Why Are Some Artists No Longer Illustrating For WotC?
General forum
Posted on June 30, 2016, 6:05 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Many talented (or should I say "illustrious?") artists have illustrated artwork for WotC, and some have been doing so for many years. However, some artists have simply stopped doing so, which saddens me greatly, since I greatly enjoy their artwork.
Some artists who once illustrated for WotC have died (msot notably Quinton Hoover, Wayne England, and Christopher Rush), but others have different reasons for no longer illustrating for the company. For example, Phil and Kaja Foglio no longer produce artwork because their style does not fit with the current style of WotC's products, which I find to be very unfortunate; perhaps if a third un-set is ever made, they could return for that. Among the artists who are no longer illustrating for WotC, the most notable are Rebecca Guay, Ron Spencer, Thomas M. Baxa, Richard Kane Ferguson, and Ed Beard, all of whom have very distinct styles, have produced amazing artwork of WotC, and whom the players miss greatly, I am certain. At least Mark Tedin, Wayne Reynolds, and Todd Lockwood, three of WotC's best and longest-running artists, still illustrate for the company.
What does everyone else say about this? Why are certain artists no longer illustrating for WotC?
Its pretty rare for multiple people to care whether an artist left or not. I could honestly say there are only a handful of artists I would think people would miss as a whole. Also Thomas Baxa was a dick in person when I met him at a GP.
June 30, 2016 6:40 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #4
I personally enjoy Raymond Swandland's artwork.
And Chippy just has an awesome name.
June 30, 2016 7 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #5
I miss Richard Kane Ferguson, by far my favorite artist in the history of Magic. Second is Steve Argyle.
I second Chief's comment. Mayhap they moved onto other things. It'd be interesting to know what, though.
June 30, 2016 8:26 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #6
As weird as this sounds, is there a list online of every artist that ever illustrated for a magic card with a link to a gatherer search for every card they illustrated?
June 30, 2016 11:11 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Raging_Squiggle, aeonstoremyliver, of all the artist who have begun illustrating for WotC in recent years, Steve Argyle and Raymond Swanland are my two favorites, because of how distinct their art styles are.
June 30, 2016 11:15 p.m.
Skalle_the_Reckless says... #8
Mark Tedin still does art for MtG? I haven't seen anything recently.
July 1, 2016 12:22 a.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #9
I don't really get what some of you mean by other jobs. Art is their job. Don't think of them as employees, think of them as contracted workers. Either WotC decided not to contact them, or the artists turned them down.
I do like a good amount of the work those artists have done however. Some of this newer stuff is disappointing. Its not bad, just not to my tastes
July 1, 2016 2:59 a.m.
I miss Ferguson too, I was glad he returned for the Timespiral set Glass Asp and Shadowmoor (I believe it was?). And I think Kaja Foglio did a card for the Mirrodin set (true, that is long ago).
Though, I must say that I am also glad Julie Baroh does no longer illustrate cards...I did not really like her art (Aladdin amongst others).
BTW:Thanks for this topic. It is a great way to finally use that option on Gatherer 'search for Artist' :)
July 1, 2016 4:08 a.m.
Unforgivn_II - They moved on from those contracts to do different artwork.
July 1, 2016 4:31 a.m.
GreenYawgmoth says... #12
The reason is that WotC refuses to pay an appropriate amount or support an appropriate contract with quality artists. If I'm an artist and you're using my art to sell cards, sell T-shirts, sell vast quantities of anything really, I want to see a piece of that enormous pie. If you not only say "we'll just give you a flat fee, oh also you're not allowed to sell anything with that art on it" then I might use you as a platform to get my name out there and then promptly leave as soon as I have any name recognition. Which is exactly what they do because to do otherwise would make being an artist unfeasible as a profession.
tl;dr: WotC won't pay for quality and so quality won't work for WotC.
July 1, 2016 11:19 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
GreenYawgmoth, why is WotC doing that? Are they too greedy to actually pay artists a fee that actually is proper for the work that they have done?
