FanArt_ink.Wild

MTGinktober thrashes madly into Day 16, "Wild," starring Domri Rade and Vivien Reid!

I was dreading drawing Vivien, but she actually ended up not being as grating or difficult as I feared. But I wanted to pick two law-apathetic planeswalkers for this, and riotous Domri and wilds-repping Vivien fit the bill. I have long since muted voices on Arena, but her constant blabbing about the wilds is burned into my eardrums, so that's the main reason I drafted her.

Fun Facts: This might be the first piece I've ever done where no character is especially based on any specific card--both are blends of their various depictions, though I suppose Domri here leans more on his OG card--such a cool Tyler Jacobson art. This is Domri's third MTGinktober appearance, love drawing this dude, but his revamped version definitely looks (and SOUNDS!) more annoying. Don't get me started on his brain-bulleting voice on Arena. This woulda been Vivien's second apperance, she was slated to star in last year's "Stretch" before I threw in the towel.

Easter Eggs: The boars are based on the classic Invader Zim piggy model, and you'll note there are 30-50 of these feral fools. The background is my favorite Evolving Wilds, which turns out to be the first printing, I just found out (I hate the blind allegiance and nostalgia for first printings' art).

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FanArt_ink.Fall

MTGinktober descends upon Day 28, "Fall," starring Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief; Domri Rade; and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts all of whom be posing and zhushing and blue-steeling up tha joint!

Ok, this piece came about just because I wanted to dress Magic characters in fall fashions, which is easily among my top four kinds of seasonal fashions. We've crossplayed a character before, when we had Nahiri dressed as Toph from Avatar, but this time our mission was clear--this time, we're modern-cladding them.

Fun Facts: I scoured my bookmarks' fall fashion tag for, my gosh, dozens and dozens of outfits, and my reference document, which I prepare as research for each piece, was overflowing with costume ideas, last count was 37 candidate costumes. Sadly, only three could make the cut, and deez were dem. Super, super hard to trim down the options to just these, and it felt much like struggling to cut that 24th or 61st card, times 34...!

Easter Eggs: I carved my signature into the pumpkin, how about that! Also, Drana has a black mana accessory on her hair, Domri has the Gruul symbol on his beanie, and Teysa has an Orzhova brand sweater under her fabulously fuzzy jacket.

This one was quite a treat to do, and I hope to do this trick again some time with some of the other outfits we had to cut. I definitely see Domri and Teysa as little fashionistas...wonder who else we can deck out...

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FanArt_ink.Rip

  MTGinktober shreds up Day 23, "Rip," starring Domri Rade!

  I had a pretty good idea of what to draw here, but knew it was crucial to keep it relatively simple since I was also scheduled to pull a full day of virtual phonebanking, so I'd be sapped of energy more than usual, and only had about an hour or so to draw and another to ink.  The idea was to incorporate a pun of a "ripped" dead character--Domri's fourth appearance, by the way-- ripping pictures of other dead characters--rip.  They all died in War of the Spark, coincidentally.
 

 Fun Facts: With this piece, we are now onto completely new supplies--we replaced our nib here, and switched to new ink here, and are now using a "new" old book of Bristol board (rather than our completely filled sketchbook, spanning back to 2015!), so our dimensions will be a bit different going forward--I'm actually dividing each Bristol page roughly in half, so they will even be a little further off among themselves. The tools are all working well together, though this paper seems to eat ink rapidly, which is mildly concerning, but I'm confident we can last the rest of the month.

 Easter Eggs: The other characters getting memorialized here are actually two of my least favorite designs, the caveman Gideon, and the 90s romance novel coverboy and beaten deadhorse Dack Fayden.  Meanwhile I used my trusty favorite (OG) Domri Rade iteration, but his JP hairdo.
 
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FanArt_ink.Drooling

MTGinktober drips into Day 6, "Drooling," starring Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief getting her drool on (her chin and finger).

This one kinda bummed me out not because I actually kinda dislike the cliche of how Vampires are always so ungracefully drenched in blood, but because it's so relatively simple. However, it did accomplish two things: one, it was a lot of contrast with minimal hatching, and two, it was a considerable change of pace. Since I'm running low on ink this year, I have used this--as well as the fact that I'm desperate to discover what it means to simplify--as motivation to use more contrast-heavy, less hatch-crutched compositions. And while I'd prefer to make full illustrations for each image, it was nice to switch it up and do one clear shot of a character.

The benefit of going with Drana's original card is that she has a pretty simple costume and a lot of large black portions, from her hair to her armor, so that meant we could just go to town with this year's leading contender for supporting cast MVP, this one brushpen that I picked up on a frisky whim at the mall some time ago.

