decent mana rocks, crummy art. The focus should be on the gem itself, not a lackluster background or the artist's hand. They got it right the first time in Mirage.
It's ironic you'd say this when Mirage's Sky Diamond has much less focus on its tiny, off-centered gem than any of these pieces.
(Not to take anything away from Mirage Sky Diamond, it's a beautiful piece of art in a set full of beautiful art.)
Expected sure, but only because the same artist has painted essentially the same picture seven times in a row. Meanhile, other mana rocks, including some gems, continue to be vibrant and hands free.
Compare the signets to the Baga Moxen. The signets feature different materials, different sizes, perspectives, and lighting. Some are loose, others set in masonry or machinery. They're far more interesting and creative than another picture of hands holding a cut gem.
Baga is great at painting hands, and I'll grant that some of his non-gem MTG art is pretty good, but I see literally hundreds of hands every day. They're mundane and boring. They shouldn't be the focus of the art on mythic/beyond mythic Magic cards.
Well, no. Expected, because the Creative department told him to draw hands holding the Mox, so he did. Creative gave the push, and Baga delivered, not the other way round. I'll have to find a quote, but I believe it's policy to have hands in mox artwork now.
The sheer iconic nature of the moxes comes from how cohesive the artworks are. Similar and symbolic composition is key to making them recognisable. It's almost like complaining that a holy image is boring when the imagery and the power of the imagery is directly related to its resonance, "Oh look, another picture of Jesus on the cross. How predictable." It's for this reason that I'd argue that the Signets are not as resonant as the Moxes. Ask someone to describe any one of the five Moxes, easily done. Give them a Signet, and they'll probably be harder pressed. I like the variety of the signets, but they simply weren't designed to be as iconic as the moxes, so that's okay.
Besides, looking beyond the exterior composition, the details are hugely different really. Five planes, five races, and five entirely different aesthetics depending on the inspiration of the plane.
Apparently, they've decided to change that policy. A few days ago they published a new piece of art for Mox Pearl done by Raoul Vitale (I attached it to this post). I assume he was commissioned to paint the full set of moxes and we will see them in time.
Apparently, they've decided to change that policy. A few days ago they published a new piece of art for Mox Pearl done by Raoul Vitale (I attached it to this post). I assume he was commissioned to paint the full set of moxes and we will see them in time.
And people say there's no such thing as instant gratification!
Vitale was a great choice- his new Signets are amazing.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Apparently, they've decided to change that policy. A few days ago they published a new piece of art for Mox Pearl done by Raoul Vitale (I attached it to this post). I assume he was commissioned to paint the full set of moxes and we will see them in time.
I love the new composition with the floating gem on a pedestal in the center and everything surrounding it, but I feel like the color palette was a mistake. The pale-colored pedestal, mountains, and clouds, combined with the pearl's small size, make the gem difficult to focus on. Hopefully the composition will look better with the other moxes, and I think I prefer it to the hands.
@Rai
Whether it was WotC's decision or not to go that direction doesn't make the art any better. Outside of this thread I've never seen any indication that those pictures are all that iconic either. They've been printed on sleeves and mats, but that's true of most mythics/chase cards. It's particularly hard to call his Alpha moxen images iconic since they live in the shadow of the Alpha art and have never been seen by so many players since they only exist in DotP. The Jesus argument is just silly; "the Crucifixion of Christ" is a much narrower and more specific subject than "a sapphire" or "a pearl." I might raise similar criticisms if the same artist did seven very similar crucifixion paintings, but I'd also be less inclined to care since the Universe of Jesus pictures is literally thousands of times as large as the universe of official moxen pictures.
@Magique
I thought that might come up once this took off in earnest. The original Sky Diamond art uses contrast and lines, rather than size, to emphasize the gem. The backdrop is dark, with red accents. The gem's sparkles are bright, blue, and make a large X pattern centered on the gem itself. As the only light source it really sticks out. The man is looking at and reaching for the gem, which brings attention back to the gem. The new Moss Diamond tries to use lines too, it just botches the attempt in my opinion. I mentioned the tattoo terminating at the ring earlier, which pulls focus near the gem, the other attempt is framing the gem using the tree and hand. That fails because the backdrop is green and the tree ends up sticking out more.
[About the new Pearl art]
I like it. The pedestal and statutes drive home the idea that it's something of great worth. The pedestal could actually be an altar; a sacramental setting is perfect for Pearl. Mountains in the backdrop instead of vast, rolling plains is odd, but I'm pretty excited to see the other pieces.
@Magique
I thought that might come up once this took off in earnest. The original Sky Diamond art uses contrast and lines, rather than size, to emphasize the gem. The backdrop is dark, with red accents. The gem's sparkles are bright, blue, and make a large X pattern centered on the gem itself. As the only light source it really sticks out. The man is looking at and reaching for the gem, which brings attention back to the gem. The new Moss Diamond tries to use lines too, it just botches the attempt in my opinion. I mentioned the tattoo terminating at the ring earlier, which pulls focus near the gem, the other attempt is framing the gem using the tree and hand. That fails because the backdrop is green and the tree ends up sticking out more.
