FanArt_ink.Moon(II)Skeleton

MTGinktober rises and rises again to Day 18, "Moon (II) Skeleton," starring Gutterbones and Kami of the Crescent Moon!

Our second shot at Moon, and I'm a sucker for self-destruction.  I could have done a Sailor Moon spoof with Liliana and various skeletons clawing at her, but no, I have to do an Abbott and Costello riff.  I dunno.  I guess I hate dumbing stuff down for vast appeal...but then again, why am I participating in Inktober if not to entertain people?  I don't see this month as self-improvement, more as an annual test of my abilities and knowledge, so it's not something deeply personal, I do this to entertain others, so why self-sabotage? 

Fun Facts:  I never thought I'd draw these two creatures, as I don't enjoy drawing ugly/freaky characters, certainly not anything with horns, but the fat-guy/skinny-guy comedy duo lined up perfectly with these prompt words, so these two odd bedfellows make their MTGinktober debut reenacting Who's on First.  I did initially want to go with Laurel and Hardy, who had funnier poses, but I've always been a bigger fan of Abbott and Costello and this routine in particular, and the costumes clinched it.

Easter Eggs:  The mountain design in the background comes from the Secret Lair version of KCM.  The St. Louis Wolves twist references St. Traft and Innistrad's wolf/werewolf population.  The bat says "Ludevic Slugger," like Louisville Sluggers.

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FanArt_ink.CollideTime

MTGinktober jams history into Day 17, "Collide Time," starring Hanna, Ship's Navigator and Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero!

I knew I wanted to reference My Chemical Romance with this one from the word "Collide" and making this such a throw-back all around, both Magic-wise and musically, would tie it into the temporal theme.  But this was absolutely such a joy to do, I loved mimicking Gerard Way's chunky style using just my ink set, and it felt like a little love letter to a band that I've held dear for many, many years, and to an artist I admire so much. 

Fun Facts: Oddly enough, Gerrard has only ever appeared as a part of musical references, the last one with Gorillaz.  Hanna's also only ever appeared with an external reference, too, that one being One Piece.  I'm committed to keeping these black and white, otherwise I would splashed in some red marker for the blood, but for the final, I chickened out and just left the background splatter.  I also try to limit digital editing, but the gag was too good not to help out a little, by clearing up some of the tighter lettering spots.

Easter Eggs: A bunch of neat ones--the fake band here is Mercadian Romance, since it looks and sounds like My Chemical Romance (though in retrospect, I shoulda combined the R of both words), and then the album name goes from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge to Three Cheers for Squee's Revenge, referencing another Weatherlight member (initially, I was thinking Three Cheers for Sweet Rofellos).  Finally, the infamous Parental Advisory warning label gets a Planeswalker treatment.

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FanArt_ink.CompassCurse

 MTGinktober navigates and besmirches Day 16, "Compass Curse," starring Kari Zev, Skyship Raider and Thaumatic Compass!

 A little tricky, but I landed on a character surrounded by the various cursed items in Magic.  I briefly considered knocking out a long-standing request I've had for Arvad the Cursed, but I frankly don't want to draw tough guys right now.  Anyway, this new nib I'm using hasn't been terribly cooperative, but I wonder if it's just cuz my ink is chunky with age, making ink flow tougher--getting super fine details is harder with this temperamental nib.  I hate that I have to spell everything out in the pencils, otherwise I lose track of what to do at inks...see the ropes, for instance.

 Fun Facts: This is Kari Zev's second MTGinktober appearance, the first of which I was really excited about, but it is one of my worst performing pieces of all time, a result which has always disappointed me.  I definitely feel like I blew it on this piece, too...I just couldn't figure out an expression, but at least the right hand looked nice. 

 Easter Eggs: The Unluckiest Planeswalker makes his debut via Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor's doll, and strewn about are Cursed Mirror, Cursed Scroll, and Cursed Totem.

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FanArt_ink.HelmetWerewolf

MTGinktober armors up and wolfs down Day 15, "Helmet Werewolf," starring Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha!

