Duals of the Planeswalkers

A surprising amount of people thought the Sapphire I posted earlier this month was just a Unglued Island with a gem slapped on. I certainly take it as a compliment. Hopefully this guy garners less confusion.

A Brony History

Long before the brony craze, local superstar Tim Pskowski commissioned this card in 2008.


To date, Tim is proud he was so ahead of the curve. Not much has changed these past few years. My third MLP commission:

Abby Normal

Great Halloween movie.

The Picasso Collection

I just added another Picasso to the resume, so I felt this might be the opportune time to see them all together. Working on the JTMS, I never thought this would be become a 'thing.'


The freshly painted Picasso Chainer:

On a Mission

This past weekend, I had a brief chat with SCG Event Coordinator and Judge Nicholas Sabin. I love Nick. He's always looking to make sure the Open weekends are enjoyable for everyone and is overall a great guy to talk to. After asking about my weekend and potential commissions Nicholas said something that surprised me.

"You should raise your rates."

I've raised my prices a few times over the past several months and I'm used to, at least, a little sticker shock when people find them out for the first time. For reference, I currently charge $60 on a basic commission. I told Nicholas that I'd love to be pulling in more income, but seeing as I'm one of the more expensive artists in the community already, it just isn't feasible at the moment. More and more Magic players are starting to alter. The community has become increasing aware of alters, and demand, along with competition has never been higher. This all got me thinking about my mission when I started altering full-time nine months ago. So what's the big picture here?

I love art and I love Magic. Being naturally competitive, I want to produce the best work in the community and never sacrifice quality for dollar signs. Over the past few months my goal has been to convince people that one, I truly believe those words. And two, the cost is worth the work. Currently I only complete about one alter every 4-6 hours and two total on any particular day. Is it a grind? 100% Do I love my job? You better believe it.

I guess my point is: thank you. To those who have noticed the time and energy I try to put into each card and who visit the blog week in and week out.

PS. Stay classy:

You Say Obliterator, I Say...

A week ago my fiancee asked me what I'd want to do if I weren't an artist. I eventually settled on either architect or engineer of some sort. This card got me thinking about it again. I love doing drawings of machines and the like. Likely why my style leans towards the very crisp and clean. That's a fair amount of self-reflection stemming from a killer robot.

The Most Bizarre

The most bizarre alter I've ever completed.


Yes, that's Shaquille O'Neil, and yes, those are little Kobe's.

Lo Pan

With the bulk of my work being commissions these days, I end up producing a lot of paintings I wouldn't normally come up with on my own. That's not to say they don't end up being interesting images. Recently I was asked to reproduce a woodblock-like image of Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China. A strange character to say the least.


At the end of the day, all the intricate lines and detail made this a fun and challenging piece to do. You never know going in!

Hello Neighbor

Another wholesome Tutor finished this weekend at SCG Baltimore. Had a blast painting, chatting, interrupting coverage, and getting my play skill berated by GerryT while cubing with friends. Can't wait for Charlotte!

For Sale!

For those that don't have the opportunity to purchase cards from me at events - here's your chance. I'm closing out my inventory in order to make time to build up a new stock for SCG Charlotte in December. Several of these are at a reduced price from what I'm asking at events!

Email me if you're interested: eaklug at gmail. Free shipping inside US. Payments accepted through PayPal only.

Sword of Body and Mind - SOLD

Brainstorm - SOLD

Frost Titan - SOLD

Dismember - $55


Splinter Twin - $50


Spellskite - SOLD


Loxodon Warhammer - SOLD


Maelstrom Pulse - SOLD


Mental Misstep - $40

One. Two. Two Life Ah Ah Ah

Proud to have upped my Sesame Street alter count to two.

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

Not being a Dr. Who fan myself, I had this explained to me. Apparently there are these angel statues that are sort of like a reverse gorgon. Meaning if you keep your eyes on them they remain harmless statues.


But as soon as you blink, all bets are off.


Savor the flavor.

Liliana Nouveau

One of last commissions from Indy before I head off to SCG Baltimore this weekend.

Sapphire Part II

The finished product:

Sapphire Part I

At SCG Indy a former client convinced his friend to let me help save his Mox. He obtained the card this way so unfortunately we don't have the story behind it. I posted it on Twitter earlier today:


Neither knew what should be done with a card, but after a brief brainstorming session lightning struck. Because I like previews, here's the work in progress:

Demoralizing the Opponent 101

This playset is complete. Here's the first one I did back at SCG Cinci.


And the client commissioned the remaining three at SCG Indy.


Makes me want to hum merrily while casting High Tides and Time Spirals.

Nosferatu

Getting into the upcoming holiday spirit.

A face for radio, to say the least.

DFC's

It took me a while, but I finally got around to altering my first Innistrad card. And first double-faced card for that matter!

3D!

Way back at Gen Con Indy in August the GatheringMagic writers had a staff dinner. Throughout the meal Drew Sitte (of 3-D alter fame) and I had a lengthy discussion on the business of altering and where the future might take us. Somewhere throughout that conversation we struck upon the idea of a painted, 3-D alter. And even luckier, Mike Linnemann committed right then and there to make it happen. I've kept the project on the down low for some time, waiting to see Drew work his magic on the 4 partial extensions I created. Be sure to check out Drew's side of the story today on GatheringMagic!

Ascend!

Finished a Seurat Ascension last night, and we have all four together:


Working on some more Watchmen this afternoon. A lot of exciting pieces in the works. Stay tuned!

Pablo Combo

Doing a Picasso-inspired alter isn't the easiest as there's no real reference to base the work off of. I've done a few pieces in this style now. With this one, I decided to go very geometric. But before I settled on a finished design, I wanted to add an element that really screamed Picasso. A small detail from his painting Guernica made for a nice goblin sorcerer.

Steve

I've never played Minecraft, but seeing as this is my first 8-bit alter, I thought I'd post it.

Andy Ascension

Remember that episode of Pokemon that gave those kids seizures? Those with a delicate visual cortex may want to look away now. The Andy Warhol Ascension:

We've Got Candy, Get In the Van Gogh

I've done a few Van Gogh pieces now, but I think this card is the most suited for the style.


This is just one in a set of artist-inspired Ascensions. So if you like that sort of thing - there's more to come!

This Is Not a Jace

Quick Art History lesson. René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist painter working throughout the first half of the 20th Century. Much of his work is distinguishable by strange men in bowler hats.

The Son of Man, 1964.

One of Margitte's most famous paintings however, doesn't feature any of these portraits. The Treachery of Images depicts a pipe with the French phrase, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" translating to, "This is not a pipe." Indeed, it's merely an image of a pipe.

The Treachery of Images, 1928-29.

I've always loved Magritte's paintings and for a while I've been looking for the opportunity to create an alter inspired by him. So when Max Sjöblom, of Pro Tour Top 8 fame, asked me to do some artist-inspired alters - I knew I had my chance. Meet Magritte Jace:

Truly, this is not a Jace.

SCG Indy

I always forget how fun these weekends are...

Here's a neat shot of the booth:


One of the commissions on the weekend:


Which coincidentally belongs to the owner of this:


See you in Baltimore!