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WUHanna, Pillowfort's NavigatorUW WBRAleshacratsBRW UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU URGYasova the ThreateningGRU BGGlissa the ArticiferGB WUSygg MerfolkUW RSquee, Value NabobR
Hello everyone. I have just spoken to Rebecca Guay believe it or not regarding a few things, firstly it was to express my love for her work and I asked her why I have not seen her doing anything for Magic of late.
She told me this and I quote:
Quote from "Rebecca Guay" »
“I’ve just had so many other deadlines in the last two years with the books I have coming out that I haven’t been able to fit in anything else!
Hopefully Magic will ask me again now that the books are done.”
“Hopefully” clearly implies she wants to but is waiting on Wizards. This makes my little eyebrows twitch.
I talked to her about her new book and it is beautiful. Stories about angels. I love angels and expressed my undying love for her style and how she always made them so angely, I really think her water colour style is perfect for it, a lot of the recent art in the last sets have disappointed me, excluding Greg Staples, Steve Argyle and Terese Nielsen.
She continued;
Quote from "Rebecca Guay" »
“I want all my magic peeps to know I’m still doing art that is out there-
The Magic fans and their love of my angel work is what sparked the generation of this book in the first place so I want people to know its out- it really is dedicated to them in many ways!”
Magic to me is 75% art and 25% game.
The game is top marks and the art is better than anything else out there but without Rebecca it just doesn’t have as much soul, heart and purity.
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Bad products are bad products. Bad products are not "designed" for casuals you meanie.
Thanks for the post, it's nice to see her works somewhere other than a magic card (and I like the sound of the Angel book, as well). I really look forward to getting to meet her some day, but it seems difficult to be able to predict where one would be able to run into artists. Steve Argyle is another guy I'd really enjoy getting to meet, I love his art and he seems like a pretty cool guy from his website.
URGImperial AnimarGRU BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB WURNarset NostalgicRUW UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU UBlue BraidsU GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WUHanna, Pillowfort's NavigatorUW WBRAleshacratsBRW UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU URGYasova the ThreateningGRU BGGlissa the ArticiferGB WUSygg MerfolkUW RSquee, Value NabobR
I never got a chance to have my piece about what I read over this thread as I was too excited to report my dialogue with Rebecca.
I find it very rich, rich in the way that hypocrisy is rich when I hear people say that Rebecca Guays art has no place or does not fit in this set or in Magic now. It's like saying Santa is no longer hip and Kanye West should be the new Santa. These people have no taste or are blind, ignorant or just plain stupid.
Just looking over my fat pack encyclopedias I see tons of art that resembles or IS Rebecca Guays. This means their argument is completely invalid.
If her art does not fit then why are they repeating it?
As for modern sets and new art, why does so much of it look like her style?
Terese is VERY similar. I thought Angel of flight Alabaster was hers the first moment I saw it and jumper out of my skirt. Now I love Howard Lyon.
It is also insulting to see people say she only does one pose. If by one pose they mean beautiful then theyre right, but if they bothered to look at any of her other art be it other cards from the beginning to the end or anything outside of Magic then they will be eating their words.
If her art does not fit then why are they repeating it? As for modern sets and new art, why does so much of it look like her style? Terese is VERY similar. I thought Angel of flight Alabaster was hers the first moment I saw it and jumper out of my skirt. Now I love Howard Lyon.
This is going to sound harsh, perhaps not as much as 'up one's hindquarters, people with whom I disagree", but... are you blind? Lyon and Nielsen look nothing like Guay. Nielsen uses a completely different variety of colors, and if anything her style is edging towards Scott Fischer (or the other way around, but I leave that to the historians). Lyon's painting has a polish to it, a smooth, backlit quality. You might get away with comparing him to Chan or Chippy, since most of what he's done for Innistrad is pale women in white dresses.
Neither of them approach Guay's technique. Nils Hamm and Stephanie Law have a couple that come near Guay's, but Hamm's work is usually much darker, and Law packed in excruciating amounts of detail.
I'm willing to admit that Rebecca Guay is definitely unique in Magic's art, even if I don't lick her ankles every time she paints a card. Loving every single illustration an artist does for Magic is just as uninformed as hating every illustration an artist does for Magic.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I seem to recall hearing tell of her being somewhat uncooperative with Wizards, or demanding some unsavory amount money, or generally being a ***** to people, but I'm glad to hear that was just some silly hearsay that I can ignore.
Guay told someone at an event that WotC was no longer going to commission her art. Word of mouth put it around, when rancored_elf & I heard we both independently contacted her for confirmation.
She told us that the then-art director had told her that her work was too feminine for the game & no longer desirable.
