Archive for November 2015
Artist of the month: Toriy
It´s a great pleasure for us to introduce this blog new section of " The artist of the month" , this first time with the amzing "Toriy" , hope you enjoy the interview :
(Read it in french HERE)
Who are you? And where are you from ? (Name, age, where you live ... a quick overview)
I'm (a bit) known as Toriy. I am 34 years old and I am Capricorn (I believe this is the most important information to remember). I spent most of my life in the South of France, where I currently live, near Marseille.
What is your educational background and / or professional?
After studying Fine Ars at the University - It was just a few month ago and a very rewarding experience, but I couldn't find my place - I changed logically to ..... Law studies . After a Master 2 (fifth year of university studies) I was graduared of the second cycle in the Faculty of Aix-en-Provence Law - University Also called "Paul Cézanne" ... a sign right ?.
Fresh from university, I did some short courses in legal and business firm, before finally choosing to trade. After few years I became bored and desire tickled me to do something with my hands. I must say that I have always drawn, as far as I can remember. Yet I have set aside this passion throughout my studies and it is therefore only recently that I returned to my first love.
As one of my college profs "The Law leads to everything"
How did you discover the alteration? Do you play Magic? Since when ?
I discovered the Magic by sheer chance: I got my hands on a lot of bargain-hunting Magic cards randomly from a flea market - There are some treasures!. I did not know at the time what it was and therefore naturally ... I bought them. I was therefore surprised to see the enthusiasm aroused by this game and also very appreciative to the creativity of the artists were showing "altereurs". I then learned to play and made some parts but not finding many Magic fans around me, I never had many opportunities to improve myself - I am not very good also and must say very poor loser. So you'll understand that I'm not a big player. So I stayed informed, and sometimes I play on computer to keep in mind - it is only an opinion, but I find essential, as an artist, to be impregnated with the universe in which we want change.
It was then when I began to paint. I learned to paint at the same time I was doing alterations, so the beginning was a bit difficult. A few weeks later, things improving, so I decided to persevere. It will soon be 3 years ago now.
I know you're from Ores,and you're already known on the internationnal level, do you alter mainly by orders ?
Yes I do , most of my alterations are by order . However I avoid to take too much. That gives me time to paint what I want. There are so many opportunities of creations, I sometimes do not know where to turn: I start a new card before you finishing the previous and the result : I still have a dozen aside waiting to be completed.
What was your first altered card?
The first really not worth mentioning; it is a basic land card - a plain, I believe. It wasn't really great,
and I will be ashamed to publish ^^ I still keep it and I think to post it a day. I think it could encourage beginners to persevere because it is so far from what I'm doing now. By the way, now that I look back, my first reaction was, once it's finished :
"It's not well done ...".
Otherwise, the first card that was not a oand ,I think it was a "resounding Wave" with Pikachu riding the wave of Hokusai - What I used for my previous avatar on Facebook,nobody cares! its my fétiche card!!!! I'll have to redo ít one day :)
Do you have an anecdote to tell us about an alteration?
There would be even many! The latest: A Thraximundar where Hello Kitty appeared and required
me a full half-day's work well, it ended in the trash !! I want to say that some of my works sometimes disappear, but most of time I found them in books ... - Yes I admit it, I sometimes use them as bookmark!
Have you ever had to do your own creations? if yes which one ?
Concerning paintings, no, I've never published anything but alterations. This is not envy missing but I have not yet had the opportunity to do it. In fact, it has happened to me to paint something else, but I am rarely satisfied with what I paint, it ends up in the trash - but there it is voluntary.
Concerning material , which brands do you use? ... ( if you use Golden Fluid Acrylic ,personally I´d hate you :P lol I've just one desire and it's to be able to buy them !! ^^)
Yeah it's the Golden Fluid Acrylic! ;P that I order from Great Britain (Almost impossible to find in France). I'm not saying it's the best but it is verypractical, and economic! - If you use alterations. This painting is however not essential - The most important thing is the quality of the painting used.
I started out with acrylic lower quality - Range Liquitex Basics; Amsterdam Standard Series or Acrylic Louvres. But these paintings are quite poor in pigments thus the colors are less vivid. In addition, the cards must remain fairly refined once painted, and as this kind of paint needs to be much diluted, this further contributes to tarnish the color. My advice: use only paintings rich in pigments - No need for a palette of 36 colors. I personally use an average of 5 color + black and white for almost all of my changes.
