Where to commission an artist for alter artwork?
Gear forum
Posted on April 3, 2017, 1:58 a.m. by StopShot
Hello, I'm a red-white-black EDH player. My deck runs Wrath of God, Damnation, and Chain Reaction. I know Chain Reaction isn't the same word-for-word, but I'd like to commission an artist to make it look like a red version of the Wrath of God/Damnation artwork. (The more similar in art style the better.)
Preferably, I want to commission someone who can make digital artwork of it since I know someone who can template and produce any card so long as you provide the artwork. I'd prefer that than someone painting over the specific card. Any ideas where to look and ask around?
If you want this to be legal, please consider commissioning someone to do it with acrylic paint. I do alters like this, but I'm not good enough to take on this one. A good place to start is the Official Altered Art Thread on mtg Salvation. Be prepared to pay some real cash for this tho.
April 3, 2017 12:38 p.m.
Yes, I'm fully aware that this makes the card non-tournament legal, but if I ever were to go to a tournament I'd always bring the original card with me as proof I own the card or if the tournament requires me to swap that fake card out with the real one, but for me this is for my casual play-group who uses proxies for cards all the time, so this is no problem for me.
@mansfordm Do you have an art gallery I can look at so I can see your work for myself? Also while I would love for the artwork to look like a wrath variant, I don't want it to have the exact same landscaping just everything tinted red. I want it to have just as much difference in landscape that Damnation and Wrath of God have between each other. I'd also like it if there was also a bit more of a thunderstorm-like feel to the art. Same red ball in the middle, but maybe electrical charges would replace the swept up dust in Wrath of God and a faint lining of clouds would be seen just above the orb.
@TheDevicer, The reason I prefer not to have painted-alters is over the fear that the paint might scratch off one day and that the card would feel unnaturally thicker or uneven especially when shuffling the card. If legal problems come up I'll make sure to carry the original on my person as proof of ownership of if I must swap the card out for an event, but this is mainly for my casual EDH group.
Wrath of God and Damnation's artwork was both created by the same artist, Kev Walker, but I can't find a way to contact him, so I'm trying to find someone who can imitate his art-style so that the cards can line up in similarity as much as possible.
April 3, 2017 3:01 p.m.
If the alterist knows what they're doing, they'll spray the card with matte varnish both before and after painting, so the card itself is pretty darn resistant to any kind of wear and tear. If you double sleeve your deck, you'll end up having great protection. Incidentally, I double sleeve my alters and can't tell the difference between normal cards and alters though I work with great quality paint.
April 3, 2017 4:44 p.m.
Heres a link to my facebook gallery.
https://www.facebook.com/mansford.masters/media_set?set=a.10207282311009883.1073741840.1648012104&type=3
Hope that works. All of the actual alters I've done have been with acrylic paints. Proxies are another thing. However, I also have another album with just my digital artwork in it.
Anyway, I've never sprayed mine with matte varnish because I heard it makes the card significantly thicker, and I haven't noticed any wear on any of my alters through the months that they have been sleeved up.
Also, just a suggestion, but wouldn't Blasphemous Act be more flavorful?
April 4, 2017 12:43 a.m.
@mansfordm, sadly the link doesn't work. Then again, I don't have a facebook account.
I'd prefer Chain Reaction because the CMC and its function as boardwipe almost feels like a color-shifted version of Wrath of God. It may not be as powerful as Blasphemous Act but I feel Chain Reaction fits more of red's theme since you see an electrical storm whereas Blasphemous Act feels a little more ambiguous since it leaves you with the end result in its artwork never showing what exactly happened in the first place.
April 4, 2017 1:10 a.m.
@mansfordm - I highly recommend winsor and newton's matte varnish spray. I guarantee it won't add to the thickness noticeably and the finished product looks much more uniform. The spray helps smooth the transition between paint and printed card a ton.
mansfordm says... #2
Hi there. I have some experience doing alters. What you are asking for is actually quite simple; I would simply download a picture of the original wrath of god artwork and edit in photoshop so that it is red to fit chain reaction. And then from there you can take the digital artwork as you described and print it onto a card. This involves using acetone to remove the ink from a card, and then running it through an inkjet printer to create the proxy.
One very important thing to keep in mind: cards proxied this way are by no means constructed legal in any format. Cards that have only been altered are still legal. Of course this is almost irrelevant in EDH, but still important to know.
If you would like me to take a stab at doing this artwork for you, I would be more than happy. I have a couple of art galleries I could provide links for if you'd like to see some of my other stuff.
Other than myself the only resource I know of is this facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/317073058415183/?fref=ts
April 3, 2017 2:35 a.m.