MTG looking for new Art Director

[jrsthethird]

With all the complaining about how bad the art has gotten, this should be good news for everyone. At the end of his article (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/themata-2015-10-26) today, Maro linked to this:

http://company.wizards.com/about/careers/art-director-magic-job-renton-wa-us?careers-view=1

It doesn't look like they're going to be going back to the classic stuff, but a new eye might make the digital stuff more appealing. And obviously if any Sourcers are interested and qualified, there's your chance!

[Barook]

Thank God. BFZ was downright insulting in terms of art direction: "Zendikar? Better put some hedrons on it!"

[sdematt]

First thing I would do: Fire everyone.

Then, who the hell knows? Hire the old ones back? Fuck yeah. We'll exhume Hoover if we have to.

-Matt

[meffeo]

We'll exhume Hoover if we have to.

Indeed. Bring back the Hildebrandt Brothers (http://www.brothershildebrandt.com/magic1.htm).

[Rome]

Jesper Myrfors was the best art director in the history of magic. He said whats the ability of the card, and the artist drawed whatever they wanted, and if the mind in free, you can create much much much better artworks, than if you have a discribtion for every detail.

[barcode]

Please hire whoever it was for Mirage and Tempest blocks.

Ban digital for a year and see how it looks. Maybe we can get the kids of today interested in the original Magic art stylings.

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Keep Rebecca Guay and Tierese Nielsen (sorry if I misspelled their names). In fact, promote either one or both to head director: they do such terrific art already that I find it hard to believe they can't help clean up such gems as Yoke of the Damned (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=338474)

(seriously that is the ugliest **** goblin I've seen, even among other Jund goblins)

[Ace/Homebrew]

(seriously that is the ugliest **** goblin I've seen, even among other Jund goblins)
Pretty sure it is a demon... See favor text.

Yoke of the Damned


MTG looking for new Art Director
Huzzah!


It doesn't look like they're going to be going back to the classic stuff.
We probably won't even notice the change then, but hopefully I'm wrong!

[H]

The "problem" isn't just digital. There are plenty of good digital pieces to go with the plenty of poor ones. There are tons of poor traditional ones too. The problem is uninspired design, sloppy composition/execution, lazy/hurried/poorly thought out pieces.

Mike's article here gives a pretty good run down on things here. (http://www.gatheringmagic.com/mikelinnemann-093015-battle-for-zendikar-art-review/) His other articles are pretty good too. (http://www.gatheringmagic.com/author/mikelinnemann/)

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Pretty sure it is a demon... See favor text.

Yoke of the Damned

So that's how you autocard here :P

Anyhow, despite having started right before Shards of Alara, Conflux, and Alara Reborn, I'm unfamiliar with that particular plane's lore. However, the background seems to depict a Jund setting as opposed to Grixis, and the focal character looks like a hairless version of the goblins on the Shards version of Dragon Fodder (including the rat-like tail). Might be a zombie one with the chain connected to a demon in Grixis, but that just makes me question the art even more.

[Barook]

The "problem" isn't just digital. There are plenty of good digital pieces to go with the plenty of poor ones. There are tons of poor traditional ones too. The problem is uninspired design, sloppy composition/execution, lazy/hurried/poorly thought out pieces.

Mike's article here gives a pretty good run down on things here. (http://www.gatheringmagic.com/mikelinnemann-093015-battle-for-zendikar-art-review/) His other articles are pretty good too. (http://www.gatheringmagic.com/author/mikelinnemann/)
Well, that was an interesting read, especially the expedition part which only reinforces the impression that Expeditions were rushed last-minute additions because BFZ was so god-awful.

Question is: Did they actually fire their art director (or remove him from his position) or do they just hire another one due to 2 blocks per year?

[Ace/Homebrew]

The focal character looks like a hairless version of the goblins on the Shards version of Dragon Fodder (including the rat-like tail). Might be a zombie one with the chain connected to a demon in Grixis, but that just makes me question the art even more.

