Your Top 10 favorite artwork

Nariam · Post by **Nariam** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:04 pm

I know it's hard to tell but I'm interested to hear what MECCG cards' artworks you guys like best. I'll start with my Top 10:

1. Hidden Haven - Quinton Hoover
2. Wraith-Lord - Brom
3. Pass the doors of Dol Guldur - John Howe
4. Pôn-ora-Pôn - Vincens Luján
5. Scatha Ahunt - Liz Danforth
6. Bairanax Roused - Quinton Hoover
7. The Under-Galleries - Quinton Hoover
8. Drughu - April Lee
9. Helm of her Secrecy - Angus McBride
10. Power Built by Waiting - R. Ward Shipman

It would also be cool to hear on which you agree / disagree / comment. However, I have to say that I know far from all card artworks, and I may have forgotten one or two of the great ones I know.

The Lidless Eye · Post by **The Lidless Eye** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:06 am

It is really tough to pick (or critique) someones choices.  Artwork is so subjective.  Some people like the more abstract pieces.  My personal taste is for the more realistic style of artwork.  In addition, with over 1650 pieces of artwork done for the game, the wide variety of styles, it is difficult to narrow things down.

I like your choices.  You are obviously a Quinton Hoover fan with 3 pieces on your list.  As an aside, I own 2 of the pieces on your list (you can see a portion of my collection at http://www.munchkinpress.com/Bcollection.htm).  I love the artwork in this game and have been trying to pick up my favourite pieces.

Okay, my top 10 list of artwork would be (in no particular order)
1. The Ithil Stone - Audrey Corman
2. Dwar the Ringwraith - Donato
3. Helm of her secrecy - Angus McBride
4. The witchking unleased - Rob Alexander
5. Stormcrow - John Howe
6. Shadow of Mordor - John Howe
7. Fell Rider - Omar Rayyan
8. Thror's Map - Audrey Corman
9. Twisted Tales - April Lee
10. Uvatha Unleased - Quinton Hoover

There are probably dozens of pieces that I have forgotten.  In addition, each of the artists I have listed have a number of exceptional pieces (at least in my mind).

Nariam · Post by **Nariam** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:56 pm

^man! Great collection there! How big are these originals, and how much do you have to pay for a piece on average? And most importantly, where did you get them?

The Ithil-Stone does look great on your picture, although I always thought on the card it looks kinda gleamy...

Anyways, yes I am indeed a Quinton Hoover fan...  :D  I love the way he mixes realistic shapes with his own painting style (somewhat similar to Stephen graham walsh's, but more extreme), and some wonderful coloring...

The Lidless Eye · Post by **The Lidless Eye** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:21 pm

how much do you have to pay for a piece on average?

This really varies.  My experience has been that artwork can be purchased for as little as around $100.  Typically the high end of pricing is around $1000  (with a few exceptions).  I would say 90% of the artwork for the game (that is available for sale) would fall within the $100-$1000 range.  I would say the average price for artwork is around $400 (if you contacted a random artist, you could probably purchase something for around $400).

And most importantly, where did you get them?

You can buy artwork at conventions, but seeing as I don't really have any conventions near me, I contact the artist.  Every artist I have contacted has been extremely friendly.  Many artists still have artwork for sale, which often surprises me since the game is over 10 years old.  Here is a link to a list of artist sites where you can find contact info if you are interested.  In addition, if anybody has a price range in mind, I can point you to artists who sell artwork in that price category.

The Ithil-Stone does look great on your picture, although I always thought on the card it looks kinda gleamy...

ICE apparently altered the colors a bit for the artwork that was used on the card.  If you compare the card artwork to the original you will see the changes.

I love the way he mixes realistic shapes with his own painting style (somewhat similar to Stephen graham walsh's, but more extreme), and some wonderful coloring...

Quinton Hoover uses a line and wash technique (I think that is what it is called).  Quinton started out as a comic book artist.  He uses strong lines and then a water color wash to achieve the effect.  It is strikingly different than most of the artwork in the set but works really well for CCG cards (especially when the image is shrunk down to a 2.5 inch box).

How big are these originals

They are small for fantasy illustration.  A typical illustration will be around 8X10 inches.  Sometimes a bit bigger sometimes a bit smaller.  Remember ultimately, this artwork is shrunk down to the size of a postage stamp so the artwork is relatively small.

Nariam · Post by **Nariam** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:55 pm

Thanks for that informative reply!

Umm, that's pretty expensive for a student like me, but I'll probably try and get a quinton hoover original for a birthday present to myself or something like that  8)

Quinton Hoover uses a line and wash technique (I think that is what it is called).  Quinton started out as a comic book artist.  He uses strong lines and then a water color wash to achieve the effect.  It is strikingly different than most of the artwork in the set but works really well for CCG cards (especially when the image is shrunk down to a 2.5 inch box).

I think it looks great on the big view of your Bairanax Roused to - don't you like it in original size?

The Lidless Eye · Post by **The Lidless Eye** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:43 pm

I think it looks great on the big view of your Bairanax Roused to - don't you like it in original size?

Actually I love the original.  It is just a very different style then any other MECCG artist.  I would say the original is much more dramatic then the image on the cards.

However, I have found that some artists don't paint that much detail into their artwork for card games ie if a 6"X6" image is shrunk down to 2"X1" you often don't need a lot of detail on the larger image.  In contrast Hoovers painting works extremely well both on the card and as stand-alone art.

Back to your original question about favorite artwork.  There was a poll down about 10 years ago as part of the card-of-the-day archive (#100) polling favorite cards (including artwork) from METW.

http://www.trevorstone.org/metw/cotd/issues/100.html

The poll shows people's favorite pieces from the original set.  Cool to see.