Actually, both my girlfriend and I agree that Drew Tucker is one of the
best (if not the best) artist Wizards has doing cards for them. The
pictures are stark, scary, different... The most original art of any card
game I've seen.
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Todd Clark / sa...@halcyon.com | "you tiptoe through your lives |
| CitNet: Twoflower@The Fourth Tower| and pretend you're all so |
| Intermud: Raphael@Onyx | dangerous!" -frente |
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
*-Finger me for the current Seattle/Bainbridge ferry schedule!-*
--
* Check out this URL for some links I like to use. *
* http://www.cfn.cs.dal.ca/~aa343/Profile.html *
Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but you should keep in mind that
people have varying tastes, and nowhere is that more evident than in terms
of art. All forms-- visual, music, performance.
I personally love his art, particularly some of the work he did for Jyhad.
Granted, his style is more suited to a darker theme like Jyhad (again, just
my opinion, as the above is just your opinion), but to put it bluntly, Blood
Puppy is wonderfully chilling. While I can't recall any other specific cards
of his off the top of my head, *my* opinion is that he should get to do more
art for them.
But, we are all entitled to our own opinions...
Randy
--
===============================================================================
Randy J. Ray -- U S WEST Technologies IAD/CSS/DPDS Phone: (303)607-5268
Denver, CO rj...@lookout.ecte.uswc.uswest.com
"It's not denial. I'm just very selective about the reality I accept." --Calvin
===============================================================================
Yeah, I've wanted to do this ever since I saw my first Murk Dwellers.
I got a bunch of Dark before buying heavily into Revised... I'm pretty
sure Murk Dwellers was the first Tucker I ever saw, because I said
"Whoah! Great artwork!" and looked for his stuff thereafter.
If you wanted to use _strictly_ only Tucker cards, you'd be restricted
to Savannahs and Plateaux for land. But most of his spells are for red
and white anyway, so that's not so bad.
Lessee (relaxing Convocation rules slightly):
10 Plateau
10 Savannah
4 Clockwork Beast
4 People of the Woods
4 Cave People
4 Hurr Jackal
4 Ydwen Efreet
4 Angry Mob
4 Holy Light
4 Icatian Infantry
4 Icatian Moneychangers
4 Icatian Priest
Sideboard:
3 City in a Bottle (anti-Arabian Nights)
4 Repentant Blacksmith (anti-red)
4 Dust to Dust (anti-artifact)
4 Exorcist (anti-black)
I think this wouldn't do so bad against a black deck if you swap in
the Exorcists. The Hurr Jackals could stop nasty black regenerators,
and the Exorcists could blow anything else away. And the Mobs would
be good, too. The big trouble is finding 10 of each multi-land...
>a lot of people
>around here seem to hate Drew's art; I can't understand why. :)
Nor me, but hey, they're entitled to an opinion.
- David Mar.
m...@physics.su.oz.au http://www.physics.su.oz.au/~mar/dm.html
Astrophysics Department, University of Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
I would agree that Drew Tucker's art is misplaced in Magic, although
there are many people who like him. (God only knows why, imho) His
artwork fits wonderfully in the Jyhad game and had some place in the
Dark, but his artwork isn't very desireable for Fallen Empires. I would
recommend better thought when assigning him cards. The problem I have
with his art is that it's virtually identical by comparison. Mostly
shapless blobs of vague color with various borders. It is very subtle
work. But when the art is 1.5"x2" and in direct contention with
amazingly detailed works in four color, it doesn't work. He does have
some nice cards, however.
However, the worst artist Magic has had is Justin Hampton. No question.
- Jer
+--------------+ Everybody funky that don't know how. You should have seen
|Jeremy C. Jack| the bull when he funked the cow. He funked so hard they
|k080755@ | saw some smoke. He said, "Let's get in the bed and funk
| kzoo.edu| like folks."
+--------------+ -- Laughin' at 'cha! --
Oops... I should have said "not including lands" - otherwise you're
stuck with Red/White/Green/Artifact. :)
Anson Maddocks drew Dis. I agree with you to an extent on Tucker.
Power Leak and Ashes to Ashes are no good; Murk Dwellers and his
Necrite are excellent, though, they really convey the card's feeling
well(the other Necrites sucked). Plateau is my favorite dual-land.
As for me, I like Quinton Hoover. Why wasn't anything of his in FE?
Jeff A. Menges is good, too.