Searching 'Shards Block' for Demons seems to confirm the character in Yoke isn't a Demon... although the set doesn't have any minor demons to compare it too.
It doesn't really look like the Goblins from the set either though. :rolleyes:

Goblin Mountaineer
Goblin Outlander
Jund Hackblade

[H]

Well, that was an interesting read, especially the expedition part which only reinforces the impression that Expeditions were rushed last-minute additions because BFZ was so god-awful.

Question is: Did they actually fire their art director (or remove him from his position) or do they just hire another one due to 2 blocks per year?

Got word from people who know things. He said, "Jeremy Jarvis is moving up the ladder. This is to fill his vacancy."

[Ace/Homebrew]

He said, "Jeremy Jarvis is moving up the ladder."
In other words, don't get your hopes up that the art style will be changing. WotC was obviously very pleased with the work Jarvis did and will look for someone to handle it in a similar manner.

[nedleeds]

Listening to artists at GP Vegas, Illuxcon etc. laugh about throwing a different filter on some old photoshop file and turning it in to WotC as accepted work is pretty miserable. Then you see the actual artists with painted work (Winona Nelson, Mark Poole, Jeff Easley, Omar Rayyan, Jim Pavalec, Greg Hildebrandt) in person and it's just fucking fantastic. It's depressing that with all the money they make off Magic they turn to shit rehash photoshop landscapes.

(from Mark Poole http://www.markpoole.net/gallery-1.html)

http://www.markpoole.net/uploads/2/7/6/2/2762580/9050296_orig.jpg

you see somebody like Mark's work in oil, in person and it's just amazing. Additionally the guy is part of the reason the game is successful today ... and they can't find a way to pay this guy what his work is worth and get ART back in the game. Pathetic.

Edit: Additionally I just blame children. The diabetic obese WoW / LoL generation who will all die of fucking rickets by age 35 have ruined what passes for art. What is being produced and put on Magic cards now is video game concept art. Or in some cases full blown video game assets, how do you think they make those lame animated Sarkhan things they play on coverage? Get of my lawn. I walked 4 miles through snow to get to school without a fucking iPhone to entertain myself.

[haganbmj]

nedleeds, you and I were talking to <artist-name> about this and it was interesting to see how rigid the art direction is now. With requirements that detail planar features, facial characteristics, weapons/armor/etc, poses, gestures, moods, themes, lore, composition, etc. it's no wonder the art now looks so stiff.
The artists have surprisingly little flexibility to inject their own design into each project now, and with the digital age of art changing the speed and capability of art directors to micromanage projects, it's just easier to work digitally where you have less setup and can more rapidly adjust to specifications and feedback.

When the original artists had to physically mail in their canvases for review there was more trust in their ability to create a story unique to each card, perhaps mostly because the review process was too intensive and slow for anything else.

[Wanderlust]

Please hire whoever it was for Mirage and Tempest blocks.

Ban digital for a year and see how it looks.

Sue Ann Harkey was the art director for Mirage block - which is by far my favorite era in Magic art. YES to bringing her back!

I don't think banning digital is really necessary, just choosing artists who make soulful, interesting, unique art, and allowing more abstraction back into the artwork. I personally tend to prefer art made with paint and ink over pixels, but there is some great digital art being made. Wizards just hasn't been finding it. It's like their recent art director(s) like boring, flat art.

[hymnyou]

I despise magic's new-world look. Really don't like it. But I cannot imagine a company this large only having one art director. When I read over the job description it does not seem like a lead AD but more a overworked designer/compositor that has to make art director decisions because the company is saving money by workhorsing employee(s). Outside of this, a new AD is introduced and understands main direction of the look given by the directors of marketing, sales, and CEO's etc. What I am saying is the 'suits' make a lot of the main decision making, for example an art director may hear something along the lines of 'we really like this 3-d video game look, can we do something with that? (plus a bunch of other wtf notes)' AD's usually establish + maintain a consistent look amongst multiple platforms. Typically Creative Directors hire the artists based on their bosses likes and what is most beneficial and consistent to companies styleguide/look. Not to burst bubbles but I personally don't see any overhaul on magic's look coming based on hiring a(nother?) AD.

