MTG: Trip Noose (2007)
Whittling an idea down
One of my illustrations for Shadowmoor was simply titled, “Trip Noose.” The description for the illustration, originally titled, “Noose Trap,” suggested I show the noose trap yanking some elf off the ground as he’s caught in it. I didn’t love the idea, and played with it a bit. Elves in Shadowmoor are lanky, spindly, and have thorny horns--a nice variation on the usual theme. As for the noose trap, it was ambiguous from the description whether this was a trap that one is caught in by stepping in it, or a more traditional noose that would catch you about the neck. I went for the latter at first.
In the end, I decided I liked the scene portrayed a few moments after the character has been yanked up, when he’s just there hanging, grimly. I thought it’d make an ominous image, and went about sketching it out.
