The Making of: Tajuru Path Warden

Hey guys!

No story today, I'm going straight to the making of this art, which is one of my personal favourites to date, the art for Tajuru Pathwarden.

I really enjoy the outcome of this piece, I had been meaning to do a quiet, still image for a long time, and finally got to! I was in a good place at the time, doing some personal studies and learning new art-related stuff so I knew my next piece had to reflect that. When I got the art description it all made sense, I could see the piece in my head, submitted two quick gesture sketches, once one was approved I moved on to the next step which was to gather reference, this came easily as well, remember I was doing maquettes? well, I got proficient at it, at least they're lighter now, and I can do then without big hassle. I ended up with a maquette that looked something like this;

This guy provided all the lights and shapes I needed to figurre out the baloth, and I had a friend pose for the elf riding it, easy piecy, the background came from one of my hikes, ok I might have doctored it a bit to look more Zendikar-like. This is one of those pieces that don't feel like work at all, I mean, none of them do, but this one reminded me why I love what I do, it just came together.

"Tajuru Pathwarden"

Wizards of the Coast 2016
Art Director: Jeremy Jarvis

Bonus image

"Kor Sky Climber"

Wizards of the Coast 2016

Art Director: Dawn Murin

- V