So we fired up the community & did our best to let WotC know that we didn't agree & would like to continue seeing her included in the roster. It worked, sort of.
It's a little sideways to this topic, but it's always been a branding issue. They decided at some point that they wanted the art to be recognizable as Magic:the Gathering style art. I guess it worked – I picked up a D&D book the other day & thought it was a new Magic graphic novel! But no, it was just WotC's homogenized art department.
rebecca was just to busy doing other projects-she said at some point she would like to do more art for magic-
the big difference?
former Ad-jeremy cranford=not a fan
present Ad-jeremy jarvis=a fan
yea for Mr. Jarvis!
That is what scares me. Rebecca I think is being political. You don't tell the fans the truth because you don't want to burn a potential employment bridge.
That scares me so much. Time and time again in our lives personality clashes ruin it for everyone.
Everyone needs to have ice cream eating fights to watch each others faces contort in ice cream headache discomfort, it totally totaaallyyyy brings people together.
I think I don't like the names Jeremy and Jarvites, it seems to be the name for people with power that make choices I don't agree with. My other example is Gamesworkshop.
her work was too feminine for the game & no longer desirable.
So, what I mean is not the palette or the colours, sharpness or any of the brush to paper or finger to mouse. Its about the things she has been shunned for.
The following comment can be read inside out:
>>Lyons Alabaster Angel is a Guay pose Guay a is Angel Alabaster Lyons<<
To me Nielson and Guay are similar as they have gentle soft styles but they share more in colour pallet than others.
Yeah.:weird:
I do not disagree with you Blackblade, Just want you to understand what I see. Most importantly is that I would like everyone to see that her art does fit because it is not too far removed from other currently active artists. That may have been the case a few years ago when most of the art was crappy:bunny: Now that terrible phase has gone we can rejoice and bring beauty back.
As for licking ankles... You're right.
But I would rather have high tea with club sandwiches and tea cakes with Rebecca. You can lick my ankles, that's such a pleasing image.
Guay told someone at an event that WotC was no longer going to commission her art. Word of mouth put it around, when rancored_elf & I heard we both independently contacted her for confirmation.
She told us that the then-art director had told her that her work was too feminine for the game & no longer desirable.
So we fired up the community & did our best to let WotC know that we didn't agree & would like to continue seeing her included in the roster. It worked, sort of.
It's a little sideways to this topic, but it's always been a branding issue. They decided at some point that they wanted the art to be recognizable as Magic:the Gathering style art. I guess it worked – I picked up a D&D book the other day & thought it was a new Magic graphic novel! But no, it was just WotC's homogenized art department.
That's the story behind Persecute Artist from the second Unglued, isn't it? I found a signed foil one at an event somewhere...probably one of my favorite cards now. I've been a fan of her work since Sustaining Spirit in Alliances.
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I was driven from this once-great site by abusive mods and admins, who create rules out of thin air to punish people for breaking them (meaning the rule does not exist under forum rules) and selectively enforce the rules that are written on the forum rules. I am currently lurking while deleting 6 years and 2 months of posting history. I will return when ExpiredRascals, Teia Rabishu and Blinking Spirit are no longer in power.
oh please dont get me wrong-Guay never said anything about Mr.s Jarvis and Cranford-that was 100% my input gathered from the facts
cranford was vocal that guays art in his opinion didnt fit the magic brand and environments. he basically said as much that he didnt intend to use her anymore till an outcry of great qans declared "foul"
jarvis is a fan-
that is not guay saying this-its just the facts that came out on these boards
my opinion? guay is my fav artist, is a great person and her art is welcomed and fits in any set, enviroment, ect-im all for different styles of art-art that is homogonized and all looks the same from set to set is boring to me
To explain what I mean Blackblade I will use Rianalnns:kittybread: post below to illustrate:
So, what I mean is not the palette or the colours, sharpness or any of the brush to paper or finger to mouse. Its about the things she has been shunned for.
The following comment can be read inside out:
>>Lyons Alabaster Angel is a Guay pose Guay a is Angel Alabaster Lyons<<
To me Nielson and Guay are similar as they have gentle soft styles but they share more in colour pallet than others.
Yeah.:weird:
I do not disagree with you Blackblade, Just want you to understand what I see. Most importantly is that I would like everyone to see that her art does fit because it is not too far removed from other currently active artists. That may have been the case a few years ago when most of the art was crappy:bunny: Now that terrible phase has gone we can rejoice and bring beauty back.
As for licking ankles... You're right.
But I would rather have high tea with club sandwiches and tea cakes with Rebecca. You can lick my ankles, that's such a pleasing image.
