Another Month Gone By

Today marks another month completed here on the ol' blog. I'm reasonably happy with the rate I'm posting new content (5-6 days a week) and the response has been fantastic. Thanks to all those who visit daily and are providing feedback on Twitter.

SCG Atlanta is on the horizon and I'll be back at the table painting, taking commissions, and just having an overall good time. Here's just one the card I'll have for sale at the event:


Hope to see you there!

The Ultimate Marker Job

Sometimes the alters I do aren't flashy. They don't contain any clever idea. They just aim to pimp.



What's that? Where are the alters?

You see Matt Kranstuber of the In Contention podcast wanted some Beta duals for one of his cubes. He already owns one set, but rather than shell out another several thousand he commissioned me to clean up some Unlimited copies - complete with two-tone borders and Beta dots for the corners. And before anyone cries foul, no, the idea isn't to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. It's clear the cards aren't printed upon close inspection. Besides, I imagine Kranny will be cubing with these guys for quite some time.

The Joy of Altering

I've wanted to do this portrait for quite some time:

Groo

This tends to be my demeanor during most EDH games.

This Guy's Got Flash

It just so happens after I did Vader, my other Star Wars commission arrived in the mail. Sometimes an idea just works perfectly for a card - I noticed the flavor text while painting.

To save this plane, he must forsake all others.

Vader Wants YOU!

For the first time in the past several months, I had enough of a break today to paint something of my own. I eventally decided on a little Modern for my display at SCG Atlanta.

Roses Are Red, Lotuses Are Black

What can I say about altering another Lotus? For a while I've had the idea of doing a Lotus that was a take on Volkan Baga's alternate art Moxes. The pieces were created as prizes for the Annual Vintage Championships, but when it came time for Black Lotus, Rush did a similar spin on his original. I felt like Lotus deserved the Baga treatment. Being an Asian flower, it seemed only appropriate to include an Asian local in the background. In this case, it's the Kinkaku-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto will always hold a personal significance when it comes to Magic, as it was the location of my first Pro Tour. The entire city screams of history; I couldn't think of a better canvas for painting one of it's most famous spots.

Obviously there's a certain stigma surrounding painting on cards of this rarity, so if it makes any of you feel better, the card was extremely beat and remains markered on the back. Perfect for a restoration project!

Djinn and Tonic

Three down, two more to go. The rest of the cycle is on hold until I get the remaining cards in the mail. Until then, Mahatomi Djinn:

Pit Stop

I finished Kranstuber's Grave Titan/Lord of the Pit tonight. Two deep into this project, it's interesting work; creating some original art for a change. It's something I've done my entire life, but that has never been my schtick when it comes to altering. Regardless, I enjoy broadening my portfolio. I love Tedin's work - it's hard to capture the creepiness of the original. Hopefully Matt likes it!

Que Serra, Serra

Back at SCG Cinci my good friend Matt Kranstuber proposed an idea: feature an iconic Alpha/Beta creature on each of the Titans. And being the pimp-lover that he is, the Titans would be foil Japanese. Here's the breakdown:

Sun Titan = Serra Angel
Grave Titan = Lord of the Pit
Inferno Titan = Shivan Dragon
Primeval Titan = Force of Nature
Frost Titan = Mahamoti Djinn

Next up, Lord of the Pit.

Yo! MTG Taps!

About two weeks ago Joey Pasco of the Yo! MTG Taps! podcast approached me about doing a portrait project. After it was finished I had to hold off on posting until he delivered half the project to it's new owner. I give you the hosts of Yo! MTG Taps!:


Thanks Joey!

Oros

So you're Commander Tower functions in relation to your Commander. But where is he? Oh, there he is:



The birds follow him everywhere.

Meow

Finished the rest of the ThunderCats. I believe these are all going into one EDH deck along with some other 80's cartoon alters.

Jiki!

At Gen Con, I had the opportunity to sit down and play some Commander and commission a card for one of my opponents. He plays with a mono-red Kiki-Jiki deck, and you could say he's invested a little into his general. The man owns a regular copy, a foil copy, a Japanese foil copy, and a 3-D alter by Drew Sitte. Naturally I had to do some work for him:

Hey! What's that Kiki's pointing at?

A little final touch (with metallic paint, of course) wrapped this one up nicely.

Grab Bag II

Sometimes I'm working on so many different alters, there's no real, clear theme for blog posting. That definitely holds true for this week. I've been working on several ThunderCats and while saving them up to post all at once would be nice, I'm more interested in providing daily content. Here we go:

This one was tougher than it looked. There was quite a bit of
slow building up to achieve the soft transitions in the background.

Tygra, from ThunderCats

Lots more randomness on the way: Japanese foil Titans, Guru Commanders, Mario, and more!

I'm On a Moat

I'm on a moat, I'm on a moat.
I'm on a moat, I'm on a moat.
Everybody look at me 'cause I'm sailin' on a moat. Sailin' on a moat.

Middle Earth Problems

Here's a commission I picked up last weekend in Indianapolis. This is the second piece I've done inspired by a Hildebrandt brothers work. I'll just say they just have an amazing sense of composition and color. The Argonath:

First World Problems

Gen Con left me exhausted. All told I got about sixteen hours of sleep Wednesday through Sunday. I picked up several commissions over the weekend and I've spent the past few days organizing, replying to emails, and doing what little painting I can.

It looks like I'm back on track now and I there's some exciting posts ahead. Just a reminder to stay tuned as I resume my normal schedule. In the mean time, hop on over to GatheringMagic and check out my latest altering tutorial!

Here's an older piece to wet the appetite:


Eminem says, "Get back to work!"

Gen Con 2011

It's day three of Gen Con here in Indianapolis, and I'm already dreading tomorrow night when we all have to go back home. Here's a little taste of what's been happening.


Yesterday I got to try one of the coveted Megan 'MTG Mom' Holland cupcakes! It was promptly devoured. In the evening, GatheringMagic writers in attendance went out to dinner where I was able to snap this hand off between Untapped's Trick Jarrett and JR Wade.


The card in question?


Look for my article going up next week on GatheringMagic for an explanation!

The Full Set

This group came together nicely. After compiling all five images, I'm really digging how the cards compliment each other. Thanks goes to SCG's Wes Wise for giving me my first opportunity to work on the Moxes!

Save the Best For Last

The last two Guru Moxes have been a long time coming. I wanted to make sure everything else was off my plate so that I could give them the attention they deserved.


Sapphire to come...

Leaves of Three, Let It Be.

Leaves of Four, Eat Some More.

The blog hit 100,000+ views this afternoon. I couldn't be more thrilled with the response I've received in this first six months. Thanks to those who take the time to visit daily, and voice your support here, on Twitter, or anywhere else!

The shoot with Richard Castle went great today. The guy is a true professional and we had some excellent conversations as well. I look forward to seeing what he puts together between the interview with me, and the footage he took at my LGS. Here's something I started while he filmed this afternoon, and finished this evening.


Leave for Gen Con tomorrow. Wheeeeee!!

The Tenth Doctor

I've had several people suggest I do a Doctor Who alter, and a commission finally arrived at SCG Cinci. I'm happy to be wrapping up most of my work and getting ready for Gen Con this week. I'm also excited about a few other projects that are lined up. Richard Castle of the awesome Inside the Deck is coming up this afternoon to interview me, and another Altered Reality article is on it's way in the next week or two. Be sure to keep an eye out for both of those.


See you in Indy!