I see the hand getting most of the focus in Sky Diamond actually; a lot of the blue is around the hand as well. I think the piece works anyway because the hand's gesture (Grasping for the diamond) emphasizes the gem's value and the large amount of dark space gives a sense of scale and atmosphere to the piece that a close-up can't achieve.
Expected sure, but only because the same artist has painted essentially the same picture seven times in a row. Meanhile, other mana rocks, including some gems, continue to be vibrant and hands free.
Compare the signets to the Baga Moxen. The signets feature different materials, different sizes, perspectives, and lighting. Some are loose, others set in masonry or machinery. They're far more interesting and creative than another picture of hands holding a cut gem.
Baga is great at painting hands, and I'll grant that some of his non-gem MTG art is pretty good, but I see literally hundreds of hands every day. They're mundane and boring. They shouldn't be the focus of the art on mythic/beyond mythic Magic cards.
While part of that is true, part of it isn't. The cycles that aren't directly connected to the flavor of a world, similarity is is good to visually connect like things when you're trying to avoid wasting time reading every card. Diamonds, Moxes, and other mana rocks being like, but having color and background aspects to break it down to color is simple and clean.
The Obelisks of Alara, Banners of Tarkir, and Signets of Ravnica are designed to show the variations of the worlds represented. The differences are meant to be storytelling, which two out of three (I never really liked the Obelisks of Alara) do fairly well. If there's no storytelling reason to do it, its a bad idea to make simple boardstates more complicated with the art.
It's ironic you'd say this when Mirage's Sky Diamond has much less focus on its tiny, off-centered gem than any of these pieces.
(Not to take anything away from Mirage Sky Diamond, it's a beautiful piece of art in a set full of beautiful art.)
Apparently, they've decided to change that policy. A few days ago they published a new piece of art for Mox Pearl done by Raoul Vitale (I attached it to this post). I assume he was commissioned to paint the full set of moxes and we will see them in time.
And people say there's no such thing as instant gratification!
Vitale was a great choice- his new Signets are amazing.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I love the new composition with the floating gem on a pedestal in the center and everything surrounding it, but I feel like the color palette was a mistake. The pale-colored pedestal, mountains, and clouds, combined with the pearl's small size, make the gem difficult to focus on. Hopefully the composition will look better with the other moxes, and I think I prefer it to the hands.
Whether it was WotC's decision or not to go that direction doesn't make the art any better. Outside of this thread I've never seen any indication that those pictures are all that iconic either. They've been printed on sleeves and mats, but that's true of most mythics/chase cards. It's particularly hard to call his Alpha moxen images iconic since they live in the shadow of the Alpha art and have never been seen by so many players since they only exist in DotP. The Jesus argument is just silly; "the Crucifixion of Christ" is a much narrower and more specific subject than "a sapphire" or "a pearl." I might raise similar criticisms if the same artist did seven very similar crucifixion paintings, but I'd also be less inclined to care since the Universe of Jesus pictures is literally thousands of times as large as the universe of official moxen pictures.
@Magique
I thought that might come up once this took off in earnest. The original Sky Diamond art uses contrast and lines, rather than size, to emphasize the gem. The backdrop is dark, with red accents. The gem's sparkles are bright, blue, and make a large X pattern centered on the gem itself. As the only light source it really sticks out. The man is looking at and reaching for the gem, which brings attention back to the gem. The new Moss Diamond tries to use lines too, it just botches the attempt in my opinion. I mentioned the tattoo terminating at the ring earlier, which pulls focus near the gem, the other attempt is framing the gem using the tree and hand. That fails because the backdrop is green and the tree ends up sticking out more.
[About the new Pearl art]
I like it. The pedestal and statutes drive home the idea that it's something of great worth. The pedestal could actually be an altar; a sacramental setting is perfect for Pearl. Mountains in the backdrop instead of vast, rolling plains is odd, but I'm pretty excited to see the other pieces.
Pauper: Burn
Modern: Burn
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Marath, Will of the Wild - Ramp/Combo | Anafenza the Foremost - French | Uril, the Miststalker - Voltron | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Goodstuff
Ghost Council of Orzhov - Tokens | Lazav, Dimir Mastermind - Control | Isamaru, Hound of Konda - Tiny Leaders
I see the hand getting most of the focus in Sky Diamond actually; a lot of the blue is around the hand as well. I think the piece works anyway because the hand's gesture (Grasping for the diamond) emphasizes the gem's value and the large amount of dark space gives a sense of scale and atmosphere to the piece that a close-up can't achieve.
The Obelisks of Alara, Banners of Tarkir, and Signets of Ravnica are designed to show the variations of the worlds represented. The differences are meant to be storytelling, which two out of three (I never really liked the Obelisks of Alara) do fairly well. If there's no storytelling reason to do it, its a bad idea to make simple boardstates more complicated with the art.
A human name.
Really? I thought it was a form of swing dancing...