Ivorytusk Fortress

Ivorytusk Fortress
14" x 18", oils on mdf
©Wizards of the Coast

Here's a bit on the process that Ivorytusk Fortress went through from thumbnail to final.  For some pieces I know right away what I'd like to do. For others, which is most of the time, the image must go through many incarnations before I'm happy with it. 

Small thumbnail sketches, sometimes pages of them, are done. Promising ones are imported into photoshop for further development. I like to think about value and color as early as possible, and photoshop allows me to do that rather easily. 

A page from my sketchbook. Not pretty. 

Various thumbnails, developed further and with values and color added

When I arrive at a rough I like, I usually go back to pencil and paper to really nail the composition down, adding information from reference, and working on the details. With everything worked out, the painting of the final image goes a lot smoother. 

The final drawing

The image as it appears on the card, in foil. 

In the Forest Under Night

In the Forest Under Night
oil on panel, 30"x48"
©Matthew Stewart

 "A wandering Elf, a thrall escaped, whom Beleg met and comforted,' said Gwindor. 'Yet once I was Gwindor son of Guilin, a lord of Nargothrond, until I went to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and was enslaved in Angband.'"

J.R.R. Tolkien

Of Turin Turambar, The Silmarillion

In the Forest Under Night is a scene from the tale by J.R.R. Tolkien that appears in both The Silmarillion and in a longer form in The Children of Hurin. Gwindor is a Noldor Elf lord captured in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, also known as "The Battle of Unnumbered Tears". At this catastrophic defeat, the kingdoms of the Noldor elves were smashed by Morgoth. As one of the Noldor, skilled in mining and smithing, Gwindor was kept alive as a slave. He escaped, however, into the forest Taur-nu-Fuin, which in the elvish language means "great forest under night". He has lost a hand in his escape, and carries with him a Feanorian lamp in the other. It is light of this lamp that Beleg, in pursuit of the captured Turin, sees and finds Gwindor. You can read the story and decide for yourself if Gwindor would have been better off left alone.

I'll have both this painting and the drawing seen below, along with many other pieces on display next week at Illuxcon 7 at the Allentown Art Museum. The show runs from Wednesday, Sept 17 to Sunday, Septemebr 21st.

In the Forest under Night
preliminary drawing for the painting
red pencil on paper,  21" x 33"
©Matthew Stewart

Master of Predicaments

 Master of Predicaments

12" x16" , oil , Photoshop.

©Wizards of the Coast

Master of Predicaments was done for the new M15 core set for Magic the Gathering. The art description called for a cruel looking sphinx, who enjoys forcing those unfortunate to come across him to choose their doom behind the doors. Originally I was asked to paint three doors, but changes in the card design while I was painting the illustration made only two doors necessary.  I try to make the changes in oils when I can, but with schedule constraints, along with the fact that the changes were architectural (lots of straight, evenly spaced edges, along with a shiny floor that would also have to be repainted too), doing the changes digitally made a lot more sense. 

Master of Predicaments (preliminary drawing)
8.5" x 11", pencil on paper
©Wizards of the Coast

I liked the slender doors with the vertical orb windows in the sketch.  I was afraid, however, that they would get lost when the image is reduced to card size. Though its a creature card, the background doors had to be very clear for the illustration to work. 

 Master of Predicaments

12" x16" , oil on paper mounted to board

©Wizards of the Coast

Power Play

Marchesa Enthroned aka. Power Play
oil on board, 16" x 24"
©Wizards of the Coast

Here's the second painting of Marchesa, The Black Rose I created for Magic's new Conspiracy set.  I really enjoy painting these vertical full format cards. It's a nice change from the usual horizontal format, and being that the text box is covering the bottom half, it allowed me to indulge myself in painting all the the marble throne details without having to put anything too important in the area.

Preliminary drawing for Marchesa Enthroned
Red Brown pencil and white chalk on toned Canson paper, 14.75" x 22 image area
©Wizards of the Coast

Marchesa, The Black Rose

Marchesa, the Black Rose
Oil on paper mounted to board, 12" x 16"
©Wizards of the Coast

 Marchesa, The Black Rose, for the new Conspiracy set for Magic. Our femme fatale has just eliminated a mark through the use of a poisonous pin hidden in one of her rings. She also carries deadly needles in her hair. I enjoyed painting all the lush costume details and Italian renaissance/baroque feel that characterizes this set. 

I got to paint this character twice, the other piece being on the card Power Play, which was just spoiled last night, but I'll get into that one in an upcoming post. 

Preliminary drawing for Marchesa, The Black Rose
graphite and white chalk on toned paper, image area 9.5" x13"
©Wizards of the Coast

Sage of Hours on Ebay!

The original oil painting Sage of Hours is up for auction on Ebay. Click here to see the auction. Happy bidding!

Cyclops of Eternal Furies

Cyclops of Eternal Furies
Oil/Digital
©Wizards of the Coast

In Theros, certain inhabitants are living enchantments, creations of the gods. When we see these creatures, where shadows would normally be, we see through to the plane of Nyx, which is the home of the gods.  Unfortunately for me when I painted it early on in the set, I didn't quite understand the effect. As you can see below in the oil painting, I thought all shadows in each illustration would show the effect. Pressed for time, and not especially adept at painting star fields in oils, I chose to continue the painting in Photoshop. 

  

Cyclops of Eternal Fury (unfinished)
oils on paper mounted to mdf, 12" x 16"
©Wizards of the Coast

Sage of Hours

Sage of Hours
12" x 16" oil on paper mounted to board
©Wizards of the Coast

A new one for new "Journey to Nyx" set for Magic: The Gathering. The inspiration for this piece came from the working title in the art description, "Clock Architect".  I was asked to paint a human scholar standing proudly beside an antikythera mechanism, an ancient analog computer used to predict the positions and phases of planets, moons, stars. The man was to be within a "mystical structure of stone tablets and glowing air-writings " It was to have a "mysteries of time" mood. The word "architect", however, immediately implanted in my mind the idea that the mechanism was massive, with huge turning gears and chains, powered by waterwheels. Less mystical, more mechanical. Not sure that my interpretation would fly, I did two sketches. One with a more accurately sized antikythera mechanism and a more wizard like human and another other with my giant machine idea. I was pleased they went with the latter.

Clock Architect #1
pencil on paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Clock Architect #2
pencil on paper, 8 1/2" x 11"

Original Art for Tromokratis on Ebay!

The original oil painting for Tromokratis is up for auction on Ebay. Happy Bidding!!

Tromokratis

 Tromokratis

oil on paper mounted to board, 12" x 16"

©Wizards of the Coast

Tromokratis is my contribution for the upcoming Born of the Gods expansion set for Magic: The Gathering.  It's a Theros version of the mythological Kraken, an immense monster that lurks in the depths of the ocean only to emerge and squash cities. Though there are other Kraken (Krakens?) in the set, this one is supposed to be a singular and legendary character. There was a longer design process on this one than what is normal for me. I guess that's par for the course when doing "important" cards. 

My initial sketch. The creative team at Wizards thought it was a bit too much like the other Kraken already depicted in the set.  Tromokratis had to be different. Before proceeding to the second version, they asked if I could submit some quick concepts. Just a couple different designs that they could choose from. So went to my sketchbook and played around with some ideas. 

                                      

The first sketch was kind of a cross between a lobster and a scorpion. Adding in other influences such as snapping turtles, goblin sharks, and squids varied the design a bit more, giving it what I felt was a look all its own.