Just because something strives to emulate reality doesn't mean it has no style. Rembrandt's works are immediately recognizable via his use of light, brushwork and approach to composition. You would never mistake one of his painting for a Vermeer or Hals.
Speaking of Rembrandt, is it weird that I like his Carcass of Beef best from all his works?
Well I like this Jace art a lot. The last two Jace arts are pretty cool.
Older Jace art are quite weird and disconected with his character. His not a guy without a face, it made zero sense to illustrate him hooded and w/o expression every time.
I can see why most don't like though. Go to the 'worst arts thread' and you will any cards with real human faces have it's share of haters.
Dunno if you're still reading this Smokestacks, but:
I think that the Vraska half is super awesome, and very seductively dangerous with the way she is posed (like she just caressed the face of one of the statue dudes she made before stepping forward) and I like the Jace half. It's just a hood down shot, I don't think it looks all that weird, I thought Jace was a pale dude, and I think he looks good because his pose looks like he is pissed and ready to smack someone and kind of wary, which I kind vibe on him being as he is a politician now.
I don't understand the 1 glove thing and actually thing no gloves would look better, but that's probably in the style guide so w/e.
Play to win. If you don't, you're disrespecting everyone you're playing with by wasting their time. The Douchbag check is at the level of deck construction.
Well, it doesn't try to be reallistic. Like a comic, it has certain parts exaggerated. Therefore, according to the rules and guidelines of art, it is stylized.
Portraits by the old masters are nonstylized for example. Rembrand & Co tried to make their pieces as reallistic as possible.
I think you've misunderstood (also this is far more realistic than looking like "comic" art. Allow me to clarify:
Just because something strives to emulate reality doesn't mean it has no style. Rembrandt's works are immediately recognizable via his use of light, brushwork and approach to composition. You would never mistake one of his painting for a Vermeer or Hals.
Stylized and style are two very different things.
Rembrandt's use of light and brushwork etc are all part of his style. But, he doesn't stylize the things he's painting. He paint's them as they are in real life.
When you stylize a person, for example, you can exaggerate certain things about that person. Comic characters, stickfigures and a great deal of magic art are all stylized.
So for example a stick figure drawing would be highly Stylized.
Not to be confused with Style. I do not find the art for these planeswalkers lacking in Style.
The English language multi-purposes a lot of words which doesn't help.
True, Enlish can be a B sometimes. Still, Igor's Jace and Vraska is a stylized version of a human (and gorgon i suppose) and therefor this is stylized art.
I just hope this is an early indicator that Vraska is popular enough to get more cards in the future.
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Well I like the art. I think people just have feelings about how Jace "should" look. IMHO I like seeing different artist interpretations of characters. If Jace always looked the same that'd be awful.
Hey Smokestacks; i hope you are able to read this quick constructive critique.
- your delivery (i.e. the way you treat the medium, and the choices you made while constructing the image) is, for want of a better term, brilliant. the play of light and perspective, while not photoreal, is very well considered and atmospheric. as an artist myself, this is the thing i pay attention to when looking at figurative art, as even a small discrepancy rings "realism" alarm bells in your brain and pulls you away from the content of the image itself. thankfully, it appears you're very good at this =), and rightfully so.
- your depiction of vraska is fantastic. she is one of the more visually arresting characters in the MTG pantheon anyway, and your current version is no exception. bravo.
- Jace is represented cleanly and more well-proportioned than any previous incarnation. i welcome this change, as the couple of "manga" style versions really pull away from the general more gritty art style that Wizards promotes through their game. with regards to his facial expression (the thing that seems to be turning most people off this art) i say this: no two jaces have shared the same face. they have all been different, some radically different. for the first time we see jace displaying outward anger and tension, and something approaching movement, rather than "hey let's strike a dramatic pose" style art (which is more common and less creative). any criticism based on the idea that "he looks different, therefore i don't like it" is coming from people who either aren't paying attention to previous Jace artwork, or have only one particular version that they like, and nothing else will do. these are the kinds of people who's criticism you would do well to ignore.
- regardless of opinion, there have been many different-looking jaces. this one is the most moody, stern and emotive by far (previous Jaces have been kind of unexpressive, almost uninterested, like the world is beneath them) - thus, you could say it is perhaps the most effective and successful. whether or not people's fickle likes/dislikes are in favour of this doesn't really matter. people are quick to criticise and give knee-jerk reactions because it's easy and lazy. the few pieces of genuine criticism you've received have been majoritatively positive. take heart in this.
