Lorwyn Concepts 5

I still have a few more Lorwyn concept drawings to toss out there, yes I do! In this three-pic installment you will lay thine eyes upon my design for a Shadowmoor merfolk. Where Lorwyn merfolk were like fish-like mermaids, when the world got all dark and sinister by Shadowmoor, the merfolk became more like mermaid-like fish. We needed to figure out a way for them to be able to travel and fight while NOT in water so I took a page from walking catfish and gave them little clawed fins and a eel-body with which they could slither up onto land and hack away at some enemies.

The third piece is a grouping on Shadowmoor boggarts lookin' all creepy and vaguely like somebody dropped some bat and goat DNA in the bowl by accident.

Two more things, I am going to be launching a sister blog to my draw-blog. It will basically encompass everything that isn't pencil drawings and sketches. I'll post current finished artwork as well as stuff dug up from the deep dark past, step-by-steps, insights, and various things for sale. Speaking of that, since I'm in the middle of a Lorwyn revisiting, I'll be posting all my remaining original artwork with sale prices - expect that at some point this month.

Also, I haven't mentioned my book of pencil drawings in a while: AGGREGATE: The Art of Steve Prescott. I have sold out of the limited editions but I still have regular signed (upon request) copies for sale. If you like what you see on this blog, you'd probably really enjoy the book. Check out a very tiny taste on my website placeholder page HERE!

Lorwyn Concepts 4

Here is another small batch from my Lorwyn concept drawings circa 2006. Not seeing this above "coal hound" since, well, pretty much since I drew it, it was cool to rediscover it some 6 years later. Not sure what exactly the angle for the coal hound was - probably some sort of "red" creature - maybe even a replacement for wolves. Whatever though, it didn't make it into the style guide nor, as far as I have seen, any of the cards in the Lorwyn black. I do really like the drawing though - would have been a cool addition to my Aggregate book!

Not sure what the hell this leafy fellow was intended for. A lot of the concept designing phase was just throwing up ideas and seeing what the design crew thought. This leaf dude might have been some sort of elemental or possibly some sort of freaky elf/plant hybrid.

The little fire-dudes below are silly, yes - but part of a interesting development during the design push. Originally, there was no specified race for "red" (other than goblins, to an extent). But at one point during the weeks I was out there, it was decided that us artists needed to come up with some fire elemental folk. At first, we thought this was to fill a creature or elemental spot and so we drew up some very simple little fire/rock weirdos. Turns out, they actually wanted a race that can have a culture and weapons and ornamentation, etc. I recall being frustrated and stumped for the better part of a day and a half with these fire folk - because nothing we were coming up with seemed to fit the fairy tale Lorwyn world even remotely. Then Jeremy Jarvis Finally broke through with a cool design (that look almost nothing like these little brazier critters!). His design would go on to become the excellent flamekin you see in all the Lorwyn and Morningtide artwork. Thank goodness, because these dudes are a bit dingbatty.

Lorwyn Concepts 3

Shame on me. Back in the Spring of 2006, I was (and still am 6 years later!) totally enamored with Tony DiTerlizzi's newly released "Spiderwick Field Guide" and his phenomenal take on sprites. Amidst all the great artwork of Tony's in that book, I just loved the sprite fold-out the most. So when I went out to Wizards of the Coast to concept design Lorwyn, and one of the races that needed to be visually established were faeries, I knew EXACTLY the kind of look that would fit the slightly skewed semi-playful world. I didn't have Tony's book with me, but from pouring over those pictures so much, I had the gist of what they looked like and how I could kinda skew them slightly to fit into Lorwyn.

Well, I wish I DID have the book with me then - so I could have seen how close I was to totally copying my friend's excellent designs!!!! Ugh. Alright, I didn't rip-off any one of his little sprite folk specifically - but the sensibilities involved with insect physiology mixed with slightly human characteristics to make playful and cool-looking creatures is all Tony.

In the end, Lorwyn faeries were more waspy (like that one malevolent-looking wasp faerie at the top) and less all over the insect spectrum like my other drawings. So my territory invasion on DiTerlizzi sprites didn't go all the way to print. But still, I feel a bit bad for being so blatant without knowing it. It's not my style to borrow so liberally - only to channel whatever it is that is inspiring me. I should blame Tony, actually. His sprites were too fun to draw and I suppose I just couldn't help myself. Yes, I think I'll go with that. The defense rests, your honor.

If you haven't seen or purchased "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You" by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, I can't recommend it enough.

Lorwyn Concepts 2

Here is an attempt at a black-leaning treefolk - a sinister deciduous bastard that awoke in the "Shadowmoor" set. It's just fun to draw gnarly branches!

And secondly, a couple very very early versions of what would become the much more human-looking Kithkin. I think the vaguest early description was that Kithkin (or whatever we were calling them at the time) were simply the replacements for humans in Lorwyn. And we went from there.

These early Kithkin concepts were probably done in the first day or two of concepting. In that stage, at least for me, I'm just throwing down anything that seems like it might capture the flavor of the setting to see what the art director is looking for. It's the buckshot approach - fire off a large spray of smaller drawings to see what hits the mark and go from there.

Lorwyn Concepts 1

As per my promise, I'm going to post a series of my pencil drawings from when I worked on the concept design push for what would become Magic: the Gathering's "Lorwyn" block (which includes Morningtide, Eventide, and Shadowmoor, as well).

These drawings are from all the way back 2006. Wow - has it been six years already? Anyway, the artist team I was on included Omar Rayyan, Warren Mahy, and Jeremy Jarvis. Good times all around but there were plenty of obstacles we had to either hammer out or at least pound on for a while to see if there was anything there.

The first sampling I am posting is a cute little concept for a blue faerie or elemental - and the Lorwyn version of a goblin (boggarts). I think we actually went less pig and more mutated goat/bat with the look of the boggarts. But these gross pig dudes were fun to tinker with. Definitely tapping some Mike Mignola with this design.

Conceptualizationism II

Here's another old concept drawing that didn't go anywhere. I believe it was an attempt to see if elves might have a spot in a gothic horror setting. The idea was eventually laid to rest I think because of game mechanics or something in the development but I think there could have been a visual way to incorporate elves into a setting with werewolves, vampires, and zombies (not that this particular drawing is it though!).

Conceptualizationism

Where have I been for the last two weeks? Been out at Wizards of the Coast in Renton, Washington working with five other artists drawing up concept designs for a Magic:the Gathering set that probably won't come out until Spring of 2013. This is my third Magic concept push and my fourth concept push out at Wizards (I worked on Eberron back in 2003 I think it was?). Even though the very basics are always the same (designing races/creatures/landscapes that fit into a Magic game) the angles and challenges are different and interesting. And it's always a great time.

I got to work with a crop of excellent artists in Richard Whitters, Pete Morbacher, Eric Deschamps, Adam Paquette, and the venerable Todd Lockwood and we teamed up to pummel the concept board with all sorts of designs. Designs of which I DEFINITELY can't talk about lest I get flayed and fed to mandrills. Someday, I'll get to post the images though and I can't wait because I think they're really fun drawings.

Alas, someday very soon I'll post some "lost" Lorwyn concept drawings that didn't quite cut the mustard as far as what was needed - but are still some decent drawings. These drawings are from almost 6 years ago.

But since we're talking concept drawings here, I'm posting a couple stray concepts that didn't hit the right note for the LAST Magic push I did - the one that would become "Innistrad". I forget what these were aimed at - they were early on and we ended up heading in a different direction. At least they get a second look here on my blog!