So to return to the matted : which brushes? (sizes brand, type of hair brush)
Here again I don't think that the brand is essential because the brushes are very small and consequently they'll be used very quickly. There is no need to invest in a super beast brush hairs grain-fed.
To make a card, I used to use synthetic brushes - Kaerell Nº2 and Nº4 at Raphael . Almost all my paintings are made with these two brushes - More Another large one for large surfaces from any brand.An ordinary brand brush can also make it - I I use them sometimes when I'm over brushes. Avoinding cheap brushes! Not even to troubleshoot! NEVER!!
Who talks about brushes,talks also about cleaning! Regularly clean your brushes with a convenient soap,it's indispensable for work precision.
How do you proceed?
I published a tutorial on the site (http://www.alteredmtg.blogspot.fr/2015/02/card-alterting-tutorial-by-toriy-netoriy.html) and I do not see much more to add. However it's true that it's in English. So for French people, I will remindr the procedure I use to make an alteration. The technique used depends on the subject, I will be based on the most common practice: to reproduce a work by an imposed model :
1. Creation of a model.
I always start with creating a model with an image processing software - Usually Photoshop. This allows me to have an idea of the final result and make adjustments to be as specific as possible (modification of some elements of the image / Square them so that they fit the size of card). Then I print it to transfer it on the card.
All this can take from a few minutes to several hours depending on the case.
2. Transfer of the image on the card
The card to paint,have to be most often prepared with a layer of gray (preferably Clair) on the portion to be painted (Note: I used the technique of erasing the card in some cases very specific *). I then transfers the design onto the card (classical technique carbon copy, with a pencil). Finally, I finalize the penciled outline using extra fine black felt (005 Pigma Micron or Faber Castell 0.1 - While waiting for the complete drying of the paint before passing the felt,if not it can be damaged).
3. Painting
Once the felt´s dry, I apply the paint. A first rough layer and dilution. Even for a simple implementation or one that contains few colors, I spend a very large number of diluted layers of paint (watercolor technique). This gives a better result - more bright colors and gradients well blended. Be careful though! With a poor paint pigments this technique is very delicate to use because there is a big risk of damaging the card - Due to the low amount of pigments,you should add more diluted layers, so more water. Result: The card may be deformed.
* It can sometimes happen that instead of painting a layer of gray, I erase a portion of the card. In this case I use a razor blade to trim the card and a scalpel to finish - The knife is for orders, I do not give myself much trouble to my own creations ;P. I use this technique only if I have to paint with little opaque colors, such as yellow. Thus, the white background of the card allows to make any brightness of this color - Otherwise, it would add more layers of white make up for any more .. and the result would not be as good!
Have you ever participated in tournaments? if yes, which ones ? If not why ?
No never! - see above
You've already met other artists? who?
If you mean the "alterors" , I have not.
Which would be the card that you dream of altering?
The next!
Finally your top 10 global artists?
It´s quiet difficult to establish a list because the artists skills are highly variable - in my opinion. Some are very good on certain topics or certain techniques, but much less comfortable in others. So I'm not really sure I can make a list.However, I won´tt have much risk to place in the top 3 Klug only for the extreme care he takes in finishing his alterations.
You can follow Toriy on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/netoriy?fref=ts
Interview by Morgege
(Read it in french HERE)
Who are you? And where are you from ? (Name, age, where you live ... a quick overview)
I'm (a bit) known as Toriy. I am 34 years old and I am Capricorn (I believe this is the most important information to remember). I spent most of my life in the South of France, where I currently live, near Marseille.
What is your educational background and / or professional?
Fresh from university, I did some short courses in legal and business firm, before finally choosing to trade. After few years I became bored and desire tickled me to do something with my hands. I must say that I have always drawn, as far as I can remember. Yet I have set aside this passion throughout my studies and it is therefore only recently that I returned to my first love.
As one of my college profs "The Law leads to everything"
How did you discover the alteration? Do you play Magic? Since when ?
I discovered the Magic by sheer chance: I got my hands on a lot of bargain-hunting Magic cards randomly from a flea market - There are some treasures!. I did not know at the time what it was and therefore naturally ... I bought them. I was therefore surprised to see the enthusiasm aroused by this game and also very appreciative to the creativity of the artists were showing "altereurs". I then learned to play and made some parts but not finding many Magic fans around me, I never had many opportunities to improve myself - I am not very good also and must say very poor loser. So you'll understand that I'm not a big player. So I stayed informed, and sometimes I play on computer to keep in mind - it is only an opinion, but I find essential, as an artist, to be impregnated with the universe in which we want change.