I like Drew Tucker's "blurry" style.
He's one of my fave mtg artists...
--
GUGLIELMO BOTTIN - Exchange Student from Padova, Italy
email:da...@sentex.net
There is a bunch of QH in FE. His Vodalian Mage is one of my favorite
pictures in the whole expansion.
Back to Drew, all I can say is Ugggh. I like the Icatian Priest, but the
picture is so horrible, I'm ashamed to play it.
> Who else agrees that Drew Tucker is the worst artist Magic has
> ever had?
I'll second that. But, interestingly, most of the followup posts
to your message were, "I like it!" I think that's mostly because the
"Hate Tucker" people have given up posting their opinions because
the "Pro Tucker" people pound on them unmercifully.
Besides, with the multiple artwork in FE, it's a lot easier to
make non-Tucker decks these days. Be sure to thank WotC for that.
> He needs to be kept from doing any more cards by any means
> possible.
Too late. Check out issue #3 of the Duelist. Tucker is their
featured artist, or, you might say, he's their current pet artist.
How likely do you think it is that his art will be banned from future
sets. Not bloody likely.
Besides, as I understand the artwork cycle, the art is assigned
at least six months ahead of time. So, since Drew is their pet
artist, expect to see his art featured heavily for any WotC card
game in the next 9 months or so.
And the last thing to disappoint you is the probability that he is
a fast artist. Looking at his art, I can guess that he doesn't spend
more than 10 or 15 minutes on each. So, if WotC is running a little
late on their deadlines, and they need a lot of paint slapped on a
lot of canvas fast in too little time, who do you think they will ask
to do the slapping?
-- Bill
>In article <3dsfip$i...@news.rain.org>, <pdob...@rain.org> writes:
>> Who else agrees that Drew Tucker is the worst artist Magic has
>> ever had?
>I'll second that.
While I generally don't like Tucker's art, I wouldn't call him the worst
Magic artist. His style works for some cards, just not those that have
people in the picture (Guess which design of Icatian Moneychanger I've
ended up with the most of. Bleah). On the other hand, Justin Hampton's
art looks like rejects from a fourth-rate comic book whatever he does.
(Fortunately, he doesn't seem to have done anything after Legends).
--
/-|Yuri|_|Chun Li|-|Lum|_|Yohko|-|Racheal|-|Akane|_|Kei|-|Shampoo|_|Kahm|-\
\ Kevin Lighton / lig...@eden.rutgers.edu / IRC no Shinma_KL /
/ "Today I got up early. This may never happen again." (A-ko) \
\-----_____-----_____"Darling no BAKA!" (ZAP! *BOOM*)-----_____-----______/
>pure abstract - like Chaoslace :) But I love Drew's art! Both in Jyhad
>and in Magic. It's so dark and moody for the most part. About the only
>cards of his I *don't* like are Power Leak and Merseine...
Personally, I can't stand his Icatian Infantry, Icatian Moneychanger, or
Holy Light... His Style doesn't work for white cards in general. (I'm
not too wild about most of his other stuff, but that's a matter of personal
taste).
> One of these days I'm going to attempt to make a deck of all colors
>with nothing but Drew's art. :) Sure, it'll be 5 colors, plus artifacts
>and lands, and totally unwieldy, but it'll be fun - a lot of people
>around here seem to hate Drew's art; I can't understand why. :)
This should be interesting to try to make work... Did he do the art for any
mana source at all?
: I would agree that Drew Tucker's art is misplaced in Magic, although
: there are many people who like him. (God only knows why, imho) His
: artwork fits wonderfully in the Jyhad game and had some place in the
: Dark, but his artwork isn't very desireable for Fallen Empires. I would
: recommend better thought when assigning him cards. The problem I have
: with his art is that it's virtually identical by comparison. Mostly
: shapless blobs of vague color with various borders. It is very subtle
: work. But when the art is 1.5"x2" and in direct contention with
: amazingly detailed works in four color, it doesn't work. He does have
: some nice cards, however.
What you don't realize is that while the other artists are
using mediums that are heavy such as Oils, Acrylics, etc.. Tucker is
a watercolor artist, and watercolor is more abstract when painting
something as detailed as say.. a human's face. So you can't exactly
judge Tucker against everyone else's painting. Shuler is another
person who you cannot do that with, because I met him and he starts
with drawings. His drawing are so fine and perfect, that (IMOO) he
needs a very sharp fineline brush to get his work as good as his
pencil. I don't remember what the pencils looked like for Prodigal
Tim and Benalish, but I know that they paintings turned out well.