Fun Facts: This illustration marks Drana's second MTGinktober appearance, though her first was an ensemble performance. And speaking of Domri--well, if this piece seems minimalistic, that's because I have been so exhausted lately so I didn't think to set my alarm, after which I inadvertently slept most of the day away--just conked out--so I had to scramble to research and compose an illustration in just a couple hours. Originally, super early in the morning before I went to sleep, I had done an early concept thumb of Chandra and likely Domri drooling at a campfire barbeque--Domri would be drooling over the meat, Chandra over the fire. That drawing just wasn't working out so I abandoned it for just a regular old glamor shot (extra painful because I had budgeted today for a "prominent character" piece--Chandra). Only up until the last minute did we cast Drana since she seemed like the most fitting Vampire for this pose, and again, she had a super simple costume.

Easter Eggs: None really, again this one was quite to-the-point, no time for clever compositions. I suppose the inner ring in the eye is a technique I picked up somewhere back in the day as a simple way to add intrigue to eyes.

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FanArt_ink.Grungy

MTGinktober shoegazes at Day 16, "Grungy," starring Domri Rade; Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief; and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts!

I knew I had to throw it back to our fashion crew with this one since it's so applicable to an aesthetic I'm forever a fan of--sorry Gisa, this was also a great prompt for you, but I know you'll get a chance to shine this year eventually.  These guys have all had several newer cards, but their original appearances look the coolest to me, so we're keeping the OGs.

Fun Facts:  This is this trio's third MTGinktober appearance together, but individually, it's Domri's sixth spot, it is Drana's fourth, and it's Teysa's third--the only one who hasn't solo'd or anchored a piece, yet.  And while I'm not actually a fan of grunge music per se, a lot of bands I love like them, and I love rock music in general, so I was eager to draw its heyday fashion.

Easter Eggs:  As is tradition with these pieces, we carve our name into Domri's gently tossed pumpkin. His hat has the Gruul logo, of course, but his shirt is a reference to the grungiest music I enjoy, which is merely grunge-adjacent, Jimmy Eat World's Static Prevails album, which you can see was the original reference, but I deemed it not grunge enough.  And then I always reference the old background--literally, I had the two prior pieces up while drawing to make sure I kept the composition on-theme.

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FanArt_ink.Drip

MTGinktober styles into Day 7, "Drip," starring Domri Rade; Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief; and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts!

I always look forward to these fashion-centric prompts, and this was an easy decision--to use the slang for drip rather than an actual water-themed piece, though in that case I mighta gone with Emry.  The only tough part was deciding on outfits, and then I was on the fence about changing it up by using water-themed characters or flashing back to these three.  They just need to have easily readable heads since I couldn't rely on their outfits to sell the characters, which is a bit of a shame for Magic character design.

Fun Facts:  Why these three?  Well, this is a sequel to a piece from 2017!  So while this is personal favorite PW Domri's sixth MTGinktober appearance, it's Drana's third rodeo, and only Teysa's second, but I would definitely like to draw her in her own illustration some time.

Easter Eggs:  The composition is from the 2017 "Fall" piece, down to tossing the signature-etched pumpkin and Domri repping the Gruul logo on his headwear.  I added the Supreme logo spoof, as I understand that it's a high-end fashion goof. 

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Fun_DomriNation

Oh, man, what a deal. Right now at 7-11, if you buy two bread items, they give you a free Evangelion/Godzilla notebook. Collect all four! I know I did!

[Not a sponsored post, I just like getting a free sketchbook every time I 7-11 it up...currently swimming in sketchbooks. Granted you have to be ok with the watermark and ruled lines, but I use these just for loose practice sketches anyway...minus these more involved Copic pieces.]

Anyway, this was the last page of my first "sketchbook," Domri Rade, the only MTG planeswalker I have any interest in as a character. I mean I read his lore stories and they weren't that gripping, but more just as a concept I find it interesting that a kid is a planeswalker. This betrays my bias against stories about adults, I guess, which I've discussed already, but basically, I can't wrap my head around adults not having everything already figured out, so who cares what their problems are?

On the art side, between you and me, I don't know why they give a certain artist all the planeswalkers, it seems quite unfair, even just on a numbers level, but also...well, I would not say his is the look to get. Tyler Jacobson, however just smashes it, regardless of whether or not he has a marquee card, notably see what he did with Domri Rade. I particularly love that orange glow in his ear for some reason. But in any case, other artists seem considerably underutilized.

For instance, Volkan Baga feels a bit wasted on monsters and stuff, especially as he is very much the student of master portrait artist Donato Giancola. And I'm still waiting on the Johannes Voss planeswalker--imagine a PW from the guy who brought you Thalia or the GP Chiba Sakura Angel. Min Yum could also do great if they'd just loosen up on the devotion to human planeswalkers--I can see something sinister-leaning, like the murkiness of Ashiok. Karla Ortiz, by the way, is also notably short in the PW department, though she's certainly killing it on legends. I guess, ultimately, some more diversity on PW artists would be swell.