This was one that coulda gone a couple directions, first of which was going to be Arlinn and Thalia hanging out in a casual moment.  Ultimately I felt it was too much of a cheat to draw a human-form werewolf, so then it became a task of finding a werewolf that looked distinct enough.  Ulrich made the cut, and then we just found a cool helmet for soldier Thalia, who I based on Algenpflegger's Secret Lair revamps.

Fun Facts: This is only Thalia's second MTGinktober appearance, surprisingly enough, and not surprisingly this is Ulrich's first, as I don't enjoy drawing beefy lads.  This is also our first time busting out the white ink this year, which I have always found really difficult to work with (it's been really gummy since day one, and even worse so now, plus it's really weak on black, anyway--I splotched some in the upper left corner and you can barely tell after a simple tissue dab.

 Easter Eggs: As is tradition, with every Algenphanart, we include the swooshy B (ß), this one at left in the grass near Ulrich's right hand.  The helmet is Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician's, whose proper owner has made a couple appearances off the the strength of that very helmet design.

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FanArt_ink.TickCoven

  MTGinktober counts down and gathers collectively into Day 14, "Tick Coven," starring Sigarda, Champion of Light and Kwain, Itinerant Meddler!

Back to the tricky prompts, but while I was considering using Kwain as a Rabbit analog to a Winnie the Pooh spoof for Stuck, we finally have a home for him here. 

Fun Facts: These two were just printed this year, this Sigarda being only weeks old.  More importantly, this is the first piece with scary splotches--on the wing and thankfully only below the face, blobs of ink plooped out, so we ended up needing to use heavier blacks to mask those...I've been using a new nib since Sour, and it's been rougher than I was hoping for--there was even a paper tear, with a layer of paper lifting a bit off the page just near Kwain's chin on the clock, something that's never happened before.  I wonder if it's the paper or the ink that's not cooperating; it's felt grindy. 

Easter Eggs: One of the clocks I studied for reference said Quartz, so I just changed it to Quandrix.

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FanArt_ink.RoofThirteen

MTGinktober hits the ceiling and lucks out into Day 13, "Roof Thirteen," starring Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh; Domri, Anarch of Bolas; and Nissa, Vastwood Seer! 

This was finally a relatively easy one--I knew I wanted to draw the younger planeswalkers hanging out on a rooftop, as that's a trope of being a youth, at least in Japanese culture.  The only tough part was having the energy to really do the concept justice, as it involved a lot of detail work, particularly on the architecture.  Ultimately I didn't have time to use a ruler, but hopefully it worked out.  

Fun Facts: Overall, this is Chandra's seventh(!) MTGinktober illustration, but more specifically, it's Dora-chan's third jam, which surely must be a record.  Surprisingly, Nissa has only appeared twice before, though never as her young version before.  Interestingly, Nissa's MTGinktober debut was right after Domri's, who is a personal favorite of mine, and has previously appeared four times. 

Easter Eggs: The background is Rooftop Storm, though no storm, just the buildings.

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FanArt_ink.StuckFestival

MTGinktober waits and rocks Day 12 "Stuck Festival," starring Gideon, Champion of Justice and Xenagos, the Reveler!

This was yet another tricky one, and the close, second-place concept was like a math-oriented quiz-bowl sorta set up hosted by a nerdier character with Garruk being stuck on the problem, while the other people were acing it.  But since we don't have a ton of real estate to draw on (and we're again pressed for time), we went with a simple two-character set-up here of being stuck in line for a festival.

Fun Facts:  I hate Gideon, but only for reasons that he looks so gross, and every depiction of him seems to be differing and conflicting with all the others.  In any case, this is Gideon's first proper MTGinktober appearance, after a guest-starring role last year.  

 Easter Eggs:  While I will never embrace or endorse D&D in Magic by drawing anything from AFR, I went with Lolth over Liliana for the Lilith Fair reference. because it just sounded so much closer and goofier, and ultimately stupider.

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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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