MTG: Arcane Signet | Call the Mountain Chocobo (2023)
Two Final Fantasy VII-related illustrations
Arcane Signet
A lot of Magic art gets commissioned by a large cadre of Art Directors, so it is less surprising than in earlier days to get reassigned a card in a very different context or setting, and the AD not even necessarily realizing it. That's fine, as I enjoy the very different takes on the same mechanic, within different worlds.
So it was with Arcane Signet, which I illustrated just a couple years prior for the Lord of the Rings set. Within the world of Final Fantasy, it came with the opportunity to illustrate Cloud as well, which was excellent. A couple of things about that, though: for obvious reasons, it's the more modern design of Cloud Strife vs. the chibi style of the original, which is how I mostly interacted with him when I played the game for the first time only a couple of years before. More importantly, this is not a card about Cloud! The mana draw is coming from the gems on his Buster Sword.
I thought that was a great interpretation. Since in the game you can socket gems into the sword, which give the sword different abilities and such, and these gems are different colors, it translated quite well to the mechanics of a card that generates any color mana in your commander's color identity.
So, I sought to pose Cloud as if he's about to use the Sword, with his face present in the frame but obscured by the light bloom off a brilliant sunset. I was glad they let me get that much of him in-frame, and this made the illustration all the more fun to work on.
Call the Mountain Chocobo
Chocobo appear in the series in a number of redesigns, appearing more or less cartoony or realistic as the game's aesthetic allows. In this case, though I was illustrating a Final Fantasy 7 version, it was intended that it be modernized and freed from the low-polygon version of the original.
Having this creature come bounding from over a rocky range--in-game, it's funny how they can just appear practically anywhere you are--made for a fun and light-hearted image which was in its own way a challenge as I normally traffic in more realistic portrayals, or at least not so cutesy.
Had I not been a fan it might have been a little jarring to be asked to illustrate this, but really it ended up being a good time and also gave me the opportunity to render out a dramatic sky and play with rock textures--two things I always like doing.
Generally I prefer the Chocobo designs in later games like 10 and 11 (and 14 from what I've seen, though I haven't played it yet). But one way or another, any Chocobo is a good Chocobo.
As a Universes Beyond product, I am unable to show process images or preliminary studies.