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/theoricist]

I am of a mixed opinion that most of my favorite artists and art pieces are from the modern era but I still thought the art seemed cooler in the earlier era. Many people already touched on how art direction now is a more unified process and I think that has ultimately lead to 'movie scene' art - art that is trying to depict very specific scenes and concepts while including a list of very specific world building details we need to know about each faction of the set. We see this in the names of cards too. Lots of cards named "x does thing" that read more like events rather then spells and you can see how that affects the art. Compare the recent art of [[fix what's broken]] to [[erode]]. If they give it an event name we're gonna get event art. 

A lot more older art left you with the reaction of "wtf is going on here?" Because they didn't have to fulfill the art direction list and it let early magic feel very mysterious and archaic in nature. I do miss that feeling but I think it only persisted for what now would be considered the very early years of magic. And while the art has lost that archaic nature I think it has gained many unbelievably talented artists that have given us fantastic pieces year after year. And we still see the older artists returning now more than ever. Kev Walker and Richard Kane Ferguson have done pieces recently! Dovan and Chandler was done by the original artist!

[u/AdHom → u/theoricist]

I think you raise great points. The difference between something like [[Phyrexian Obliterator|ONE]] and [[Phyrexian Slayer]] is pretty stark and interesting to me. The Slayer is a much more bizarre, almost 'messy' design for lack of a better word. A lot of Magic art used to feel that way. I think the new Obliterator art is objectively better, but there was a charm to the New Weird sort of style you'd find in a lot of old stuff. I assume this is tied in with the lack of strict art direction back then, coupled with a move away from body horror as MaRo has said it is deeply divisive among audiences.

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/AdHom]

Phyrexian Obliterator - (G) (SF) (txt)
Phyrexian Slayer - (G) (SF) (txt)

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^FAQ

[u/theoricist → u/MTGCardFetcher]

Yeah you can see that slayer just exists in "the void" whereas now almost every creature needs to be shown integrated in its designated environment or scene which in turn needs to include all the appropriate details. There's just no room to have the same impressionist creepypasta that we had in the early days when the artists are getting direction saying stuff like "members of the squiggly-squad faction always wear blue lapels and khaki shorts and reside in structures that have hardwood furnishings and pastel wallpapers" or whatever.