EDIT: If you've come here through my sig, welcome! I hope you'll find the advice below useful, fantasy art is a wonderful thing, and I hope this guide can help you find all the awesome art you need!
I've been gathering art from the web for ages now. My collection is now over 12,000 pictures in size and is way too big to share on the web, but thanks to a PM conversation I recently had with Luusydh, I thought I'd create a handy guide for anyone looking for art to make renders
So without further ado, here are some tips for finding art on the web:
I. Websites:
1. Epilogue.net is one of the best and highest quality collections of fantasy art on the web. The editors actually pick through the uploaded art an the standards are much higher than those that may be found on community-based sites such as Deviantart. The search function might require some getting used to in order for you to get what you want. I'd start in the editor's pick gallery, and work my way from there. If you follow through each artist's gallery and homepage, This may be all you'll ever need.
2. CGSociety.org is also a good site, especially for land art. It's all high resolution, which is great, but the site is slightly hard to navigate and is a bit biased towards sci-fi.
3.If you've already tried to look for art on the web, you've probably ran into Deviantart. It is the largest art community right now, but it's in dire need of editing. Truth is, I usually avoid it. It's not that there are no good stuff there, it's just that you need to wade through a ton of uninteresting slog just to find just one artist with a decent gallery, there's WAY too much hentai, the UI is crappy, links to homepages and artist's names are sometimes hidden, and all in all, with the exception of maybe Adam Vehige, none of it is worth the trouble. EDIT: Times have changed and so did Deviantart. I still find it uncomfortable, but many artists now use it as their sole online gallery, so if you're willing to put in the effort, you can certainly find something good in there eventually.
II. Artists:
4. You've probably already done this, but google your favorite artists from Magic, or go visit this handy index. They almost always have some art that's Magic quality but is not Magic art, and every now and then you can even find art that was commissioned for Magic, but never used. Some artist's galleries are better than others (but Donato Giancola is the best).
5. Name dropping time. Another good way of finding good online galleries is by word of mouth. To that end, here is a list of some artists that have an incredible portfolio of work, just google the name:
Classic fantasy artists (if you grew up playing d&d in the 80s or 90s, prepare for a nostalgia trip):
Larry Elmore
Michael Whelan
Chris Achileos
Rowena Morril
John Howe
Alan Lee (mostly middle earth art)
Ted Nasmith
Christopher Vacher
Josh Kirby
Amano Yo*****aka
Frank Frazetta
Frank Fields
Borris Vallejo (contains nudity)
Luis Royo (contains nudity)
Josh Kirby
... I'm probably forgetting some more.
More modern artists (I'm not including those who have already become Magic artists, like Jason Chan or Philip Straub, as you can find them by going through step 4):
Linda Bergquist
Kirsi Salonen (My personal favorite)
Judy Schmidt
Tristan Elwell
Melanie Delon
Lisa Hunt
JP Targete
Cyril Rolando
Jason Engle
Dan Dos Santos
Anndr Kusuriuri
Hong Kuang
Xiaochen Fu
Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (used to be an MTG artist, but for some reason not anymore, her website is lovely so I'm listing it here)
Nicole Cardiff
Patrick McEvoy
Christoph Vacher
Paul Kidby (Discworld art)
... More will be added when I can think of them.
6. Judge books by their covers: Cover art is one of the ways, besides TCGs that fantasy artists make money from. If there is a book that has amazing cover art in your eyes, find out who's the artist and google that name.
7. If you really want to get down and dirty in finding more artists, other places where you can find good artists include Fan Art pages of game studios (Jason Chan started his way in the Blizzard Fan Art page) and concept art pages. This will take even more time than Deviantart, but if you are a fan yourself, this could be fun.
8. How to navigate artist's websites:
a. Always check the "prints" page for art that might not be in the gallery itself
b. If you come across a old-looking website with ugly design and black background, have no fear. My guess is that a long time ago the same web designer did work for a bunch of artists and they never change it since then. It's ok, you've gotten to the right place after all.
c. While you're on an artist's website, you'll sometimes find a "links" section, with links to galleries of other artists they have some connection with. This can sometimes yield hidden gems that simply could not be found any other way. It can get tedious, so like the fan art thing, consider this for hardcore art-hunting only.
III. Technical Stuff:
9. Most importantly, if you're going to have your own fantasy art collection on your computer, create folders dividing the pics into categories, as many as you can think of. It makes finding the art you want for your card that much easier. Simply download each art into the folder that fits it the most. You won't believe how helpful this can get.
10. While we're at it, always include the artist's credit in the file name when you save. I've been doing this for a long time, and can recognize an artist from the style around 50% of the time, but without putting the credit in the name I'd never remember who drew what, making it unusable in these forums (and also not nice for the artist).
More tips may be added if I think of something new. I'll also put a link to this in my sig so anyone can reach it anytime.
Dahammer4
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature." t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
The Deviantart-bashing has no place here if this is supposed to be an objective guide. Just list all available websites and everyone can pick his favorite.
Who said anything about an objective guide? I'm listing what I learned from collecting art from the web for over eight years. It's my own subjective point of view. There are many many websites to look into for art, and I feel deviantart takes too much of my time for good piece of art I find in it, an I dislike how you can't find the artist's name easily so you could look for other galleries.
