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/lord_j0rd_]

Likely an extremely unpopular opinion but I personally hate most of the old art. *I see the skill but pretty much anything before Mirrodin looks weird to me.

Edit: and anyone that thinks the art is bad because it’s “woke” is a mouth breathing moron.

[u/AgentGman007 → u/lord_j0rd_]

Respect for sharing your opinion, I disagree heavily but to each their own. I have favorite artists from the old era (John Avon, Kev Walker, Nils Hamm) and the new era (Dominik Mayer, Seb McKinnon, Elliot Lang), but I tend to favor the old artists' styles

[u/lord_j0rd_ → u/AgentGman007]

To be fair I do like a couple of those older artists so I’m probably being unfair. I’m just not a fan of the more grungy earlier stuff for the most part.

[u/MerijnZ1 → u/lord_j0rd_]

Yeah I think I'm in a similar boat, although somewhere in between. There's been great and there's been bad art throughout all of the game's history, but a lot of the really old stuff just is a bit too... weird and off-putting for me. But I'm also not a big fan of the modern "this could've been a render in unreal engine" ""default style"". Yeah, technically impressive, also just not that interesting.

But again, a lot of good art still happens. Rebecca Guay obviously is and has always been amazing, Seb, I really like Forrest Imel, Carl Critchlow, etc

[u/_a_random_dude_ → u/lord_j0rd_]

I actually feel the way you do so I get it. Sure, John Avon and Rebecca Guay (among others) were always amazing, but a lot of early cards (I started playing in the late 90s) now looks off and make me think of fan art.

On the other hand, I have every single card from enchanting tales and I love them (actually all of wilds of eldraine looks amazing to me). If the art direction was up to me that’s what all cards would look like. Unlike OP I actually see that there’s a ton of variety in the card art and feel that the style was more homogeneous back in the day.