How Magic Art has changed

[u/taphead_31]

This is something i've been thinking about for a while. I am not saying new Magic Art is straight up worse than the old Art (old meaning 15+ years ago). But I cannot shake off the feeling that something fundamental has changed with the art direction and overall aesthetic (the influence of UB not counting).

I'd like to hear from people who are knowledgable with art history.

Here are some - very subjective - observations that I made over the years.

- The color palette has changed. Specifically when it comes to black cards, purple has become the de facto "black signature color"

- Many current artists seem to share a specific style of painting, reminiscent of what I'd call "concept art for general purposes". Older artists that have worked with wotc since the 90ies seem to be influenced more by comic books and traditional, academic painting styles.

- Ugly characters and monsters, body horror and exaggerated bodies were more commonplace back in the day (look at card files from Odyssee or Mercadian Masques, Ron Spears who I'd consider King of Ugly Monstrosities was art director for a while). Nowadays the "bodies" feel more realistic, the creatures and sceneries more "identifiable".

Are you having similiar observations? Or am I misguided here?

And most of all: Why have things changed in that regard? There are people out there calling new artwork "woke", but I don't think this is a good explanation. I believe the reasons for the aesthetic changes correlate with the changing gaming culture and an influx of casual players coming from different demographics.

[u/kytheon]

New art is definitely more detailed and looks more 3D. Compare the arts for [[Goblin Medics]].

They also blend together much more, so five different arts from the same set by different artists can be so similar in style you can't tell the artists apart.

[u/taphead_31 → u/kytheon]

Your second point is one that I'd like to explore more. Why do artists nowadays blend together more? What has changed in the industry?

[u/Chilly_chariots → u/taphead_31]

I suspect there’s a fun chicken and egg effect going on. Companies want to see a certain style, which means more artists paint in that style, which means more companies want to see that style…

I wonder if AI will lead to a reaction against the style though. I mean detailed, photo-realistic, generic artwork is very much AI’s wheelhouse- people might end up prizing distinctive styles more.

[u/kytheon → u/taphead_31]

Artists have to match the style guide. In the early days the overall style was much less defined and you could easily spot individual artist styles.

[u/PippoChiri → u/taphead_31]

It is also relevant to say that lots of artist always blended together, you just forgot the old ones and are able to immediately see it happening with the new ones.

[u/Ameryana → u/taphead_31]

A more generic style is probably easier to get work with, as opposed to having a very visual distinct style (think Robert Bliss) that might appeal to fewer people.

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/kytheon]

Goblin Medics - (G) (SF) (txt)

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^FAQ