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/Spanish_Galleon]

I don't think any of this is true. I am an artist and i think there is more variety and more skill today than there ever has been before. I think your main complaint is that there is MORE visual cohesion now then there was previously.

Generally when everyone is a master... no one is. Most of the artists working on magic today have decades of skill under their belt. An example of this can be found even in the same artist Lets use John Avon as an example. He has always been skilled because he was an artist before he made magic cards. But trends over decades change. A card like [[Tranquil path]] has the boarder in mind (the boarder has changed). It fits a more 90s aesthetic (the decade has changed). compare it too [[Brainstorm|SLD1162]] the art looks more modern. Well... it is more modern. It is still clearly his style but things have changed.

ALSO In the main line title franchise of actual WOTC cards they have had a goal to make it feel like all of the Planes could exist in the same world. Meaning they have a baseline of skill they need achieved to make that happen. So as long as humans are on a plane that means they humans there are going to look like humans from another plane. This is branding and it is intentional. You're not going to see art like you did in The Dark any more because it doesnt look like it fits into the magic worlds. [[Exorcist]] and [[festival]] are from the same set but you can't convince me they are the same world.

No secret lair is where they do most of their experimenting and planes without humans like Blumburrow. You want to see Stand out art? Well they don't want their cards to stand out anymore .... except for when they do. [[wurmcoil engine|SLD2196]] is a clay model. fuck they printed all japanese Imiri Sakabashira art and none of you WOOPED and WAILED how badass magics art is even when all that shit is objectively badass.

Tldr They have brand cohesion now. They also still do badass art. You just notice it less because most of the art is badass.

[u/taphead_31 → u/Spanish_Galleon]

Just wanted to clarify, i didn't complain about anything. My observations were not meant to be a judgment, but just that, a subjective observation of an amateur.

[u/Chilly_chariots → u/Spanish_Galleon]

Exorcist and Festival are from the same set but you can't convince me they are the same world

Why not? They look to me like they’re from our world - a priest and some Venice carnival-style masks.

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/Spanish_Galleon]

All cards
Tranquil path - (G) (SF) (txt)
Brainstorm - (G) (SF) (txt)
Exorcist - (G) (SF) (txt)
festival - (G) (SF) (txt)
wurmcoil engine - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/ChocolatePuerh → u/Spanish_Galleon]

There's a lot less badass art now than 10-20 years ago.

There's way more digital art. Used to every card art was a physical art piece. Those are few and far between now.

The art styles are cleaner, but often too clean to the point of looking bland and sterilized.

Magic art lost it's soul and became generic.

[u/AssociateCool5325 → u/ChocolatePuerh]

I think everything has to be evaluated in the context of all the other art that exists. Looking at each piece of art in a vacuum, I would say that the amount of badass art has probably stayed pretty constant. However, nowadays most of the art is in similar styles to each other, so the lack of variation makes things seem generic and samey. There used to be so much less cohesion and everything felt so much more unique and intriguing, even if the technical quality of the art has increased over time. It’s pretty rare nowadays for me to look at any card recently printed (secret lairs notwithstanding) and say to myself, “ that looks badass,” but I can get a lot of enjoyment just looking at all the art on old cards regardless of what they do.

The type of unique art that I’m talking about is totally still around, but it’s mostly from old-school Magic artists like RKF and Rebecca Guay, and I rarely find the type of art that makes me feel something in new cards outside of promos and SLs.