I understand your point, but I'm not sure you understand mine. I'm saying that Guay is unique among Magic artists. Call her painting more feminine, beautiful, whatever you choose. She different, and that's not a bad thing, except that there are several cases where the cards she illustrates run together. It's not entirely her fault if she's assigned similar cards, but it doesn't change the reality that there are instances where her work becomes less a case of consistency, and one of repetition. I still don't think that her work looks a thing like Nielsen's or Lyon's, even though they've all painted angels.
And don't presume Guay was the only artist excommunicated during the period of artistic flux around Kamigawa and Ravnica. Ron Spears, Ed Beard Jr. and several others were also denounced for not upholding the "Magic meets Matrix" criteria that was laid out for them. Does it suck? Of course it does, because there are a lot of good artists who, schedule permitting, deserve the boost a Magic gig provides. You will find very few artists who aren't willing to admit that working for Magic has earned them more fans.
I honestly dislike how her art is so drastically different to the others.
When putting a deck together aesthetics is important to me, and her card arts being so different puts me off using them.
I know i'm not alone with this.
She's a great artist, but I feel her style doesn't fit in here.
So you like homogeneity? Well, you're entitled to your opinion, I suppose. I really miss when there was a greater variety of art styles, with unique and characteristic artists like Guay, RK Ferguson, and Ron Spencer all in the same set. I feel like now, artists are interchangeable, and I think that's a shame.
So you like homogeneity? Well, you're entitled to your opinion, I suppose. I really miss when there was a greater variety of art styles, with unique and characteristic artists like Guay, RK Ferguson, and Ron Spencer all in the same set. I feel like now, artists are interchangeable, and I think that's a shame.
Art has always been a very subjective matter. With regards to MTG, I would say that these artists built their reputation based on their distinctive styles since they started.
At the moment, I do have some problems guessing the artist's art on a particular card except for some like Rebecca Guay, Mark Tedin, RKF, etc.You look at the card and you just know it's one of them.
EDH, on the other hand, is more like a monster truck rally. It's more about the spectacle than the race, the games go long, and it's not usually clear who's in the lead until there's only one truck left.*
Single player EDH is like two guys smacking each other with pillows... until one of them pulls out a shotgun.
Looks like plenty of diversity to me.
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She told me this and I quote:
“Hopefully” clearly implies she wants to but is waiting on Wizards. This makes my little eyebrows twitch.
I talked to her about her new book and it is beautiful. Stories about angels. I love angels and expressed my undying love for her style and how she always made them so angely, I really think her water colour style is perfect for it, a lot of the recent art in the last sets have disappointed me, excluding Greg Staples, Steve Argyle and Terese Nielsen.
She continued;
That was sweet.
So I looked up some of her "recent" activities and it doesn't have to all be about angels, it could be dragons:
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Dragon-Jane-Yolen/dp/1595827986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320863388&sr=1-1
Or anything that needs a touch of beautiful.
http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Book-Ballet-Stories/dp/1846862620/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320863388&sr=1-4
Sorry about using amazon as links, some things were too new for google, it was easiest for me and I couldn't find a better descriptive tool.
Here is a link to her new book; it only came out yesterday so we’re just in time
http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Angels-Various/dp/1401232000
Magic to me is 75% art and 25% game.
The game is top marks and the art is better than anything else out there but without Rebecca it just doesn’t have as much soul, heart and purity.
Living End Contributor and Enthusiast
Come Pucatrade with me
Rules Advisor
Modern: BRGLiving EndGRB
Legacy: UBGShardless BUGGBU
BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB
WURNarset NostalgicRUW
UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU
UBlue BraidsU
GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WBRAleshacratsBRW
UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU
URGYasova the ThreateningGRU
BGGlissa the ArticiferGB
WUSygg MerfolkUW
RSquee, Value NabobR
I never got a chance to have my piece about what I read over this thread as I was too excited to report my dialogue with Rebecca.
I find it very rich, rich in the way that hypocrisy is rich when I hear people say that Rebecca Guays art has no place or does not fit in this set or in Magic now. It's like saying Santa is no longer hip and Kanye West should be the new Santa. These people have no taste or are blind, ignorant or just plain stupid.
Just looking over my fat pack encyclopedias I see tons of art that resembles or IS Rebecca Guays. This means their argument is completely invalid.
If her art does not fit then why are they repeating it?
As for modern sets and new art, why does so much of it look like her style?
Terese is VERY similar. I thought Angel of flight Alabaster was hers the first moment I saw it and jumper out of my skirt. Now I love Howard Lyon.
It is also insulting to see people say she only does one pose. If by one pose they mean beautiful then theyre right, but if they bothered to look at any of her other art be it other cards from the beginning to the end or anything outside of Magic then they will be eating their words.
Up your bum haters.
