The Magic Art of Jesper Ejsing 

I’m from Denmark, and my friend and I was fortunate enough to meet Jesper at a pre-release last year in Copenhagen. We sat at the same table as Jesper, who had brought his son with him to this 2HG event. The event was delayed for some time, and that gave us the opportunity to talk with Jesper and his son. Jesper is such an easy person to talk to, and I really enjoyed the talks we had with him, not to mention his son, who seems like a great kid. We actually didn’t know who Jesper was (we were quite new to magic at the time), and after we talked for a good half hour, we accidently looked at some Fate Reforged cards, and stumpled upon Goblin Heelcutter, and Jesper said quite politely that he had actually drawn this card. At first we were not sure if he was kidding or not, but quite surely in the bottom of the card, it said “artist - Jesper Ejsing”. We talked about his work and his history with painting and doing artwork WOTC. Needless to say, he made that day great day for us, and I’m happy to see him getting some spotlight for his awesome work :)

Ejsing's art adds something extremely vital to the Magic landscape. Whimsy. No not the Looney Tunes style of whimsy someone like Phil Foglio gave us in Magic's younger years, but a sort that adds vibrant colors and tangible movement to what is otherwise a flat piece of cardboard. Though his pieces are certainly bright, colorful, and perhaps exaggerated, each one feels like a snapshot of a scene just waiting to be unpaused to let the action loose again. The world Ejsing paints is vivid, fun, fantastic and yet entirely believable. Isn't that everything you could want in a fantasy?

God I love these artist spotlight videos. I wish I had the conviction to do the research you do but for now ill take your amazingly well crafted summaries. Every time you make one of these my appreciation for magic art goes up exponentially

What an amazing video Sam! Thumbs up for you always ;)

Jesper just shared this video on FB. Great job. Subscribed.

Holy crap, when you blow these artworks up to full screen I can really appreciate the AMAZING amount of detail and technical prowess Jesper displays. He is a master painter and the colors and depth of intricacy on each section of the artwork is monumental. he is so good at putting on 3 dimensional additions to characters and objects, and everything is so well thought out and placed, well lit and beautifully colored. Rings going through rings held together by ropes. Little buckles, beads and buttons everywhere. prolific.

These artist spotlights are some of my favorite magic videos on the net.

HEDRON CRAB

I am a 2D artist and MtG player myself and Jesper is by far my favourite MtG Illustrator. It's extremely rare to find other artists able to match what he brings to the game, his work is monumental. Great choice for a feature mate.

I love how much effort and work you put into your videos! The quality shines through, and your content never fails to entertain :)

I picked out Summoner's Bond and Echoing Boon from the booster box I got today and realized they are done by the same artist, Jesper. Leads me to this video. Very noticeable style and tones, beautiful art works. Great video and analyze!

Jesper Esling was just interviewed by The Command Zone. First off it was really insightful and he's a cool guy. Second off they gave a shoutout to this video - sounds like Jesper Esling was really touched by your video :)

I cannot explain how much i love this series, easily the most interesting mtg videos out there.

well made video! Jesper Ejsing is an amazing artist. One of the best for sure!

how on earth I just discovered this video today.. might be one of the best Ejsing's work breakdown I've ever seen. Thumbs up!!

Becausr of your videos, I have found a new appreciation and love of the art of magic

Shout out to Jesper for appearing on Playing With Power! He's a pretty dang good cEDH player too, iirc he won a game with Thassa's Oracle, one of the most iconic cards he's painted

After seeing Jesper playing CEDH I start following his job, and man I fall in love for a lot of his pieces, Pillage is my favorite art of all time and until I wacth your video I don't even know why was that, thx man (;

Your videos are amazing , you have a great artistic sensibility coupled with large knowledge of the game's lore and understanding of it's mechanics . The subtle yet great editing that goes into your videos make your subject entertaining whilst still keeping the viewer's attention on what you're saying more than what you're showing . I discovered your channel through your video " magic's best worst card" and i must say i'm hooked , keep up the good work !

Man, content wise this has to be one of your best videos. Amazing work, as always!

I come back to this video so often. To me Jesper and his work embodies the high fantasy aspect I love about Magic

Thank you for putting me in the right Direction! Heading now to the Muddy Blog!

Hay Sam. I love these shows you do. I am not an artsy person at all and the things you do on your channel makes me appreciate magic's art and art in general SO much more. Keep it up!

I went to a school where Jesper held a lecture at some point. He even left behind several framed and signed illustrations including Boartusk Liege, Aerie Ouphes and Bull Cerodon.

