Sketch Gallery
Rock on
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Eventually, after doing enough of these artist proof commissions, some themes begin to emerge.
One of them is animals playing instruments. In both cases, I do find the instruments appropriate to the animal. Bears tend to not have sudden or spastic movements, and their size also makes a cello feel right for them.
Cats I can see shredding and noodling long solos while they yowl and scream in 80s hair band vocals.
A quick explanation for the uninitated; alters are a form of commission where a player asks you to literally alter the art on the front of a playing card. These are tiny, and depending on the size of the figures, the details are even tinier. I have on occasion humored such requests though I haven’t done alters regularly in awhile because it is just a lot of work to negotiate the price point versus an entire artist proof card back.
These have usually been done at events as well, so I haven’t been able to give them as much care and attention as artist proof drawings.
But I have been asked to make characters rock on Magic cards as well:
I don’t really have much else to say about these. Alters in particular end up being some of the most ridiculous of things that I put brush or pen to, in a career with more than its share of ridiculous! There are however a lot of people who enjoy alters (which can end up being almost entire card-front repaints with new imagery, just enough of the card text left to make it playable), and I’ve considered doing them again here and there. We’ll see!