MTG Card Process for Clavileno, First of the Blessed (Showcase)

Excited to share with you all the process of my very first Magic the Gathering card. In this post I will be going through my thought process as well as the tools I used in creating this illustration. Let me know if this is something you all would like to see more often going forward?

You can download the PSD final for this illustration here:https://www.mediafire.com/file_premium/bvl1ldh42i4bwsy/Patreon_Clavilen%25CC%2583o.psd/file

To start out I'll share the prompt I was given for this assignment.

"Art Description:
Plane: Ixalan
World Guide: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Color: white and black aligned LEGENDARY creature

Intent: For this series, we want to depict Ixalan legends with a graphic treatment. It consists of the character illustration on a flat patterned background. Please see the style guide and the world guide.

Location: Please refer to our style guide for guidance on the location of this composition.

Action: show us CLAVILEÑO, a vampire cleric (see reference).  He swings a CENSER above him, spreading dark smoke through the air as he calls out a sermon. Maybe his eyes GLOW with pale light, and we can see that same light spreading under his skin, as if it is going to burst out from him.

Mood: an evil priest at the height of testimony   

Focus: Clavileño"

From there I usually head straight into sketching around 2-3 ideas for the client. These days I usually sketch in Procreate due to portability as well as convenience. All of these sketches were drawn with the Chalk Brush and Soft Brush for the orange lighting here and there. At first I was thinking of a typical cleric pose centralized and seeming to be giving a sermon with censer in hand, as I progressed I went more aggressive with the theme with a lunging-like side profile. Which resonated well with the Art Director. As per the art guide I was given, the colors were fairly muted mostly Black and White with Gold accents. A lot of the shape language of the character was actually influenced by my love of Todd Mcfarlane's and Greg Capullo's run on Spawn. Pattern wise for the background I was influenced by Aztecan culture, which was later asked to change due to the culture of the vampires having a different aesthetic. B was ultimately chosen to go forward.

I'm sure I've said this in the past, but the sketch is simply the most important part of the process of creating art. It determines everything, and nailing it down is essential.

As I move into lines, I am more conscientious of the lighting as I usually incorporate shading with my final lines. By layering my hatching it gives much more dimension to the flat lines. I also plan the hatching with the movement of certain elements, such as the black smoke of this piece I used more curved hatching going from right to left following the smoke. All of the lines was drawn in Photoshop with the Line Brush from my pack in the pinned Patreon post.

Going into colors I mostly used the same colors as the sketch. I flat each piece of the art by hand, it's tedious but I'm thankful for it in the end. Using clipping masks to bound the colors as I shade is essential.

For shading I am helped out by the lines in how and where the shadows lay. I also incorporate Overlay and Color Dodge layers for the lighting, usually a really dark orange. A secret to glowing eyes is filling the area with the color you want then using a hard brush with White for the eye shape or pupil. On a separate Color Dodge layer sample the color you use and soft brush over the eye area while setting the Transparency of the layer to your desired effect, in my cause I usually go with 20-50%. Duplicate that layer and set it to Overlay, and viola you got a glowing eye. Curves and Brightness and Contrast Adjustment Layers were used to boost the colors and contrast.

For the final stretch, I layered on textures with Overlay and Multiply on top of the character at about ~30% for the watercolor feel. I also corrected the pattern of the background. If there's any questions you have for me feel free to comment below this post.