MTG Salvation

Quote from serrot_29 »

Quote from Galspanic »

Quote from Chaam »

Hating on my signature? Seriously? How is that even remotely constructive criticism.

Because it's big, distracting, sort of childish looking, and you need to understand that when they are done that way they distract from the rest of what's going on. On top of that, because you made it about the same height as the P/T and Name/Mana box it creates visual continuity with those that makes is really hard to break away from the geometric linear movement between those three elements - leaving us not really focusing on the center of the card. A signature done it red or blue would have prevented some of that rigidity since it wouldn't have matched the other elements too.

So, you might think that Alisa38's comment wasn't constructive, but it hits on the biggest issue of the design. But I suspect that you aren't really looking for criticism of the design.

You hit this right on the head. I find the signature to be rather distracting to the flow of they eye across the piece. You will notice that most artists here have small or no signatures on their cards. One of the best pieces of advice that got from one of my professors in college was this: "Don't work on your signature. Your art is your signature. Putting your name on the corner of your work does not make it better, it only distracts from the beauty held within." Otherwise, I like the stark contrast of the white and black composition. I always like these types of pieces as they say so much with very little. Did you happen to paint the white on top of the black? Normally, you want to paint from light to dark (well that is how I "paint") as it is easier to cover lights up with darker colors. Lots of thin layers of color can make for interesting layering. Also, fun choice for your first alter, both artwise and card.

Quote from Alisa38 »

Quote from Chaam »

Please let me know what you think! I plan on doing a play set of black and white full art batman characters (bane, batman, joker and one other maybe penguin).

Critiques are welcome!

Hi Chaam. It looks nice, but I can see your colours aren't smooth. I think white is the most difficult colour to paint, try on other cards before perhaps.
And sorry, but your signature is a bit pretencious... You need more precision too, or smaller brushes. Good luck

Quote from Alisa38 »

(Sure, it's really good for a first alter. And you can sign as you want, just saying : smaller signature is often better because it doesn't disturb the drawing which is most important. Then if you are really famous and your signature has as much value as the illustration or even more - go on.)

It wouldn't be difficult to improve the original first alter, do it. Just don't put too much water, it can remove first layers of painting, that's all.

I think that the signature is fine. I didn't even notice it until others mentioned it, and now that I do notice I really like it (although I can't read it). The thing that I don't like about it is that it looks a lot cleaner than the art itself. It looks like you painted the white on top of the black which means you needed more paint to cover. I'm not sure if it was intentional but I don't like that some parts are transparent and some have too much paint. I find it easiest to put down a gray base coat (white and black don't cover the art very well without a lot of layers) then white on top of that then your darker colors over it. On second thought I kind of like the semi-transparent white, it makes him look shadowy and mysterious, but it would have to be done more consistently throughout the art. Also it would help a lot if you would take it out of the sleeve to take the picture. I'm sure the color warping around the edges is due to the sleeve, but it would help to see it without the sleeve. Lastly I have one suggestion on the design, I would have done the eyes in a different color (probably red) to distinguish them from the rest of the face and make him look more evil. Overall though a great job on your first alter, especially considering the expensive card choice.

Does anyone have any tips as to prevent paint on the palette from drying too fast? Maybe I'm just working too slow, but when I mix up a color and get it how I want it I get a few strokes before its dry and I have to mix more. How do you guys do color mixing? I'm currently just using my brush to mix, which means I end up with too much paint on the brush and have to clean it before proceeding, and I'm wasting way too much paint.

P.S. This thread is pretty 1337.

Not sure why you guys find the signature wrong, to me it brings some balance with the P/T box, otherwise it would be a huge empty space in there. It also creates the base of a triangle that makes you focus more on the figure, which is triangular itself. Without the signature it would be more unbalanced, maybe it needs a smaller signature around the same size of the T/P box, in darker gray this time.

only thing I'ld add is more white on the figure cause it looks more like light grey to me, in the photo at least. With some layers of white, it'll totally look like Frank Miller's Sin City comics. That's my 2 cent on this one.

Quote from AequitasKiller »

Quote from serrot_29 »

[quote from="Galspanic »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/artwork/340781-official-altered-art-thread-56k-beware?comment=34348"][quote from="Chaam »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/artwork/340781-official-altered-art-thread-56k-beware?comment=34345"]

Does anyone have any tips as to prevent paint on the palette from drying too fast? Maybe I'm just working too slow, but when I mix up a color and get it how I want it I get a few strokes before its dry and I have to mix more. How do you guys do color mixing? I'm currently just using my brush to mix, which means I end up with too much paint on the brush and have to clean it before proceeding, and I'm wasting way too much paint.

