IOW #4 - MtG: Even the Odds

[sevira]

okay than a sorry from me if it sounded like an attack to you, it wasn't supposed to be an attack or sound like that

but you actually said exactly why I posted my critique

this is about learning and this includes to learn how to stick to a brief, especially when doing illustration

and insisting that what I said is just my opinion or just what I think isn't helping if you ask me

see, its the difference between something like Nonobots composition and that of Jagder I was pointing at

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Squabbling squabbling squabbling.

Sevira's concerns are legitimate. This weeks challenge is to illustrate a card, that card is a spell. How that spell plays out is up to the artist. Since it's an instant rather than a creature spell, the focus should be on the spell. But remember, this spells summon creatures, as do all the other creature spells even though they only depict the creature itself. So this area is kind of shady, but I'll say you should at least show some indication of it being a spell. Again, this is an instant spell, meaning it can be played fast at any point in the game, it is used to counter your enemies attacks and react to surprises. Try to get that point across.


Regarding the soldier armor, I agree with you that it should be simple since these are soldiers, not knights. But this is not a point Wizards of the Coast enforce. Yes, the soldiers look less ornate than MtG knights, but they're still garbed pretty heavy. As can be seen on the following cards (which are some of the cards used to represent the soldiers in this spell):

[Revolution77]

@sevira with comments like "for those who are too lazy to search the Internet for how white cards tend to look like" don't be startled that people get the idea that you're coming across like a bit of a jerk. It seems like you're coming off like an MtG elitist of sorts (or Illustration as a whole for that matter). I understand you're stating your opinion and quite possibly your knowledge on the matter, which is great! that's what all this critiquing(and forum-ing?) is for anyway. A building up of each other's talents in friendly competition. Maybe just try and be a little more patient. Inform, don't belittle and treat everyone like they're an idiot for not knowing there's a difference between knights and soldiers or Illustration and Art. It just comes across wrong, whether you meant it or not. And we all know that's hard when dealing with type on a monitor as apposed to face to face. It's probably a simple misunderstanding. cheers.

Everyone's sketches are looking great by the way. Keep up the great work.

[Artfix]

Here is my effort so far. I was doing blues and tried to add a golden light but it looked terrible! So I went back to grey for now. I think this is what I imagined in my head tho so I'm happy with it overall.

I guess I'm hoping to show the bottom of the soldiers to be foggy and ethereal. They are materializing. I hope that is spell-like enough in the end.

Any advice on making it clear these soldiers are not the enemy that killed this poor guy?

EDIT: I think this is pretty clear that these guys are supernatural and considering all the white, how could they be bad guys??

[sevira]

@rev77
don't be startled if I get the idea that you come across like a bit of a jerk for trying to parent (or is it "educate" in this case? not sure but I think you got the point) someone on the Internet

talking straight is not a crime and I am not responsible for what people interpret into my words

@artfix
depending on how you were planning to render the dead soldier some corresponding armor parts like a shoulder plate would do the trick imo, I mean this way it would be 100% clear they are not the enemy

[Revolution77]

some color work


Also I couldn't resist mocking it up on the card to get the feel of it in it's environment.

[Revolution77]

@sevira haha ok. gotcha.

[grenogs]

Just a quick question here, and possibly a stupid one for many, but i myself and probably a few others here know nothing much about mtg. But in a real world situation where time is precious, and one small mistake could make the difference between finishing a job or having it cancelled half way through the rough stages. So instead of wasting valuable time looking through every information about mtg, I would instead ask for certain information from the art director. And since Andrew Sonea has given out this brief, i must therefore concider him my art director. Anyway my question being: When the brief asks for 3 soldiers, do they have to be human soldiers? and if not just human, is there a limit to how they are represented, eg: animal/human hybrids or orc like creatures are aloud but no actual animal creatures.

[Artfix]

revolution I think its great man! You even have the correct style I would say for MTG.

[Dreoilin]

Revolution77: Wow yeah that's awesome! Totally looks like a magic card

I'm not sure I'm on the right track- I don't have anybody dead, I took the "against the ropes" part as just somebody not doing well in battle. Not sure which one of these I like better... maybe I should just start over

[Andrew Sonea]

Just a quick question here, and possibly a stupid one for many, but i myself and probably a few others here know nothing much about mtg. But in a real world situation where time is precious, and one small mistake could make the difference between finishing a job or having it cancelled half way through the rough stages. So instead of wasting valuable time looking through every information about mtg, I would instead ask for certain information from the art director. And since Andrew Sonea has given out this brief, i must therefore concider him my art director. Anyway my question being: When the brief asks for 3 soldiers, do they have to be human soldiers? and if not just human, is there a limit to how they are represented, eg: animal/human hybrids or orc like creatures are aloud but no actual animal creatures.

