I started playing, off and on again, Magic The Gathering at our local game store, Secret Lair at Chelan. I still find it a bit surreal that our little hamlet has its own gaming store, but here we are and here we are happy.
I love trying to give myself projects, and so I thought it would be cool to create a background for a MTG card mat. And so “Battle at the Cliff” was born, or more specifically reborn from a previous piece, Plains Walker, Wind Rider.
While I was happy with the previous piece as it was one of the first “complete pieces” I produced since jumping back into art some 10 years ago, it has not aged well in my mind. To wit, the perennial curse of an artist is the love-hate relationship we have with our art. I really wanted a second chance at the image as I felt like my first attempt was a bit flat. And given the aspect ratio of a MTG is 2:1, it was the perfect excuse to try to climb the proverbial cliff, as it were.
I spent a lot of time trying to get the composition correct. And one of the benefits of our local store is our online chat group that includes an Artist Alley where I can post progress and get feedback.
One of the things I wanted to accomplish with this piece was a sense of movement and depth, especially with the Wind Rider. I thought the original piece was too static, and some amount of dynamics would help keep the viewer more engaged and better fit the narrative of tension.
While it was quite challenging to figure out how to have the viewer right outside the frame of the shot, with the dragon’s tail whizzing past, I do sense this gives more depth and movement than its sibling piece.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the composition and values, but I’m not entirely stoked about the color gamut. I tried to knock down the saturation in the dark value areas which I think helps, but I’m still not entirely happy with the current version of it. I need to reflect a bit more before I can say I am entirely pleased with it.
If you watch the video of the progression, you will notice that the color versions start really slow down on dramatic changes, and I’m really just trying to dial it in. I’m still not entirely happy but tis the life. You gotta just move on at some point.
I hope you enjoy, and I’ll see you at the next piece.
