Thanks, man. What a great service you're doing everybody! I'll recommend my language students to watch some of these. Certainly, they'll love learning English more in the process.
I like basic lands that look like...lands. I don't need Bolas horns or extravagance. I want to see lush trees, expansive plains, beautiful islands in a sea of blue, imposing mountains and murky swamps. Minimalist realism is needed in Magic now more than ever.
@@thomasmcdermott2962 John Avon’s Theros plains are among my favorite pieces in the game. Khans block has some wonderful basics as well. The lands of Zendikar are the face of basics for many, the Zendikari basics really encapsulate Magic. But I’ve always preferred the deep forests and sunlit plains, tended by hands of Karametra’s cherished.
I have always been someone enraptured by the lore of magic - more specifically, the fantasy of being a planeswalker who is casting these spells, using these memories. There's a moment in one of the books that will always haunt me - a blue mage needs to cast what is basically a search spell, and if it was in game, it would require sacrificing an island. She pulls to mind a night she spent on one of the beautiful volcanic islands of her youth - a family member teaches her preteen self how to drink for the first time, and she felt like an adult for the first time. The memory starts to slip away from her and she finishes the spell - knowing her target's location, and crying, but she can't remember why. Ever since then, I have loved basic lands that look not just like lands, but like those most powerful and iconic memories you have of those lands. Not the kinda dark sands and greenish-blue of the seafoam, but the pure black of the volcanic beach and the endless rich blue and the brilliant sky of a clear night on an island. Mountains shouldn't be a story about the setting but the way you remember them years later, living in the lowlands. When you close your eyes, how do you see the places of your youth? Those powerful, intense memories, those are the lands.
Oh my god, I've never realized there was a black mana symbol in the pupil of the Deathmark, that blew my mind so hard! The depth of all these illustrations never ceases to amaze me...truly an inspiration!
I’m not sure why, but your videos always make me cry. Even upon rewatches. Not a ball or a sniffle, just a few tears pooling in the corners and a clench in my chest. Keep it up the great work.
It's not a surprise because it had been proven millions of times so far that while some idiot with a diploma of arts can't make a proper game for five years working on it and still release a halfassed shit while some kid from Russia in his basement without any funds in couple of months makes a masterpiece, true work of art, a proper game, movie what ever be it even a mod or fix for an existing game, random people do it in couple of days still far better then what companies pump out on a millions of dollars budget with educated staff. Pathetic that actual artist and geniouses of their crafts most of the time are ignored then some idiot with a diploma gets a job and does nothing with it.
Deathmark was one of those cards that struck a chord in my heart when I saw it. I was sifting through a box of core set cards and it made me want to play black
I loved silumgar 's look so much that I couldn't help but play black/blue during it's whole cycle. I had 3 copies of both silumgars plus I ran a copy of his command
"Art is subjective and picky and particular like that. you like what you like and sometimes no amount of analysis or argument can convince you otherwise." WORD! This is exactly about how I feel about a lot of Drew Tucker's earlier works, more specifically Ashes to Ashes from one of my top favorite sets: The Dark. I think it's absolutely wonderful and beautiful but many many will argue against it. So, I for one can see why you adore that toothy red lizard so much :)
Overgrown Tomb is my favourite "Special land" art. I found his blog a few years ago, it's a goldmine ! Keep on this great serie, Sam. I took distance from Magic (I think you understand these kind of "pauses"), but I will love the art and the atmosphere forever, and I can come to this magical land sometimes, thanks to your videos.
I think my favorite piece of his is Chief Engineer. I love how the factory assembly floor in the background, even when out of focus, appears life-like. It's very convincing, and great at delivering the narrative of Kaladesh's Vedalken as citizens of labor.
Steven belledens rendition of black lotus is one of my favorite pieces. Your video on the lotus used that for its thumbnail, and the image has stuck with me since then
Your videos are so inspiring. I played magic for a large portion of my childhood. I can still remember all the great memories I made going to Friday Night Magic. Even though I was very young, magic always intrigued me. The art captivated me. Your words make me want to get back into playing. Thank you. :D
Deathmark was the card that shaped how I view all art. How the smallest detail carries the greatest impact. Thank you for these Magic: the gathering video essays. I really enjoy listening to well thought out arguments and ideas. This series brings me a lot of inspiration and helps me focus on my work. Thank you.