Grade against people of the same medium, but don't judge mediums all
the same.
Jay
Actually the Icatian Moneychanger is one of Tucker's best, imho.
But I have to second you on your evaluation of Hampton. He gets
my vote as the worst artist in MtG.
-rmh
Gee, when you put it like that, it all makes sense: Drew Tucker is the *best*
watercolor artist WoTC has! Now it's all so clear!
Seriously though, I'm sure we all understand that Drew uses a different medium
than the other artists that WoTC uses. What you're saying is that we shouldn't
compare him to them because of that? Wrong. Medium is totally irrelevant.
You certainly *can* compare two very different art media. Saying you can't is
like saying you can't compare two different styles of art, which is pure bunk.
Believe me, it's no accident that Mr. Tucker uses watercolors; he definitely
knows what he's doing. He chooses his medium on purpose, because that's how
he wants to express himself. And he certainly seems to have quite a following
of people who certainly *are* comparing his work to that done by other WoTC
artists. Personally, I think that much of his art is quite good, some of it
is bad, but *most* of it is misplaced in Magic. Jyhad is a much better
forum for Tucker art (I play both games, BTW).
Oh, and the *worst* artist is, of course, Justin Hampton.
Just my 2 cents...
Mark
"Real Men Play Black"
hav...@ecst.csuchico.edu
Since I can't speak for Mr. Tucker, I'll have to guess... To me, it
looks like a humanoid figure pouncing on a second being while a third
looks on from the background...
--
"I hope something good happens today, so I'll have a reason to live."
"Who, me? I didn't say anything."
DISCLAIMER: The Devil made me do it!
> Actually the Icatian Moneychanger is one of Tucker's best, imho.
Duh ! My opinion is, whenever he tries to depict *persons*, it doesn't turn
out very well. The one Tucker I really like is the night soil from Fe.
Two other cards I like are Hymn to Tourach by Susan van Camp, and the mind
stab thrull with the "thing" (head + legs&arms attached in weird fashion) in
the picture. Don't know who the artist is. Those last two I like mostly
because of the (imo) great colors.
> But I have to second you on your evaluation of Hampton. He gets
> my vote as the worst artist in MtG.
Did he do anything from revised ?
--
/---------------------------------------------------\
| Mark Spierings | Whiskey is bad for you, |
| mar...@stack.urc.tue.nl | especially bad whiskey. |
|---------------------------------------------------|
| I just LOVE bikinis on bald dwarvish fellows with |
| beerbellies. And the fact that his hair is greasy |
| is only a bonus. |
\---------------------------------------------------/
: > Actually the Icatian Moneychanger is one of Tucker's best, imho.
: Duh ! My opinion is, whenever he tries to depict *persons*, it doesn't turn
: out very well. The one Tucker I really like is the night soil from Fe.
: Two other cards I like are Hymn to Tourach by Susan van Camp, and the mind
: stab thrull with the "thing" (head + legs&arms attached in weird fashion) in
: the picture. Don't know who the artist is. Those last two I like mostly
: because of the (imo) great colors.
My fav. fallen empire card is the Hymn to Tourach with the wolf's head...
I don't like Tucker's artwork, either.
--
Mark Shapiro (SED)
msha...@explorer.csc.com
I think "Reverse Polarity" is in Revised. But it's
an Uncommon, so you may not have seen it.
Anything else he may have in Revised I don't know offhand.
Basically his art looks like _bad_ comic book stuff.
-rmh
While most of JH's art is utter trash, do take a look at the LG Rare,
Juxtaposition. Eerie!
BTW, is Winds of Change restricted?
"Are you done, yet???"
-- Goblin Strategy (and other Famous Last Words)
Br'uck Ch'uck F'rtagg (annotations by Reslin Herenbach)
Cedric.
I'll admit that some of Drew Tucker's Magic art is decent... when you look
at it up close and study it. At that range, you can detect the subtle
imagery in the watercolors.