Yes, please keep it human.

[Dcritelli]

Awesome, I was thinking of trying to figure out how to do this kind of thing as an exercise on my own. Now this gives me a much better idea how. Might try and come up with something.

Also, I think the example of the fallen soldier was meant to be a suggestion of one route you might take. It seemed like a few people took that as part of the brief and I don't think that it is.

[ryansumo]

Also, I think the example of the fallen soldier was meant to be a suggestion of one route you might take. It seemed like a few people took that as part of the brief and I don't think that it is.

Yeah I thought I'd bring that up too.

Also, with regards to sevira's comments i think that because (Ia'm assuming) English isn't his/her native language there's a little difficulty in reading the emotions he/she (this is getting ridiculous) is trying to put across. He/she has only been helpful to me in CHoW though I've chosen to take/ignore his/her (lol) advice as I saw fit, and I encourage you all to do likewise.

Great work so far, I SO want to do this but there's an artorder challenge I want to try out as well that ends on the same day and I only have so many hours in the day.

[Artfix]

Also, I think the example of the fallen soldier was meant to be a suggestion of one route you might take. It seemed like a few people took that as part of the brief and I don't think that it is.

Wow I totally thought the fallen soldier was required. Geez that changes everything. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Artfix]

Am I the only one who jumped on the "OH Hell YES!" train seeing this thread?
Drawing for MtG is one of my life goals, this is second best. 'A' Lets get this stuff ooonn.

Hell yeah man. I'm all over this too. I was thinking about copying Lyno's thread which you can find here and maybe you've seen it. http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225885

He is doing a great job. I thought I might try to get inspired by him and do something similar. Maybe this could be a start of doing a series of Spell cards. Maybe we could share the Spell card series thread too, whaddya think? Anyone else interested in that?

[AndrewRitchie]

Here is my concept sketch.

[ryansumo]

Hell yeah man. I'm all over this too. I was thinking about copying Lyno's thread which you can find here and maybe you've seen it. http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225885

He is doing a great job. I thought I might try to get inspired by him and do something similar. Maybe this could be a start of doing a series of Spell cards. Maybe we could share the Spell card series thread too, whaddya think? Anyone else interested in that?

Lordy, Lyno makes me feel like I should do more thumbnails! btw I'd love to jump in on that Spell card thread.

I actually made more thumbnails than this image would entail, but didn't want to waste the space here posting everything. I think this has a pretty good composition overall, wiht some nice framing for the central character who is summoning these guardians. I've specifically tried to make them face in slightly different directions to imply being surrounded by enemies. Let me know what you guys think!

[Nonobot]

Hell yeah man. I'm all over this too. I was thinking about copying Lyno's thread which you can find here and maybe you've seen it. http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225885

He is doing a great job. I thought I might try to get inspired by him and do something similar. Maybe this could be a start of doing a series of Spell cards. Maybe we could share the Spell card series thread too, whaddya think? Anyone else interested in that?

Artfix: Yeah i checked his stuff out, I felt stupid for not thinking of what hes doing before. Im definatly up for some more MtG styled illusts, lets get this one done nicely first though. Perhaps set up a sketchbook group, or mentor thread, that'd be cool.

Dcritelli: Yeah youre right, but thinking of it in a real situation, you probably would follow what youre given, or do some thumbs of your take on it, before expanding onto other methods of illustrating the scene. Well this is how I gathered it from some of the art articals on the MtG main site, hey have a pretty tight style guide, to keep each artist roughly in line. But you're right, as this isnt an achual job, we should be free to change forms and get some crazy stuff down, but sticking to the breif is in most cases the safest option. Its what thumbs are fooorrr.

[grenogs]

Also, I think the example of the fallen soldier was meant to be a suggestion of one route you might take. It seemed like a few people took that as part of the brief and I don't think that it is.

