The version I posted first is missing the drop shadow from the string. Not a huge difference, but worth having the correct version on here. Attached it with this post, but the new version is also shown in the first post. (And yeah-- I just figured out how to attach new files to an old post... :-P)
Have you thought about doing card alters as well? I'm sure you've seen the 10 million in the Altered Art thread.
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You mean painting directly onto the cards right? I can't manage to paint very well when I try to paint that tiny. It's easier to paint a digital piece and then shop it onto a card, etc...
cali- Those mox painting are painted on actual canvases though -- There is no original of this, and besides, it would be lame for wizards to switch artists midway through anyhow...(besides mine not being quite that caliber either...)
Bolas- The left hand is tilted inward slightly, which creates the foreshortened perspective you see here. Try it.. the tip of your pinky will stick out just like in the painting. (I used my own hand for reference, and I am uh... looking at it right now lol)
To me, the digits of the right hand look flat. The shading goes to far to the edge, lighten the right side edge of all those digits and they will become more plump, more 3D.
Other than that the only other recommendation i'd make is more texture. Get a skin texture off google and paint of the hand with it, if you can pull it off, it'll give the work that much power umph!
But that's just me. I couldn't begin to do this, it's still stellar.
you may be right about the shadowing - i was going for dramatic, but Im going to try it with more light on the right hand to round it more. Although I was able to simulate a pretty thin edge of light on my hand fooling around with a desk lamp just now.... but clearly the hands in the painting are not near a desk lamp
As for the texture on the skin - i thought about it, but..
1) I didn't want it to look super shopped, and not painted.
2) If this was card sized art, that kind of detail most likely will not show up well, so it may not be worth adding...
You can always add more detail At some point you have to call it quits.
And a Time Walk, then we have all the Power 9. If you don't object to it, I would like to use this on my alternate art Magic Workstation P9 set. It fits very well with the ones by Volkan Baga.
I'm going to do a Sapphire and possibly a Time Walk as well so that the whole set will "exist" at least with placeholders until Wizards finishes them over the next 3 years...
Btw. do we already know which Mox is going to be made next - Emerald or Sapphire? I'm personally hoping for the blue one because its artwork would almost certainly show hands of an Esperite mage (possibly even Tezzeret). If you don't understand why do I think so, let me explain: Each of the three moxes printed so far has an illustration with style that fits to the block that was the newest when the painting was done. Mox Pearl came when Ravnica was around...and look at the art. The gothic structures in the background seem Ravnican to me. Now compare the new Mox Jet to the Time Spiral style (black-alligned humans in that set often had their bodies quite battered) and Mox Ruby to Lorwyn style (the hands look like they belong to a flamekin). You get my point, don't you?
Yes; and your bet on it being blue for esper is well founded. It would be very fitting, as green with say, an elf holding it or the leonin like people would be less spectacular imho.
Bolas- The left hand is tilted inward slightly, which creates the foreshortened perspective you see here. Try it.. the tip of your pinky will stick out just like in the painting. (I used my own hand for reference, and I am uh... looking at it right now lol)
I tried and it doesn't work for me, it still points inward, not outward. Maybe it's my hand? I feel really bad for mentioning it though, my artistic skills stop at crayon stick figures. You really deserve congratulations for such a beautiful picture!
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While I'm no artist either, I'll say that my hand is like Bolas claims his to be; my pinky points inward when held that way. I can't even force it outward by holding it; won't go that way at all.
Fantastic art, by the way. Can't wait to see what you do with the Sapphire. And hopefully, the next official one will be a Sapphire with Esper hands.
lol.. now im going to have to take a picture of my hand to see if you guys think it is deformed or something haha
Ill see what I can do tomorrow.
EDIT: Actually, you guys are right I think... I can get my pinky to look just like that, but then the next finger over isn't straight on like it is in the painting. The thumb on that hand actually has a good bit of the nail showing.. which is probably a bit too much too.
The real trouble is I was drawing from my own hand.... And I probably got a slightly different view everytime I held it up or reference.
The easiest fix will probably be to point the pink inward as suggested.
And yes, I am planning on doing a Sapphire next....
EDIT: 11:30 PM 10/9/08 - ADDED UPDATED VERSION. (More detail in leaves and texture and dirt on hands...better?)
UPDATE:
OLD:
I was going to put it into a card frame but I didn't know if that was.... OK?
You know what to do Enjoy.
The version I posted first is missing the drop shadow from the string. Not a huge difference, but worth having the correct version on here. Attached it with this post, but the new version is also shown in the first post. (And yeah-- I just figured out how to attach new files to an old post... :-P)
Have you thought about doing card alters as well? I'm sure you've seen the 10 million in the Altered Art thread.
-Andy
I will be checking this thread regularly for that Sapphire..
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*hats off to you*
One small nitpick: the pinky of the left hand should point in toward the palm, not out. I think. At least my pinky does.
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Bolas- The left hand is tilted inward slightly, which creates the foreshortened perspective you see here. Try it.. the tip of your pinky will stick out just like in the painting. (I used my own hand for reference, and I am uh... looking at it right now lol)
Other than that the only other recommendation i'd make is more texture. Get a skin texture off google and paint of the hand with it, if you can pull it off, it'll give the work that much power umph!
But that's just me. I couldn't begin to do this, it's still stellar.
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As for the texture on the skin - i thought about it, but..
1) I didn't want it to look super shopped, and not painted.
2) If this was card sized art, that kind of detail most likely will not show up well, so it may not be worth adding...
You can always add more detail At some point you have to call it quits.
Andy
Now we just need the sapphire and we can have a full set of alt art moxes
I'm going to do a Sapphire and possibly a Time Walk as well so that the whole set will "exist" at least with placeholders until Wizards finishes them over the next 3 years...
-Andy
lol well yeah its just a crummy MSE rendering, though haha
(I'll add this next to the other in the first post as well to compare side by side...)
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Yes; and your bet on it being blue for esper is well founded. It would be very fitting, as green with say, an elf holding it or the leonin like people would be less spectacular imho.
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I tried and it doesn't work for me, it still points inward, not outward. Maybe it's my hand? I feel really bad for mentioning it though, my artistic skills stop at crayon stick figures. You really deserve congratulations for such a beautiful picture!
Do you like Elder Dragon Highlander? Check out the EDH deck database with more than 150 decks!
Cards I'm selling!!
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UArcanis the Omnipotent
RJaya Ballard, Task Mage
UBRNicol Bolas
Fantastic art, by the way. Can't wait to see what you do with the Sapphire. And hopefully, the next official one will be a Sapphire with Esper hands.
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Ill see what I can do tomorrow.
EDIT: Actually, you guys are right I think... I can get my pinky to look just like that, but then the next finger over isn't straight on like it is in the painting. The thumb on that hand actually has a good bit of the nail showing.. which is probably a bit too much too.
The real trouble is I was drawing from my own hand.... And I probably got a slightly different view everytime I held it up or reference.
The easiest fix will probably be to point the pink inward as suggested.
-Andy