It was then when I began to paint. I learned to paint at the same time I was doing alterations, so the beginning was a bit difficult. A few weeks later, things improving, so I decided to persevere. It will soon be 3 years ago now.
I know you're from Ores,and you're already known on the internationnal level, do you alter mainly by orders ?
Yes I do , most of my alterations are by order . However I avoid to take too much. That gives me time to paint what I want. There are so many opportunities of creations, I sometimes do not know where to turn: I start a new card before you finishing the previous and the result : I still have a dozen aside waiting to be completed.
What was your first altered card?
The first really not worth mentioning; it is a basic land card - a plain, I believe. It wasn't really great,
"It's not well done ...".
Otherwise, the first card that was not a oand ,I think it was a "resounding Wave" with Pikachu riding the wave of Hokusai - What I used for my previous avatar on Facebook,nobody cares! its my fétiche card!!!! I'll have to redo ít one day :)
Do you have an anecdote to tell us about an alteration?
There would be even many! The latest: A Thraximundar where Hello Kitty appeared and required
Have you ever had to do your own creations? if yes which one ?
Concerning paintings, no, I've never published anything but alterations. This is not envy missing but I have not yet had the opportunity to do it. In fact, it has happened to me to paint something else, but I am rarely satisfied with what I paint, it ends up in the trash - but there it is voluntary.
Concerning material , which brands do you use? ... ( if you use Golden Fluid Acrylic ,personally I´d hate you :P lol I've just one desire and it's to be able to buy them !! ^^)
Yeah it's the Golden Fluid Acrylic! ;P that I order from Great Britain (Almost impossible to find in France). I'm not saying it's the best but it is verypractical, and economic! - If you use alterations. This painting is however not essential - The most important thing is the quality of the painting used.
I started out with acrylic lower quality - Range Liquitex Basics; Amsterdam Standard Series or Acrylic Louvres. But these paintings are quite poor in pigments thus the colors are less vivid. In addition, the cards must remain fairly refined once painted, and as this kind of paint needs to be much diluted, this further contributes to tarnish the color. My advice: use only paintings rich in pigments - No need for a palette of 36 colors. I personally use an average of 5 color + black and white for almost all of my changes.
Here again I don't think that the brand is essential because the brushes are very small and consequently they'll be used very quickly. There is no need to invest in a super beast brush hairs grain-fed.
To make a card, I used to use synthetic brushes - Kaerell Nº2 and Nº4 at Raphael . Almost all my paintings are made with these two brushes - More Another large one for large surfaces from any brand.An ordinary brand brush can also make it - I I use them sometimes when I'm over brushes. Avoinding cheap brushes! Not even to troubleshoot! NEVER!!
Who talks about brushes,talks also about cleaning! Regularly clean your brushes with a convenient soap,it's indispensable for work precision.
How do you proceed?
I published a tutorial on the site (http://www.alteredmtg.blogspot.fr/2015/02/card-alterting-tutorial-by-toriy-netoriy.html) and I do not see much more to add. However it's true that it's in English. So for French people, I will remindr the procedure I use to make an alteration. The technique used depends on the subject, I will be based on the most common practice: to reproduce a work by an imposed model :
1. Creation of a model.
I always start with creating a model with an image processing software - Usually Photoshop. This allows me to have an idea of the final result and make adjustments to be as specific as possible (modification of some elements of the image / Square them so that they fit the size of card). Then I print it to transfer it on the card.
All this can take from a few minutes to several hours depending on the case.
2. Transfer of the image on the card
The card to paint,have to be most often prepared with a layer of gray (preferably Clair) on the portion to be painted (Note: I used the technique of erasing the card in some cases very specific *). I then transfers the design onto the card (classical technique carbon copy, with a pencil). Finally, I finalize the penciled outline using extra fine black felt (005 Pigma Micron or Faber Castell 0.1 - While waiting for the complete drying of the paint before passing the felt,if not it can be damaged).
3. Painting
Once the felt´s dry, I apply the paint. A first rough layer and dilution. Even for a simple implementation or one that contains few colors, I spend a very large number of diluted layers of paint (watercolor technique). This gives a better result - more bright colors and gradients well blended. Be careful though! With a poor paint pigments this technique is very delicate to use because there is a big risk of damaging the card - Due to the low amount of pigments,you should add more diluted layers, so more water. Result: The card may be deformed.
