Anyone else miss Rebecca Guay?
General forum
Posted on Sept. 18, 2013, 9:09 a.m. by graft
Well not Rebecca herself, but rather her art. Rebecca Guay's art was always a unique inclusion for this game. While her style was never going to match the quasi-realistic art of folks like Jason Chan or Eric Deschamps -- or the grittiness of Raymond Swanland or Greg Staples, I think that Theros was the perfect opportunity to bring her back into the fold after years of being away. Instead all we get are endless Auramancer
reprints and the odd Hana Kami
or Peppersmoke
reprint in Modern Masters.
Instead, imagine if Rebecca had done the art for the Sylvan Caryatid
. Or the Emissary cycle. Or Swan Song
. Or the dryad/naiad/oread/alseid/lampad cycle. Or anything that Nils Hamm does the art for really.
Do we really need a convergence of art styles on our cards? Personally, I enjoy being able to instantly recognize the artist based on the card. As opposed to this: look at the art for Chained to the Rocks
. Sure, it is technically sound art, but could you identify the artist by looking at it? It could have been produced by a CG team for all of the individuality it (doesn't) contain. Without individuality, it resonates less with the player.
In my opinion, Theros was a missed opportunity to bring back Rebecca. The heavy enchantment theme goes perfectly with Rebecca's art style. And while I'm certain that when many people think of the visuals of Greek/Roman mythology they think of the movie Gladiator, I also think there is a subset of people who recognize that Greek and Roman art actually coincides closely with Rebecca's style. Go ahead and google something like "roman mural" or "roman pottery" if you don't believe me.
With that, I'll step down from my soapbox. What do you think? Should Wizards bring back Rebecca Guay?
yes, i do like Rebecca Guay art and i do know some huge fans of her that collects all Rebecca Guay art cards,
September 18, 2013 9:26 a.m.
Wow, yeah Arthur Rackham is a nearly spot-on for Rebecca's style. After a tiny amount of additional research, it appears that Arthur Rackham may have been inspired by another illustrator, John Bauer. Such is the rabbit hole of art and inspiration, I suppose.
September 18, 2013 9:51 a.m.
I love Rebecca, and wish she would come back. I have many of her cards, including a few signed pieces. She's my favorite artist by far. I even have a deck of only cards she did the art for. Do we know why she hasn't done anything recently?
September 18, 2013 10:01 a.m.
Maybe Theros didn't have enough willowly blonds for her to put into every single piece of art she ever made.
September 18, 2013 10:20 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #8
It all depends on the character of the set and whether or not an artist's style fits with the general direction. The examples in the OP from Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block are great for Rebecca Guay, because the general feel of those sets involved a lot of dreamlike and traditional fairy-tale type stuff. I think that's also the reason why Omar Rayyan hasn't done anything for Magic since Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. His art just wouldn't fit anywhere else we've been since then.
Also, over the years there's just becoming less and less of a place for Magic artists who produce either high art style or comic book style material as opposed to something more steeped in realism or traditional sci-fi and fantasy. Because of the move to continually upscale and mainstream the game, there are many iconic works of art from the game's past that just wouldn't fly today. That's sad in a way, but it's also led to an overall increase in quality (I personally still love the art for Stasis , but no... just no).
September 18, 2013 10:42 a.m.
I think when they do promos and FTV etc is the perfect chance to get cool artists to do cool art for cards that I suppose don't have to match a full set and therefore allows for much more individual cards rather than all art needing to blend and match etc. Maybe the way the YMTC votes were done could be used to pick art in some future cards or even sets of cards (like the titans or something) we could be given 4 pieces of art for one titan then once one has won that artist does the 5 of them. I dunno just thinking out loud. I don't know many people happy with the outcome of the YMTC so maybe this idea could replace that! lol
September 18, 2013 10:54 a.m.
@Jp3ngu1nb0y: From an official standpoint, I believe Rhadamanthus is correct -- Wizard's vision of [insert set name here] doesn't mesh well with Rebecca's style.
@Devonin: Heh, 8/10 good troll, would be trolled again.
@Rhadamanthus: I can understand the trend towards higher quality work. I mean, I remember being a kid and cracking a Murk Dwellers (or anything from Homelands (or Gift of the Woods )) and being about as wtf as a kid could be. I just tire of the homogenization that has followed the increased quality. I suppose there are folks who lament losing Phil Foglio as well, so maybe I have to look at the bright side.
@ maiden77: I like your idea, that they could do a YMTC for promo cards. Run a poll that lets people choose a card to reprint (list of four), then a second poll that lets them choose the artist (list of four), then WotC commissions the art based on the poll, possibly with another poll to select from a few different sketches. Nice idea!
September 18, 2013 12:49 p.m.
HarbingerJK says... #12
Her art looks too much like the art on older magic cards from before 8th edition, that's probably why we're not seeing her anymore
September 18, 2013 12:51 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #13
@graft: I am one of those people who lament the loss of artists like Drew Tucker, Susan Van Camp, and Phil Foglio. =P
However, I will not hesitate to admit that their respective styles just aren't appropriate for Magic anymore.
September 18, 2013 1:58 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #14
Man why doesn't anyone miss Julie Baroh? The wonderful artist of cards like Tetsuo Umezawa and Gwendlyn Di Corci sarcasm
September 18, 2013 2:31 p.m.
@Rhadamanthus A good friend of mine has a binder called the Foglio Folio, and contains a copy of every cart Phil Foglio did the art for. You are not alone in missing him.
I just don't often like the goofy style of someone like Foglio, or the dreamlike style of someone like Guay.
I'd say my favorite artist for Magic is John Avon, and will likely stay that way. Zoltan Boros and Gabor Szikszai were pretty strong contenders too.
September 18, 2013 2:40 p.m.
Just to clarify, I also enjoy a good Phil or Kaja Foglio. They were just a bit too goofball for a game that wants to be taken seriously. For Drew Tucker in particular, I think the higher printing quality employed today would have lent his work some tangibility that simply wasn't present in the early days of Magic. The relatively blurry printing was enough to make his watercolors tough to discern.
SharuumNyan says... #2
Her art style is so unique in Magic that it sticks out too much, and they seem to want cohesive art in sets now. It is beautiful though.
If you like her art, check out Arthur Rackham. I'm pretty sure he was her inspiration.
September 18, 2013 9:17 a.m.