The big problem is, Magic is not played at such close range; particularly
in a multiplayer game. When someone plays a Drew Tucker card 3 or 4 feet
away from you, there is no way to tell which card that grease spot over
there represents. If people would *announce* their spells when cast, it
wouldn't matter so much; but I seem to be the only person in the world
[on my block] who thinks such announcing is a good idea. Everyone else
thinks they are being cool or dramatic or mysterious or something by just
plopping down a card silently; or at best, they say literally "I play
*that*." Drew Tucker cards always make me say "Excuse me, but what did
you just play?" Even the worst Justin Hampton card is at least recognizable.
While I'm bitching about playability engineering...
The Tucker indistinguishable art style matches the unreadable font used for
the card titles. It is a "shadowfont", which means it looks cool at close
range; but the lack of ink density makes the text mostly invisible at a
distance.
Charles Poirier
<Alot of useless bantering deleted>
>
>And the last thing to disappoint you is the probability that he is
>a fast artist. Looking at his art, I can guess that he doesn't spend
>more than 10 or 15 minutes on each. So, if WotC is running a little
>late on their deadlines, and they need a lot of paint slapped on a
>lot of canvas fast in too little time, who do you think they will ask
>to do the slapping?
>
Paint slapped on a canvas? Well that's a little commentary on your
worthiness as an art critic. DT paints with water color. Water Color is
usually done on paper, or did you miss art class in elemntary school.
<Blowtorch off>
--
Ted Bedwell "My Car is insured by Mishra"
ASA UMBC ACS <http://www.cs.umbc.edu>
ebe...@umbc.edu
Have to give credit where credit is due: at least you recognize that
you're a Philistine....
Drew Tucker is one of the better artists in the set, and probably
the only one I'd hang on my living room wall. But then, I don't
care much for 'fan art' -- it's only a tiny bit better than
pictures of big-eyed kids or dogs playing poker.
--
Tom Doehne
doe...@cse.ogi.edu
: Paint slapped on a canvas? Well that's a little commentary on your
: worthiness as an art critic. DT paints with water color. Water Color is
: usually done on paper, or did you miss art class in elemntary school.
True. But I still agree that his artwork could use some work. I'm sure it's
good art, from the mind of an artist or an art critic (neither of which am I)
However, from the mind of a MtG player (which I am) it is not that great
artwork. I like my magic card pictures to be representative of what they
are. A Serra Angel with a picture of an angel is good. A Serra Angel with
a picture of a smear of white paint on a brown background is not.
--
Mark Shapiro (SED)
msha...@explorer.csc.com
:: [water color painted on paper *not* canvas]
: [agreed,I'm sure DT does good work: I don't claim to be an expert
I don't like abstract art for MTG, too hard to decipher when
playing a game. I like Serra Angel: good representation.
This is sort of a side note to personal taste.
I don't much like the serra angels picture, the head
is all out of proportion to the body. Of course, I am
making a comparison to a human, but still it bugs me.
Howard
Have to agree---Tucker seems to be one of the few who got past Sad Clowns 101
in art school. Love all the work he got in Fallen Empires! On the other
end of the pole I also love Phil Foglio, mostly because he KNOWS he's only a
cartoonist. His thrulls are a hoot.
--
----------------------------##----##-----------------------------------------
Brad Murray # # # # "And the cost of living in sin would
br...@marimba.wimsey.bc.ca # # # # make a poor man out of Paul Getty."
----------------------------##----#------------------------------------------
Bleah! Take a look at the Icatian Priest sometime. What the heck is that
supposed to be? It may be artsy, but it's still horribly ugly.
>True. But I still agree that his artwork could use some work. I'm sure it's
>good art, from the mind of an artist or an art critic (neither of which am I)
>However, from the mind of a MtG player (which I am) it is not that great
>artwork. I like my magic card pictures to be representative of what they
>are. A Serra Angel with a picture of an angel is good. A Serra Angel with
>a picture of a smear of white paint on a brown background is not.
I agree that MtG cards have to convey the appropriate concept, but 'realistic'
art isn't necessarily the best or only way to do this. Look at Power Leak:
it's a great abstract picture. You can just feel the power leaking out of the
poor guy.
As an aside, I should point out that Tucker's work isn't all abstract, either.
His Icatian Infantry is a realistic portrayal that I rather like.
