MTG Salvation

Even at Gargoyle Castle the weather doesn't suck all the time:

Summer at Gargoyle Castle

That is a sweet Gargoyle Castle man. Nice job.

so pretty new to the painting on cards also myself -- ive found using acryllics the paint is coming on too thick... and using water all that im doing is making the color transparent...

after messing with this ive bought a rather expensive "acryllic flow enhancer" medium... but i cant tell if its doing jack...


haha what do you guys use?

Quote from bludendguts

so pretty new to the painting on cards also myself -- ive found using acryllics the paint is coming on too thick... and using water all that im doing is making the color transparent...

after messing with this ive bought a rather expensive "acryllic flow enhancer" medium... but i cant tell if its doing jack...


haha what do you guys use?

That Flow Release medium is really not something you want for this at all. It works great for dragging paint across large surfaces where the paint dries too fast or needs some lubrication to keep from sticking as you pull (that's what she said).

Water is still your best friend and transparency is a good thing. You have a lot more control with you work with thin layers and you won't get the clumpy mess that so many people seem to get. The coating on the card stock is very absorbent and wills suck the water out of your paint, but with thin layers you can actually seal it with the first couple of coats.

Transparency is harder to work with, but there are some paints that are opaque and you can add those to your watered down paint to stop some of that. BUT, another approach is the make sure whatever is underneath the transparent layer helps the image. For example: Sky blue can be made either by painting thin transparent blue on a white ground OR mixing white and blue paint. Option 1 takes longer but will be brighter. Option 2 is easier but will be relatively chalky.

That was a bit unorganized, but it's late.... so....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nice rescue!

Looks like an 8 year old tried to forge the artist's signature on an otherwise beautiful Alpha Sinkhole.

Nice job restoring that though.

I made 3 more cards, I think I'm getting slightly better at this.
I tried using water in the paint but its not really making it transparent just kinda watery.

Quote from Megabug

I made 3 more cards, I think I'm getting slightly better at this.

I tried using water in the paint but its not really making it transparent just kinda watery.

Post better pictures. You will only be taken as seriously as the worst quality image and right now those are pretty bad.

Sorry my camera sucks, gotta go use a scanner I guess.

after a few failures to get a half decent full art alteration going (with acrylic)... i was curious if anyone could describe your process in detail?

do you use an undercoat?

what do you thin your paint with to keep it from diluting?

any great words of wisdom for someone looking to break into full art alters with paint?

im using 2 of the smallest brushes ive seen and trying to be relatively careful slow and steady and im familiar with using a toothpick to "erase"

thanks in advance

Here are a few Alters Up for Grabs:

Wow CK, those are really nice.

I wanted to post this in both the altered art thread and make a proxy thread.

A very short video on how using an Ink Erase is far superior to a pencil eraser.

Enjoy!

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a394/quindan/?action=view¤t=CIMG3979.flv

Used a scanner and got better quality images.
Now you can see how bad I am at color matching.:(
I'm working on a frameless swamp.
Any tips?

These are all very low impact. They say alter. I like alters which say ALTER.

For example, if you added some more fire effects on the Dragon's Claw, it would jump a bit more. The white circle thing on Hallow is a bit cut off on the original. You could extend that. I know it would be white over white, but the blue aura thingie around it would show up. I don't know exactly what should be done; I just think more should be done to make them pop.

Also, please stick with black bordered cards - white borders are abominations :/

You know, the answer might be for you to stick with completely new art. I don't know how much training you've had, but completely new art dodges the whole color matching question. It also stands out a lot more.

I wish I could give more specific advice - that will have to come from the people on here who know how to paint.

I guess this is a bit discouraging. It isn't meant to be. I'm hoping that you keep at it. The more people who do alters, the better off we as a community are.

Thanks,
Matt

Quote from Megabug

Used a scanner and got better quality images.
Now you can see how bad I am at color matching.:(

I'm working on a frameless swamp.
Any tips?

Its not discouraging really, I stated altering yesterday so Im keeping them really simple for right now till I get a bit better at the whole thing.
Not sure if I would be very good at whole new art stuff, guess I could try some.

a pretty funny looking attempt... im happy with it but its no where on par hah... "spared no expense"

Quote from bludendguts

a pretty funny looking attempt... im happy with it but its no where on par hah... "spared no expense"

I REALLY like it. You should do a different dinosaur for each of the 5 lands =]

[spoler] tags are usually a big help around here too, for pictures that big.

that Recall-Jace is really nifty! like it!

The Recall is a nice touch.

Also, anyone going to Origins?...things fell into place for me and I can actually go again this year.

Wow pretty sweet angels man!


<--- In the middle of rescueing a white boardered ball lightning that was sharpied badly to make it look like a blackboardered ball... will post when it's done

Quote from sandreline

Space Angels...

WOW :o:o:o....Love the idea and the execution. I always look forward to your work! Beauty....

I just got back from some military business, and one of the first things my friends asked me to do was to paint some cards...lol...here is the first of a set of Mnemonic Walls...also have some Wall of Omens, Mind Spring, and a Demonic Tutor on their way...

Quote from cardkitty

Here are a few Alters Up for Grabs:

Your color matching is perfect as always, but the foreground on the dark ritual is wrong contextually. Do you really think he is standing in a window?

I always thought he was in a sewer or something standing over a cauldron of some sort.

For some reason that archway is pretty weird and when I altered the ritual I put him in the window too.

BTW all three of those cards looks awesome, the birds especially is absolutely phenomenal.