My absolute favourite piece of magic art is Steven's version of Ankle Shanker, sadly only used for the intro pack version of the card. It was the first card I saw and it's stayed with me ever since. I also love how much detail shows up on Silumgar, the Drifting Death when you shine a light on it. There's so my detail! He also did Gravecrawler, another great one.
Rhystic Studies, I've been consistently "wow-ed" by your videos. (So I'm trying not to consume them too quickly!) At first, I was confused about the lizard painting-"why would he pick that??" But you presented such a good argument for why this type of art is valuable in building a believable fantasy world. In the short time of the video, you convinced me! I came to realize I too love the art and style you were highlighting. Since your direction seemed to be toward the "unnoticed stuff," I was excited to see which image would appear next... I practically fell out of my chair when you pulled up the last Steve Belledin piece: Black Lotus-the most well-known, legendary card in the game! I thought *I* was pretty good at knowing the artists, but you got me! Great work all around!
Grimoire of the Dead captured my eye the first time I saw it. To me, the book did so much more than the card ability entailed. Thanks for all the hard work, to both Steve and Sam! Keep up the good work.
You make me appreciate and take extra special care to look at all the art, not just the rares or the mythics, but the commons, the lands. Amazing, I love this series and ty!
Another fantastic essay helping to ignite and invigorate the passions of the community and fans beyond combos and kill-spells. Magic is such a rich stage on which is to interact, tell stories and discuss - you are a massive credit to this community. Please keep it up. *clicks to support on Patreon*
Lighthouse Chronologist by far is one of my favorite pieces. It depicts the scene so well. It's mellow, realistic, and depressing, just as I'd assume is it's intentions. Great work, Sam, love the quality content!
I think these art spotlights are best watched and listened to using headphones. Fantastic presentation and that song in the background is so sweet. Nice one again, Sam.
Crimson Muckwader is the only card I remember from my very first pack of Magic, from the 2013 core set. Something about it stood out even then, and I think you nailed the reason in this video: the realism contrasted so beautifully with some of the other cards' very fantastical style. Turns out Steven's been one of my favourites since literally the beginning, and I hadn't even realized!
These vidéos are great ! I'm not even playing Magic but the way you analyse those illustrations is helping me greatly for my own art. Thank you for your work, keep them coming please!
I just adore imaginative realism. Fantasy is all the more impactful when it feels like it could be real, like it's somewhere out there, just waiting to be found. Paradoxically, the imagery that contains the least magic feels the most genuinely magical.
Incredible video. Randomly recommended I watched every second never taking my eyes off the screen. I'm glad someone who appreciates the finer details in this type of art is making videos like theses. Keep ti up man, subbed.
Too many magic cards make you feel like the scene was set JUST FOR YOU, THE PLAYER. Steven Belledin's art is like you just happened to show up at a plane and see the scene depicted on the card. And let us not forget what exactly Magic cards are meant to be in-lore. Other than Planeswalker cards, each card is your _memory_ of a plane you visited and each memory can take a different form depending on the person or plane it was made on. Planeswalkers use loyalty counters because they aren't memories. They are there to pay back a debt. Once their debt is paid, they leave.
I love both your art and magic history videos with a deep passion, but I NEED more deck techs from you. Your style is amazing and I wait impatiently for each and every video. Please keep making this great content, but I'd love to see more of your commander decks. :)
I stumbled onto this channel tonight because, despite having not played Magic in earnest in many years, it somehow landed on my feed with the One with Nothing video. Five or so videos later and I have just watched one of the best breakdowns of an artist I have seen in a long time. Neither pompously nor inaccessibly deep, but not surface level either. Your channel and style are excellent, and they have this sort of Radiolab feel to it with your tone, cadence, and music selection. Please keep doing what you're doing.