If you like deviantart, that's great for you, but for someone just starting out, I find it lacking.
I've been gathering art from the web for ages now. My collection is now over 12,000 pictures in size and is way too big to share on the web, but thanks to a PM conversation I recently had with Luusydh, I thought I'd create a handy guide for anyone looking for art to make renders
So without further ado, here are some tips for finding art on the web:
I. Websites:
1. Epilogue.net is one of the best and highest quality collections of fantasy art on the web. The editors actually pick through the uploaded art an the standards are much higher than those that may be found on community-based sites such as Deviantart. The search function might require some getting used to in order for you to get what you want. I'd start in the editor's pick gallery, and work my way from there. If you follow through each artist's gallery and homepage, This may be all you'll ever need.
2. CGSociety.org is also a good site, especially for land art. It's all high resolution, which is great, but the site is slightly hard to navigate and is a bit biased towards sci-fi.
3.If you've already tried to look for art on the web, you've probably ran into Deviantart. It is the largest art community right now, but it's in dire need of editing. Truth is, I usually avoid it. It's not that there are no good stuff there, it's just that you need to wade through a ton of uninteresting slog just to find just one artist with a decent gallery, there's WAY too much hentai, the UI is crappy, links to homepages and artist's names are sometimes hidden, and all in all, with the exception of maybe Adam Vehige, none of it is worth the trouble. EDIT: Times have changed and so did Deviantart. I still find it uncomfortable, but many artists now use it as their sole online gallery, so if you're willing to put in the effort, you can certainly find something good in there eventually.
II. Artists:
4. You've probably already done this, but google your favorite artists from Magic, or go visit this handy index. They almost always have some art that's Magic quality but is not Magic art, and every now and then you can even find art that was commissioned for Magic, but never used. Some artist's galleries are better than others (but Donato Giancola is the best).
5. Name dropping time. Another good way of finding good online galleries is by word of mouth. To that end, here is a list of some artists that have an incredible portfolio of work, just google the name:
Classic fantasy artists (if you grew up playing d&d in the 80s or 90s, prepare for a nostalgia trip):
Larry Elmore
Michael Whelan
Chris Achileos
Rowena Morril
John Howe
Alan Lee (mostly middle earth art)
Ted Nasmith
Christopher Vacher
Josh Kirby
Amano Yo*****aka
Frank Frazetta
Frank Fields
Borris Vallejo (contains nudity)
Luis Royo (contains nudity)
Josh Kirby
... I'm probably forgetting some more.
More modern artists (I'm not including those who have already become Magic artists, like Jason Chan or Philip Straub, as you can find them by going through step 4):
Linda Bergquist
Kirsi Salonen (My personal favorite)
Judy Schmidt
Tristan Elwell
Melanie Delon
Lisa Hunt
JP Targete
Cyril Rolando
Jason Engle
Dan Dos Santos
Anndr Kusuriuri
Hong Kuang
Xiaochen Fu
Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (used to be an MTG artist, but for some reason not anymore, her website is lovely so I'm listing it here)
Nicole Cardiff
Patrick McEvoy
Christoph Vacher
Paul Kidby (Discworld art)
... More will be added when I can think of them.
7. If you really want to get down and dirty in finding more artists, other places where you can find good artists include Fan Art pages of game studios (Jason Chan started his way in the Blizzard Fan Art page) and concept art pages. This will take even more time than Deviantart, but if you are a fan yourself, this could be fun.
8. How to navigate artist's websites:
a. Always check the "prints" page for art that might not be in the gallery itself
b. If you come across a old-looking website with ugly design and black background, have no fear. My guess is that a long time ago the same web designer did work for a bunch of artists and they never change it since then. It's ok, you've gotten to the right place after all.
c. While you're on an artist's website, you'll sometimes find a "links" section, with links to galleries of other artists they have some connection with. This can sometimes yield hidden gems that simply could not be found any other way. It can get tedious, so like the fan art thing, consider this for hardcore art-hunting only.
III. Technical Stuff:
9. Most importantly, if you're going to have your own fantasy art collection on your computer, create folders dividing the pics into categories, as many as you can think of. It makes finding the art you want for your card that much easier. Simply download each art into the folder that fits it the most. You won't believe how helpful this can get.
10. While we're at it, always include the artist's credit in the file name when you save. I've been doing this for a long time, and can recognize an artist from the style around 50% of the time, but without putting the credit in the name I'd never remember who drew what, making it unusable in these forums (and also not nice for the artist).
More tips may be added if I think of something new. I'll also put a link to this in my sig so anyone can reach it anytime.
Good luck hunting for art!
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!
Sigpic by Rivenor
Artifact - Equipment (R)
Choose one - Equipped creature gets +4/+0; or Double Strike; or "When this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature"; or t, unattach ~ from this creature: ~ deals 5 damage to target creature."
t: Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
Equip 3
Courtesy of Crepes
[OMC] Omerium's Collapse
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!
Completed sets:
Iamur — The Underwater Set
Overworld — Pirates vs. Octopuses
Esparand — The Sands of Time
Unfinished Sets:
Siege of Ravnica — Eldrazi in Ravnica
Shandalar — The Mana Set
Iamur Reimagined — Iamur v2
You can find more creative projects on my page Antaresdesigns!
If you like deviantart, that's great for you, but for someone just starting out, I find it lacking.
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!