* It can sometimes happen that instead of painting a layer of gray, I erase a portion of the card. In this case I use a razor blade to trim the card and a scalpel to finish - The knife is for orders, I do not give myself much trouble to my own creations ;P. I use this technique only if I have to paint with little opaque colors, such as yellow. Thus, the white background of the card allows to make any brightness of this color - Otherwise, it would add more layers of white make up for any more .. and the result would not be as good!
Have you ever participated in tournaments? if yes, which ones ? If not why ?
No never! - see above
You've already met other artists? who?
If you mean the "alterors" , I have not.
Which would be the card that you dream of altering?
The next!
Finally your top 10 global artists?
It´s quiet difficult to establish a list because the artists skills are highly variable - in my opinion. Some are very good on certain topics or certain techniques, but much less comfortable in others. So I'm not really sure I can make a list.However, I won´tt have much risk to place in the top 3 Klug only for the extreme care he takes in finishing his alterations.
You can follow Toriy on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/netoriy?fref=ts
Interview by Morgege
Work process by Nando
Hello everyone! Today I bring a tutorial article. But I also want to express, how may a work require to change a bit the technique normally used to paint the alterations.
When Chris showed me the design he wanted, my first impression was, "woooow I love it." And the second was "ufff is a 100% digital illustration." Normally I do not like to work on digital designs, because they have many effects that are not reproducible properly with acrylic.
When Chris showed me the design he wanted, my first impression was, "woooow I love it." And the second was "ufff is a 100% digital illustration." Normally I do not like to work on digital designs, because they have many effects that are not reproducible properly with acrylic.
But this time I believed that I could do it. So I thought, "Okay I can not get degraded and lights just like on the computer, but I can adapt the design to my own style with acrylic paint and remain a good alteration".
In this first step I've just primed the card with white spray, usually it´s used to paint miniatures(warhammer for example). I like prime with spray, it saves me time and grab the paint better than with a normal acrylic. Although you can see the background, nothing happens, a thin layer is sufficient. The spray is also sold in gray color, if you prefer.
At this point I needed to think through the order needed to follow the alteration. Normally I leave the background till the end, but in this I almost had to do it first. The reason is that I wanted the background to look exactly as in the original design, completely smooth, without any brush stroke. I wanted to make the dark gradient at the borders, and the white 100% white.
To achieve this the only way is using the airbrush, masking the portion of the figure of the girl. But even masking it well, there is always the risk that the airbrush soils. This is the reason for painting the background first.
The colors I have used are:
-Prussian blue. (model color)
-Black. (model color)
-White (Color model)
Once the background is 90% (must always fix it before ending). It´s time to paint the girl. I like to start with the face, as I think is the most important part of such designs. I usually use a mixture for skin tone with a color called "beige red" that gives a cool pink. But in the original design skin tone it is warm, so I used a very simple mix that I really like.
Base:
-White (Model color) 80% approx
-Skrag Brown (citadel) 20% approx
Lights: add white to the base
Tones (really no shadows): adding wild rider network (citadel) to the base.
Hair:
Base:
-White (Color model)
-Ice Yellow (Color model)
Lights: add white to the base.
Tones: Gold Brown (Color model)
Shadow: Inglés uniform (model color)
In most of my work I just need to use the wet palette. But if the design has large areas very degraded, as in this case, I find it very useful a plastic tabs blister. You may never seen this, so I'll explain, it's very simple. In one of the holes we put the base color that we'll use in big quantity, then we use the holes on the right side to put base color and add the color to use for lighten up (white in this case). Doing this with the previous color, we can get all the degradations of light we need and have enough for the whole surface. In addition to make a nice blending we can always return to the tone of light we need, while in the wet palette it would be difficult.
Using this method I also paint the girl costume.
Base dark blue part:
Prussian-blue (model color)
Light: adding to the base "andrea blue" (model color) and white (model color).
Shade: Black (Color model)
Base light blue part:
Andrea blue (model color)
The grey area in the boot does not have much difficulty, I just did a gray using black and white.
One of the funniest parts was the yellow one. In the original design color it was yellow and had a glow reflected in the girl's legs. But I took the liberty of changing a bit this color, and make it more appealing. So I went to the store where I buy my paintings and look for a fluorescent yellow (yellow fluo model color), which is just how I wanted that part. I have to say, that is a very diluted color and can only be seen if the bottom layer is white.
A surprise!!! the scanner does not catch the fluorescent color, it makes it white !!
So i had to do the final picture with my smartphone.
Well it was a pleasure, I hope you liked the article, and it can be useful.
See you,
Nando.