I would imagine the move towards digital deals most with cost and speed. Shipping files vs canvas, the spike in digital artists, speed, faster revisions, re-using digital models etc. This is a plague that has infested many realms of the arts unfortunately.

[phonics]

The "problem" isn't just digital. There are plenty of good digital pieces to go with the plenty of poor ones. There are tons of poor traditional ones too. The problem is uninspired design, sloppy composition/execution, lazy/hurried/poorly thought out pieces.

Mike's article here gives a pretty good run down on things here. (http://www.gatheringmagic.com/mikelinnemann-093015-battle-for-zendikar-art-review/) His other articles are pretty good too. (http://www.gatheringmagic.com/author/mikelinnemann/)

This. The true auteurs of the medium are doing film or are locked up by video game companies like Ubisoft because they is too much demand for them to do stuff like magic cards. The change to digital is simply to get with the times, it isn't like art in the past was completely devoid of poor art/ technique. Much of the gripes about modern mtg art is the style change from iconic imagery towards more typical fantasy based illustration, which was done to appeal to a broader audience like most of the changes to the game.

[jrsthethird]

Got word from people who know things. He said, "Jeremy Jarvis is moving up the ladder. This is to fill his vacancy."

Whether we like his art or not, he's done a lot of work for the game and I can't imagine the company letting it go. There's always the possibility that his promotion was actively done to change the art direction without firing him. I like to think the bad ratings on art for the past two sets on the surveys have been heard loud and clear.

I'm glad we got this piece 3 months ago (and it's Legacy playable!). I hope there's more to come:

http://magic.wizards.com/sites/mtg/files/images/hero/DD20150825_icon.jpg

[Barook]

Whether we like his art or not, he's done a lot of work for the game and I can't imagine the company letting it go. There's always the possibility that his promotion was actively done to change the art direction without firing him. I like to think the bad ratings on art for the past two sets on the surveys have been heard loud and clear.

I'm glad we got this piece 3 months ago (and it's Legacy playable!). I hope there's more to come:

http://magic.wizards.com/sites/mtg/files/images/hero/DD20150825_icon.jpg
Wait, we got surveys? Are the results open to the public? :confused:

[MGB]

Just the other day I was looking through a bulk bin of Magic Origins and caught a glimpse of Auramancer, and thought to myself, "Wow, that art is pretty neat in the new frame. It's like an old-looking card with a new border." I think if they went back to the old-school artists, the game would look so much better and the contrast of the older, hand-painted work in the new border would be very cool. They should do a whole set with nothing but hand-painted art by Guay, Frazier, Tucker, etc just to show us what it's like, as a throwback. In fact, in keeping with the Origins spirit, they should have had the balls to do that with the entire set and not just a few select cards like Auramancer.

[jrsthethird]

Wait, we got surveys? Are the results open to the public? :confused:

They post it on the main site a week it so after a new set is released. I think they post it again a month later for those who missed the first one or who just didn't get a chance to play with the new cards yet. They show 25 individual cards and you rate them from 1 to 5 on Art, Name, Flavor Text, Play Value, and Overall. Then some general demographic questions and questions about the set as a whole.

I do not know how to obtain the results. If the artistic opinions of people who check the website frequently are as sour as the opinions are here on the art, it wouldn't be surprising if several bad art scores across the board would lead to a change in art direction.

[Seraphix]

...

Edit: Additionally I just blame children. The diabetic obese WoW / LoL generation who will all die of fucking rickets by age 35 have ruined what passes for art. What is being produced and put on Magic cards now is video game concept art.

...


Not to mention the blatant pandering to this demographic with scantly clad, unnaturally proportioned females.

[thecrav]

When I was 14, I had an account on Deviant Art.

So I'm probably overqualified for the job.

[ESG]

After reading that article and looking at some older cards, I wonder if part of the problem with today’s Magic art is that it’s poorly cropped and doesn’t work at a smaller scale. Many of the images I have seen online in articles about BFZ look more impressive than the images on the cards themselves. It’s possible that WOTC should experiment with more full-art or extended-art treatments, since those seem to usually be positively received.

