Unearthed (2017)
An illustration unearthed
When I got reached out to by Art Director Sandra Everingham in late 2017 to do a piece for Valve’s digital card game Artifact, I was happy to help. My history with Sandra (herself an O.G. Magic artist from the earliest sets) goes back to my own beginnings as she Art Directed me on my first Magic set, Ice Age. Our paths crossed a couple of times over the years but it had been awhile when the Artifact project came along.
I was not terribly up on the video game world of DOTA 2, which the game was taking its setting from, but style guides and some prior commissioned works served as examples, as I don’t think my work was to be in the initial launch.
Though I was going to work digitally here, I began with a black and white traditional study. This has often helped my digital work, even as my development with digital tools has grown over the years. I have the art description here as: Lycan looks through the rubble of a noble house with the banner of Slom behind him. He has retrieved a mysterious lacquered box.
