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Avatar MTG Cards

A collection of the cards I made for the Avatar MTG set.

These were the first MTG cards I had ever worked on, and I certainly learned a lot throughout. Matching the required style and tone whilst injecting nuance and detailing that isn't possible in animation was really challenging.
It's hard to put into words what those lessons learnt really are; but broadly it's about letting go of little ideas that I would be obsessed with from the sketch stage, and embracing the broader purpose of the illustration. It was always so difficult to zoom out and remember that these will be printed onto a tiny card, so I couldn't rely on small satisfying eye candy to make the artwork shine. As with any restriction the real skill is finding the opportunities to do something special and intentional.
I wouldn't claim to have been totally successful here, but I absolutely carried those lessons forwards to my TMNT cards.

Thanks to my AD Cassie Murphy!
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Easily my favourite of the set. He's just such a delightful character to depict, especially with one of his crazier expressions

Easily my favourite of the set. He's just such a delightful character to depict, especially with one of his crazier expressions

Very tough one to finish. I felt confident coming out of the sketch stage, but ran into a lot of challenges balancing values. Hopefully that struggle isn't apparent in the final!

Very tough one to finish. I felt confident coming out of the sketch stage, but ran into a lot of challenges balancing values. Hopefully that struggle isn't apparent in the final!

I had to do quiiite a few warm up sketches of these guys to really feel comfortable with their design. In the end I really like how it turned out. Simplification was key here.

I had to do quiiite a few warm up sketches of these guys to really feel comfortable with their design. In the end I really like how it turned out. Simplification was key here.

Cute n fluffy. Struggling to make thins look like night time? Just add blue!

Cute n fluffy. Struggling to make thins look like night time? Just add blue!

Certainly the most daunting brief of the lot, but it came together more easily than I expected. Getting Hippo's belly just right was very fun.

Certainly the most daunting brief of the lot, but it came together more easily than I expected. Getting Hippo's belly just right was very fun.