SO GOOD AS ALWAYS SAM. I love all of your videos on art. It really makes the cards I play a lot more meaningful.

I must say, you've definitely earned your patrons! Your videos are such a pleasure to watch, and are so well done! I've just recently discovered you, and I am hooked! Because of these videos, I have a much deeper appreciation and desire for the art aspect of MTG. Thank you!

best MtG channel imo on youtube. thanks for making these videos.

thanks for the new episode :)

Wow. you're the best. Glad to have been watching for so long!

wow just became aware of your videos due to CPGrey, i love this. Ive been a fan of mtg art (and the game) since 94 and i love these artists that I recognize the moment I see their pieces. Thanks for sharing the fascination

I feel terrible for only finding your channel today. This is some amazing work you have here and absolutely delighted of your video philosophy for talking about the wonder and joy of Magic in it's less explored areas with a splash of research and intelligence. So Thanks and keep up the great work

Just wanted to say, I love your videos! Your breakdowns are well thought out and even meticulous. You are producing your own masterpieces while chronicling the Masters and the cards they make. It doesn't go unnoticed. Um, no homo tho.

I so much enjoy your academic approach to your videos!! Keep up the good work and thank you!

You Fricking Nailed this, awesome analysis

These artist highlights are incredible! There is so much I've missed in the cards, even though I always loved the artwork in MtG. It's hard not to appreciate the game even more after giving the art some more time to grow on you. Thank you so much for all your hard work and research you've put into these vids, it must've taken a while!

I'm so happy I subscribed to this channel! So many background informations, so much interest for the subject. LOVE IT.

Top notch as always! Love the insight

I met this artist once at a GP and had him alter a card for me (Acorn Catapult). Not only did he an excellent job with it and was done on the site within two hours, he also was extremely friendly and genuinely curious why I wanted that card (reason being that I run it in a Commander deck alongside the card Repercussions, so I want to gift my opponent creatures and burn them down with Blasphemous Act). In any case, this channel is teaching me a lot about MtG and art in general, which I have been kind of oblivious to before. Great job. Please continue making us all a little bit smarter about this game and the art it features. Personally I would love you to feature two of my favorite artists in the game at some point, Ron Spencer and Thomas M. Baxa, even if they are no longer being used by the MtG art department (which makes me rather sad).

I love these artist analysis videos. I always learn so much from the artists' both minor and major decisions on the composition, colors, line weight, etc. Thank you for having the passion and the time to do these.

Just an amazing video. What a blast to the past to my middle/high school art classes that I loved, as I pursued a career in science. Absolutely loved the presentation. Well done

Still loving all your content, These artist spotlights really pick out some key details which show you've definitely done your homework :P The new mic quality is good and glad the Patreon is helping you into the future of your videos. Looking forward to seeing which artist you study next.

Great video and great editing! Thank you for all the hard work you do! Absolute legend!!!

Wonderful and engaging, keep up the awesome work mate!

Theese videos are always so awesome and inspiring! Thank you for doing research and highlights for us :3

very informative! And accurate break-down! Hat off!

this just showed up on my feed out if nowhere. I love it!!!

Who would have thought that one day I'd be binging videos deconstructing a trading card game. You definitely bring some good stuff to the table that goes above and beyond. Keep your videos coming!

this was amazing thank you! please try and make this a regular series for your channel! just go over Magic/Fantasy artists, maybe reach into some scifi would be amazing!

So inspiring!! Love your videos

I hope to see an artist study sometime soon if Kieran Yanner’s work, lately it’s been some of my favorite I’ve seen

Tremendous! Thank you for making this.

amazing video! It s always interesting to see the road of great artists, And ofc inspiring too

My favourite Magic artist by far.

Amazing video, thank you!

Hedron crab is my favorite card, this guy is awesome!

This chanel is amazing. Thank you

One of the coolest intros reminds me of Luxo. Keep up the amazing work, my friend. As for the Charbelcher example, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

As always: thank you, Sam.

i really love his work i clearly remember how enchanting the card colossal dreadmaw, when i saw this i was like theres a ton of stories in this one single image. i forgot the name but its an elf scout and she looks amazing!

Another fantastic video! You're batting a 100 man!

Very Intriguing ! Digging those point so much. Also giving me additional knowledge as painter, thanks man !

Jesper and Reynolds are by far my favorite artists in magic as an illustrator. R.K. Post is up there too.

Really enjoyed this. Thank you.