Personally i would have tried to steer away from this idea, simply being a fallen soldier is a dead soldier, what use are reinforcements if your already dead. If anything the scenario looks more like a revenge situation, which again is not much use, unless your then able to play a resurrection card which would then bring you back to life afterwards. But then again, having very little knowledge of the world of mtg, what do i know, lol

[Gadbury]

Personally i would have tried to steer away from this idea, simply being a fallen soldier is a dead soldier, what use are reinforcements if your already dead. If anything the scenario looks more like a revenge situation, which again is not much use, unless your then able to play a resurrection card which would then bring you back to life afterwards. But then again, having very little knowledge of the world of mtg, what do i know, lol

This is what I've been thinking - Its hard to show that the solider needs help rather than is face down in the dirt which just suggests he's had it. I thought we had to include him too.

This is my rough start so far - I'll probably change the wounded soldier to a kneeling and worn out pose rather than dead. Seems quite similar to Artfix's thoughts with the smoke and stuff - Sorry about that, I only read the first page before doing this.

[Artfix]

Personally i would have tried to steer away from this idea, simply being a fallen soldier is a dead soldier, what use are reinforcements if your already dead. If anything the scenario looks more like a revenge situation, which again is not much use, unless your then able to play a resurrection card which would then bring you back to life afterwards. But then again, having very little knowledge of the world of mtg, what do i know, lol

Hey I just thought I could clarify this for you. In MTG, you don't play any kind of hero or require that anyone stay alive. Your goal is to defeat your opponent while losing as many soldiers/creatures as you have to. So when one soldier dies, and 3 come to take his place, that is a very good card!

gadbury No worries on the smoke! Do it! Looks promising. And a lot of these will have similar ideas so its not even worth worrying about.

[grenogs]

Thanks Artfix, i'll trust your knowledge on this one, the brief now looks a little more open ended i guess, though tactically it sounds very similar to how the battle of the somme was fought, lol.

Gadbury i don't think it would be to hard to show him needing help, just by making your character outnumbered would quite easily work, and by playing around with camera angles and colours could change the whole image. One such idea, though basic, is like so. btw, no crits please i don't plan to use it

[samming]

I don't really have a method for these kinds of things yet
But here's a beginning sketch

[Dcritelli]

Here's a sketch/wip, whatever. Slightly different take I think. Hopefully I can make it work. White cards have loads of angels and angelic themes. Or they did when I was playing. Thought this would make a cool image even if it's a bit cliched. CC's always welcome.

[Artfix]

Here's a sketch/wip, whatever. Slightly different take I think. Hopefully I can make it work. White cards have loads of angels and angelic themes. Or they did when I was playing. Thought this would make a cool image even if it's a bit cliched. CC's always welcome.

Yeah it does. In fact, there is a card which calls down 3 angels to fight for you instead of soldiers.

Be careful this front guy doesn't end up too much like archangel from in his original Xmen costume lol. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...Q5Eq9JkvNA&t=1

[jpacer]

Some really cool stuff in here. i think it's pretty neat how even though this topic is much more specific that the last 3, everyone's work is still very different.

Anyway, here's the one thumbnail I did that I kinda liked:

[Artfix]

jpacer I like it too. I don't think you would be allowed to poll if you don't use the correct dimensions tho. It needs to fit on the MTG card which would be 2"x1.5".

Andrew sonea Can you share where you got the information regarding the description that the original artist was given? What I mean is, would I be able to find more such descriptions so that I could duplicate this project with another MTG card? Thanks

Update for mine. I've never gone this far without at least introducing underlying colors but the value pattern needed to read so well that I just had to do one thing at a time. I will probly make it monochromatic in the end--probly blue or gold.

[Pr0x-E]

Want to try my hand at this challenge, not done an IoW before or anything remotely themed like this. So it's a good challenge

Some really awesome work so far, and thanks to the heated discussion i am also a little clearer on reading briefs and the information supplied (along with some google machine searching) has helped me understand the MtG stuff.

I might need to do some more thumbnails, but of the several i did these 5 made the cut, some of the other thumbs are pretty similar just different angles / points of view.

I was also thinking of doing some kind of angels descending done (similar to the bottom left thumb) but was worried it was a little off the brief.

[Gadbury]

Man, can't seem to get going on this one. Spent too long on it already and its still not looking how I want it - Going for more of a night time orange/blue colour scheme now I think

[Gadbury]

Artfix - Loving the composition, that's gonna look really cool

grenogs - Thanks for the quick sketch, I can see that could make a really interesting image