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Click card to see backside !
Magic Monthly Calendar 1995 | Illus. | Anson Maddocks | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | WotC product | 1994-? | | Info | Cover illustration: Hurloon Minotaur by Anson Maddocks. WOC9106 |
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Winter Orb (January) | Illus. | Mark Tedin | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Winter Orb" by Mark Tedin, 1993 Magic: The Gathering™— Unlimited Edition Illustration board, water color and gouache Light and action combine to give "Winter Orb" its realistic edge. Starting with a spherical object, Marks adds a twist by making the animal react to a mysterious unseen force. The illustration then becomes an active scene rather than a simple portrait. "I tend more to realism because it encourages the viewer to think it's an implied reality. Because the picture is fantastic, it's hard to make a subject look real. I can imply reality more with lighting and color than with a passive subject." |
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Dance of Many (February) | Illus. | Sandra Everingham | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Dance of Many" by Sandra Everingham, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— The Dark™ Gessoed masonite, acrylic By combining forms from other creatures to create new ones, Sandra explores her own visions of fantasy. Her imagination not only creates the images of these cloning creatures but also lends her the illustration's bright color scheme. "I wanted to make something that was fun and childlike. I just started visualizing these half-slug, half butterfly creatures slinking up these stairs. Usually, the sketch I do is my final sketch, and then that's what I paint. I sketched it out while watching some strange movie on TV." |
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Clockwork Avian (March) | Illus. | Randy Asplund-Faith | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Clockwork Avian" by Randy Asplund-Faith, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— Antiquities™ Illustration board, alkyd Detailed in his renderings, Randy brings a new form of dynamism to the cards of Magic: The Gathering. In this piece, the mechanical birds have spear points for talons, making weaponry part of their body. A spattering of blood and a dismembered body suggest a starting new look at the food chain. "I wanted to make something that meant business. I could pick something logical, but I also wanted to play on something powerful. I chose a lethal, mechanical predator that flew above the forest looking for prey. They're not just birds, they're killing machines." |
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Rubinia Soulsinger (April) | Illus. | Rob Alexander | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Rubinia Soulsinger" by Rob Alexander, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— Legends™ Watercolor paper, watercolor and gouache Painting with a wet-to-wet technique, Rob allows the background of this piece to float into the figure. The result has no clear lines of demarcation, evoking mystery and mysticism. A point of Trivia, Rob's model for this piece was Carol Monahan, direct of sales for Wizards of the coast, Inc. "Initially , the card was called Titania, Queen of Faeries (from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Dream). So I wanted something that suggested shapeshifting or the faerie world. Being the faerie queen, she would almost physically be a part of the world around her." |
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Sage of Lat-Nam (May) | Illus. | Pete Venters | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Sage of Lat-Nam" by Pete Venters, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— Antiquities™ Bristol board, acrylic Peter achieved the depth in this piece through the buildup of color on a sprayed black background. With increasingly lighter shades, he moved from shadow to highlight. " I wanted the suggestion of an old man who had been in his seat for a long time. That's why his beard travels along the stonework. I had the suspicion it was going to be a blue card. I wanted to test and see if I could get certain colors that would work with a blue card. There's blue along the chair and in the stonework. It's all complementary." |
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Lord of Atlantis (June) | Illus. | Melissa A. Benson | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Lord of Atlantis" by Melissa Benson, 1993 Magic: The Gathering™— Unlimited Edition Strathmore Series 500 paper, Bristol plate surface, dyes and color pencil Melissa used colors studies and intricate, symbolic patterns to create the unique image of a merman. Cool colors emphasize the deep sea, while warm colors define the creature. To illustrate the merman's ancient aquatic origin, Melissa drew his necklace as a trilobite, a prehistoric marine fossil. "I never liked the way mermaids or mermen have been made. I didn't want the stereotypical fin on the end, so instead I made the body like an eel's. It's a male figure and to help emphasize that I put the stylized fin on the shoulders. But since he's a leader, the fins take the place of epaulets." |
