The second piece I did for Bloomburrow was called Arthur, Marigold Knight.

My first instinct was to present him leading the charge as shown in the first sketch. It felt befitting the description and the character as I understood it. I've done similar compositions to this in the past however, and I wanted to explore more options. So, I looked to art history for inspiration. I found it in the form of Gericault's “The Charging Chasseur.” And so I sketched that version, as well.

Can't explain why I drew either vertically when the card compositions are horizontal, but it felt right at the time. After all, you can always add to them digitally, which I did before handing both sketches in.
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#stevenbelledin #sketches #inspiration #illustration #artprocess

Arthur, Marigold Knight

For Magic: the Gathering
Oil on hardboard, sixteen inches wide by twelve inches tall.
AD: Zack Stella

As I pointed out in yesterday's post, I found inspiration in Gericault's "The Charging Chasseur," which was nice as it pushed me in a direction I likely would not have gone on my own—both in terms of gesture and palette. But that's also true of the set itself, which required me to paint these adorable little critters in the first place. I'm frankly relieved and a little surprised that I was trusted to be a part of this set owing to how often I'm asked to paint things that are either directly horror or horror adjacent. In all reality, I think I've painted enough horror stuff to last a lifetime at this point. Minimally, I was very ready to paint cute animals when this piece came along.

#stevenbelledin #illustration #mouse #oilpainting #artwork

The day has arrived--my MTG Secret Lair paintings are not secret anymore! Soul Warden, 36x30 inches, featuring the elegant Winona Nelson, fellow MTG artist, as my model.
This is part of the Secret Lair Summer Superdrop 2024, cards available starting Monday, June 24 at 9am Pacific to Sunday, July 14, 2024 while supplies last.

If you're curious about what those archetypes are, you can find them all here alongside some key cards to look out for.

White-Blue Flying
Falcons, faeries, and feathered folk of all forms are the faces of the flying deck. Fliers are an easy way to get damage past your opponent's creatures, so focus on aggressive creatures that can close out the game. A card like Healer's Hawk may look innocuous, but a one-mana flier that gains life is just what this deck needs.

Blue-Black Graveyard
Just because something has gone to the graveyard doesn't mean it's gone for good. Sometimes, dead is better when you're playing blue-black. Churn through your deck as you draw and discard cards. Then, utilize those cards you discarded with creatures like Dreadwing Scavenger or Soul-Shackled Zombie.

Black-Red Raid
Charge! Barrel down on your foes with an unstoppable horde of red and black creatures. Several cards in this color pair have the raid ability word, which cares about if you've attacked this turn. This is one of the most aggressive decks in Foundations, so keep an eye out for cards that can clear a path forward like Gorehorn Raider.

Red-Green Power
Harness unlimited power with this aggressive color pair. This archetype wants you to control creatures with a power of 4 or greater. While some cards might not have that much power, they may be able to buff another creature or make you a large token, such as Dragon Trainer.

Green-White +1/+1 Counters
Just because a creature is small doesn't mean it will stay that way. Anything can become a massive threat as green-white builds up its creatures with counters. Low-power creatures with useful abilities, such as trample on Beast-Kin Ranger, can hit hard with a stack of counters on them.

White-Black Life Gain
Not only does life gain help you outlast your opponents for long enough to cast massive creatures, but it can also be spun into a defensive tool. Several cards care about when you gain life, so a card like Dazzling Angel can trigger Fiendish Panda's ability.

Blue-Red Spells
This deck spells defeat for your opponent. Commonly referred to as a "spellslinger deck," this strategy cares about casting several instant and sorcery spells on a single turn. Some of those spells can even be cast from your graveyard. Inspiration from Beyond can be cast twice, each time returning another card and enabling powerful turns.

Black-Green Morbid
Live, die, and repeat in the black-green morbid deck. Cards with the morbid ability word care if any creature has died, whether it was your creature on an opponent's creature. You can remove an opponent's creature with the concisely named Stab, then use that creature's death to trigger Wardens of the Cycle.

Red-White Aggro
Play fast, do smash, and have a blast at your local Prerelease. Rather than working toward a singular, massive creature, this deck wants you to create a large board of small creature tokens, then buff them up with large anthems. Cat Collector will continue to procure purring pals, then give them a massive boost with Heroic Reinforcements.

Green-Blue Ramp
Mana is the backbone of Magic, and green-blue decks understand this better than anyone else. Playing out more lands allows you to cast massive creatures while also triggering effects that care about lands entering. Tatyova, Benthic Druid will swim through your deck and dive down for powerful cards. Combine her with Grow from the Ashes for a card-drawing, land-ramping, game-winning deck.

pontemosca a demandé:

Hi Mark, Why does Foundations has one signpost gold uncommon instead of two?

We made sure Foundations was draftable, because all our booster product is draftable, but Foundations is about much more than just drafting. Drafting is a lower priority.