The Making of Alters
General forum
Posted on Feb. 17, 2016, 6:32 p.m. by JANKYARD_DOG
How does one go about making an alter? I don't mean putting a goofy mustache and top hat on an Eldrazi Scion, but rather extending the art past the borders kind of alter. I'm not exactly artistic myself but I may be able to convince my girlfriend were I to acquire the materials required. That said; what are the materials? Specific markers? I imagine paint would increase the thickness of a card making it 'marked' so to say. Hell, if she's good at it it could become profitable. May even try my hand at it...maybe practice on my large stack of Negates and Beetleform Mages.
February 17, 2016 6:37 p.m.
I use a gray coat over the parts of the card I want to paint. Some people use erasers to rub the ink off. I prefer painting a base coat. Thin the paint for this part quite a bit and apply a few layers. You don't want to thicken the card much. The first layer should be very transparent. Let it dry and apply another layer, repeat until the original frame/art doesn't show through. I usually do 3-4 layers at this step.
Plan out what you are going to paint and at least trace it out on to the card. When I first started altering I would just work top down with no real plan other than "extend the original art." Some times it worked out fine, other times I'd get stuck not sure what to do with an area or not like how something was looking. I'd spend more time than necessary redoing parts (and adding extra thickness). When I started sketching out the card before painting, the amount of time and paint it took to finish the card dropped and the quality increased. I usually sketch out the card with pencil or do the carbon copy method described in one of the links above, and then go over it with ultra fine marker.
The actual painting. Paint in layers. Do not try to do it in one coat. You'll use too much paint and it will show on the finished card. Also, don't be too concerned with how it looks until it is done. They tend to start to look much better as you get closer to finishing them. I generally start with the background and work my way forward. The tutorials have some good info.
Paint - cheap paint is fine to start out with while learning the craft, but once you or your girlfriend get some experience you'll want to upgrade. I found that when the cheap paints I was using at first dried that the color would change, making it difficult to color match. I upgraded to Golden Fluid Acrylics and have used them exclusively for the last couple of years. I used a clear acrylic spray top coat when I was using the cheaper paints, but with Golden there isn't a need to. There is an adjustment period when switching from cheap paints to higher quality paints. If you start with cheap paints and make the upgrade later, I'd recommend a practice card or two with the new paints.
Brushes - I don't spend a lot on brushes, you are going to be using very fine/small brushes and they will get worn out quickly enough that spending extra on high quality brushes isn't really worth it.
Pallet - whatever you prefer really. I just use cheap $1 pallets. I've tried the Sta-wet pallets, but when back to the cheap ones.
Markers - I use a Sakura Microperm 01. I mainly use it for laying down the plan before painting, but also for some fine black lines and when doing stained glass alters.
Blue Painters tape - I use it to tape up the back of the card before putting any paint on it. I try to make sure the paint is right at the edge of the card and trim it down if it is over.
Tooth Picks - alterer's best friend. Use a slightly damp one to clean up edges or scrape paint from an unwanted place. I use them when doing old bordered cards for the lettering. Paint right over the lettering with a thin coat, use a tooth pick to clean the paint from the lettering, repeat a couple of times... Very happy with this technique - learned it from Gus Shade/Yawg.
Hope it helps. It's a fun/rewarding endeavor. Good luck!
February 18, 2016 12:36 a.m.
The above is sound advice. I'm just starting out myself and I've found everything said there to be true. Also, make mockups. Have plans. It helps so much. I want to extend the art on the Kor Ally token from BFZ. I just threw this together in PS in about 15 minutes. It's not refined at all. Still, it'll help me a ton when I start working on the card tomorrow.
February 18, 2016 12:58 a.m.
Totally agree with Devicer. I use GIMP to do mock ups. Its not as good as PS, but it's free.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5GtXLBpL4s&list=PLxXSw4K4gDvMOaUG-3cW31B4FAxXnne7e
take a look at all those.
February 17, 2016 6:34 p.m.