P.S. This thread is pretty 1337.

AequitasKiller, that's the general problem with acrylics but there are what we call "wet pallets". I don't personally use one, but there are methods to make one with a box and some parchment paper or you can buy one from some online store. Google "how to make a wet pallet" or something and you'll get an idea on this kind of pallet. I've heard some good words about them but never took the time to make one.

Quote from Spade »

Not sure why you guys find the signature wrong, to me it brings some balance with the P/T box, otherwise it would be a huge empty space in there. It also creates the base of a triangle that makes you focus more on the figure, which is triangular itself. Without the signature it would be more unbalanced, maybe it needs a smaller signature around the same size of the T/P box, in darker gray this time.

This speaks more to the weakness of the overall design. The card frame isn't engaged at all and the composition starts to float in the middle of the card. But that's a much larger conversation that I suspect he doesn't want or care to hear from me about

Haven't posted here in a while. So here's a whole bunch of alters.

I'm trying to clean up a foil I received that has some grime on it. I don't remember if regular rubbing alcohol will damage it or not?

My work schedule changed and I've been able to paint cards for my own trade stock (while at work between clients). This has never happened in the almost 6 years I've been painting cards. It's actually a nice change of pace... tattoo, paint, tattoo, paint.

Is this the proper place to ask questions about getting alters done? I have a favorite card and would like to hear ideas and costs about getting it altered.

Quote from Aranthar »

Is this the proper place to ask questions about getting alters done? I have a favorite card and would like to hear ideas and costs about getting it altered.

It's the right place to look at artwork done by people here and then you contact them via PM to make arrangements.

Quote from Galspanic »

My work schedule changed and I've been able to paint cards for my own trade stock (while at work between clients). This has never happened in the almost 6 years I've been painting cards. It's actually a nice change of pace... tattoo, paint, tattoo, paint.

Galspanic living the dream!
And as usual, awesome work

Yeah, I may be broke and getting fatter and older by the day, but things are pretty sweet.
I've had this one tacked to my to-do board for a couple months. He wanted one of those stained glass deals with his General and it's just not my thing. So we talked and found something that we were both into!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I understand the arguments against a large signature but it is the sig that I use and I'm not planning on altering cards for anyone else other than myself anyways.

Anyways, I ended up going back to the Bane alter and touched it up and I think it looks a lot better. I also finished my 2nd alter. I'm attaching an image of my first two alters.

What do you guys think? (outside of issues with the sig)

Alright, I am relatively new at painting and altering and the first couple times I tried to do border extensions and I could never seem to get the hang of it, especially with matching the colors. I always end up painting over the cards art just to make the card a different color so it will match my extensions.

I just recently did a border extension for End Hostilities and was wondering if I could get some criticism on altering or general painting tips.

I have an artwork that I got commissioned... however that commision did not involve making the artwork formatted into a magic card. It's for Jhoira of the Ghitu. Does anyone still do what they were doing earlier in the thread... IE, make artwork into magic card style?

Quote from Sky God »

Alright, I am relatively new at painting and altering and the first couple times I tried to do border extensions and I could never seem to get the hang of it, especially with matching the colors. I always end up painting over the cards art just to make the card a different color so it will match my extensions.

I just recently did a border extension for End Hostilities and was wondering if I could get some criticism on altering or general painting tips.

Low res pic but, I would say use some wet tooth picks to clean up the boarders the text boxes. Use a bit more water to thin out your paint. Try and build the color up not just plop it down all at once.

Quote from Tanro »

Low res pic but, I would say use some wet tooth picks to clean up the boarders the text boxes. Use a bit more water to thin out your paint. Try and build the color up not just plop it down all at once.

Ok thanks!

2 days an nothing?

Well here we go. Extended Sylvan Caryatid. Reference is sylvan caryatid offical artwork.

Some new stuff.

Attempted my first alters today. Tried to start off simple with the Mardu Skullhunter extension. Any tips on how to improve are much appreciated. I'm having an especially hard time blending the paint one the card while trying to layer.

Just started doing this last night. It's so fun! That being said I've never really painted (they're pretty bad...) but it was still fun

Fisherman's friend.

Seems your color matching is pretty good. That is the hardest part for me.

M15 Scuttling Doom Engine - Terminator (full art)


Please use spoilers ~29