This is going to sound harsh, perhaps not as much as 'up one's hindquarters, people with whom I disagree", but... are you blind? Lyon and Nielsen look nothing like Guay. Nielsen uses a completely different variety of colors, and if anything her style is edging towards Scott Fischer (or the other way around, but I leave that to the historians). Lyon's painting has a polish to it, a smooth, backlit quality. You might get away with comparing him to Chan or Chippy, since most of what he's done for Innistrad is pale women in white dresses.
Neither of them approach Guay's technique. Nils Hamm and Stephanie Law have a couple that come near Guay's, but Hamm's work is usually much darker, and Law packed in excruciating amounts of detail.
I'm willing to admit that Rebecca Guay is definitely unique in Magic's art, even if I don't lick her ankles every time she paints a card. Loving every single illustration an artist does for Magic is just as uninformed as hating every illustration an artist does for Magic.
She told us that the then-art director had told her that her work was too feminine for the game & no longer desirable.
So we fired up the community & did our best to let WotC know that we didn't agree & would like to continue seeing her included in the roster. It worked, sort of.
It's a little sideways to this topic, but it's always been a branding issue. They decided at some point that they wanted the art to be recognizable as Magic:the Gathering style art. I guess it worked – I picked up a D&D book the other day & thought it was a new Magic graphic novel! But no, it was just WotC's homogenized art department.
the big difference?
former Ad-jeremy cranford=not a fan
present Ad-jeremy jarvis=a fan
yea for Mr. Jarvis!
That is what scares me. Rebecca I think is being political. You don't tell the fans the truth because you don't want to burn a potential employment bridge.
That scares me so much. Time and time again in our lives personality clashes ruin it for everyone.
Everyone needs to have ice cream eating fights to watch each others faces contort in ice cream headache discomfort, it totally totaaallyyyy brings people together.
I think I don't like the names Jeremy and Jarvites, it seems to be the name for people with power that make choices I don't agree with. My other example is Gamesworkshop.
To explain what I mean Blackblade I will use Rianalnns:kittybread: post below to illustrate:
So, what I mean is not the palette or the colours, sharpness or any of the brush to paper or finger to mouse. Its about the things she has been shunned for.
The following comment can be read inside out:
Yeah.:weird:
I do not disagree with you Blackblade, Just want you to understand what I see. Most importantly is that I would like everyone to see that her art does fit because it is not too far removed from other currently active artists. That may have been the case a few years ago when most of the art was crappy:bunny: Now that terrible phase has gone we can rejoice and bring beauty back.
As for licking ankles... You're right.
But I would rather have high tea with club sandwiches and tea cakes with Rebecca. You can lick my ankles, that's such a pleasing image.
That's the story behind Persecute Artist from the second Unglued, isn't it? I found a signed foil one at an event somewhere...probably one of my favorite cards now. I've been a fan of her work since Sustaining Spirit in Alliances.
cranford was vocal that guays art in his opinion didnt fit the magic brand and environments. he basically said as much that he didnt intend to use her anymore till an outcry of great qans declared "foul"
jarvis is a fan-
that is not guay saying this-its just the facts that came out on these boards
my opinion? guay is my fav artist, is a great person and her art is welcomed and fits in any set, enviroment, ect-im all for different styles of art-art that is homogonized and all looks the same from set to set is boring to me
I understand your point, but I'm not sure you understand mine. I'm saying that Guay is unique among Magic artists. Call her painting more feminine, beautiful, whatever you choose. She different, and that's not a bad thing, except that there are several cases where the cards she illustrates run together. It's not entirely her fault if she's assigned similar cards, but it doesn't change the reality that there are instances where her work becomes less a case of consistency, and one of repetition. I still don't think that her work looks a thing like Nielsen's or Lyon's, even though they've all painted angels.
And don't presume Guay was the only artist excommunicated during the period of artistic flux around Kamigawa and Ravnica. Ron Spears, Ed Beard Jr. and several others were also denounced for not upholding the "Magic meets Matrix" criteria that was laid out for them. Does it suck? Of course it does, because there are a lot of good artists who, schedule permitting, deserve the boost a Magic gig provides. You will find very few artists who aren't willing to admit that working for Magic has earned them more fans.
So you like homogeneity? Well, you're entitled to your opinion, I suppose. I really miss when there was a greater variety of art styles, with unique and characteristic artists like Guay, RK Ferguson, and Ron Spencer all in the same set. I feel like now, artists are interchangeable, and I think that's a shame.
Art has always been a very subjective matter. With regards to MTG, I would say that these artists built their reputation based on their distinctive styles since they started.
At the moment, I do have some problems guessing the artist's art on a particular card except for some like Rebecca Guay, Mark Tedin, RKF, etc.You look at the card and you just know it's one of them.
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