Whenever I watch one of this videos, I just feel like crying. Because I can only think on what a shitty art education I received at both my art school and college, and how I could have discover all this wonderful artists (and their influences) much sooner. A million thanks.
Lighthouse Chronologist is my favorite from him. The lighthouse in the background, him perched, and the night with the fading sun is so good. If you could do Todd Lockwood next, that would be great. He has a lot of work done including my favorite card of all time, Phyrexian Obliterator. Keep up the great work. Cheers!
You are an excellent writer. I don't play or collect Magic but I am an artist and this series is fascinating to watch even without an understanding of how MTG works.
the card is named Silumgar, the Drifting Death... and it looks like it is just drifting, maybe gliding across a sky, releasing the poisonous death as he hovers over a landscape, such a good piece
Sam, I continue to love your videos. I can honestly say this is one of the only channels I follow that I always look forward to new content and watch as soon as it's posted. Keep up the amazing work!
Wow, such an interesting juxtaposition that someone who values objectivity and realism so much would create such great art for this fantasy game called Magic. I love the thoughtful and chill vibe that your work employs. The music is very relaxing.
Hi Sam!, I just found your videos about magic artists and their work and I just loved it. You talk with real enthusiasm and passion and professionalism about this fantastic game and its valuable art, keep the great work man!! BTW, I hope that you can make some day some videos about rk post, scott m fischer, anthony s waters , justin sweet and vance kovacs, chris rahn, christopher moeller, jaime jones, greg staples, gerard brom, adam rex, daren bader and jason chan, just to name some of them ... haha sorry for the long list, but there are too many great artists through the whole magic history and I think that you can bring them back from memory with the true recognition that they deserve ;) Thank you so much for your work!
It's hard for me to pick a favorite Belledin card, because so much of what I like the most in his art is seen across so many cards. I hadn't realized it until now, but he's the definitive artist of kithkin in my brain, and the gorgeous landscapes he creates...all impeccable. Plus, scrolling through his work I'm pleased to see a few familiar faces that I play quite frequently (hello Duress!). The card of his I'll highlight though is a card that I've never played but has stuck with me ever since I first saw it: Defang from Avacyn Restored. As the name implies, its a card that depicts a vampire that has just literally been defanged, but Belledin's rendering really goes in on the emotions. The expression on the subject's face-seen straight on and up close- is one of utter, overwhelming piteous fear, a prisoner begging for mercy they know they won't receive. And they have good reason to fear, what for the hands of their cathar captors clamped firmly on their shoulders, their own hands in chains, the blood still on their face not for any typical vampiric reason but due to their teeth having just been forcibly removed. This is only the half of it though, for as the flavor text states, "once vampires are disarmed, they’re given wooden swords and forced to assist in the training of Midnight Duelists." Midnight Duelists, featured on a card of their own, seem to be soldiers of the church particularly devoted to killing vampires, and I hardly need to speculate that the wooden sword the vampire will be given will likely be the thing they're ultimately killed with. I don't know what it says about me or the card itself that out of all that has been printed in the many sets about the literal gothic horror plane, this is one of the pieces that has stood out to me. I can tell you this, though, Steven Belledin did a damn good job with the art.
Very interesting video, good job. I usually don't pay much attention about the artist's name unless I'm really into a card's art and I never even noticed Steven Belledin's name...you just made me realize that some of the cards you're showing here are favourites of mine, this Theros forest with the giant olive tree is gorgeous and I've always been impressed with floodtide serpent and how the size of the beast is shown... Thank you for this content, keep up the good work!
I stumbled upon your videos..I was always into the art of magic..it was a way of breaking from the norm..but I never truly appreciated the details that the art carried..until now..your channel is very well crafted and both your voice and the choice of music is perfect for the tone that you are trying to set..count me as one of your new subscribers!
Steven's Rampant Growth that you touched upon in the piece has always given me a strange calm when looking at it, and now seeing that it is a natural version of the Great wave of kanagawa (also a favorite art of mine) I love it even more as an art piece.