I agree with most of Nedleeds’ old-man points, and I’ll add that the card border from recent years is pretty bad compared to the border from the game’s golden age. A bad or intrusive border detracts from good art. Changing the border and the type design every few years are probably prudent moves to reduce counterfeiting, but those measures can come at the expense of the card's appearance.

[H]

In other words, don't get your hopes up that the art style will be changing. WotC was obviously very pleased with the work Jarvis did and will look for someone to handle it in a similar manner.

Got better clarification:


From Wotc_Chris:

A little clarification here: The R&D art direction team for new creative products still consists of Jeremy Jarvis, Dawn Murin, Cynthia Sheppard and Mark Winters.
The position linked in the OP is actually for a position on Matt Cavotta's team focused primarily on video content

I did hear some stuff at illuxcon though.

Point still stands, nothing is really changing.

[force_of_phil]

Additionally I just blame children. The diabetic obese WoW / LoL generation who will all die of fucking rickets by age 35 have ruined what passes for art. What is being produced and put on Magic cards now is video game concept art. Or in some cases full blown video game assets, how do you think they make those lame animated Sarkhan things they play on coverage? Get of my lawn. I walked 4 miles through snow to get to school without a fucking iPhone to entertain myself.

I'd get up on Sunday to listen to you.

[jrsthethird]

Wait, we got surveys? Are the results open to the public? :confused:

It's up again. Go vent your frustrations:

http://surveys.marketpointsinc.com/surveys_0/wc1115gb8/Welcome.asp?pass=&src=2

[Barook]

It's up again. Go vent your frustrations:

http://surveys.marketpointsinc.com/surveys_0/wc1115gb8/Welcome.asp?pass=&src=2
Thanks, that's interesting. But:


Please identify your gender:
* Male
* Female
* Other/nonbinary
:eyebrow:

This shit needs to stop. Seriously.

[firebadmattgood]

Thanks, that's interesting. But:


:eyebrow:

This shit needs to stop. Seriously.

OMG how dare they try to be inclusive this cannot stand!

[Mr.C]

I think there are a couple of main issues:

- overly detailed art that does not fit the card size. Promo Thalia is a great example. You can't see the reflection of Avacyn in the card art even with a loupe, even though its a really cool detail.

- extremely restrictive art direction/descriptions. Have you guys seen the new guides for drawing? There's zero artistic liberty.

This is the description for Zurgo:


Setting: DRAGONS OF TARKIR
Clan: Kolaghan (BR)
Color: Red legendary creature
Location: In the encampment of the dragonlord Kolaghan

Action: This is ZURGO, who in the old timeline was the khan of the Mardu clan. Under the dragonlord Kolaghan, his stature is greatly reduced, both politically and literally. Now he accompanies the dragon and sounds a great dragonbell to rouse the horde to attack.

Start with Zurgo as he appeared in Khans of Tarkir, but with Kolaghan costuming like that of an orc shown in the world guide. He is still a tough warrior but now has a more wiry build rather than the massive brute he was in the old timeline. He still has his heavy greatsword, but he is swinging it at a MAN-SIZED BRONZE BELL. This is crudely cast, not like the elegant dragonbells of the Ojutai clan. It is mounted on a special harness of a hordebeast, something like the falcon perch shown in the Khans of Tarkir world guide.

In the distant background we might see a distant horde of KOLAGHAN-CLAN WARRIORS (mix of genders if they are visible) or a KOLAGHAN-BROOD DRAGON in the sky.

Focus: Zurgo
Mood: Get in there and fight!

I remember the old artists saying that they painted for a Magic card size. That's a big one.

[Barook]

That's pretty interesting. But that leaves a couple of questions:

- What was the art description of various BFZ cards? "MOAR HEDRONS"?
- What was the exact art description of the infamous "Semen Visions" promo?

http://media.wizards.com/2015/images/daily/cardart_160402.jpg

[menace13]

Thanks, that's interesting. But:


:eyebrow:

This shit needs to stop. Seriously.
She is stunning. Stunning and brave.