MTG: Grasp of Fate | Besieged Viking Village (2022)
Time to watch some Doctor Who!
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Grasp of Fate
This was among the first cards I did for this set. I'll admit, when I was asked to participate on this Universes Beyond set, I was a little reticent. I had not ever watched a single episode of Doctor Who! While Wizards of the Coast doesn't require it, it always helps to be familiar, even excited for a Universes Beyond project. So the first thing I did was go and watch some episodes, especially as they related to the characters and scenes I was going to be portraying.
I researched this scene to find out where I could find it (since I was asked to create an artistic rendition of precisely this moment). And I quickly learned that it was one of the most beloved episodes among fans. And, having no prior investment in these characters, I could absolutely see why this was a favorite moment. Of course, this ramped up the sense of responsibility to do right by it!
One of the trickier things in illustration is trying to draw a person from an angle you can't reference. Often, for licensed art, illustrators might choose to draw a character with their head in an angle they can directly reference from a still frame or promo photo or whatever. Often, the actors get approval rights on their portrayals--I don't know if that was the case here, but it's cool to think it might've been so, that the actors got to check this artwork out. Between the scene and the characters, this ended up being my favorite of my Doctor Who illustrations. That it's a reprint of a card that sees some play is also great.
Besieged Viking Village
This illustration is a different story. Printed oversized as a Planechase format card, which...you know, I do play casual Magic, but I never really learned what that format was about! I just know they are always locations, are printed larger than usual, have different card backs, and are horizontal. This is my first illustration in the format, and once again I went and watched the episode to see what it was about.
This one was trickier. The village is never fully shown as I've done, so I had to piece it together from scene to scene to create a map, and then, with the viewer in the hills surrounding the village, try to extrapolate the layout of the village relative to the bay. These are not things they teach you to do in Art School! It's also such a different kind of picture making from Grasp of Fate, and goes to show a small taste of how illustration can be quite the creative challenge. When making art for oneself, you can constrain your subject matter to the things you like best, or are good at, and avoid getting out of your comfort zone. Illustration frequently places you outside your comfort zone! Often you are confronted with challenges you may rarely, if ever, encounter again. But over time it can make you very versatile, and your comfort zone extends accordingly.
The nice thing here is being able to show the card outside its frame, since it was meant to have fairly large portions run screened under text boxes and such. While I did sketch it out within the intended card frame, initially, to account for these elements, I proceeded from there to work without it. As such, when I saw it printed it was a little sad to see a lot of foreground detail lost, even though I'd planned for it!
As a Universes Beyond product, I am unable to show process images or preliminary studies.