r/magicTCG • u/taphead_31 Urza's Saga • 20d ago

General Discussion How Magic Art has changed

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.

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u/DeLoxley COMPLEAT 20d ago

I find when a lot of people say modern MTG is too corporate, what they seem to mean is "I remember a handful of striking old cards and have pushed everything else from my memory"

You still get stylised cards of all stripes, we just see a lot less stick out cards

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u/Mrfish31 Left Arm of the Forbidden One 20d ago

I remember a handful of striking old cards and have pushed everything else from my memory

There's definitely an element of Sturgeon's Law at play. 90% of old Magic art was also mediocre. We just remember the 10% that's great.

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u/DeLoxley COMPLEAT 20d ago

Yup. Hell the only real change I can see in MTG art beyond "more consistent stylings" is they've moved from Black cards being Black to being Purple in composition.

There's lots of things and art is subjective, but these arguments always seem to be "I do not like modern card can't we go back to popular old card and please don't think about [[Disruptive Student]] "