bunch of people tuning in just for this month, but nothing comes of it, apart from a few new subscribers.

Second, the Inktober brand seemed to have been a bit tarnished by the controversy that emerged last year around the event's founder, so it appeared to be a good time to head out, anyway, plus it was a nice, clean 5-year mark for MTGinktober, specifically.

But I convinced myself to get back into it, as long as I can muster it (as long as my body and materials hold out--and we've certainly been running low; I noticed my eyes straining even on this piece) because I'm such a sucker for habit, and I can't fight the feeling that this will be the year things turn around and something happens.  I recently picked up two quite influential subscribers, so there's a chance really important people will see my stuff if I can just deliver.

Not to mention, Magic itself just unveiled its own official prompts, which may be a small pond for me to big-fish in, since there aren't too many Magic fan artists, let alone ones who are willing to stick with a 31-day run--MTGinktober hasn't really gotten anyone else on board in half a decade, and people randomly joining Inktober with Magic-themed art are either short-lived or non-exclusively Magic-related. 

But what freaks me out, after this simple test drawing of Vicky, is that I notice my hand and arm are frighteningly unsure from all the digital focus--I only draw loose gesture drawings traditionally, but everything else is digital, so I am severely out of practice on fine, traditional drawing.  On top of that, my limited ink supply, which is slowly aging out, feels a little clunky, and the notebook I found and planned to do my run in is feeling fidgety--look at how easily I got several smears...gonna split up some old paper I did my last few pieces on, I guess.

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