Definitely my preferred Deathmark art and I totally never noticed the mana symbol until we talked about it on Discord recently. I'm totally diggin' the music on this one, Sam. Looking forward to the next one! ... Next week, yeah?
Would love to see you do work on Richard Kane Ferguson. Definitely my favorite magic artist beginning with his art for Dakkon Blackblade. I love the card and annoy my friends with the new things I find to discuss about the card. He only has 62 cards but each one is filled with the chaos of magic itself as well as its intrinsic danger. Love to hear your thoughts and what new information you can share.
Being the person commissioned for new art of the Black Lotus must be like getting asked to restore Jimmy Hendrix's first guitar. That's one hell of a vote of confidence.
i was looking through the lands of my local gg and saw this stunning theros land, depicting pristine water and beautiful marblesque rocks, I read the artists name and it was strikingly familiar and then when i was on the train home today i was if rhystic studies did a video on the guy. So glad i can see study of the guys art, thanks!
I've dreamt of a youtube channel that would assist me into looking more into the lives of the people who inspire us with their magical work every time we're with the gang. Man, I can't tell you how amazing this channel is, I wish you all the best!
Another great video!! I never noticed Tasigir hanging from Silumgar's neck. That is hilarious. Once again, I watch your video and immediately run to my EDH decks to find physical card of various things mentioned, so that I can see if first hand. His Rampant Growth has always been one of my favorites.
Rampant growth mos def ! Because I think it is very straight forward for a card that makes you fetch a land to represent a moss-forest flooding an empty space. It's magic because moss isn't usually moving like a tidal wave but it also is depicted in a very believable way, like a bush of twigs and messy little vegetation that makes it easy for trees to grow. And of course i'm a big fan of the art of Hokusai and all the minimalist asian art. That's just so evident when seen from afar and when you had the great wave as a background for years :D Keep it up, thanks for your videos !
The archer that is the 2nd picture has some seriously wacky forest at the background. At first glance you dont even look at it, it's just a background for creature. Then you look at it and it seems like it's more detailed. After that it has like Van Cogh stylish harsh brush lines, but after you look the whole picture it gives you the vibe of psychedelic Van Cogh. Awesome.
Amazing video as always. If I may add a request: Glen Angus. One of the better MTG artists in my opinion. His unique style was always immediately recognizable. He would draw them by hand then color/shade them digitally. He passed away in 2007 at 36, which was tragic for someone so talented and so young. He's known for some famous cards like: Tangle Wire Mindslaver Followed Footsteps All Sun's Dawn Great work again MMS. Keep up the fantastic work!
Hey @TheMagicManSam, I love these videos so much. They are as much art themselves as the pieces they showcase. They evoke a sense of understanding, appreciation and awe for these artworks impossible to even think of by just looking at the tiny card pictures. Keep it up!
I’m super late to this video, but the comment about the plains was something that was interesting to me, being a native to Colorado. Theres a particular Mountain from John Avon that I adore, Mountain 343 A from 5th, 7th and 8th edition makes me feel like I’m somewhere within the mountains of Colorado, something that feels deeply cathartic to me.
Holy crap, this was amazing, my friend! Finally, someone who appreciates Steven's work as much as I do. I have a print of his Black Lotus adorning my home.
I loved the Silumgar art! Silumgar has become one of my favorite dragons, and I think the distinctive style is part of that. He looks like no other dragon out there. Also, yet another fantastic video! I have come to truly enjoy these.
This series is amazing, thank you so much for creating videos about the artists of MTG and explaining everything from their style to inspirations. I seriously look forward to more of these videos. I rarely comment and this is my first time submitting a request. It would mean so much if you were able to do a video on Carl Critchlow. It appears you feature artists coming out in new blocks, but Critchlow is by far my all time favorite with illustrations for cards like No Rest for the Wicked and Exhume. It would be so excellent to see a video discussing his journey and artwork. thanks again for creating one of my favorite series on the entirety of RU-vid. I'm frothing at the mouth for more.