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Wyluli Wolf (July) | Illus. | Susan Van Camp | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Wyluli Wolf" by Susan Van Camp, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— Arabian Nights™ Daniel Smith non-buckling painting board, acrylic and airbrush Overlapping two distinct wolf images, Susan brings the fur and eyes into sharp detail. The composition is enhanced by the silhouettes of the wolf and moon. To Susan, these are the definitive symbols for wilderness and solitude. "I was trying to get a lonely, wild feeling—something that was associated with the desert. That's why I stuck with yellows, reds, and browns. I was told that [the card] was an Arabian Wolf. I was trying to get that feeling but stay close to the description." |
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Hurloon Minotaur (August) | Illus. | Anson Maddocks | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Hurloon Minotaur" by Anson Maddocks, 1993 Magic: The Gathering™— Unlimited Edition Illustration board, water-based media and color pencil Drawing on his education in physical anatomy, Anson brings to life this unusual image of a minotaur. The simple composition becomes dynamic through the addition of the creature's intricate ritual scarring. The illustration has gained so much popularity at Wizards of the Coast that the company adopted it as its mascot. "I wanted to draw something I've never seen before, and it had to be interesting—something that reflected the culture of the minotaur. I chose them to be ritualistic and used totem scarring. I think the picture is more evocative of a mood than an action—more like a powerful serenity." |
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Rag Man (September) | Illus. | Daniel Gelon | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Rag Man" by Daniel Gelon, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— The Dark™ Illustration board, acrylic gouache, color pencil, and watercolor In the original sketch, a stalker— almost invisible within a huge city scene— hid at a street corner. Through cropping, the creature became the piece's new focus. Daniel then created texture by scrubbing the illustration with a wet paper towel. Afterward, he reinforced the images with color pencil. "The concept is a boogey man that parents used to scared kids into going to bed— a parental scare tactic. I wanted something that resembled a street beggar in rags, but with long, clawed hands. It's what a child would feel creeping up behind him if he wasn't going to sleep." |
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All Hallow's Eve (October) | Illus. | Christopher Rush | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "All Hallow's Eve" by Christopher Rush Magic: The Gathering™— Legends™ Illustration board, acrylic paint Christopher went through more conceptual sketches on this painting than on any of his others. As the piece evolved, the mood became the central focus. Christopher wanted to convey a Halloween feeling in the piece, but more importantly, he wanted to depict Halloween to Dominia. "Not many people know this, but the painting of the pumpkin was done first, and I added the ghost later. It was by accident that [the ghost] seemed like the focus. I really like the way it turned out because the pumpkin looks like he's looking at the ghost and saying 'Aaaagh!'." |
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Vesuvan Doppelganger (November) | Illus. | Quinton Hoover | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Vesuvan Doppelganger" by Quinton Hoover, 1993 Magic: The Gathering™— Unlimited Edition Bristol board, India ink, watercolor, airbrush acrylic, and color pencil To achieve the doubled effect of this piece, Quinton first drew the image and then traced it in reverse. Although it is a study in simplicity, he considered the doppelganger his most experimental—and time-consuming—illustration to date. Not an airbrushing expert, he used primarly airbrushing and masking to created this piece. "The reason I picked "Vesuvan Doppelganger" is because doing [one] appealed to me. How to do the illustration came to me through the name of the card. That's the neat thing about Magic: The Gathering—everything develops through the name of the card." |
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Phyrexian Gremlins (December) | Illus. | Amy Weber | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Phyrexian Gremlins" by Amy Weber, 1994 Magic: The Gathering™— Antiquities™ Clayboard, acrylic gouache For her Antiquities illustrations, Amy created night skies painted in ultramarine blue—or "Amy blue," as she dubbed it. With every night sky is a moon., and with every star is the constellation Orion. "I didn't use a photo reference, and that's what unusual for me. I don't like to do things in a typical fantasy way. A lot of the general public have said that to me. In this picture, all I tried to do was not to make Spielberg's gremlins. They were fat and chunky. Mine were skinny and not very hairy." |
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Fog (January 1996) | Illus. | Jesper Myrfors | | Rarity | | | Color | | | Source | Magic: The Gathering 1995 Calendar | 1994-? | | Info | "Fog" by Jesper Myrfors, 1993 Magic: The Gathering™— Unlimited Edition Illustration board, acrylic Jesper's use of muted greens and browns in this piece helps create a mood reminiscent of Seattle morning fog. The result is a glimpse into a fantasy world in which the fog conceals much and skews our perspective. " I was trying to go for a feeling of depth and subletly. I remembered going to school in the mornings and looking at the playing field through the fog. That was the look I was trying to achieve." |
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