- lastly, to those people who think Jace's expression is wrong; take some photos of someone when they strike a pose. now take some photos of someone when they are unaware and in the middle of some expression or movement (specifically anger). their faces look different, no? there are muscles and expressions that you just can't pull or express unless you are genuinely experiencing that emotion. anger is one of these. sometimes in photographs it can appear like someone is an entirely different person because of their expression. take heed of this before trash talking a decent piece of art.
So reprints: What are you guys thinking? I'm going to guess Jace won't have any of the same cards in it from his last deck. However, that's not to say he won't have good cards. I'm guessing we will see some goodies because Wizards has been attempting to draw us into the duel decks. What goodies? Maybe
Yeah, and that guy doesn't look like Jace. You know, the characters from the novels.
The reason they do like to show him with a hood is cause he is a blue mage. That is like asking why garruk carries an axe in most his images. Blue magic is deception and control, I doubt any spy/puppeteer would be good if you could see him working in the background. I understand Jace is a good guy but that doesn't mean he goes around showing his face to everyone. Not to mention it makes you a big target if they can see you...
Jace is not a spy or a puppeteer. His not always running from someone or being persecuted. Jace does go around showing his face the vast majority of times he appeared in novels. Previous incarnations of him was the ones disconnected with his character, not last 3 ones (which clearly shows his face).
My only problem with his art is that it doesn't show a planeswalker, it shows a Jace but not a planewalker. There is no magic in that image, not even a wisp. Heck, even Gidion's art is more dominating then the new Jace.
A planeswalker card should look dominating, it's mythic and so deserves art that will immediately tell players how good it is without having to read the card. Looking at the art, I can't tell the difference between him and another azorius guild mage.
How much focus the character has is already the indicative of a PW card. He don't need to be breathing fire or doing barrel rolls...
PW are not stronger or more epic then other cards. They are just potentially recurring characters (because they can appear on different planes). There's no reason for Jace card scream POWER when in reality his not all that powerful.
I apologize in advance, but I could not resist doing this to the image....
I can't be the only one who thought that that's what they were seeing, right?
In all siriusness though, I do enjoy the art more than your regular jace just because of the more realistic approach. I actually HATE realism (Because why not just take a picture?), but this is done with just enough flare to make it work.
Now if only Jace decided to go hipster, he'd pull that off just fine.
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Oona, Queen of the Fae
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Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
So reprints: What are you guys thinking? I'm going to guess Jace won't have any of the same cards in it from his last deck. However, that's not to say he won't have good cards. I'm guessing we will see some goodies because Wizards has been attempting to draw us into the duel decks. What goodies? Maybe
I apologize in advance, but I could not resist doing this to the image....
I can't be the only one who thought that that's what they were seeing, right?
In all siriusness though, I do enjoy the art more than your regular jace just because of the more realistic approach. I actually HATE realism (Because why not just take a picture?), but this is done with just enough flare to make it work.
Now if only Jace decided to go hipster, he'd pull that off just fine.
I feel compelled to buy this DD just so I can alter the Jace artwork to this. Glorious.
Speaking of Rembrandt, is it weird that I like his Carcass of Beef best from all his works?
Older Jace art are quite weird and disconected with his character. His not a guy without a face, it made zero sense to illustrate him hooded and w/o expression every time.
I can see why most don't like though. Go to the 'worst arts thread' and you will any cards with real human faces have it's share of haters.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
I think that the Vraska half is super awesome, and very seductively dangerous with the way she is posed (like she just caressed the face of one of the statue dudes she made before stepping forward) and I like the Jace half. It's just a hood down shot, I don't think it looks all that weird, I thought Jace was a pale dude, and I think he looks good because his pose looks like he is pissed and ready to smack someone and kind of wary, which I kind vibe on him being as he is a politician now.
I don't understand the 1 glove thing and actually thing no gloves would look better, but that's probably in the style guide so w/e.
Anyways, I think it looks good. The whole thing.
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I think you've misunderstood (also this is far more realistic than looking like "comic" art. Allow me to clarify:
Stylization (scroll down to this entry):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_(visual_arts)
So for example a stick figure drawing would be highly Stylized.
Not to be confused with Style. I do not find the art for these planeswalkers lacking in Style.
The English language multi-purposes a lot of words which doesn't help.
Stylized and style are two very different things.
Rembrandt's use of light and brushwork etc are all part of his style. But, he doesn't stylize the things he's painting. He paint's them as they are in real life.
