These are incredible. Especially the magnemite. Wow.
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Another amazing update. I like all of these reimaginings with the Meowth being my favorite of this bunch. Really nice additions. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers!
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Just caught up on this from the beginning, I’m totally floored by how cool all these collaborations are! Super excited to see what comes next, and appreciate you sharing them with us.
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Happy first post of the new year (and Lunar New Year if you celebrate it!) I’ve gotten several APs since the last update.
Starting things off we have one of MTG’s most famous removal spells, Path to Exile! On the back is a sketch of the most famous case of exile in Pokemon, Giratina. It must have been Arceus who did it!
Next we have Scyther from one of MTG’s most exciting upcoming artists, Eli Minaya. I’m a big fan of his bold strokes and abstract style. He really did a great job bringing out Scyther’s running motion.
Our favorite Tentacruel vs Clefairy painter is back! It’s Ryan Lee with another technically challenging painting, this time a Golem in mid-selfdestruct! I thought Duneblast was a perfect card to capture the chaos of the scene, and Ryan wove in the incinerated skeletons very nicely.
For one of the most iconic MTG Alpha cards, I decided to do a shiny take on Pokemon’s most famous tsunami instigator, Gyarados! Richard Thomas did a great job incorporating Gyarados in the scene. It looks almost Hokusai.
Drumroll for this next part, two heavy hitters are finally done…
It’s Blastoise and Dragonite, from Ed Beard Jr! Ed was famous for drawing the first ever version of Nicol Bolas, one of MTG’s most famous villains. He also drew the first foil printing of Birds of Paradise (you can see a small one in Blastoise’s upper left corner!). Ed’s paintings are very expensive and his queue is very long, but the result was well worth it. Actually, I watched him draw these live on his Youtube stream, and each one took about 3.5 hours of detailed work with a tiny brush. I’m really thrilled with how they turned out.
Lastly, as a little bonus, I got this rendition of Mewtwo done by Sierra Rush. She’s not an MTG artist, but she does happen to be the daughter of the late Christopher Rush, who was the only MTG artist to ever draw an official Pokemon card. I thought it would be fitting to have her draw a Mewtwo also, and she even had it hold a Black Lotus, Chris Rush’s most famous card! It was also nice that she gave me a certificate of authenticity.
That’s all for now! By the way, I’ve heard some rumblings through artist channels that Wizards is starting to get more restrictive on what artists can draw on their proofs. Apparently, their latest artist guidelines say something on the matter, though I’m not sure what. One agent I work with told me they were not pleased with some artists drawing risque matter on the backs of APs. Some artists who want more work from Wizards have also turned down anime character requests lately.
No idea yet if this is Pokemon related 
. I’m hoping I’ll still be able to finish the 151 with no issues this year. Fingers crossed, I’ll let you guys know if I hear more!
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Thank you for another fantastic update. That Gyarados is exquisite, really really well done. Also the level of small details on the Dragonite card is really amazing to see. Just a really great and wholesome update. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers!
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So cool!
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One of the best updates yet! Love the Gyarados and the Scyther and the Ed Beard Jr arts are also fabulous!
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I dont know if anyone has mentioned it, but have you considered doing character’s like nurse joy with serra angel, etc, or maybe places like farmstead, but with laramie ranch in the background? Mountain, but with a placard in front with “victory road” etched in front of it. So many ideas!
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Yes, I definitely considered those for artists who usually draw characters instead of creatures. My goal is mostly finishing the 151 at the moment, but I think once that’s done I might branch out to trainers.
I have to consider which artists are good for that. Most don’t draw in this super simplified anime style, so the end results might look quite different than Pokemon internal guidelines! 
But I think that’s part of the fun.
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Blastoise and Dragonite look awesome in that kind of art style!
wow the mewtwo one brings a tear to my eye! I missed out on meeting the legend himself. This is truly special.
Also its amazing to get Nicol Bolas drawn! What a legendary card from the peak of Magic when there was still love and care for the lore and card game. He was a true villain to be feared adn respected. A real challenge and a real legend among legends. Between him and Urza I can’t think of anything more iconicly Magic the gathering from a rich lore perspective.
Super awesome all around
This is still probably my favorite thing anyone does, and it requires lots of effort and footwork and knowledge of the card game, its lore, its artists and I love it.
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Very cool, especially the Gyarados and Blastoise!