--
####################**************************##########################
But in a little while I got
steeped in authority
Heaven only knows what went wrong
There is nothing so cruel than
to bury the jewel
When it was mine all along
I'm going to find it -Shawn Colvin-
diamond in the rough
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(@)<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
: I would agree that Drew Tucker's art is misplaced in Magic, although
: there are many people who like him. (God only knows why, imho) His
: artwork fits wonderfully in the Jyhad game and had some place in the
: Dark, but his artwork isn't very desireable for Fallen Empires. I would
: recommend better thought when assigning him cards. The problem I have
: with his art is that it's virtually identical by comparison. Mostly
: shapless blobs of vague color with various borders. It is very subtle
: work. But when the art is 1.5"x2" and in direct contention with
: amazingly detailed works in four color, it doesn't work. He does have
: some nice cards, however.
: However, the worst artist Magic has had is Justin Hampton. No question.
: - Jer
Oops! Yes, you are right, Justin Hampton is far worse than Mark Poole.
Quinton has stuff in FE, you just weren't looking hard enough.
---ANGRY FLOYD---
: Can anyone tell me what his picture of the Necrite is supposed to
: be?
A Necrite.
: Have to agree---Tucker seems to be one of the few who got past Sad Clowns 101
: in art school. Love all the work he got in Fallen Empires! On the other
: end of the pole I also love Phil Foglio, mostly because he KNOWS he's only a
: cartoonist. His thrulls are a hoot.
Yeah! Phil and Kaja came down to the comic shop i work at a couple of
weeks ago they are both excellent artists and nice people to boot. They
enjoyed my artwork and encouraged me to send a portfolio to WotC. Hee,
and i got to eat dinner with them.. many funs.
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc
Path: news0.uni-jena.de!server2.rz.uni-leipzig.de!news.urz.tu-dresden.de!irz401!zib-berlin.de!ceres.fokus.gmd.de!nntp.gmd.de!newsserver.jvnc.net!news.cac.psu.edu!news.pop.psu.edu!psuvax1!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!gumby!kzoo!k080755
From: k08...@hobbes.kzoo.edu (Jack of Hearts)
Organization: Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo MI 49006
References: <3dsfip$i...@news.rain.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Dec 1994 18:08:38 GMT
Lines: 25
In article <3dsfip$i...@news.rain.org> pdob...@rain.org () writes:
> Who else agrees that Drew Tucker is the worst artist Magic has
>ever had? He needs to be kept from doing any more cards by any means
>possible. You can't tell what _ANY_ of his pictures are. It totally ruins
I would agree that Drew Tucker's art is misplaced in Magic, although
there are many people who like him. (God only knows why, imho) His
Me for example, because I like paintings that leave room for
imagination, let it be by Drew Tucker or other artists. What exactly
happens on the picture of Season of the Witch. Are the orange spots to
fireballs approaching your ranks or the eyes of a gigantic creature? I
didn't like Drew's style in FE too much because the painting was too
specific. The Infantry is well done, but clearly an infantry. I agree
that his style suits abstract motives better, like Power Leak or Ashes
to Ashes.
artwork fits wonderfully in the Jyhad game and had some place in the
Dark, but his artwork isn't very desireable for Fallen Empires. I would
recommend better thought when assigning him cards. The problem I have
with his art is that it's virtually identical by comparison. Mostly
This goes for various artists. The Douglas Shuler women must all be
related :-). Dan Frazier backgrounds: His 4-year-old son has again
mixed the strawberry jam with the vanilla custard.
shapless blobs of vague color with various borders. It is very subtle
The color of Murk Dwellers for instance is not vague, it's bright red.
work. But when the art is 1.5"x2" and in direct contention with
amazingly detailed works in four color, it doesn't work. He does have
some nice cards, however.
However, the worst artist Magic has had is Justin Hampton. No question.
Ceterum censeo...
--
Johannes Faßbinder, Inst. f. med. Statistik, Inf. und Dokum. |
Jahnstraße 3 +-------------------------------------------+
D-07740 Jena |
(03641)25447 | Je entlegener die Fußball-Provinz,
i...@rz.uni-jena.de| desto mehr Bayern-Fans.
Well, I'm trying to put together a complete set of his stuff, so if
you've got any you want to unload/trade, email me. (That goes for
everyone else too... here's what I don't have:
City in a Bottle
Hurr Jackal
Repentant Blacksmith
Angry Mob
Holy Light
High Tide
Icatian Infantry
Icatian Moneychanger
Icatian Priest
Merseine
I can to a picture swap on any of the Fallen cards here.)
Todd
Ha!
By the way... can anyone fax me a picture of the Black Lotus?
-NoWh...@AOL.com