When you stylize a person, for example, you can exaggerate certain things about that person. Comic characters, stickfigures and a great deal of magic art are all stylized.
I think you know what i mean
True, Enlish can be a B sometimes. Still, Igor's Jace and Vraska is a stylized version of a human (and gorgon i suppose) and therefor this is stylized art.
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
There's a faint hope in the back of my mind that Wizards will pull a Sarkhan and put her in Journey into Nyx.
That said, Tybalt was also in a duel deck, and I believe MaRo has said his fate was still very much up in the air.
Really? This is just my opinion of course, but I think your Tezzeret is the best Planeswalker art currently in existence!
43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
The Attention Deficit Guy URGU
Goodjob and keep up the great work.
- your delivery (i.e. the way you treat the medium, and the choices you made while constructing the image) is, for want of a better term, brilliant. the play of light and perspective, while not photoreal, is very well considered and atmospheric. as an artist myself, this is the thing i pay attention to when looking at figurative art, as even a small discrepancy rings "realism" alarm bells in your brain and pulls you away from the content of the image itself. thankfully, it appears you're very good at this =), and rightfully so.
- your depiction of vraska is fantastic. she is one of the more visually arresting characters in the MTG pantheon anyway, and your current version is no exception. bravo.
- Jace is represented cleanly and more well-proportioned than any previous incarnation. i welcome this change, as the couple of "manga" style versions really pull away from the general more gritty art style that Wizards promotes through their game. with regards to his facial expression (the thing that seems to be turning most people off this art) i say this: no two jaces have shared the same face. they have all been different, some radically different. for the first time we see jace displaying outward anger and tension, and something approaching movement, rather than "hey let's strike a dramatic pose" style art (which is more common and less creative). any criticism based on the idea that "he looks different, therefore i don't like it" is coming from people who either aren't paying attention to previous Jace artwork, or have only one particular version that they like, and nothing else will do. these are the kinds of people who's criticism you would do well to ignore.
- regardless of opinion, there have been many different-looking jaces. this one is the most moody, stern and emotive by far (previous Jaces have been kind of unexpressive, almost uninterested, like the world is beneath them) - thus, you could say it is perhaps the most effective and successful. whether or not people's fickle likes/dislikes are in favour of this doesn't really matter. people are quick to criticise and give knee-jerk reactions because it's easy and lazy. the few pieces of genuine criticism you've received have been majoritatively positive. take heart in this.
- lastly, to those people who think Jace's expression is wrong; take some photos of someone when they strike a pose. now take some photos of someone when they are unaware and in the middle of some expression or movement (specifically anger). their faces look different, no? there are muscles and expressions that you just can't pull or express unless you are genuinely experiencing that emotion. anger is one of these. sometimes in photographs it can appear like someone is an entirely different person because of their expression. take heed of this before trash talking a decent piece of art.
cheers
And those are just ideas for Jace. I am hoping the deck remains Mono Blue though. There's something satisfying about Mono Blue Control.
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Yeah, doesn't seem like a card they would print in Standard either. Hell, I'd buy 4 for the Remands alone.
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Should look like a anime teenager doing poses ?
Yeah, and that guy doesn't look like Jace. You know, the characters from the novels.
Jace is not a spy or a puppeteer. His not always running from someone or being persecuted. Jace does go around showing his face the vast majority of times he appeared in novels. Previous incarnations of him was the ones disconnected with his character, not last 3 ones (which clearly shows his face).
How much focus the character has is already the indicative of a PW card. He don't need to be breathing fire or doing barrel rolls...
PW are not stronger or more epic then other cards. They are just potentially recurring characters (because they can appear on different planes). There's no reason for Jace card scream POWER when in reality his not all that powerful.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
I can't be the only one who thought that that's what they were seeing, right?
In all siriusness though, I do enjoy the art more than your regular jace just because of the more realistic approach. I actually HATE realism (Because why not just take a picture?), but this is done with just enough flare to make it work.
Now if only Jace decided to go hipster, he'd pull that off just fine.
I like Turtles
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 like your alter, very nice.
I simply put a Hitler mustache on the picture, the moment I seen it.
43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
The Attention Deficit Guy URGU
Cryptic Command is very highly unlikely, but Remand is possible, it is an uncommon that is desperately overdue for a reprint. Maybe Desertion?
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I feel compelled to buy this DD just so I can alter the Jace artwork to this. Glorious.