July 1, 2016 4:49 p.m.
Unforgivn_II says... #14
Artists are always selling proofs of their card art, so I don't know where you're getting that notion GreenYawgmoth. Perhaps we need some real facts before we make accusations on either side
July 1, 2016 9:37 p.m.
GreenYawgmoth says... #15
Unforgivn_II: Here's some real facts from an actual MTG artist: http://www.vandalhigh.com/blog/2015/7/3/the-problems-with-artist-pay-on-magic I get my notion from the sentence "As a Magic artist, I cant print my art on to anything other than a piece of paper. This means that playmats, deck boxes, t-shirts, card sleeves, etc, are all verboten." although it's full of things that WotC needs to change if they want to acquire and retain real talent.
DemonDragonJ: I don't work for WotC so I don't know for certain, but I've seen their pay offering for a software developer position and given the skills/experience they want in the location they exist, it's downright laughable. My guess would be a combination of being woefully behind the times and refusal to get up to date.
July 2, 2016 3:57 p.m.
There have been reports from multiple sources that the company is terrible to work for. I remember one from the design team a while ago on Reddit. I'm not surprised, I think many, many, many of their products are overpriced and poor quality. Their entire philosophy is...... questionable.
July 2, 2016 4:14 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #18
GreenYawgmoth, thank you for that link, and it is horrible that WotC does not pay artists royalty fees for using their artwork, the artwork that they put many hours of effort into illustrating. If I were an artist, and I wished to illustrate for WotC, I would not do so until they promised me that I would receive royalties for every product that they made that used my artwork.
In the world of music, artists receive royalties for any use of their music outside of their own; for example, although Dave Mustaine and Jason Newsted are no longer members of Metallica, they both still receive royalties from sales of any albums that contain songs that they wrote (an exception to this is Rod Evans, the original vocalist of Deep Purple, who no longer receives any royalties from the band's first three albums due to him using the band's name at live shows consisting of him and other musicians who were not actually members of the band). If that is how it is in music, why is it not the same in artwork, as well?
Actually, having asked that, I wonder why any artist would willingly work for WotC if they know about this? How does WotC convince artists to illustrate for them if they do not pay the artists royalties?
July 3, 2016 2:11 p.m.
The other reason is the Style Guide and Matt Cavotta's direction.
A lot of the old-school artists (like Ferguson, Spencer, and the Foglios) aren't wanted anymore by WotC because their art doesn't "fit."
July 7, 2016 9:05 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #20
sylvannos, I can understand the Foglios, but how do Ron Spencer and Richard Kane Ferguson's art styles not "fit" this game?
July 7, 2016 10:49 p.m.
@DemonDragonJ: Yeah I don't like it either. As far as I know, it's been the direction Matt Cavotta has wanted to take. You can find the links to each of the 3 parts to the style guide here (sort them by date and the style guides are at the top), along with a few others by Cavotta.
I don't know what his current position within WotC is, but Cavotta is who took over MtG's art department after 2004 (if I remember right). This is why there's a difference from art produced prior to Onslaught block and the art produced after Mirrodin.
To see what I'm talking about, look at Cavotta's art, such as Goblin Flectomancer, Blood Knight, or Goblin Piledriver.
While he's a fantastic artist, he really pushed his own style onto the style guide. It's really noticeable in sets like Theros and both Zendikar blocks. He basically told off artists like Rebecca Guay and RK Post, who have very unique styles.
Personally, I wish we did have more unique artists. While they may not "feel" like fit in a particular set, I've always felt like Guay, Post, Spencer, the Foglios, Ferguson, Chippy, and others tie different blocks together so that they feel like they're all part of the same MtG multiverse. Their art reminds me that I'm playing Magic, and not League of Legends or D&D or Warhammer or Hearthstone.
Sometimes the newer art seems like they could be part of any generic fantasy setting.
ChiefBell says... #2
I mean sometimes people just move on and want to explore other avenues and try different jobs?
June 30, 2016 6:21 p.m.