Jesper Ejsing is my favorate MtG artist too! Thanks so much for this video essay Sam! *fangirscream*

My mom said if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all so I didn’t speak for 8 years. Now this book, this book I love. Thanks for letting me break my 8 year silence. These are my 3 favorite art books: - The Art of John Harris II: Into the Blue - Icon by Frank Frazetta - Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson

Great Work!

i love your videos! thank you.

incredible art

Great video ! it is very pleasing listening to you and the insights are very well put together. Subscribed!

Hey Sam, Great videos man i really love the creative way you go about exploring the artists and their work in this series. Jesper is one of my all time favourite artists so this was an absolute pleasure to watch! I have a request for you to cover another one of my favourite artist Even Mehl Amundsen. Much Love!

Fantastic video. :) Subscribed

Found you from the command zone. Gotta say this is an awesome channel. Love the detail

This channel is so damn good!

As always, a great vídeo, Sam. And the best thing about it is that it breaks the mtg focus and can be appreciated even by those who knows nothing about the game but loves art and how an artist makes it. Keep the good work and see ya!

So good!!!!

you could say the details in his painting are the ejsing on the cake

Amazing video, as always! Maybe Terese Nielsen next? (Also, that new mic sounds really good)

Really nice video! I am a grat fan of Jesper's work. Thanks!

appreciate the effort into getting his name exactly right

Jesper is by far my favorite mtg artist! ☺️

Incredible work here! The biggest reason I love RU-vid as much as I do is for video essays like these. Whether they partain to movies (Every frame a painting), politics (The Nerdwriter), general interests and philosophy (Big Think), living life (Smarter every day), or even my favourite game; there's always something to dissect and analyze. Jesper Ejsing is someone whose work I've loved every frame I see but I never really took the time to analyze and I'm glad that you've made this video. Volkan produces some of my favourite works in MTG but my favourite artists are Ron Spencer and Aleksi Briclot; Spencer for his surreal but alive works and Briclot for his hyper-realistic fantasy. I'm wondering if you'll be able to analyze either of these two as clearly you have a very keen eye. Either way, I look forward to seeing all of your videos!! Best of luck!!

Yes! Thank you so much for the effort you put into your work. It might seem unconventional to others but I was originally drawn to magic for the artwork. I learned to play and fell in love with the game as I found it very rewarding on so many levels but the artwork will always be the icing on the cake for me. Playing mtg without the art would be like watching a movie without the sound. To this day I still collect some cards just for the art. Your work adds a new dynamic wich brings the game to life for me in a new way.😆

I know it's been quite a while and this comment will go without notice, but on a general search of Jesper Ejsing art on Scryfall, I came upon Assault Griffin. Besides being a quite astonishing piece of art, there are amazing details! There's a guy shredded by the huge Griffin, and I mean shredded! His torso is coming off his legs, as well as the head from the torso! There's a mandible floating near the head! That amount of detail is amazing! hahaha

Very nice series! I'd love to see the magic art of rk post

On a slightly different note, he also did art for one of Wizards other games, Kaijudo. I'd suggest to anyone who enjoys his art to look up his Kaijudo pieces

Do Daarken next!!

Khenra Scrapper is one of my more recent favourites

Greetings from Finland :) Every single video you make is so well thought out, and put together, it leaves me in awe! I'd love it if you'd consider doing a video on Magic arts by Chris Rahn. He is my favourite artist, and I'm sure you could make me appreciate him even more Sam! Merry Christmas

Please do Ron Spencer or Kekai Kotaki next!

You know what is insane. You called almost word for word my experience with that first piece of art. The only thing was that I kind of had a vibe that he was smuggling the eggs/amber

might be my favorite

Any plans to do one of these on Michael Sutfin? He has such a unique style and has illustrated many iconic cards.

Hey Sam absolutely awesome series! Do you think you'll be able to do an episode on the artist Izzy? :D Have a great day!

I love your work Sam. Is it possible if u could do an inkmoth of soul warden?its my favourite mtg art of all time.

My personal favorite of his is Ballynock Cohort

I don't think that's a spider, it seems like a cicada to me! :0 But of course, who would know, it being all cramped up inside that egg... Great vid, as always! :)

Ryan Yee or Jason Chan next please

great stuff, noticed the mic upgrade as well. Peter Mohrbacher next?

I was thinking maybe you could do a video on magali villeneuve art?

What kind fo content would you call this? Content like Rhystic Studies, Spice 8 rack, super eyepatch wolf and more?