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It’s impossible to say a favourite from this batch, when i saw the scyther i was sure it will be the highlight of the post but the good ones just kept coming and coming. I hope no speed bumps regarding artists drawing these since this too good project to be be left unfinished
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I hope so too. It seems there’s some updates in the Wizards style guide that discourages drawing copyrighted characters on APs. Perhaps to avoid any liability from other IPs (though technically APs are the artists property). 
I heard at least one other artist turned down drawing One Piece characters recently. It would probably affect newer artists who want more work in the future from them. Older artists may not care as much. Hope it won’t affect the remaining pieces!
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March update! Will be split into 2 posts to give each AP some breathing room. I’m also trying out a new picture format to be more space efficient.
Starting off, we have a sketch of Paras on Abundant Growth, an appropriately mushroom-related card.
Next, Clefable finds itself being abducted on an Unidentified Hovership. Though, if we go by the lore, it’s probably just a shipful of Clefairy lol.
Next is a card that’s been in the queue since Gencon last year! It’s Shellder on Mystical Dispute.
This one is a duplicate Magnemite that I got by mistake! I thought the art was funny though haha.
I wonder what could come out of this spawning pit! It looks like a Muk! (Most unfortunately, Steve Ellis forgot to sign the card, I’ll have to find him at the next event 
)
Lastly, this one is just a sketch, but I think it’s a cool piece as it’s by Tim Jacobus, who illustrated many of the Goosebumps book covers from when we were kids. I thought he would be a good choice to draw Haunter!
Next update in a few days with some big hitters ;). Getting closer to 151!
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Your thread is by far my favorite. I cant get enough of it!
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Ok first of all, this has become, over time, one of my favorite threads ever. It’s in the pantheon. And for the first roughly year, it was mesmerizing regardless of my lack of engagement with magic. It’s just incredible adaptations of art that I appreciate greatly.
But then a few months ago, I decided I really like the art of early magic so much that I’ve been buying unlimited’s and revised/4th/5th editions etc of most cards of the original era (say '93 to '97) for whopping pennies. Just the most fanastic prices, grateful that I can get hundreds of cards of vintage mtg for dollars at a time. Incredible.
Then jump to a few weeks ago and my partner has asked me to try playing commander with her friend group, something I’ve never done, never played magic, never had a single friend or partner who’d ever done so, so never considered it something I’d have tried. And I actually enjoy it quite a bit, being a casual. When she first mentioned it to me, I was like hey I know that name, kromatic here always goes on about it. And now I get it 
So because of these recent developments I have a further appreciation, just that much more. One needn’t have an association with mtg to love these, as they are artistically fantastic and exciting, but that added salt n pepper just makes it just that much more exciting for me.
All that said, I wanted to comment regardless that this entry here has some of my absolute favorites thus far. That muk… Hooo boy. @muk, how da ya like them apples? And @joponnes. Really reminiscent of Kusajima and yet is wonderfully adapted here. The magnemite is soo great, much better than the original — the warrior has a better look to him. The clefable… oh the clefable. Granted, it’s no clefairy, but I’m sure @fazool loves his evolved form and would love how dark and gritty this is, which is also why I love it as well as being a big x files fan and can’t help having that to mind when seeing such imagery. And the shellder. Ugh. Damn amazing.
I do wish the haunter had been colored, but I think the crypt ghast is awesome, so I like its adapation.
I won’t forgive you viridian if you don’t show a comprehensive binder upon completion (I know, I know, I’ve requested already) with excellent pictures showing everything.
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I’m humbled that I could partially inspire you to start collecting MTG cards! Commander is a fun way to get started learning the game and its rules. Any particular decks you like using?
The vintage artwork from the 90s and early 2000s was really amazing and nostalgic. It’s very different from Wizards’ current art direction; they don’t really do that style any more. If you go further down the rabbit hole, there’s also an entire Facebook group dedicated to buying and selling the original paintings used to make the cards! Those go for thousands each.
And yes, I’m going to upload a high res scan of the whole binder when its done, for posterity.
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Kami of the Crescent Moon and jhoira of the ghitu are the two I’ve used. Big fan of blue and black colors. Greens really cool too, I’ll have to try that. Still an ultra noob but because I play oldstyle yugioh I caught onto the fundamentals very quick and now the challenge is in understanding the subtypes and abilities. Lot to that!
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Thank you for tagging me, Brendan! Never could I have forgiven myself missing that amazing Muk! 
Seriously tho @viridian, you got yourself some absolute gems right there. This is without a doubt one of the top 1% most interesting collections on all of e4!
Cheers, muk
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