Oh, and this was a sushi-themed admiral of some kind. Her outfit is sushi, you see...

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FanArt_ink.Dig

MTGinktober excavates Day 24, "Dig," starring Ghoulcaller Gisa!

Always eager to draw Gisa, and this was the perfect prompt for a shovel-wielder.  Particularly pressed for time and energy on this one cuz I just got off another 10-hour virtual phone bank shift (perhaps my last of the cycle--it's super exhausting, but I hope to give it at least a couple more efforts), so I even forgot to snap a photo of the "preliminary inks" phase, which is how the illustration looks like fresh off the basic inks before going back in for touch-ups, so I'm including the preliminary scan I used for our Twitter/Instagram post. 

Fun Facts: This is Gisa's fourth MTGinktober appearance, which I believe ties her for the most appearances with Domri, who is probably my favorite Planeswalker.  Speaking of Domri, I erased the line I drew between his illustration and this one, so they actually overlap a little bit on the left, not sure if I'll cut the Bristol board at some point...

Easte Eggs: Always love hiding my signature in dirt formations, and you can find it in the upper right.

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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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Fun_CollectHungry

Here's another batch of Inktobers for MTGinktober. This one is Vraska, who they say collects victims as statues, so I thought this a good fit for the Jake-Parker-endorsed "collect" theme, rather than something a little more on-the-nose.

So this is sort of her eagerly adding to her collection with one sap frozen mid-charge while the other chump is blocked mid-morph.

Easter Eggs: The guy crying is a ref to Killing Glare.

This one was fun because it just had room for subtle background elements like the mushrooms and vines, plus inking Vraska's outfit was also an exciting mix of improv and planning.

This is a riff on a funny outtake from a past Magic event, where Ben Stark and Tom Martell were on coverage. Ben S. thought he was off-camera so he went in for some Chipotle, but Tom swiftly indicated that they were still live!

The day's theme was "hungry," by the way. I did think about doing something with like Garruk or Domri going Luffy on some meat or something, but that felt too "easy," so although the final piece might be a little too inside, I'm happy I went with the final direction.

I find researching pieces to be pretty fun, and this one involved some nice sleuthing to put together the references. I abandoned an initial draft based strictly on the GIF linked above because it was just too grainy to get any clear detail, so I just winged it a little and moved the camera angle. I finished Tom in that one before realizing that version was going nowhere and besides, using such poor reference is agony.

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Fun_LostRock

This weekend's MTGinktobers yielded Nissa for "Lost". The initial concept of the piece was Nissa frustratedly studying a map, since she seems like she would be the responsible navigator who can't stand getting lost despite her prep and affinity for nature, meanwhile Chandra would be haphazardly/futilely looking around from a tree, possibly Jace scouting out, too.

This is how it looks in its "prep"/"principal photography" mode, right after initial G-Pen inks. I am floored with how versatile it is, even on super fine lines like with the eyes, just need to get comfortable using a ruler with it. I do use my .03 Copic liner to strengthen/hatch the super fine areas, though, but the G-Pen can generally handle just about everything.

I was listening to a Jake Parker interview where he said he used to pencil tightly before ultimately letting his pen handle more of the detail work, and I though, maybe I'm stuck in this detail-obsessed stage...I pencil quite tightly not out of love of detail (though I love detail), I just don't like "guessing" at the inking stage. Inks feel like the performance, pencils are the rehearsal.

No time for this initial background concept, I just went with what I could safely pencil within my deadline, which was a landscape fusing elements from Ghibli and stuff. I knew I would be ok with live-inking finer details here because it's just natural textures and stuff, so less necessity to be exact. Plus, at a certain point, you've done enough of this stuff that you don't have to rely on pencils to texture-coach so strictly.

Next was "Rock," and I knew I wanted to do a planeswalker/rock-band piece. We ultimately ended up just trimming down to good ol' Domri Brown. This one's a good example of a purely live-inked background, though I did rough (then scrap) a similar stagelight concept (just circles and cones of light).

Here's our principal photography. At this point, I knew we were in a pinch: No time to pencil a proper background as initially concepted, and even the abstract stagelight idea would be too time-intensive. So that meant our only option was to live-ink something even more abstract. And of course that entailed using our seldom-used size 1 micron, which all too easily chews paper up into potentially dangerous ink-wads.

Fortunately when I went into town the other day to buy another eraser pencil (for the first time in my life, I finished--didn't lose!--an eraser), I also picked up a white pen in my continuing search for a strong enough white overink. This Zerba Kestick tends to stutter and flat-out-stop a little too much, but it was quite excellent when it did work. I'm happy to continue working with it, though it does have a super strong scent... As for the pencils, as you can see, we were going to have a little band scene, but not enough time for all that jazz.

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